2007 was a landmark year for Britney Spears as she sufered a very public meltdown and released a career-shiting album at the same time. The irst single from that album, ‘Gimme More’ raised two ingers to the establishment, and became an instant queer anthem for more reasons than one.

Words by Conor Behan.

Every pop song needs a good intro and in 2007, Britney Spears delivered one that became instantly infamous – “It’s Britney, bitch”. The opening salvo for her fifth album, Blackout, it would change her sound forever.

Of course in 2007 “It’s Britney, bitch” wasn’t the only thing Spears was infamous for. She was going through turbulent times in her personal life: rehab visits, shaving her head and attacking a paparazzo’s car with an umbrella (both on the same night) were just some of her highly documented woes. It was a cry for help from one of the world’s biggest stars as the deterioration in her mental health played out via the tabloid magazines and gossip blogs that had begun to take over the celebrity news cycle.

Amidst the turmoil of her personal life, the Spears musical machine kept whirring. 2003’s In The Zone was an attempt to mature her sound and though it found success, it was the resulting five year gap between albums that saw Britney spiral out of control in the public eye that has come to define her.

The release of ‘Gimme More’ in August 2007 was an interesting gamble then, a song both different to everything she’d released previously and at the same time only something the Spears sound could pull off.

Produced by Danja, a protégé of hip-hop king turned pop supremo, Timbaland, the track blurred together R’n’B, dance music and pop.

In a recent look-back at Blackout, on its tenth anniversary, Danja told The Fader about his inspiration. “I was into dance music and EDM at the time, but it wasn’t mainstream yet,” he recalled. “Everyone was bouncing around to Benny Benassi’s ‘Satisfaction’ and Tiesto, literally in a trance. I was like ‘That’s it. If my music doesn’t make you feel like that, what are we doing?’ I didn’t think about anything other than bringing that essence to popular culture.”

The song immediately garnered attention and buzz began to build about Spears’ forthcoming appearance at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. Her team had previously used the VMAs as a place to stage memorable, choreography-driven performances that had cemented Spears’ pop icon status.

Ultimately the performance fell short, a listless Spears half-heartedly shuffling through the steps. “Oh, the horror!” an Entertainment Weekly cover screamed, a consenus shared by most of the media.

One reaction would stand out from the rest. YouTuber Chris Crocker posted an emotional response to the hate aimed Britney’s way in the video: ‘Leave Britney Alone!’. Crocker’s plea was widely mocked, but his video was filled with home truths about the media’s exploitation of Britney. “All you people care about is readers and making money off her,” he declared.

Crocker enjoyed a brush with mainstream fame after the clip went viral. “In the ten years since this video, a lot of LGBT YouTubers are celebrated for who they are. I often wonder if I had started videos later, if I would’ve been treated differently,” Crocker noted in a recent Instagram post.

While the speculation about Spears’ stability rolled on, her music performed well, with ‘Gimme More’ reaching the top five in the US, UK and Irish charts in the Autumn of 2007. Blackout would go on to win rave reviews and is still held up as an example of influential pop today.

Spears’ hits played well on gay club dance-floors, but in 2007 she cemented her queer following by dramatically falling from grace and then clawing her way back. In that light, ‘Gimme More’ feels both self-aware and like a ‘fuck you’ to respectability, Britney gleefully responding to, and not being cowed by public opinion. If Spears seemed less than together in her public life, on ‘Gimme More’ she was utterly in control.

“If you ever wanna see a gay club truly explode, request ‘Gimme More’ and wait for “It’s Britney, bitch” to drop – a true declaration of survival and resilience.

Robin Carolan, the founder of Tri Angle Records who has worked closely with Björk, spoke to The Fader this year about the song’s resonance

”If you ever wanna see a gay club truly explode, request ‘Gimme More’ and wait for “It’s Britney, bitch” to drop – a true declaration of survival and resilience. No one had witnessed someone so famous come undone at the seams so violently and so publicly. The fact that she didn’t die makes those three words feel so much more important now when you hear it today.”

Earlier this year Spears penned a letter for Billboard discussing her connection to her LGBT+ audience. “Continuously throughout my career, you’ve always been so vocal about what a positive impact I’ve had on you,” she wrote, adding, “That my music is an inspiration. That my story gives you hope. But I have a secret to share with you. You see, it’s actually you that lifts me up. The unwavering loyalty. The lack of judgment.”

A popular, if somewhat glib, meme online the last number of years has been, “If Britney can make it through 2007, you can make it through today”. Inane as it may seem, it has a point: Britney Spears made it out the other side of personal turmoil and media scrutiny, and with songs like ‘Gimme More’ made enduring pop magic out of her trauma too.