“Me Against the Music”
Single by Britney Spears featuring Madonna from the album In the Zone
Released	October 20, 2003 November 10, 2003
Format	CD maxi, 12" vinyl
Recorded	Early 2003
Genre	Dance-pop, alternative hip hop
Length	3:43
Label	Jive
Writer(s)	Britney Spears, Madonna, Christopher Stewart, Penelope Magnet, Thabiso Nikhereanye, Terius Nash, Gary O'Brien
Producer	Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Penelope Magnet
Certification	Platinum (ARIA)
Britney Spears singles chronology
"That's Where You Take Me" (2003) "Me Against The Music" (2003) "Toxic" (2004)
Madonna chronology
"Hollywood" (2003) "Me against the Music" (2003) "Nothing Fails" (2003)
Alternate cover
Australia Limited Edition CD 2

"Me Against the Music" is a song performed by Britney Spears featuring Madonna. The song was written by Spears and Madonna along with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Penelope Magnet, Thabiso Nikhereanye, Terius "The-Dream" Nash, and Gary O'Brien for Spears' fourth studio album In the Zone (2003). It became Spears' first number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart, which she would also top with her next single, "Toxic", as well as all singles from Blackout (2007). "Me Against the Music" won the Billboard Music Award for Best-Selling Dance Single of the Year.

Making the song

Stewart and Magnet presented "Pop Culture Whore", the third song they had written and produced, to Spears, and though her management liked the track, Spears rejected it. After spending a day with Spears to "get in her world", the pair began working on a new track, with Magnet writing the lyrics and melody on a piano. The song was designed as a sort of battle between Spears and the song, what Magnet described as "trying to out-dance the track or out-beat the drum or out-pluck the guitar…as if she's…losing herself in the music."¹

Originally, this song was not planned on being the first single from In the Zone, and when it was then decided it would be the first single, a completely different version was in mind. Jive Records was planning on releasing "Outrageous" as the lead off single. They felt that it was urban enough to become a hit across most formats, and they also had to fulfill a contract with R.Kelly who produced the song, which obligated them to release the song as a single. However, Spears felt that the song wasn't strong enough to be the first single and lobbied for 'Me Against the Music'. The original version that Spears had in mind did not include Madonna on the song. When Spears finally got her way, all was set to release the single. However, during rehearsals for the 2003 Video Music Awards in which Spears would perform with Madonna, Spears let Madonna listen to the song to get an opinion on it. Madonna took a sample of the track from Britney and recorded her vocals over the song and some others that she herself had written and then sent it back to Britney. Britney being a big fan of Madonna was thrilled that Madonna had recorded herself on the track hence why it became the first single to be released from the In the Zone album.

Music video

Madonna and Britney Spears in "Me Against the Music" video.

The video was directed by Paul Hunter. The video itself reached number one on the TRL Countdown and stayed there for a record-breaking twenty consecutive days. However, the record was beaten in 2005 by Kelly Clarkson with her hit "Behind These Hazel Eyes". It was filmed from October 8-10, 2003 at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, New York.

• Director: Paul Hunter
• Producer: Veronica Zelle
• Director of Photography: Thomas Kloss
• Editor: Dustin Robertson
• Production Company: HSI/Mars Media Inc.

Parodies

• MadTV created a parody called "Me Against Madonna," which received most of its humor at the expense of Madonna's age. In the video, Madonna (Mo Collins) turns out to be a vampire and eventually drains the youth of Britney (Nicole Parker). The fake director of the video was Guy Ritchie, Madonna's then husband.

French and Saunders made a parody of the video, mainly showing how ridiculous the dance routines involving the bedframe were for women of a certain age, meaning Madonna, and ridiculed the swing scenes as well as some of Britneys robotic, mellow lyrics in the song.

Chart performance

"Me Against the Music" was marketed to become Spears' comeback single in the United States, after a year-long hiatus from the music scene and no substantial U.S. hits since 2001. While the song didn't break records of any sorts, it made Spears' musical presence known once again.

The single reached a peak of number thirty-five on the Billboard Hot 100 and it became her first top forty hit since "I'm a Slave 4 U" in 2001 but it was her worst performance for a lead single of a studio album on the chart to date. On the component charts, it peaked the top of the Hot 100 Singles Sales.

"Me Against the Music" was a huge international success, reaching the top three in many of the countries in which it charted. It was a chart success in the UK making #2, however it only managed to sell a surprisingly low 126,136 copies,² and it was a major hit for Spears in Australia, being her first number-one since "Oops!... I Did It Again".

The song was her fourth number-one hit on the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles, it topped the chart for three consecutive week.

Certifications

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Me against the Music".²

Remixes

References

External links

• Me Against the Music by Britney Spears
• Britney Spears — Official Web Site
• Madonna — Official Web Site