(Spears, Burns, Janiak, Gillum)
Album: Make Me – Single / Glory
Up through 2015, the lead singles for all Spears’s albums were generally high-octane affairs. Until “Make Me” landed in 2016, the most “laid back” lead single in her discography was arguably “…Baby One More Time.” But Britney slowed things down for her first Glory single, delivering this woozy, sensual mid-tempo ballad. The song is a slow build and puts some of her best falsettos on display, making up for the paradoxically anticlimactic chorus. “Make Me” also marked the third straight single Spears released with a featured artist, and unfortunately G-Eazy seems like an unnecessary addition (although the 2016 VMA mash-up with his hit “Me, Myself, & I” puts his talents to better use). It also marks the third time Spears had co-writing credits on one of her album’s lead single. Though the song is a solid offering from Spears, some stumbles during the album rollout including an abandoned music video and a scrapped album cover shoot stalled the momentum a bit. We may never know why the elaborate, steamy David LaChapelle concept was eventually thrown out in favor of a pared down Randee St. Nicholas-directed video, but we do know that “Make Me” marked Britney’s triumphant return to the VMA stage and kicked off one of her best, most cohesive albums since Blackout.
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