Britney Spears has released 'She'll Never Be Me,' a previously unheard track originally recorded for her 2001 album Britney and co-written with then-boyfriend Justin Timberlake. The song will be included on the 25th anniversary edition of the album, set for release on November 6, alongside other unreleased recordings and original hit tracks.
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A track left off Britney Spears' third album — the 2001 record titled Britney — surfaced publicly over the weekend under the title "She'll Never Be Me," having gone unheard since its original recording sessions. Justin Timberlake, who was in a relationship with Spears at the time, contributed to the songwriting process.
The track's lyrics centre on a former partner whose new companion mirrors Spears' appearance — from hair colour down to attire — with the verses conveying that she considers herself irreplaceable and that her ex-boyfriend remains unable to move past their relationship, a theme carried through both the verses and the chorus.
The album Britney, upon its release, was described by some observers as pointing toward a more grown-up artistic phase for the singer, who was 19 at the time and had two prior records — Baby One More Time and Oops! — already behind her. "What It's Like to Be Me," a track born from a joint writing and production session between the two, rounded out the album's Timberlake collaborations. Positioned as the final entry on the original album, that track brought the record to a close.
Their relationship, which took shape in 1999, had run its course by March 2002 when Spears and Timberlake went their separate ways. The track "Cry Me a River," put out by Timberlake in the wake of the pair's split, drew widespread public interpretation as a pointed musical reply aimed at Spears. A lookalike of Spears appeared in the accompanying video, while the track's lyrics centred on a man who chose not to take back an ex-girlfriend upon learning she had been unfaithful.
The weekend release of "She'll Never Be Me" comes ahead of an expanded anniversary edition of Britney. The expanded edition carries 25 tracks in total, drawing on charted titles such as "I'm a Slave 4 U," "Overprotected," "Lonely," and "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman," while three vault recordings — "Am I a Sinner," "When I Say So," and "My Big Secret," the last of which came together under Neptunes production — round out material that had never before reached listeners.
A post dated 30 September on Spears' Facebook account indicated that additional content would roll out on a weekly basis ahead of the anniversary album's scheduled November release. As of her 44th birthday year, Spears had posted nothing on her social media platforms addressing the track that was released recently.
Glory, the studio album carrying new material that she put out in 2016, marked her most recent collection of original recordings. Spears has made clear on multiple occasions that a return to live performances is not something she plans to pursue, even following the release. Seven and a half years after her Piece of Me world tour drew to a close, she declared in January that performing on American soil was no longer something she would do. On 21 October 2018, a concert stage in Austin, Texas, hosted what would turn out to be her final appearance before a live audience. Spears also told interviewers that year that any return to the music industry was not something she planned to pursue.