Stronger (Britney Spears song)
Encyclopedia
"Stronger" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears
, taken from her second studio album
Oops!... I Did It Again
(2000). It was released on November 13, 2000, by Jive Records
as the third single of the album. After meeting up with producers Max Martin
and Rami
in Sweden, the singer recorded several songs for the album, including "Stronger". The teen pop
and dance-pop
song has self-empowerment
lyrics about a girl who is tired of her cheating boyfriend and decides to live without him. It received positive reviews from music critics, who described the song as both musically and lyrically innovative and considered it the best dance track from the album.
"Stronger" achieved commercial success worldwide, reaching the top five in Austria, Germany and Sweden, while reaching the top ten in Finland, Ireland, Switzerland and United Kingdom. "Stronger" peaked at number eleven in the United States' Billboard Hot 100
, and was later certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA), for selling over 500,000 units of the single. An accompanying music video was directed by Joseph Kahn
, who considered it as a thematic departure from Spears' previous music videos. The music video received a nomination on the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards
for Best Pop Video.
Spears has performed "Stronger" in a number of live appearances, including at the Radio Music Awards of 2000, American Music Awards of 2001
, a Fox
special titled "Britney in Hawaii", and in two of her concert tours. It was first performed on Oops!... I Did It Again World Tour
(2000), as the first song from the show, and last performed at Dream Within a Dream Tour
(2001). In 2010, "Stronger" was covered by actor Kevin McHale for an episode of TV series Glee
titled "Britney/Brittany
". The cover received positive reviews from contemporary music critics.
and Switzerland
. After meeting up with Max Martin
and Rami Yacoub
in Sweden, recorded several songs for the album, including "Stronger", which was written and produced by Martin and Rami. After going back to the United States, the singer revealed in an interview with MTV News
, "I just got back from Sweden, and did half [of] the material [for Oops!] over there. I was really, really happy with the material, but we had [such] limited time to get so much done. So I've just really been in the studio nonstop, which is cool, though." Spears recorded her vocals for the song from November 1999 to January 2000 at Cheiron Studios
in Stockholm, Sweden. "Stronger" was released on November 13, 2000 as the third single from the album.
"Stronger" is a teen pop
and dance-pop
song that features a heavy dance beat, and lasts for three minutes and twenty-three seconds. According to the digital music sheet published at Musicnotes.com, the song is composed in the key
of B major
and is set in time signature
of common time
with a tempo
of 108 beats per minute, while Spears vocal range spans from D3 to C5. Music critics noticed the song as Spears' declaration of independence, which is perceived in self-empowerment
lines such as "I'm not your property" and "I don't need nobody". Despite not being written by the singer, it was speculated that the song is directed to the singer's record label
and her management. In a review for the album, David Browne of Entertainment Weekly
noted that "Stronger" together with "Don't Go Knockin' on My Door" is reminiscent of Rolling Stones' "The Last Time
" (1965).
considered the song "the best dance track" of Oops!, deeming the song "every bit as good as as *Nsync
's 'Bye, Bye, Bye
' or The Backstreet Boys
' 'The One
'." Tracy E. Hopkins of Barnes and Noble, while reviewing the album, said, "Spears shines on the tongue-in-cheek lead single, the triumphant 'Stronger'..." David Veitch of Calgary Sun
considered "Stronger" to be as "another boom-bastic upbeat track", while saying the song is "notable for its foghorn synth, fabulous rhythm track and heavy effects applied to Britney's voice. Why she's panting at the end of the bridge is anybody's guess." A review by the NME
staff compared "Stronger" to songs recorded by ABBA
, saying, "there's the deranged helium synth pop of 'Stronger' with the huge ABBA chord change in the chorus that sounds scarier and more robotic than the Backstreet Boys." Andy Battaglia from online magazine
Salon
said "Stronger" "could crush the entire self-help industry with its melody alone."
