"Oops!... I Did It Again" is a
pop song recorded by American singer
Britney Spears from her second studio album of
the same name. It was released on April 11, 2000, by
Jive Records as the
lead single from the album, and her sixth single overall. It was written and produced by
Max Martin and
Rami Yacoub. The lyrics refer to a woman who views love as a game, and she decides to use that to her advantage by playing with the emotions of a boy who likes her. Its
bridge features spoken dialogue which references the hit 1997 film Titanic.
A 22-second sample of "Oops!... I Did It Again" by Spears, in which she sings about playing with her lover's emotions and claims "I'm not that innocent".
"Oops!... I Did It Again" is a song that lasts for a duration of three minutes and thirty seconds.[5] It is composed in the
key of
C♯ minor and is set in
time signature of
common time, with a moderate
tempo of 95
beats per minute. The song has a basic sequence of C♯m–A-G♯ as its
chord progression, and features a vocal range spanning from C♯3 to C♯5.[6]
The lyrics to the track discuss a woman who toys with her lover's emotions; the lover mistakes Spears' flirtatiousness for something more, and considers her a serious romantic interest.[7] During its bridge, Spears delivers a spoken-word dialogue that references the
blockbuster film Titanic (1997).
Critical reception
Upon its release, "Oops!... I Did It Again" received generally favorable reviews from
music critics. Lennat Mak of the Asian division of
MTV complimented the song as "a perfect 10 on the "wow" scale, with the wacky "
Jack-
Rose" dialogue", referencing the Titanic spoken lyrics.[8] Some however, were not as positive; writing for Entertainment Weekly, David Browne called it "ludicrously derivative" of Spears' debut single "
...Baby One More Time", and commented that it "amounts to nothing so much as a
jailbaitmanifesto".[9]
A reviewer from NME compared the structure of the recording to '80s-style riffs of
Michael Jackson and further described the track as a "harder, carbon copy" of "...Baby One More Time" that is "easily as good as her breakthrough single".[10]Robert Christgau recognized "Oops!... I Did It Again" and Spears' rendition of "
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" as his "choice cuts" from the parent album,[11] Writing for Rolling Stone,
Rob Sheffield compared the track musically to
Barbra Streisand's "
Woman in Love" and lyrically to
The Smiths' "
I Started Something I Couldn't Finish", and complimented it for being "terrific" and displaying "a violently ambivalent sexual confusion her audience can relate to".[12] Andy Battaglia of Salon described the track as a "sweetly sadistic companion piece to the masochism lite lurking beneath her debut '...Baby One More Time'".[13]
In the United States, "Oops!... I Did It Again" peaked at number nine on the
Billboard Hot 100.[18] It additionally peaked at numbers one and 27 on the BillboardPop Songs and
Adult Pop Songs component charts.[18] In Canada, the track topped the
Canadian Hot 100 for six weeks.[18] It topped the singles charts in both Australia and New Zealand,[19] and was certified platinum in the former country for reaching sales of 70,000 copies.[20]
"Oops!... I Did It Again" enjoyed success throughout Europe, and peaked atop the
European Hot 100 Singles chart.[21] It also peaked at number one on the
UK Singles Chart becoming Spears' third UK number one,[22] and was certified platinum for exceeding sales of 600,000 copies.[23] As of August 2022, the song has sold 931,000 copies in the country.[24] The song reached number two in Austria,[19] where it was additionally recognized with platinum certification for sales of 15,000 units.[25] It respectively peaked at numbers one and three on the Wallonia and Flanders charts in Belgium, and also respectively reached numbers one and two in Denmark and Finland.[19]
"Oops!... I Did It Again" reached number four in France, and number two in both Germany and Ireland.[19] In Germany, the single additionally received a gold certification, signifying sales of 250,000 units.[26] It additionally topped singles charts in Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.[19] The song was awarded gold certifications in the Netherlands and Switzerland, respectively marking sales of 40,000 and 15,000 copies,[27][28] and attained platinum certification in Sweden for reaching sales of 20,000 units.[29] As of May 2020, the single has generated over 240 million streams in the US.[30]
Music video
An accompanying music video for "Oops!... I Did It Again" was directed by
Nigel Dick and was filmed from March 17–18, 2000 in
Universal City, California. It was choreographed by
Tina Landon. During its production, Spears was reportedly struck in the head by a falling camera and began bleeding.[31] According to Dick, she was actually struck by the camera's
matte box, which fell off the front of the lens.[32] Spears' mother
Lynne (who was present) suggested that she might have suffered from a
concussion, though she received four
stitches and continued work after resting for four hours.[31] Spears created the concept for the clip, commenting that "[she wanted] to be on
Mars, dancing on Mars" and "[wanted] to be in a red
jumpsuit".[33] The final product premiered on April 10, 2000, on an episode of MTV's Making the Video.[31]
The music video begins with a brief scene of an
astronaut on Mars uncovering a stone slate featuring the cover of the album Oops!... I Did It Again. A scientist back on Earth sees it through a video transmitter and says, "Cute. What is it?" As the astronaut replies, "Oh, it's cute alright. It couldn't be...", the ground begins to shake as a large stage rises from the ground. Spears, with long, straight hair, then descends from a platform onto a stage in a red catsuit as the track begins to play. As she continues to sing and dance, she suspends the astronaut mid-air above her. Interspersed throughout the video are scenes of Spears wearing a midriff-baring white top and skirt, lying barefoot on a white web pad with backup dancers on the ground around her. During its bridge, Spears does a flip in the air to where the astronaut is and appears in a white jacket, short black leather skirt, and leather boots. As a symbol of his love for her, the astronaut gifts Spears with the
