Has red pleather ever looked so appealing?
Despite that iconic catsuit dominating the video for Britney Spears’ Oops!... I Did It Again, the 2000 release is still regarded not only as one of the US star’s standout releases – but also one of the best pop singles of the new millennium.
Serving as the bridge between cute Baby-One-More-Time-Britney and sexy Slave-4-U-Britney, that chorus of “I’m not that innocent” was a clue as to the direction the then-18-year-old star was heading.
Two decades later, she’s still serving up killer pop releases and packing ’em in at her recent Las Vegas residency, where Oops!... was one of the show’s highlights.
As part of HuffPost UK’s Pop! Goes The Millennium series, we’re celebrating one of Britney’s finest with 16 facts you didn’t know about the mega hit, as her album of the same name turns 20...
1. It is the optimum length for a pop song
It is a scientific fact* that pop songs that last 3 minutes and 30 seconds are always destined for greatness.
*not actually scientific fact.
2. The song features an inside joke
That weird spoken bit in the middle of the song about the diamond being dropped into the ocean? Writer and producer Max Martin thought it would be funny to reference the Titanic movie in the bridge of the song. Twenty years later and the rest of us are still asking “why?”.
3. The whole concept of the video was Britney’s idea
She later commented: ”[I wanted] to be on Mars, dancing on Mars” and ”[I wanted] to be in a red jumpsuit”. Mission accomplished.
4. The iconic red-latex catsuit that Britney wears in the video was a last minute addition
Director Nigel Dick, who also directed the …Baby One More Time clip, recalls: “There was another catsuit, actually, which was fantastic, which I loved, and the night before, I was told that Britney hired this guy that worked with Michael Jackson, and so we’re going to use that catsuit. So that’s the catsuit.”
5. Britney was injured on the set of the video
During filming she was struck on the head by a falling camera and needed four stitches, but was back to work straight afterwards. Oops.
6. Britney still had a lot of fun filming the video
Despite that head injury...
7. Jack and Grace paid homage to the video – and choreography – in an episode of Will And Grace…
Skills.
8. Fast-forward a few years and Miley Cyrus did too...
Miley gave a nod to the red latex jumpsuit Britney wears in the video in the clip for her 2019 single Mother’s Daughter.
9. Oops!... was nominated for a Grammy and a Kids’ Choice Award
But Britney lost out to Macy Gray’s I Try in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 2001 Grammys, and was pipped to the post by Who Let The Dogs Out? by the Baha Men at the 2001 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards. Seriously, people.
10. The song has been covered many, many times
Including by James Corden (and Britney, obviously) when she joined him for Carpool Karaoke
11. As well as Selena Gomez
Selena and her band The Scene performed the song every night during their We Own the Night Tour in 2011. Selena also treated fans to this, errrm, unique take, on Instagram…
12. Lea Michele’s character Rachel Berry later had a stab at it on Glee too
It featured in the episode Britney 2.0 in 2012
13. Even Britney’s sister Jamie Lynn got in on the Oops action...
Yeah, we’ll stick to the original.
14. But the definitive cover version belongs to...
Rivalling the original, we think you’ll agree.
15. But even Jedward’s version wasn’t as bad as this monstrosity...
Good lord.
16. The song’s cultural significance continues
British singer Anne-Marie referenced it in the chorus of her hit 2018 single, 2002. She was two years out, but hey, who’s counting?