and number seventeen on the Top 40 Mainstream
chart. It was also certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA), for selling over 500,000 units of the single. "Stronger" also peaked at number two on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales
component chart, and number thirty-seven on Rhythmic Top 40. "Stronger" also achieved commercial success worldwide, reaching number four in Austria and Sweden, six in Ireland and Switzerland, and eight in Finland, while reaching the top twenty in several European countries. On the week of December 16, 2000, "Stronger" debuted at number seven in the The Official Charts Company from the United Kingdom, falling to number eleven in the following week. In Australia, the song peaked at number thirteen, and was later certified Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association
(ARIA), for shipments of more than 70,000 units of the single. In France, "Stronger" reached number twenty, making it the lowest chart position for the song worldwide. However, it was certified Silver by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique
(SNEP), for selling over 125,000 units of the single. In Germany, the song reached number four on the Media Control Charts
, being certified Gold by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie
(BVMI) for shipping over 150,000 units of the single.
, who revealed that the concept for the music video was created by Spears herself, by saying "I would like to dance in a chair and drive in a car and break up with [my] boyfriend. [...] Those are your three elements." Kahn revealed that upon hearing Spears' chair idea, he was immediately reminded of Janet Jackson's music video for her single "The Pleasure Principle
", and ended up creating, according to Jocelyn Vena of MTV
, "a semi-futuristic world in which Spears walks into a club, breaks up with her cheating boyfriend and triumphantly walks in the rain, knowing her life is better off without him." Kahn also considered the music video as very sophisticated, saying that it is "definitely a departure from the sort of candy-colored videos she was doing before, so I always thought this was the transition between Britney the teenage pop star and Britney the sort of diva she became." An alternate footage of the video can be found on the DVD of Spears first compilation album Greatest Hits: My Prerogative
.
The video begins with a closed caption that reads "Britney Spears – Stronger", amidst the sound of a storm. It then cuts to a close up of Spears looking at her boyfriend, who is smiling with another woman holding him. She realizes she is better without him and walks away, after saying, "Whatever," to the audience. There is a shot of the tower they were in, in an apparent semi-futuristic world. At the beginning of the first chorus, Spears starts dancing with an Emeco 1006
chair in front of a black background. The second half of the video finds Spears driving away from the party in a classic Ford Mustang
during a thunderstorm; however, before long, her car goes into a spin out, then stops on the very edge of the bridge. After recovering from the shock of it, she's forced to continue walking on in the rain. Cuts of her dancing with a cane, transformed from the chair, are also included. The video ends with Spears walking across a bridge. Nuzhat Naoreen of MTV
praised the music video, saying, "few performers can work an entire routine on and around a chair as well as Britney did in 'Stronger'". The music video received a nomination on the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards
for Best Pop Video.
. The show began with the video introduction "The Britney Spears Experience", in which three images of Spears welcomed spectators to the show. Then, a giant metal orb was lowered onstage and lifted again to reveal Spears standing behind it. Wearing a glittery jeans and an orange halter top, she opened the show with a dance-oriented performance of the song. "Stronger" was last performed on 2002's Dream Within a Dream Tour
. After a dance-oriented performance of "Boys
", Spears performed the song, in which she wore a paint-covered robe and in some shows a bowler hat. Spears also performed the song on several television appearances, including on the American Music Awards of 2001
, and on a MTV
special titled "Total Britney Live". A Fox
special titled "Britney In Hawaii", aired on June 8, 2000, included an exclusive performance of the song. A performance of "Stronger" live from Germany was broadcasted on Radio Music Awards of 2000, since Spears was on tour by the time of the awards.
"Stronger" was covered by Kevin McHale on TV series Glee
, on an episode titled "Britney/Brittany
", that was dedicated to the singer. In the episode, McHale's character Artie has a hallucination of himself singing "Stronger" during a dental visit. The cover received positive reviews from contemporary music critics. Raymund Flandez of The Wall Street Journal
enjoyed the cover version, appreciating the twist of having males sing a feminist empowerment song, while Tim Stack of Entertainment Weekly
deemed "Stronger" his favorite performance of the episode, as well as the best incorporation of Spears' music, as the song served Artie's storyline.
