Stronger (Britney Spears song)

"Stronger" was a global success, 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 11 in the United States' Billboard Hot 100, and was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for selling over 1,000,000 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 Spears: There's No Place Like Home, and in two of her concert tours, the Oops!... I Did It Again Tour (2000–2001) and the Dream Within a Dream Tour (2001–2002). In 2013, Spears performed the song for the first time in eleven years on her Las Vegas residency concert Britney: Piece of Me (2013–2017). She also performed it at the Britney: Live in Concert (2017) and the Piece of Me Tour (2018). 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. In 2023, "Stronger" was ranked at number 37 on Rolling Stone's "The 50 Most Inspirational LGBTQ Songs of All Time" list.^[1]

Background and composition[edit]

In 1999, Spears began work on her second studio album Oops!...I Did It Again (2000), in Sweden and Switzerland.^[5][6] After meeting with Max Martin and Rami Yacoub in Sweden, Spears recorded several songs for the album,^[5] including "Stronger", which was co-written and co-produced by Martin and Rami.^[7] Upon returning to the United States, the singer revealed in an interview with MTV News that: "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."^[5] Spears recorded her vocals for the song in November 1999 at Cheiron Studios in Stockholm, Sweden.^[7] "Stronger" was released on November 13, 2000, as the third single from the album.^[8]


"Stronger" is a teen pop and dance-pop song that features a heavy dance beat,^[4] and lasts 3 minutes and 37 seconds.^[9] According to the digital music sheet published at Musicnotes.com, the song is composed in the key of G-sharp minor and is set in time signature of common time with a tempo of 108 beats per minute, while Spears vocal range spans from C♯3 to C♯5.^[10] 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".^[2][3] Its lyrics also quote Spears' iconic debut hit "...Baby One More Time", which was also co-written and produced for Spears by Martin and Yacoub and released two years earlier; the latter's famous chorus, "My loneliness is killing me", is answered in "Stronger" with the lyric, "My loneliness ain't killin' me no more". Despite not being written by the singer, it was speculated that the song is directed to the singer's record label and her management.^[2] 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 the Rolling Stones' "The Last Time" (1965).^[3]

Critical response[edit]

"Stronger" received acclaim from music critics. Stephanie McGrath of Jam! considered the song "the best dance track" of Oops!, deeming the song "every bit as good as *Nsync's 'Bye, Bye, Bye' or The Backstreet Boys' 'The One'."^[11] Tracy E. Hopkins of Barnes & Noble, while reviewing the album, said, "Spears shines on the tongue-in-cheek lead single, the triumphant 'Stronger'..."^[12] David Veitch of the 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."^[2] 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."^[13] Andy Battaglia from Salon said "Stronger" "could crush the entire self-help industry with its melody alone."^[14] Digital Spy's Alim Kheraj pointed out the "deeper element of defiance embedded both within the lyrics and the epic chord progressions".^[15]


Writing for Pink News, Mayer Nissim deemed it "a perfect pop masterpiece".^[16] For Alex Macpherson from The Guardian, it's one of the best examples of Spears' "distressing vulnerability" as well as her second best song; "for the first but by no means last time, Britney embraces the inhuman qualities of her strange, hiccupping voice with vocals distorted and ground up against the beat".^[17] Shannon Barbour from Cosmopolitan opined that it was "proof that Empowered Britney is the best Britney".^[18] Similarly, Gay Times' Daniel Megarry called it "an empowering gay club favourite".^[19] Entertainment Weekly ranked it at number 14 on their ranking of Spears' songs; "['Stronger'] foretold the future, both lyrically (she vowed to do things 'my way') and sonically (the stormy electronic touches hinted at a shift in her Scandi-pop sound). Today, it's the theme song for her resilience".^[20] Rolling Stone hailed it "a dance pop anthem of self-empowerment that is both obviously autobiographical and highly relatable to anyone eager to define themselves as a young adult".^[21] Caryn Ganz from Spin said that "Britney's first self-empowerment anthem is still her best: a strutting finger-wagger that's somehow also a fist-pumper".^[22]

Chart performance[edit]

In the United States, "Stronger" entered the top 40 at number 29 on December 30, 2000.^[23] It also peaked at number 17 on the Top 40 Mainstream chart.^[24] It was also certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).^[25] "Stronger" also peaked at number two on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales component chart, and number 37 on Rhythmic Top 40.^[24] As of June 2012, "Stronger" has sold 415,000 physical units, with 270,000 paid digital downloads in the United States.^[26] It is Spears' third best-selling physical single in the country.^[26]


"Stronger" also achieved commercial success worldwide, reaching number one in Mexico and was the number-one best-selling single in 2001, and reaching number four in Austria and Sweden,^[27] six in Ireland and Switzerland,^[27] and eight in Finland,^[27] while reaching the top 20 in several European countries.^[27] On the week of December 16, 2000, "Stronger" debuted at number seven in The Official Charts Company from the United Kingdom, falling to number 11 in the following week.^[28] In Australia, the song peaked at number 13,^[27] and was later certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), for shipments of more than 70,000 units of the single.^[29] In France, "Stronger" reached number 20, making it the lowest chart position for the song worldwide.^[27] However, it was certified gold by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP), for selling over 250,000 units of the single.^[30] In Germany, the song reached number four on the Media Control Charts, being certified gold by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) for shipping over 250,000 units of the single.^[31]

Source:^[7]