20 Years of Oops

Happy 20th anniversary to my favorite Britney album (a few others have held the title at times...it changes...generally it's either this, Britney or Glory).

Oops hit at the apex of the TRL pop era. It remains forever my favorite era in popular music, the last before file sharing and all that decimated the business. I also think 2000 was top to bottom one of my 2 or 3 favorite years in music ever (1998 probably holds that title).

By the time Oops hit Britney had already become a megastar and a monster in my own life. It was only 16 months between her first 2 albums, a time frame that's a bit more common today, but back then was unusual.

And it was the first of hers where an album release itself was a huge deal. TV appearances all over the place, including her legendary first time hosting Saturday Night Live. Magazine covers of which I got many. 

Nothing at all against the BOMT album, but Oops was a big step up as an overall album. It's peak early 2000s pop.

The singles were all behemoths. The title track was a monster. The video is super cheesy, but in a good way, and is the best thing ever to happen to Mars.
Lucky is prescient perfection. It's dated among the best of her singles. 
Stronger is just a fucking beast. And Don't Let Me Be The Last To Know is among her best ballads, and has arguably her most perfect vocals ever.

It's my favorite album of hers because it has the best mix of the uptempo and the slow, an even 6-6 split. It wasn't until Glory that she again blessed us with so many slow songs. The ballads are all peak level Britney vocals, with When Your Eyes Say It and Where Are You Now in just behind DLMBTLTK. 
What U See Is What U Get is probably my favorite of the dance tracks that didn't get the single treatment.

And the album is the only Britney disc without an obvious skipper. The closest thing is her cover of I Can't Get No Satisfaction, which laughably enraged people back in the day. And Dear Diary is almost too cutesy, but it's the first song Britney wrote and got on an album so I can't hate on it.

Plus, you gotta listen to the full album to get all the cute interstitials. Yo Brit, you're a nerd. 

The album set a first week sales record for a female artist that wasn't broken til Adele just a few years ago. I would have been devastated if Taylor Swift had broken it.

Comments

  1. MichelleMay 16, 2020 at 9:16 PM

    While I was watching Britney videos on YouTube the other day, a lot of my favorites were from this album. Hell, you get a shout out in one of the videos. 😉 “Stronger” is great workout song especially when you’re in tough part of the part. Looking at you burpees.
    I was in college at the time so I vote for her videos on TRL without tying up the phone line. And I can’t believe it’s been 20 years. I’m so old.

    ReplyDelete

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