Britney Spears is back on top. Or maybe, considering the song, she’s in different position.
Billboard reports that Spears’ new single, “3,” will debut at the top of its Hot 100 pop chart on Thursday. Amazingly, it’s only her third No. 1, after “… Baby One More Time” and last year’s “Womanizer.” (Yep, “Oops! … I Did It Again,” “Toxic” and “I’m a Slave 4 U,” among others, didn’t hit No. 1 on the Hot 100, the primary pop chart in America.)
But it’s the topic of the song that might garner Spears more attention that simply hitting No. 1.
“3,” co-produced and co-written by Swedish hook master Max Martin, is about a sexual threesome. “If it’s all right/ What do you say?/ Are you in/ Livin’ in sin is the new thing,” she sings in a heavily processed, robotic voice.
Though countless songs have been written about love triangles, songs about menages a trois aren’t quite as common. David Crosby left the Byrds over his song “Triad,” which the group decided not to include on “The Notorious Byrd Brothers.” (It was later recorded by the Jefferson Airplane; the Byrds' version finally appeared on CD re-release.) More recently, the rapper Baby Bash recorded a song called “Menage a Trois.” However, neither of those came close to No. 1.
Even debuting at No. 1 is becoming something of a rarity. Since 1998, the only songs to debut in the top position have been connected with “American Idol,” which – by exposing new singles to 30 million people at a time – certainly smooths the way to No. 1. The last non-“Idol” song to pull off the trick, according to Billboard, was Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing).”
What do you think of Britney’s new hit?