Heart of the Ocean, the blue diamond from the blockbuster film Titanic. She questions that she "thought the old lady [Rose] dropped it into the ocean in the end", to which he responds, "Well, baby, I went down and got it for you". Spears comments "Aww, you shouldn't have" and walks away, the astronaut shrugs and leaves (this spoken interlude is also heard on the record). The video concludes as Spears and her performers continue to dance.[34]
At the
2000 MTV Video Music Awards, the music video for "Oops!... I Did It Again" was nominated for the Best Female Video, Best Dance Video, the Best Pop Video, and the Viewer's Choice.[35] However, she lost in each of the four categories.[36]
Live performances
The first performance of "Oops!... I Did It Again" was on March 8, 2000, during the
Crazy 2k Tour in
Pensacola, Florida. In May 2000, Spears performed "Oops!... I Did It Again" during several television performances, including All That, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Total Request Live, and the two-hour concert special Britney Live.[37] The following month, she appeared in an additional television special, titled Britney Spears in Hawaii.[38] In collaboration with
McDonald's, Spears and
NSYNC filmed a commercial for the fast-food chain, where they lip-synced to "Oops!... I Did It Again" and "
Bye Bye Bye", respectively.[39]
On September 7, Spears performed "Oops!... I Did It Again" and her rendition of "
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by
The Rolling Stones at the
2000 MTV Video Music Awards, where she notably tore off her
black suit to unveil a more provocative, flesh-colored two-piece.[40]Entertainment Weekly included the performance on its end-of-the-decade "best-of" list, describing "the pre-breakdown pop tart, then just 19 years old, writhing and shaking her moneymaker in nude-colored rhinestone spandex" to be "pure kitsch bliss".[41]
Spears has performed "Oops!... I Did It Again" on three of her eight
concert tours. She premiered the song on the
Crazy 2k Tour and later included the track as the encore to her
Oops!... I Did It Again Tour in 2000, where it was performed with special effects involving fire and an extended dance break.[42] In 2001, it was featured as the opening to her
Dream Within a Dream Tour.[43] In 2004, Spears sang "Oops!... I Did It Again" during
The Onyx Hotel Tour, held in support of her fourth studio album In the Zone. The track was reworked with "...Baby One More Time" as a jazz-style performance.[44]
Cover versions of the song appear on the video games Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2 (2005),[56]Karaoke Revolution Volume 3 (2004),[57] and Just Dance 4 (2012),[58] while Spears' original version is included on
Singstar as DLC and her own video game Britney's Dance Beat.[59] In 2005, the comedy website Super Master Piece released a
parody version of "Oops!... I Did It Again" titled "Oops I Did It Again!: The Original", which they jokingly labeled as the original recording by
Louis Armstrong in April 1932 in
Chicago, Illinois; their version was actually recorded by Shek Baker.[60] The track has also been parodied under the title "Oops! I Farted Again" by producer
Bob Rivers.[61]
In 2013, it was reported that "Oops!... I Did It Again" and "...Baby One More Time" has been used by the British Navy to scare off pirates near Somalia.[62] "Oops!... I Did It Again" is referenced in the lyrics of
Peeping Tom's 2006 single "
Mojo" and
Fall Out Boy's 2017 single "
Young and Menace".[63]
Anne Marie referenced the song on the chorus of her single "
2002".
Miley Cyrus' "
Mother's Daughter" music video pays homage to the red latex suit Spears wore in the "Oops!... I Did It Again" music video.
In 2015,
Postmodern Jukebox covered the song in the
jazz style of
Marilyn Monroe for their album Swipe Right for Vintage, with
Haley Reinhart singing lead.[64] Its music video has amassed more than 36 million views on YouTube as of September 2023.[65]
In the
Tesco's British and Irish Christmas adverts for 2020, it uses the song as part of its "No Naughty List" campaign.[66][67]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
Release history
Release dates and formats for "Oops!... I Did It Again"
^Thom Grier; Jeff Jensen; Tina Jordan; Margaret Lyons; Adam Markovitz; Chris Nasawaty; Whitney Pastorek; Lynette Rice; Josh Rottenberg; Missy Schwartz; Michael Slezak; Dan Snierson; Tim Stack; Kate Stroup; Ken Tucker; Adam Vary; Simon Vozick-Levinson; Kate Ward (December 11, 2009). "The 100 Greatest Movies, TV Shows, Albums, Books, Characters, Scenes, Episodes, Songs, Dresses, Music Videos, and Trends that Entertained Us Over the Past 10 Years". Entertainment Weekly. No. 1079/1080. pp. 74–84.
^Erin Strecker (September 21, 2012).
"'Glee' recap: Gimme More". Entertainment Weekly.
Archived from the original on October 7, 2013. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
^"HR Top 20 Lista".
Croatian Radiotelevision. Archived from
the original on June 10, 2000. Retrieved March 7, 2021. A frowning face indicates that a single descended the chart, which means the song was at number one the previous week.
^"Major Market Airplay"(PDF). Music & Media. p. 23.
OCLC29800226.
Archived(PDF) from the original on November 7, 2021. Retrieved October 24, 2018 – via American Radio History.
^"charts music". The Straits Times. June 22, 2000. p. 17. Retrieved November 14, 2023. (As compiled by SPVA from sales figures from record companies, retailers and radio station charts) Week ending June 16, 1. Oops! I Did It Again - Britney Spears
^"European Hot 100 Singles 2000"(PDF). Music & Media. December 23, 2000. p. 9.
Archived(PDF) from the original on October 25, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2019.