Two years ago, Britney Spears declared she would “never return to the music industry,” and so far she’s stuck to her guns. She even started her year selling off the rights to her music catalog to independent music publisher Primary Wave for an unspecified amount. But anyone hungry for new music from the pop icon can feast on the crumbs of “She’ll Never Be Me,” a newly released song originally written and recorded in 2001 with co-writer Justin Timberlake.
Spears originally recorded “She’ll Never Be Me” for her third studio album, Britney, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, but the track was left unfinished and ultimately scrapped from the record to prioritize other songs. The record, produced by Alex Greggs, or Riprock ‘n’ Alex G, is funky, erratic, and distinctly 2001 in the sense that it was clearly created in a post-“Oops! … I Did It Again” pop world.
In 2022, Greggs detailed the backstory of the song on The Original Doll podcast. “The song didn’t go on the album not because the label didn’t like it. There was just way better stuff to go with,” he said. Britney‘s big hit was “I’m a Slave 4 U,” though the album also featured classics like “Overprotected,” “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman,” and “Lonely.” The deep cut “What It’s Like to Be Me” was also written (and co-produced) by Timberlake.
Timberlake performed background vocals for “She’ll Never Be Me,” which builds around their stacked vocals. “Sometimes people don’t hear Justin’s voice until I tell them. I said, ‘You don’t hear that Justin’s in the back?’” Greggs said. “They blend in there very well together. It’s kind of a shame that they never really got to do more. It would have been cool to have that kind of sweetheart duet.” At the time, NSYNC still had some gas in the tank. “It wasn’t the right time,” Greggs said. “But if they continued to be together, I’m sure it would have happened and it would have been a really cool thing.”
Spears detailed the dissolution of her relationship with Timberlake in her 2023 memoir, The Woman in Me. She wrote that the breakup left her “devastated,” and said she thought about leaving her music career behind altogether. The couple were together from 1999 until 2002. The actual catalyst that led to Spears stepping away from the music industry had nothing to do with Timberlake, however.
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In 2021, Spears was released from a 14-year conservatorship under which multiple sectors of her life — from her finances to her career — were out of her control. Following the end of the court-supervised arrangement, the pop star said, “Not doing my music anymore is my way of saying ‘Fuck You,’ in a sense when it only actually benefits my family by ignoring my real work.”
The 25th anniversary edition of Britney will be released on Nov. 6 with five additional songs including “She’ll Never Be Me.”
