Britney Spears and Will.i.am’s ‘Mind Your Business’ divides the internet: ‘Britney deserved better’
Britney Spears’ new song ‘Mind Your Business’ is a flip-off to the haters. (Epic Records)
Britney Spears has a very simple message for all the trolls and gossips out there, and she’s delivering it via song in the form of a new single with Will.i.am, “Mind Your Business”.
Despite not releasing a solo album since 2016’s startlingly good effort Glory, pop princess Britney Spears has been very, very busy.
Of course, she’s been through hell and back in her bid to free herself from her 13-year-long conservatorship, which saw her father Jamie Spears placed in control of her finances, work, and personal freedom.
In 2021, she was finally freed from the controversial legal order, meaning she could marry her now-husband Sam Asghari and begin to rebuild her life.
That process included having “a lot of therapy” to unpack the trauma caused by the conservatorship and putting her experiences on paper in a brand new memoir, The Woman In Me, released this October.
On the music side of things, things have been a little quieter, though not completely silent. In August last year, she teamed up with gay music legend Elton John on “Hold Me Closer” – a remake of his ‘70s hit “Tiny Dancer”.
The track hit the top five on music charts globally, and evidently inspired Britney to get back into the studio, as one year on, and she’s just dropped her brand new single “Mind Your Business” with The Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am.
“Mind Your Business” is an electronic earworm and a flip-off to the paparazzi who have tracked Britney’s every move for the past 25 years.
“Uptown, downtown, everywhere I turn around, Hollywood, London, snap-snap is the sound,” she sings on the second verse, before the Shakespearean chorus kicks in: “Mind your B, mind your B, mind your B, mind your B”.
Will.i.am began teasing the song on social media on Monday (17 July), sharing a short clip featuring a snippet of his 2012 Britney collaboration, “Scream & Shout”.
“You are now, now, rocking with, Will.i.am and Britney Bitch,” the audio began, before merging into a new clip of Britney singing: “Mind your business, b**ch!”
Before the single dropped, fans were torn: on the one side, many were besotted by the idea of new Britney music in any capacity, with the hashtag #BritneyIsComing trending for hours after the song was announced.
On the flipside, some fans were concerned about the song, with many questioning whether it would be a castoff from her poorly-received 2013 record Britney Jean, which Will.i.am executively produced.
Since its release a decade ago, Britney Jean has been steeped in controversy, with many fans believing that Britney is not the lead vocalist on most of the album’s tracks. The popular fan theory, though denied by Britney’s team, is that Britney back-up singer Myah Marie was the lead vocalist on the majority of the album.
As rumours about the release of “Mind Your Business” gathered wind last weekend, fans dug up an old clip of Marie referencing a song about “business” that Will.i.am wrote for Britney Jean. Putting two and two together, fans believed the so-called new single is actually a reworked version of a Britney Jean reject.
However, since the single dropped today (21 July), fans are convinced that Myah Marie doesn’t feature on the song, but many feel that some artificial intelligence (AI) maybe have been involved.
Reactions to the song are firmly split down the middle, with some fans simply coming together to enjoy the release of a new Britney “bop”, while others are wishing the track had stayed locked in the vault.
“Mind Your Business is so truly awful that it just might be good,” one fan wrote on social media. “I need to hear it in the club to form a final opinion but it’s certainly memorable if nothing else.”
“I wasn’t sure I was feeling this from the first snippet I heard but I kinda get it now,” another shared. “She just wants people to mind their business, like, message received!”
“Song of the decade, no lies,” a third fan declared.
There’s a pretty hefty number of fans airing their disappointment with the song, too.
“Can they unrelease it?,” one fan questioned, while another asserted that “this is NOT the Britney production and sound I know she’s able to produce”.
“Not really feeling it. It sounds so dated,” another fan shared.
“Mind Your Business” is out now.
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