Source:
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
, taken from her second studio album
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
Oops!... I Did It Again
Oops!... I Did It Again
Oops!...I Did It Again is the second studio album by American pop singer Britney Spears. The album was released on May 16, 2000 by Jive Records. The album became a commercial success after debuting at top position on the U.S. Billboard 200 selling over 1,319,193 units during its first week...
(2000). It was released on November 13, 2000, by Jive Records
Jive Records
Jive Records was a record label based in New York City, operating under RCA Music Group. Jive was primarily known for a string of successes with hip hop artists in the 1980s, and in teen pop and boy bands in the late 1990s. The word "jive" was inspired by Township Jive, a form of South African...
as the third single of the album. After meeting up with producers Max Martin
Max Martin
Martin Karl Sandberg, known professionally as Max Martin, is a Swedish music producer and songwriter. Raised in Stenhamra, a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden, he broke through as a producer and songwriter in the mid to late 1990s after crafting a string of hits for pop artists like the Backstreet Boys,...
and Rami
Rami Yacoub
Rami Yacoub is a Swedish music producer and songwriter of Palestinian descent, and former member of the successful songwriting/production houses Cheiron Studios and Maratone...
in Sweden, the singer recorded several songs for the album, including "Stronger". The teen pop
Teen pop
Teen pop is a subgenre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards teenagers. Teen pop copies genres and styles such as pop, dance, R&B, hip hop, country and rock....
and dance-pop
Dance-pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...
song has self-empowerment
Empowerment
Empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social, racial, educational, gender or economic strength of individuals and communities...
lyrics about a girl who is tired of her cheating boyfriend and decides to live without him. It received positive reviews from music critics, who described the song as both musically and lyrically innovative and considered it the best dance track from the album.
"Stronger" achieved commercial success worldwide, reaching the top five in Austria, Germany and Sweden, while reaching the top ten in Finland, Ireland, Switzerland and United Kingdom. "Stronger" peaked at number eleven in the United States' Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, and was later certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA), for selling over 500,000 units of the single. An accompanying music video was directed by Joseph Kahn
Joseph Kahn
Joseph Kahn is an American music video, advertising, and feature film director.-Early life:Kahn was born in Jersey Village, Texas, a suburb of Houston. He is of Korean ancestry. He spent part of his childhood growing up in Livorno, Italy until his family moved to Texas...
, who considered it as a thematic departure from Spears' previous music videos. The music video received a nomination on the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards
2001 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2001 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 6, 2001, honoring the best music videos from June 10, 2000, to June 8, 2001. The show was hosted by Jamie Foxx at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City...
for Best Pop Video.
Spears has performed "Stronger" in a number of live appearances, including at the Radio Music Awards of 2000, American Music Awards of 2001
American Music Awards of 2001
The 28th Annual American Music Awards were held on January 8, 2001.-Pop/Rock Category:-Soul/R&B Category:-Country Category:-Adult Contemporary Category:-Rap/Hip-Hop Category:-Alternative Category:-Latin Category:-Soundtrack Category:...
, a Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
special titled "Britney in Hawaii", and in two of her concert tours. It was first performed on Oops!... I Did It Again World Tour
Oops!... I Did It Again World Tour
The Oops!... I Did It Again World Tour was the second concert tour by American recording artist Britney Spears. It supported her second studio album Oops!... I Did It Again and visited North America, Europe and Brazil. It marked the first time Spears toured outside North America...
(2000), as the first song from the show, and last performed at Dream Within a Dream Tour
Dream Within a Dream Tour
The Dream Within a Dream Tour was the third concert tour by American recording artist Britney Spears. It promoted her third studio album Britney in North America and Japan. The Dream Within a Dream Tour was promoted by Concerts West, marking the first time Spears did not tour with Clear Channel...
(2001). In 2010, "Stronger" was covered by actor Kevin McHale for an episode of TV series Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
titled "Britney/Brittany
Britney/Brittany
"Britney/Brittany" is the second episode of the second season of the American television series Glee, and the 24th episode overall. Written and directed by series creator Ryan Murphy, it premiered on the Fox network on September 28, 2010, and pays tribute to Britney Spears...
