Why Britney Spears Hates Her ‘Gimme More’ Video

Music

Britney Spears has some major issues with "Gimme More." Regardless, one could argue that "Gimme More" influenced other pop stars like Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Lana Del Rey.

Published on July 4, 2024

2 min read

Britney Spears' "Gimme More" is one of her most famous songs, but it didn't produce one of her most popular music videos. In her memoir, Spears said she had some major issues with the clip. Regardless, one could argue that "Gimme More" influenced other pop stars like Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Lana Del Rey.

Britney Spears shot 'Gimme More' casually in bars

Spears gave us some of the most iconic music videos ever, such as "…Baby One More Time," "Toxic," and "Womanizer." Not all of her music videos were winners. Her clip for "Gimme More" is a lot less elaborate than her best work. In "Gimme More," Spears plays an exotic dancer, but rather than dancing, she mostly walks around a stripper pole while camera angles try to make her look like she's busting a move.

In her 2023 memoir The Woman in Me, Spears acknowledged that she took a different approach to "Gimme More" than her previous videos. "After years of being meticulous, trying to please my mom and my dad, it was my time to say 'F*** you,'" she recalled. "I quit doing business the way I always had before. I started doing videos on the street myself. I would go into bars with a friend, and the friend would just bring a camera, and that's how we shot 'Gimme More.'"

Britney Spears doesn't like anything about the music video

The "I'm a Slave 4 U" singer had some regrets. "To be clear, I'm not saying I'm proud of it," she said. "'Gimme More' is by far the worst video I've ever shot in my life. I don't like it at all — it's so tacky.

"It looks like we only spent three thousand dollars to shoot it," she added. "And yet, even though it was bad, it worked for what it was. And the more I started going and doing things myself, the more interesting people started noticing and wanting to work with me. I wound up randomly finding really good people, just by word of mouth."

The music video for "Gimme More" isn't great, but it started a trend. Since then, several pop stars have played exotic dancers in music videos. Examples include Beyoncé in "Partition," Rihanna in "Pour It Up," and Lana Del Rey in the short film Tropico. Spears' simple concept turned out to be easy to mimic.

'Gimme More' was the most popular song on a classic album

"Gimme More" reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 20 weeks. The track appeared on the record Blackout. That record is often considered the best of Spears' career and a classic pop album.

While critics and fans love Blackout, it didn't produce any top 10 singles besides "Gimme More." The other singles from the album were "Piece of Me" and "Break the Ice." The former reached No. 18 and the latter reached No. 43. The singles from Blackout weren't all juggernauts, so the album lost the battle. But it won the war. Nowadays, everyone recognizes Blackout's brilliance and influence on other artists like Fergie and Lady Gaga.

"Gimme More" doesn't have a great music video but it's part of one of the most widely respected pop albums ever.