One of the pop princesses videos was revised after MTV obtained the original version.
Britney Spears first entered America’s living rooms when she was a cast member on The All New Mickey Mouse Club. Future pop star Justin Timberlake was also a mouseketeer on the show. The two would reconnect once their music careers took off and began a romantic relationship.
After their breakup, Timberlake released the song “Cry Me A River,” which many believed to be about Spears. On Spears’ next album, she wrote a song titled “Everytime,” which many believed to be about Timberlake.
However, it was the video for “Everytime” which caused the biggest controversy. After the treatment was obtained by MTV News, a backlash ensued. This caused the storyline to be revised for the final video.
Britney’s Relationship And Breakup With Justin Timberlake Made Headlines
When Spears was a child, she appeared on The All New Mickey Mouse Club. During her time on the show, Spears met Justin Timberlake, a fellow mouseketeer. Timberlake and Spears developed a bond while working together on the show. According to Spears, she even shared her first kiss with Timberlake while playing truth or dare with the rest of the cast.
After the show ended, Spears and Timberlake went their separate ways. However, when Spears began her music career, the two reunited when Spears opened for NSYNC on tour. Spears and Timberlake eventually developed a romantic relationship.
Spears and Timberlake would become the hottest celebrity couple of the moment. However, the two would break up officially in 2002, with rumors suggesting Spears cheated on Timberlake with choreographer Wade Robson.
Timberlake seemed to confirm the cheating rumors in the lyrics to his solo hit “Cry Me A River.” In the video, Timberlake cast a Spears look-a-like and whether knowingly or not, fueled speculation about the reasons for their breakup.
After Britney’s Split With Justin, She Wrote A Song Many Believed Was About Him
In 2003, Spears released her fourth album “In The Zone.” The album spawned the hit “Toxic” as well as her collaboration with Madonna, “Me Against The Music.”
However, the song that got the most attention prior to its release was the ballad “Everytime.” The song was written by Spears and Annette Stamatelatos. The lyrics are from the perspective of someone reflecting on a past relationship and missing their former partner.
Many pointed to the lyric, “My weakness caused you pain/And this song’s my sorry.” People speculated that this was Spears’ way of confirming the cheating rumors and apologizing to Timberlake. At the time, Spears said she would rather let the song speak for itself.
In a 2003 interview with HipOnline, Spears explained the song’s process.
“Well the main thing — like with ‘Everytime’ I wrote the whole thing from scratch on the piano,” Spears said. “Musically there was no track or anything. I was just at my house and I did the whole thing by myself. And then I went and I played it for (Guy Sigsworth) and I just basically told him exactly how I wanted the song to sound. And he was so amazing because there’s a lot of producers you tell them things and they don’t get it. And you’re like oh, that’s not the right way. He got it just right. He was amazing. And so that song specifically, you know, I did everything.”
She continued, “But as far as like, you know, the other songs I would go in to the studio and they would play me just a bunch of different tracks. And I would pick a track that I liked. And then I would basically do the melodies and the words and they would do the tracks.”
“And like if I heard sounds here or there,in my head that thought should be there, they would elaborate on. And if they wanted streams here, and more of a baseline here they would do it. So that’s kind of how it worked. But musically, I didn’t do a lot of the tracks. That’s something that I really want to probably learn on the next album. But for the most part I did most of the melody and just the words.”
The Original ‘Everytime’ Music Video Treatment Was Misinterpreted By Many To Be About Suicide
In 2004, “Everytime” was set to be released as the third single from “In The Zone.” This obviously meant a music video would be filmed for the song. However, when MTV News obtained the treatment for the video, there was backlash.
The original concept featured Spears and a boyfriend being hounded by paparazzi while trying to enter a hotel. When the two make it up to their room, they get into a big fight, leading Spears to head to the bathroom.
MTV News wrote about what happened next, writing that “the camera angles start to add a bit of mystery.”
“A hand lays down a glass of red wine, water trickles around the cracks of tile, the bathtub overflows, and on the ledge stands a bottle of pills, the cap removed,” the outlet reported.
“Spears’ head slips underwater, and only then does her boyfriend, who had been watching television, start to notice. As he tries to revive her, the camera tracks a new Britney, alive and unharmed, walking past him, out of the room and out of the hotel. The paparazzi, still swarming at the back entrance, don’t seem to register this Britney, and she disappears into the night.”
After the treatment leaked, people perceived the video to be portraying suicide. However, Spears’ label released a statement clarifying not only was it never intended to be a suicide, but the treatment would be revised.
“Britney Spears was uncomfortable with these treatments due to the potential for a fictional accidental occurrence to be misinterpreted as a suicide,” the statement read. “Ms. Spears revised the treatment to ensure the video for ‘Everytime’ will not have a scene in it that could in any way be perceived as a reference to a suicide.”
When the video premiered in April of that year, Spears’ drowning was due to a head wound she suffered from a paparazzo’s camera. Afterward, a baby is seen being born in a hospital. After the video premiered on TRL, Spears explained it was about “reincarnation.”