". The cover received positive reviews from contemporary music critics.
Background and composition
In 1999, Spears began work on her second studio album, Oops!...I Did It Again (2000), in SwedenSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. After meeting up with Max Martin
Max Martin
Martin Karl Sandberg, known professionally as Max Martin, is a Swedish music producer and songwriter. Raised in Stenhamra, a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden, he broke through as a producer and songwriter in the mid to late 1990s after crafting a string of hits for pop artists like the Backstreet Boys,...
and Rami Yacoub
Rami Yacoub
Rami Yacoub is a Swedish music producer and songwriter of Palestinian descent, and former member of the successful songwriting/production houses Cheiron Studios and Maratone...
in Sweden, recorded several songs for the album, including "Stronger", which was written and produced by Martin and Rami. After going back to the United States, the singer revealed in an interview with MTV News
MTV News
MTV News is the news division of MTV, one of the first and most popular music television network in the U.S., as well as some of MTV's related channels around the world. MTV News began in the late 1980s with the program The Week In Rock, hosted by Kurt Loder, the first official MTV News correspondent...
, "I just got back from Sweden, and did half [of] the material [for Oops!] over there. I was really, really happy with the material, but we had [such] limited time to get so much done. So I've just really been in the studio nonstop, which is cool, though." Spears recorded her vocals for the song from November 1999 to January 2000 at Cheiron Studios
Cheiron Studios
Cheiron Studios was a recording studio located at Kungsholmen, Stockholm, Sweden founded in 1992 by Denniz PoP and Tom Talomaa. Cheiron Studios was apart from being a recording studio, also a label Cheiron Records in affiliation with BMG for a while, and the music publishing service Cheiron Songs...
in Stockholm, Sweden. "Stronger" was released on November 13, 2000 as the third single from the album.
"Stronger" is a teen pop
Teen pop
Teen pop is a subgenre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards teenagers. Teen pop copies genres and styles such as pop, dance, R&B, hip hop, country and rock....
and dance-pop
Dance-pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...
song that features a heavy dance beat, and lasts for three minutes and twenty-three seconds. According to the digital music sheet published at Musicnotes.com, the song is composed in the key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
of B major
B major
In music theory, B major is a major scale based on B. The pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A are all part of the B major scale. Its key signature has five sharps....
and is set in time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
of common time
Common Time
"Common Time" is a science fiction short story written by James Blish. It first appeared in the August 1953 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly and has been reprinted several times: in the 1959 short-story collection Galactic Cluster; in The Testament of Andros ; in The Penguin Science Fiction...
with a tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
of 108 beats per minute, while Spears vocal range spans from D3 to C5. Music critics noticed the song as Spears' declaration of independence, which is perceived in self-empowerment
Empowerment
Empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social, racial, educational, gender or economic strength of individuals and communities...
lines such as "I'm not your property" and "I don't need nobody". Despite not being written by the singer, it was speculated that the song is directed to the singer's record label
Jive Records
Jive Records was a record label based in New York City, operating under RCA Music Group. Jive was primarily known for a string of successes with hip hop artists in the 1980s, and in teen pop and boy bands in the late 1990s. The word "jive" was inspired by Township Jive, a form of South African...
and her management. In a review for the album, David Browne of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
noted that "Stronger" together with "Don't Go Knockin' on My Door" is reminiscent of Rolling Stones' "The Last Time
The Last Time (song)
In 1967, after the imprisonment of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, on drugs charges, The Who recorded covers of "The Last Time" and "Under My Thumb" as a single. The intention was to help Jagger and Richards make bail, but by the time the single was made available, they had been released. The...
" (1965).
Critical response
"Stronger" received positive reviews from music critics. Stephanie McGrath of Jam!Jam!
