Slayyyter Said Britney Spears’ ‘Everytime’ Is More Meaningful Now

Music

Slayyyter makes pop music for wild nights at the club. It's surprising she covered Britney Spears' "Everytime," one of the most delicate and low-tech ballads from the Princess of Pop.

Published on July 11, 2024

2 min read

Slayyyter makes pop music for wild nights at the club. With that in mind, it's a little surprising she covered Britney Spears' "Everytime," one of the most delicate and low-tech ballads from the Princess of Pop. During an interview. Slayyyter said that "Everytime" has a layer of meaning now that it lacked when it came out in 2003.  In addition, Slayyyter named the two Spears songs that influenced her the most.

Slayyyter revealed her interpretation of Britney Spears' 'Everytime'

Slayyyter is such a massive fan of Spears that one of her most famous songs is a rap version of "Gimme More." Furthermore, it's impossible to listen to Slayyyter's other songs without being reminded of 2000s/2010s dance-pop queens like Spears, Fergie, and Lady Gaga. However, Slayyyter took an unexpected route by covering "Everytime." During a 2019 interview with Paper, she revealed her feelings about the soft ballad. 

"It's such a beautiful and sad song, one of my all-time favorites of hers," she said. "I chose it because it relates a lot to how I have been feeling lately. It's sorrowful, apologetic, but also has an underlying theme of feeling small and helpless. I think everyone feels that way sometimes."

Slayyyter noted that "Everytime" was "definitely known to be about her breakup with Justin Timberlake, but I think now it holds even greater significance." She also connected the lyrics of "Everytime" to the controversies surrounding Spears' conservatorship. "Britney sings about feeling like she can't escape someone or something. I think it tells a bigger story now," she opined. While the original "Everytime" showed off a more vulnerable and honest side of Spears, the cover shows off a more vulnerable and honest side of Slayyyter.

Slayyyter was asked which Spears songs sound most like her own. She chose the sexy club jams "Gimme More" and "Boys." "They both definitely inspire my music the most," Slayyyter said. "But let me go on record to say I could never write anything as good as either of those tracks! No one can ever do it like Britney."

A critic said 'Everytime' is better than most of the Princess of Pop's hits

While Spears' music is rarely supposed to be emotional, "Everytime" was acclaimed by critics. In 2022, Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield ranked all 170 songs Spears recorded. He placed "Everytime" at No. 9 on his list, ahead of big hits like "Circus," "Till the World Ends," and "Oops!… I Did It Again." 

Sheffield said "Everytime" could be seen as the flipside of "Cry Me a River," Timberlake's angry song about Spears' infidelity. On the other hand, Sheffield chose to interpret "Everytime" as a more personal song about finding strength through hard times. Spears has repeatedly been accused of producing nothing but plastic pop, but "Everytime" is one of the rare radio singles that feels like a peek into an artist's soul. That probably explains why it's been covered by so many singers, including Slayyyter, Kelly Clarkson, and Lewis Capaldi.

"Everytime" was one of Spears' most daring and moving songs and Slayyyter reminded us all why it got the mascara running for so many teenage girls in the 2000s.