2003 single by Britney Spears
"Me Against the Music" is a song by American singers Britney Spears and Madonna for Spears' fourth studio album, "In the Zone" (2003). It was written by Spears, Madonna, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Thabiso "Tab" Nikhereanye, Penelope Magnet, Terius Nash and Gary O'Brien. The song was released on October 14, 2003, by Jive Records, as the lead single of "In the Zone". After bonding with Spears during a night in New York City, Stewart and Magnet started working on the song for her. During rehearsals for the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, Spears played Madonna the track and asked her to do the song with her.
"Me Against the Music" contains influences of dance-pop, hip hop and usage of funk guitars. Spears and Madonna trade lines during the verses, and Madonna sings the bridge. Lyrically, the song talks about battling the music and the pleasures of letting go on the dancefloor. The song received generally mixed reviews from music critics. Some felt it was a strong dance track of "In the Zone", while others referred to it as lackluster and disappointing. The song was a commercial success, peaking atop of the charts in countries such as Australia, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland and Spain, as well as the European Hot 100 Singles. It also peaked at number two in Canada, Italy, Norway and the United Kingdom, and inside the top five in many other nations. The song won the "Hot Dance Single of the Year" accolade at the 2004 "Billboard" Music Awards.
The accompanying music video for "Me Against the Music" shows Spears and Madonna playing opposites in a nightclub. A cat-and-mouse chase ensues, and Spears finds Madonna in the end, only for the latter to disappear before they kiss. The video received positive reviews from critics, who noted it as symbolic of the sexual roles between the women. Spears has performed the song in a number of live appearances including the 2003 NFL Kickoff Live, "Saturday Night Live", 2003 American Music Awards and "TRL". She has also performed remixed versions with elements of bhangra music at The Onyx Hotel Tour (2004) and The Circus Starring Britney Spears (2009). Spears performed the song on her Las Vegas residency show . "Me Against the Music" has been remixed by Justice, while the music video was recreated by television series "Glee" and included an appearance by Spears.
In 2023, "Billboard"'s staff placed "Me Against the Music" at the 19th position on their 'The 100 Greatest Songs of 2003' list.
Background and writing.
American producers Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and Penelope Magnet, known collectively as RedZone Entertainment, presented Spears with the third song they had written and produced, "Pop Culture Whore". While her management liked the track, she rejected it, telling them the song "sucked". After bonding with Spears during a night in New York City to "get in her world", as Magnet explained, it was easier to "actually write and know what she would and wouldn't say, to know where her real vibe is". Stewart and Magnet began working on the first version of the song; Stewart came up with the track, while Magnet developed the melody on a piano and some of the lyrics. American producer The-Dream became involved after Stewart proposed him to work together on the track for Spears. He explained, "I was just getting into the business. I'm in Atlanta, driving home in a '92 Cadillac, and I get the call [...] I hung up and just screamed out joyous sounds." During the recording sessions, Stewart recalls that the studio's air-conditioning died for three days, but Spears "didn't complain or anything, and for me that shows she's where she is for a reason."
While rehearsing for their performance at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, Spears played a finished version of "Me Against the Music" to Madonna. After Madonna commented that she liked the track, Spears asked her to do the song with her. RedZone then handed "Me Against the Music" to Madonna, who arranged and recorded her vocal additions on her own, therefore making the song a duet. Spears, who has been a Madonna fan for years, was "beyond surprised" when she heard Madonna's verse. She said "I just asked her to do a little thing, but she really went there. She did a lot of stuff to it." Jive Records hoped "Outrageous" would be released as the first single from the album, but Spears pushed for "Me Against the Music". After she performed the song for the first time at the 2003 NFL Kickoff Live, Spears refused to answer if it was the first single from the album, but said that "there are some surprises that are going to come up in the song that I'm really excited about." On September 16, 2003, it was confirmed that "Me Against the Music" would be released as the first single from "In the Zone".
Composition and remixes.
"Me Against the Music" is a dance-pop and hip hop song with "funky guitar riffs" and "rapid-fire singing". The song features Madonna, but was constructed as a duet after she was added to the track. Spears and Madonna trade lines during the verses, and Madonna sings solo in the bridge. Stewart described the sound as "half-rapping, half-singing" and "beat-driven". According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, "Me Against the Music" is set in a moderate dance beat, with a tempo of 120 beats per minute. Spears's vocal range span from the low-note of G2 to the high-note of B4. Gavin Mueller of "Stylus Magazine" deemed Spears's vocals as "sexy and sultry" and compared them to those of Prince.
In the song, Spears and Madonna sing of the pleasures of letting go on the dancefloor, in lyrics such as "I'm up against the speaker / Trying to take on the music / It's like a competition". Spears explained the concept of the song as "basically about just going to a club and letting yourself go and battling with whoever is around you and battling against the music as well." Magnet continued, saying, "Like she was hearing the music and trying to out-dance the track or out-beat the drum or out-pluck the guitar. It's as if she's in the club, losing herself in the music." William Shaw of "Blender" stated Madonna's verse could be interpreted as her passing the baton to a new talent, as well as "a taunt from the old guard to the uptight youngster."