Jam! is a Canadian website, which covers entertainment news. It is part of the CANOE online portal, owned and operated by Quebecor through its Sun Media division....
considered the song "the best dance track" of Oops!, deeming the song "every bit as good as as *Nsync
'N Sync
N Sync was an American boy band formed in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich, *NSYNC consisted of JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick...
's 'Bye, Bye, Bye
Bye Bye Bye
"Bye Bye Bye" is the first single released from American boyband 'N Sync's second album, No Strings Attached. Released in early 2000, it is a reference to the group's break from their manager Lou Pearlman and their record label, RCA...
' or The Backstreet Boys
Backstreet Boys
The Backstreet Boys are an American vocal group, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson. They rose to fame with their debut international album, Backstreet Boys...
' 'The One
The One (Backstreet Boys song)
"The One" was the fourth single from the Backstreet Boys' hit album Millennium. This song was also used as the opening song in the shōnen anime Hanada Shōnen-shi....
'." Tracy E. Hopkins of Barnes and Noble, while reviewing the album, said, "Spears shines on the tongue-in-cheek lead single, the triumphant 'Stronger'..." David Veitch of Calgary Sun
Calgary Sun
The Calgary Sun is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is a division of Sun Media, a Quebecor company.First published in 1980, the tabloid-format daily replaced the long-running broadsheet newspaper, The Albertan soon after it was acquired by the publishers of the Toronto...
considered "Stronger" to be as "another boom-bastic upbeat track", while saying the song is "notable for its foghorn synth, fabulous rhythm track and heavy effects applied to Britney's voice. Why she's panting at the end of the bridge is anybody's guess." A review by the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
staff compared "Stronger" to songs recorded by ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
, saying, "there's the deranged helium synth pop of 'Stronger' with the huge ABBA chord change in the chorus that sounds scarier and more robotic than the Backstreet Boys." Andy Battaglia from online magazine
ONLINE
ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
Salon
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
said "Stronger" "could crush the entire self-help industry with its melody alone."
Chart performance
In the United States, "Stronger" managed to peak at number eleven on Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and number seventeen on the Top 40 Mainstream
Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs)
The Mainstream Top 40 is an airplay chart from Billboard magazine, and is also known as Pop Songs on billboard.com. It was often mistaken for and confused with the now discontinued Pop 100 Airplay chart...
chart. It was also certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA), for selling over 500,000 units of the single. "Stronger" also peaked at number two on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales
Hot Dance Singles Sales
Hot Dance Singles Sales is a chart released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States, established in 1985. It measures the sale of commercially released singles that deal with dance music and remixes...
component chart, and number thirty-seven on Rhythmic Top 40. "Stronger" also achieved commercial success worldwide, reaching number four in Austria and Sweden, six in Ireland and Switzerland, and eight in Finland, while reaching the top twenty in several European countries. On the week of December 16, 2000, "Stronger" debuted at number seven in the The Official Charts Company from the United Kingdom, falling to number eleven in the following week. In Australia, the song peaked at number thirteen, and was later certified Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
(ARIA), for shipments of more than 70,000 units of the single. In France, "Stronger" reached number twenty, making it the lowest chart position for the song worldwide. However, it was certified Silver by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique
Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique
The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry...
(SNEP), for selling over 125,000 units of the single. In Germany, the song reached number four on the Media Control Charts
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...
, being certified Gold by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie
Bundesverband Musikindustrie
The Bundesverband Musikindustrie or simply BVMI represents the music industry in Germany. The association represents the interests of nearly 350 labels and music industry related enterprises....
(BVMI) for shipping over 150,000 units of the single.
Music video
The music video for the song was directed by Joseph KahnJoseph Kahn
Joseph Kahn is an American music video, advertising, and feature film director.-Early life:Kahn was born in Jersey Village, Texas, a suburb of Houston. He is of Korean ancestry. He spent part of his childhood growing up in Livorno, Italy until his family moved to Texas...
