Britney Spears‘ “…Baby One More Time” is an excellent bubblegum pop song. It’s also pretty suggestive. This raises the question: How old was Spears when it came out? The star revealed what she thought of the song’s success in retrospect.

Britney Spears released ‘…Baby One More Time’ while she was underage

In her 2023 memoir The Woman in Me, Spears recalled going on a tour of malls to promote her debut single “…Baby One More Time.” “Doing that form of promotion is not much fun,” she recalled. “No one knew who I was yet. I had to try to sell myself to people who weren’t that interested.

“Before the video came out, not a lot of people knew what I looked like,” she added. “But by the end of September, the song was on the radio. I was 16 when, on October 23, 1998, the ‘…Baby One More Time’ single hit stores.”

The late 1990s were a different time and America treated its teen pop stars differently. Considering the outfits Spears wears in the clip for “…Baby One More Time,” the clip could be seen as sexualizing an underage girl. If a similar video were released by a mainstream artist today, it would inspire outrage and condemnation.

How the tune changed Britney Spears’ life

The “Womanizer” singer revealed how “…Baby One More Time” changed her life. “The next month the video premiered, and suddenly I was getting recognized everywhere I went,” she recalled. “On January 12, 1999, the album came out and sold over 10 million copies very quickly. I debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart in the US. I became the first woman to debut with a No. 1 single and album at the same time.”

While Spears struggled with fame, she looked back on the early days of it fondly. “I was so happy,” she remembered. “And I could feel my life start to open up. I didn’t have to perform in malls anymore.”

‘…Baby One More Time’ blew all of the singer’s other songs out of the water

“…Baby One More Time” was No. 1 for two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 32 weeks. To date, it’s the only song by Spears to remain atop the Billboard Hot 100 for multiple weeks. It also lasted on the Billboard Hot 100 longer than any of the singer’s other songs.

The tune appeared on the record …Baby One More Time. The album was No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for six weeks, staying on the chart for 103 weeks altogether. …Baby One More Time remains Spears’ most popular record in the United States, even though her record Blackout is often seen as her best and most important work.

The lyrics of “…Baby One More Time” would impact the singer’s later career. She reused the “oh baby baby” hook in two of her subsequent singles: “Oops!… I Did It Again” and “If U Seek Amy.” Max Martin, the producer of “…Baby One More Time,” also served as the producer of “Oops!… I Did It Again” and “If U Seek Amy.”

“…Baby One More Time” has a mixed legacy but it’s still one of the most famous and beloved songs of the 1990s.