(McFarlane, Audino, Warbrick, Hughes, Asher, Fontana)
Album: Mood Ring (By Demand) – Single / Glory (Deluxe/International Editions)
Spears has a frustrating habit of hiding some of her best work by relegating them to bonus tracks on deluxe or international releases of her albums, almost ensuring perpetual obscurity. That “Mood Ring” was initially released only as a bonus track on the Japanese release of Glory was an injustice. It deserved to be the album’s lead single over “Make Me.” It had superior vocals, lyrics, and production. Spears sounds incredible on the track, operating mostly in her lower register and conveying a vulnerability over the trap-inspired electropop beat. Whereas many of these bonus tracks remain known only within Britney fandom, somehow a #JusticeForGlory campaign in the late spring of 2020 gave the album and this previously obscure track a single release on streaming platforms internationally. Though it didn’t make a major chart impact, it did top the iTunes chart for several days, outselling even the recently released “Rain on Me” by Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande. But it failed to make the same impact on Spotify and Apple Music in a streaming-dominated world. Still, it was a proud showing and a small vindication for the 4-year-old track, a testament to its timeless quality. It deserved a music video though.
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