, who revealed that the concept for the music video was created by Spears herself, by saying "I would like to dance in a chair and drive in a car and break up with [my] boyfriend. [...] Those are your three elements." Kahn revealed that upon hearing Spears' chair idea, he was immediately reminded of Janet Jackson's music video for her single "The Pleasure Principle
The Pleasure Principle (song)
"The Pleasure Principle" is the sixth single from Janet Jackson's third studio album, Control . The photo for the single cover was shot by famed fashion photographer David LaChapelle.-Song information:...
", and ended up creating, according to Jocelyn Vena of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, "a semi-futuristic world in which Spears walks into a club, breaks up with her cheating boyfriend and triumphantly walks in the rain, knowing her life is better off without him." Kahn also considered the music video as very sophisticated, saying that it is "definitely a departure from the sort of candy-colored videos she was doing before, so I always thought this was the transition between Britney the teenage pop star and Britney the sort of diva she became." An alternate footage of the video can be found on the DVD of Spears first compilation album Greatest Hits: My Prerogative
Greatest Hits: My Prerogative (DVD)
Greatest Hits: My Prerogative is a greatest videos DVD compilation by singer Britney Spears. Released by Jive Records on November 9, 2004, it accompanied the greatest hits of the same name. The collection contained all of Spears's music videos from 1998 to 2004, including unreleased material from...
.
The video begins with a closed caption that reads "Britney Spears – Stronger", amidst the sound of a storm. It then cuts to a close up of Spears looking at her boyfriend, who is smiling with another woman holding him. She realizes she is better without him and walks away, after saying, "Whatever," to the audience. There is a shot of the tower they were in, in an apparent semi-futuristic world. At the beginning of the first chorus, Spears starts dancing with an Emeco 1006
Emeco 1006
The Emeco 1006 chair, also called the Navy chair, is an aluminum chair produced by the Electric Machine and Equipment Company in Hanover, Pennsylvania, USA....
chair in front of a black background. The second half of the video finds Spears driving away from the party in a classic Ford Mustang
Ford Mustang (first generation)
The first-generation Ford Mustang is the original pony car, manufactured by Ford Motor Company from 1964 until 1973.It was initially introduced as a hardtop and convertible with the fastback version put on sale the following year...
during a thunderstorm; however, before long, her car goes into a spin out, then stops on the very edge of the bridge. After recovering from the shock of it, she's forced to continue walking on in the rain. Cuts of her dancing with a cane, transformed from the chair, are also included. The video ends with Spears walking across a bridge. Nuzhat Naoreen of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
praised the music video, saying, "few performers can work an entire routine on and around a chair as well as Britney did in 'Stronger'". The music video received a nomination on the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards
2001 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2001 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 6, 2001, honoring the best music videos from June 10, 2000, to June 8, 2001. The show was hosted by Jamie Foxx at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City...
for Best Pop Video.
Live performances and covers
Spears first performed the song live on 2000's Oops!... I Did It Again World TourOops!... I Did It Again World Tour
The Oops!... I Did It Again World Tour was the second concert tour by American recording artist Britney Spears. It supported her second studio album Oops!... I Did It Again and visited North America, Europe and Brazil. It marked the first time Spears toured outside North America...
. The show began with the video introduction "The Britney Spears Experience", in which three images of Spears welcomed spectators to the show. Then, a giant metal orb was lowered onstage and lifted again to reveal Spears standing behind it. Wearing a glittery jeans and an orange halter top, she opened the show with a dance-oriented performance of the song. "Stronger" was last performed on 2002's Dream Within a Dream Tour
Dream Within a Dream Tour
The Dream Within a Dream Tour was the third concert tour by American recording artist Britney Spears. It promoted her third studio album Britney in North America and Japan. The Dream Within a Dream Tour was promoted by Concerts West, marking the first time Spears did not tour with Clear Channel...
. After a dance-oriented performance of "Boys
Boys (Britney Spears song)
"Boys" is a song performed by American recording artist Britney Spears. It was written and produced by Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams of the production team The Neptunes and American rap group N.E.R.D.. A version of the song, "The Co-ed Remix" was released as the sixth single from Spears' third...
