Digital Spy : Britney Spears's Oops! I Did It Again: 16 Awesome Facts To Celebrate 16 Years

[Pop Sensation]

 

 

This month, Britney Spears's second studio album Oops! I Did It Again will celebrate 16 years since it was first released. Who's feeling really old right now?

 

To celebrate the anniversary of the first proper big pop album to be released this millennium, we've rounded up 16 awesome facts about the Britney era that gave us the red catsuit, massive record sales, actual NME support and generally made us all feel stronger than yesterday.

 

 

 

1. It was a US chart record holder for 15 years

 

Oops!... I Did It Again held the title for the most sales in a single week for a female artist in the US for a solid 15 years. It sold 1,319,000 copies during its first seven days on sale back in May 2000.

 

Taylor Swift came dangerously close to breaking that record with 1989 in October 2014, but fell 32,000 copies short, prompting Britney fans to mock up this humorous artwork in celebration of their idol's continued record.

 

 

 

But ultimately it was Adele (who else, right?) who eventually smashed the record in November 2015 with her massive album 25. That managed to sell 3.38 million copies during its first week in the US. Crazy numbers.

 

 

2. It's basically one of the biggest selling records of the last decade

 

Oops! went on to be a monster worldwide smash, selling over 24 million copies across the globe and finishing sixth on the best-selling albums of the last decade in the US.

 

3. It wasn't always going to be called Oops!

 

The album was originally going to be called Sunflower and then Platinum 2000 before Britney settled on naming it after its lead single 'Oops!... I Did It Again'.

 

4. The male voice on 'Oops!... I Did It Again' is...

 

'Oops!... I Did It Again' was a massive hit for Britney, but who provided the male voice for the Titanic-inspired voice over part? It was the song's producer Max Martin.

 

5. But where is that handsome astronaut from the music video now?

 

His name is Eli Swanson and he is now working as a trauma surgeon in Phoenix.

 

6. It's a shame he didn't have the qualification when he was shooting the video...

 

Because Britney was famously injured on the set. The star was left with four stitches after filming a scene where she is lying on the floor only for the camera overhead to fall on her. Ouch.

 

7. Who's idea was it for Britney to wear that iconic catsuit?

 

When you think of Britney's 'Oops!... I Did It Again' you automatically picture her iconic red catsuit, which so happened to be her own idea. "'I want to be in a red jumpsuit. I want to have a really cute spaceman, but there can't be any rockets,'" director Nigel Dick recalled her telling him.

 

"There was another catsuit, actually, which was fantastic, which I loved, and the night before, I was told that Britney hired this guy that worked with Michael Jackson, and so we're going to use that catsuit. So that's the catsuit."

 

8. And the idea for dancing on Mars?

 

Yep, that was Britney's suggestion too. "The song is basically about a girl and all these guys fall in love with her and she just can't have it," she said in a Making the Video episode at the time. "When I meet a guy that I'm seriously attracted to, I get butterflies in my stomach, total brain fart, I don't know what to say.

 

"That's what I like about this song. It's really honest and fun to perform. ... This whole idea was my idea. I was like, 'I want to be on Mars, dancing on Mars.'"

 

9. As for the music video for 'Stronger'...

 

Janet Jackson's 'Pleasure Principle' helped inspire the now iconic chair sequence.

 

"She pitched it to me as an original concept by herself, but the first thing that came to my mind when I thought of the chair sequence, in terms of how it applies to music videos, was Janet Jackson's 'Pleasure Principle'," said its director Joseph Kahn.

 

 

10. But the director was fixated with something else entirely

 

Impressive chair routines aside, Khan was more obsessed with Britney's eye shadow when shooting the 'Stronger' music video.

 

"One of the big things I wanted to do here, that I was just obsessed with... I know it sounds really strange, but I wanted her to have grey eye shadow," he admitted.

 

"And I think it looks really good. I remember when I was looking at the close-ups, Britney goes, 'You're really obsessed with this grey eye shadow!' and I go, 'Yes, absolutely.' But if you look at it, it just makes her eyes pop like crazy."

 

 

11. It's the "critically-acclaimed" Oops!... I Did It Again, we'll have you know

 

Reviews for Oops!... I Did It Again were largely favourable, garnering a positive response from both critics and fans alike. Even the NME gave the album an 8/10 review stating: "On the sly, you know you love it."

 

12. Interestingly, Bobby Brown served as assistant engineer on the album

 

And this was years before Britney covered his hit 'My Prerogative' for her first proper greatest hits collection in 2004.

 

13. 'When Your Eyes Say It' was supposedly scheduled to be the fourth single

 

And a music video was shot by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, but 'Don't Let Me Be The Last to Know' was eventually chosen instead.

 

14. That's the single that had a very famous co-writer on it?

 

Yep that's correct, 'Don't Let Me Be The Last To Know' was co-written by the world's biggest country star at the time, Shania Twain.

 

15. Britney Spears had lusciously clean hair through the duration of the era

 

Mainly down to the fact that her 'Oops!... I Did It Again World Tour' was sponsored by Herbal Essences. So naturally, Brit recorded the best shampoo jingle ever to play before the shows.

 

 

16. It was involved in an epic chart battle of the American sweethearts

 

Remarkably, Oops! I Did It Again didn't reach number one in the UK. Why, we hear you ask? Well it peaked at number two after facing Whitney Houtson's The Greatest Hits on the chart. It will forever remain one of Britney's best in our hearts, though.

 

 

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[PopMusicJunkie]

I have so many great memories with this album.  Hands down my favorite era.