A number of remixes were commissioned by Jive Records to accompany the release. The Australian CD singles included remixes by artists such Peter Rauhofer, Rishi Rich, Passengerz and Terminalhead. The US CD single also contained remixes by Trak Starz, Gabriel &amp; Dresden, Bloodshy &amp; Avant and Kanye West. The Rishi Rich's Desi Kulcha Remix was later included in the track list of "In the Zone". The remix removes the original melody of the song and adds a clattering backbeat and Punjabi shouts. Kelefa Sanneh of "The New York Times" called the remix "excellent", noting that it is "so frenetic you barely notice Ms. Spears and Madonna – it's odd to hear two such ubiquitous figures sounding so anonymous." There are two remixes released which do not feature Madonna; the Bloodshy &amp; Avant's Chix Mix was released on Spears's first EP accompanying the "Britney Spears: In the Zone" video, while the DragonMan Remix appears on the "Dare for More" Pepsi promotional CD, the "New Divas 2004" compilation album and the Japan Tour edition of "Glory". Spears had also contacted Outkast to remix "Me Against the Music" but the remix was not released.
Critical response.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic selected "Me Against the Music" as one of the 'track picks' from "In the Zone". Caryn Ganz of "Spin" called the song "a fine specimen of Britney 4.0 – a fast-paced dance anthem, all grinding percussion shuttling through a traffic jam of synths." Dave De Sylvia of Sputnikmusic said that "Aside from numerous rather awful name-dropping passages and a disappointing chorus, the track is an ideal way to open the album. It's an up-tempo dance track with a big name attached; what else could you ask for?" Sal Cinquemani of "Slant Magazine" deemed it as "arguably one of Britney's finest moments and one of her mentor's worst". Nick Southall of "Stylus Magazine" said that "Madonna vamps it up (literally – her appearance here is not Sapphic but vampiric, the wizened old crone bleeding another period of forced longevity into her career like a cruenating corpse leaking plasma backwards) on 'Me Against The Music', but can't make it a bad tune." Gavin Mueller, also writing for "Stylus Magazine", said that the single "benefits from a kinetic garage-inspired beat, even when a tepid Madonna threatens to spoil the fun."
Spence D. of "IGN" commented, "Initially catchy, it's ultimately forgettable other than it's the musical counterpart/fallout to/from the duo's lip lock publicity stunt on the 2003 MTV Music Video Awards." Jamie Gill of Yahoo! Music Radio stated that "Madonna's appearance on the brilliantly titled but deeply dreary 'Me Against The Music' was a postmodern prank designed to make all sane listeners think 'actually, "American Life" was pretty good, after all.'" While reviewing "The Singles Collection", Mayer Nissim of Digital Spy said that "the only arguable weak link is the Madonna-featuring 'Me Against The Music', but in this context what once looked like a respectful passing of the baton now seems like an unconditional surrender of pop Queendom to its rightful heir." David Browne of "Entertainment Weekly" called "Me Against the Music" "the album's coy, overly busy single". Dorian Lynskey of "The Guardian" noted it as "the only duff track" of the album. Jon Pareles of "Rolling Stone" wrote, "Madonna shows up in the album's first song, 'Me Against the Music', as if endorsing Spears's foray into come-hither posing and club-land beats."
Larry Flick from "The Advocate" denounced the track as an "'Into the Groove' redux". He added that the song "propels the listener into Spears' collaborations with heavy-hitting producers. There's nary a hint of her pristine pop past on Kelly's hip-grinding 'Outrageous' or Perry's 'Girls &amp; Boys'. Instead Spears swims through dark, often hip-hop hued waters with occasional forays into minor keyed electro dance terrain." Ali Fenwick of "The Johns Hopkins News-Letter" said, "Despite bringing out the big guns in a duet with Madonna, 'Me Against The Music' is not danceable, the measure of success in any pop tune." Linda McGee of RTÉ.ie commented that although much of the content of "In the Zone" is "catchy", "it is hard to see any potential singles impressing as much as 'Me Against The Music'." Kelefa Sanneh of "The New York Times" deemed it as "an odd, overstuffed track, not so much a song as a series of party chants". Mim Udovitch of "Blender" called it "lackluster". While ranking Madonna's singles in honor of her 60th birthday, "The Guardian"'s Jude Rogers placed the song at number 71, writing that "[Madonna] is usually better when she's striding alone. This duet with Britney is all raunch and no solid roots".
Commercial performance.
On October 25, 2003, "Me Against the Music" debuted at number 50 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. It was Spears' 10th chart hit, as well as the first of her entries that she had co-written. "Me Against the Music" was incidentally Madonna's 50th chart entry, 20 years after her first appearance on the Hot 100 with "Holiday" the week of October 29, 1983. It was also the first song in chart history to credit Madonna as a featured artist, and her first chart entry not produced by her since "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" in 1996. On the issue dated November 29, 2003, "Me Against the Music" peaked at number 35. On the component charts, the song peaked at the top of Hot Dance Club Songs, becoming her first song to do so, and at number 11 on Pop Songs. It won the "Hot Dance Single of the Year" accolade at the 2004 "Billboard" Music Awards. In June 2012, Nielsen Soundscan reported that "Me Against the Music" sold 60,000 physical copies and 281,000 digital downloads in the US. "Me Against the Music" also peaked at number two on the Canadian Singles Chart.
In Australia, "Me Against the Music" debuted at number one on November 17, 2003, replacing Kylie Minogue's "Slow", and remained at the top for two weeks. It was