Britney Spears’ best album tracks, remixes and pop rarities – from ‘Touch of My Hand’ to ‘Tom’s Diner’

‘Mood Ring (By Demand)’, Pride remix

Like aftershocks after decades at the top, Glory’s 2020 rerelease satiated the Britney Army with single-quality vault tracks like ‘Swimming in the Stars’ (grandiose) and ‘Matches’ (a Backstreet Boys duet that would’ve shifted culture if released in the ’90s). Better yet is this ambient, cut-glass dance banger and gift to the LGBTQ+ community, produced by DJ Mustard. We’re addicted to the tropical escapist opener, while the punctuation-heavy title and whispered statements (“There’s only one bitch…”) are joyous, nostalgia-drenched nods to the star’s fandom.

‘Touch of My Hand’, album track

The electrifying sexuality here, and on fellow deep cut ‘Breathe on Me’, distracted In the Zone reviewers from the tidal wave on the horizon that was ‘Toxic’. And in other, more bulldozing hands, it may have amounted to little more than a press stunt. But Britney is mysterious and arrestingly vulnerable in this PSA on masturbation, rhapsodising on the joy of self-love over loneliness like pop philosopher Janet Jackson before her. The male gaze proves irrelevant as Brit gets off to an alien soundscape of futuristic, almost religious-sounding reverence. You can practically sense her deepening relationship with herself as she sings. Astonishing.

‘Overprotected’ (Darkchild Remix — Remastered)

With lyrical heft exploring control and independence, ‘Overprotected’ could be Britney’s life mission statement. But something about it didn’t quite click when the original was released in December 2001, be it the overwrought production, Britney’s despairing tone, or the harsh video accompanying it. Released four months later, this shiny, tinny interpretation from Darkchild rewrote the narrative, with Brit sounding bolder, happier and newly empowered.

‘Mona Lisa’ EP album track

Britney’s first six years on the scene were a precision-engineered bullet train, so it was always going to be fascinating when the crown slipped. As release strategies go, the years between 2004’s Greatest Hits and 2008’s Circus were indeed compellingly chaotic — literally, in the case of 2005 EP Britney & Kevin: Chaotic, which contained some solid moments, yet didn’t bother the charts. ‘Mona Lisa’, which resurrects the iconic figure as a sort of attitude-laden teen, is structured around reality TV-ready sting chords (“Dun dun dun!” goes the orchestra), and is lavished with Britney’s immediately identifiable kittenish vocals.

‘And Then We Kiss’ promotional single

This rarely discussed jewel in the crown of the aforementioned wilderness years is the best reason to dip into B in the Mix: The Remixes. It’s a deep breath of creative clarification — a pristine, epic dance track that lionises love, like a message of hope in a bottle ahead of the dark sea change to come with arguably her best album, 2007’s Blackout.

‘The Beat Goes On’, album track

Bubblegum number ‘Soda Pop’ is safely flanked by UK hit singles on the track list of B’s iconic debut LP, Baby One More Time. But the album’s second half gets decidedly dodgier and more dated with every mention of ‘heart’. (‘E-mail My Heart’ being the nadir). 

Brit drops the earnestness, however, for this minimalist cover, originally released in 1967 by Sonny and Cher. Incomprehensibly, it was barely a hit in its original, folksy form. All Seeing I mutated it for the dancefloor in 1997 with minor success, before wisely producing a similar version for Britney. It’s inconceivable to think that almost as much time has elapsed between Britney’s version and the present day as between Cher’s and Britney’s versions, because Britney’s still sounds so fresh. Again, this was one of the earliest signs of her signature detachment — a sort of knowing two fingers to accusations of pop puppetry — with Britney’s muttering vocals sitting low in the mix. 

‘Tom’s Diner’ with Giorgio Moroder

Opening with a hypnotising, wordless hook straight out of Kylie’s ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’ playbook, this 2015 Suzanne Vega cover is as cold and fabulously eerie as anything on Blackout. Again, Britney doesn’t sound entirely present on this rare feature, and we love her for it. This zany bop detailing a surreal brunch — perhaps with a side of mushrooms? — is so comically straightforward as to be robotic. “I open up the paper,” explains Brit, in a tone of sci-fi oddity, before helpfully adding: “I’m turning to the horoscope, looking for the funnies…” Ridiculous and brilliant.