Britney Spears has put out a piece of her past: "She'll Never Be Me," a song she wrote with Justin Timberlake and recorded in 2001, has now been released, Rolling Stone reported. It comes from the sessions for her third studio album, Britney, and will be one of five additional songs on the record's 25th anniversary edition, due Nov. 6.
The release lands at an unusual moment. Spears has said she will not return to the music industry, and Rolling Stone noted that she has kept to that stance. Earlier this year she also sold the rights to her music catalog to the independent publisher Primary Wave. The price was not disclosed.
A track left unfinished
According to the report, the song was never completed and was dropped from Britney so other material could take priority. The album's producer, Alex Greggs, who works as Riprock 'n' Alex G, discussed its history in 2022 on The Original Doll podcast. He said the label's opinion was not the reason it was left off.
"The song didn't go on the album not because the label didn't like it," Greggs said on the podcast, adding that there was simply stronger material available.
Rolling Stone described the album as funky, erratic and firmly of its moment, shaped by the pop landscape that followed "Oops! ... I Did It Again." Its biggest hit was "I'm a Slave 4 U," and it also included "Overprotected," "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" and "Lonely." Timberlake also wrote, and co-produced, the deep cut "What It's Like to Be Me."
Timberlake in the background
Timberlake sang background vocals on "She'll Never Be Me," and the arrangement is built around the two voices layered together. Greggs said listeners sometimes miss Timberlake's part until it is pointed out to them. He felt the voices blended well and called it a shame the pair never made more music together, imagining a sweetheart-style duet.
Greggs also tied that to the timing of the era, when 'NSync was still active. He said it simply was not the right moment, though he believed something might have happened had the group stayed together.
Context and what comes next
Spears wrote about the end of her relationship with Timberlake in her 2023 memoir, The Woman in Me. She said the split left her devastated and that she considered leaving music behind. The two were a couple from 1999 until 2002. Rolling Stone made clear, however, that her eventual exit from the industry had nothing to do with Timberlake.
That break followed the 2021 end of the 14-year conservatorship that had controlled areas of her life including her finances and career. After it ended, Spears said stepping away from her music was her own form of protest, since the work mainly benefited her family.
For now, the anniversary edition of Britney is the next marker. It arrives Nov. 6, and "She'll Never Be Me" is one of five bonus songs, giving fans a look at a recording that sat unfinished for a quarter century.
Reporting sources: Music News, “Britney Spears Just Released a 2001 Song She Wrote With Justin Timberlake”.