", Spears performed the song, in which she wore a paint-covered robe and in some shows a bowler hat. Spears also performed the song on several television appearances, including on the American Music Awards of 2001
American Music Awards of 2001
The 28th Annual American Music Awards were held on January 8, 2001.-Pop/Rock Category:-Soul/R&B Category:-Country Category:-Adult Contemporary Category:-Rap/Hip-Hop Category:-Alternative Category:-Latin Category:-Soundtrack Category:...
, and on a MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
special titled "Total Britney Live". A Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
special titled "Britney In Hawaii", aired on June 8, 2000, included an exclusive performance of the song. A performance of "Stronger" live from Germany was broadcasted on Radio Music Awards of 2000, since Spears was on tour by the time of the awards.
"Stronger" was covered by Kevin McHale on TV series Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
, on an episode titled "Britney/Brittany
Britney/Brittany
"Britney/Brittany" is the second episode of the second season of the American television series Glee, and the 24th episode overall. Written and directed by series creator Ryan Murphy, it premiered on the Fox network on September 28, 2010, and pays tribute to Britney Spears...
", that was dedicated to the singer. In the episode, McHale's character Artie has a hallucination of himself singing "Stronger" during a dental visit. The cover received positive reviews from contemporary music critics. Raymund Flandez of The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
enjoyed the cover version, appreciating the twist of having males sing a feminist empowerment song, while Tim Stack of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
deemed "Stronger" his favorite performance of the episode, as well as the best incorporation of Spears' music, as the song served Artie's storyline.
Track listings
- 12" Vinyl
- "Stronger" [Pablo La Rosa's Tranceformation] – 7:21
- "Stronger" [Pimp Juice's Extra Strength Dub] – 7:05
- "Stronger" [Miguel 'Migs' Vocal Mix] – 6:31
- "Stronger" [Miguel 'Migs' Dub] – 6:54
- The Remixes – EP
- "Stronger" – 3:23
- "Stronger" [Mac Quayle Club Mix] – 7:50
- "Stronger" [Pablo La Rosa's Tranceformation] – 7:21
- "Stronger" [Miguel 'Migs' Vocal Mix] – 6:31
- "Stronger" [Jack D. Elliot Club Mix] – 6:38
- "Stronger" [Pimp Juice's "Ain't No Shame In This Vocal Mix Game" Mix] – 5:50
- AUS CD single
- "Stronger" – 3:23
- "Stronger" [Instrumental] – 3:23
- "Walk on By" – 3:34
- "Stronger" [Miguel 'Migs' Vocal Edit] – 3:41
- US CD single
- "Stronger" – 3:23
- "Stronger" [Pablo La Rosa's Tranceformation Edit] – 3:28
- The Singles Collection Boxset Single
- "Stronger" – 3:23
- "Walk on By" – 3:35
Credits and personnel
- Britney Spears – lead vocals, background vocals
- Max MartinMax MartinMartin Karl Sandberg, known professionally as Max Martin, is a Swedish music producer and songwriter. Raised in Stenhamra, a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden, he broke through as a producer and songwriter in the mid to late 1990s after crafting a string of hits for pop artists like the Backstreet Boys,...
– productionRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, songwritingSongwriterA songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, audio mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, programming, background vocals - Rami YacoubRami YacoubRami Yacoub is a Swedish music producer and songwriter of Palestinian descent, and former member of the successful songwriting/production houses Cheiron Studios and Maratone...
– production, songwriting, keyboards - Nana HedinNana HedinNana Hedin, also known as Na Na and Nana d'Aquini, is a Swedish singer born May 24, 1968 in Eskilstuna, Södermanland County, Sweden.- Career :...
– background vocals - John Amatiello – pro-tools engineering
- Tom Coyne – audio masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
Source:
Weekly charts
| Chart (2000–01) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Europe (Music & Media) | 3 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
11 |
| US Billboard Pop Songs | 17 |
Certifications
External links
- Official music video on "Vevo" — VevoVevoVevo is a music video website. It is a joint venture among Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Abu Dhabi Media with EMI licensing its content to the group without taking an ownership stake. The service was launched officially on December 8, 2009...
.