The Writer of Britney Spears’ Worst Song Reveals What the Heck He Was Thinking

Music

Britney Spears has released many songs over the years centered around weird concepts. Only one of the Princess of Pop's songs is about e-mailing someone.

Published on July 11, 2024

2 min read

Britney Spears has released many songs over the years centered around weird concepts. Only one of the Princess of Pop's songs is about e-mailing someone. The writer of Spears' "E-Mail My Heart" revealed what he was thinking when he wrote the infamous track and said he has some regrets about it.

The writer of Britney Spears' worst song was hoping nobody would notice the track

Spears' 1999 debut album, …Baby One More Time, was heavily marketed to teenagers. E-mail probably seemed cool back then, but the idea of e-mailing your heart would have sounded ridiculous. Nevertheless, songwriter Eric Foster White penned Spears a ballad called "E-Mail My Heart." While "…Baby One More Time" encapsulates everything great about the late 1990s, "E-Mail My Heart" is a reminder of why easy listening hasn't made a comeback. Spears' committed vocal performance only makes the track more embarrassing.

During a 2019 interview with Slate, White explained how the bizarre track came together. "As a concept, the song was meant to be an update to a succession of songs ('Please Mr. Postman,' 'Dial My Heart') that tied popular forms of communication with a love interest, he recalled. "Anything 'not done before' is almost automatically a hit candidate. Of course, most of them are not hits. And now we are drowning in hundreds of songs about texting and social media."

White was asked how fans reacted to "E-Mail My Heart" when it came out. "As an album track and not a single, it didn't really 'come out,'" he replied. "I hoped no one would notice it, haha."

Eric Foster White did write 1 good song for Britney Spears

While "E-Mail My Heart" is going to look more dated with each passing day, White was proud of one of his contributions to …Baby One More Time. "I had a No. 1 selling single on the album, 'From the Bottom of My Broken Heart,' which was also a ballad but a far better song and production," he said. "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart" isn't well-remembered today, but it was actually one of Spears' bigger ballads.

In addition to writing some of Spears' early tunes, White was also behind tracks by Whitney Houston, the Backstreet Boys, and Hi-Five. White was asked which of his songs made him the most proud. "Best question," he responded. "Every songwriter has a file of songs that never found their way to the public. Sometimes their personal favorite is in there. My favorite is somewhere in that file." 

What Rolling Stone thought of the song

"E-Mail My Heart" is a tacky curiosity at best. In 2022, Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield took on the arduous task of ranking all 170 songs Spears recorded. He put "E-Mail My Heart" at No. 168 on the list. No. 170 was "Chillin' With U," Spears' duet with her sister, Nickelodeon star Jamie Lynn Spears, while No. 169 was Spears' overproduced Will.i.am collaboration "Big Fat Bass." At least these regrettable tracks were never issued as a single.

"E-Mail My Heart" is to Spears' discography what the Star Wars Holiday Special is to a galaxy far, far away. Most people have not heard of either of them. Meanwhile, the hardcore fans will never forget them for all the wrong reasons.