Musicologist Melanie Lowe on the positive message behind "Sometimes". In the end, the girls celebrate the many sides of Britney and the idea, communicated musically, that she has different 'personalities'". "The positive message the girls find in 'Sometimes' lies not so much in the song itself, but rather in its contrast-both lyrical and musical-with Spears's other songs. Baby One More Time" and " (You Drive Me) Crazy". According to musicologist Melanie Lowe, "Spears shows a different side of her personality than she does in her other songs." Both of them also commented the song "lacks rhythmic drive and the backing track is fuller, with smoother and rounder synthesized instruments", while describing Spears' vocals as more natural when compared to ". Lyrically, the song is a "heartbroken ballad", where Spears declares on the introduction, "You tell me you're in love with me / That you can't take your pretty eyes away from me / It's not that I don't wanna stay / But every time you come too close I move away". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said that "Sometimes" and the album's other hit songs revealed Max Martin's mastery of the pop hook, Eurodance rhythm, and memorable melody. The song has a sequence of Cm 11–F 7sus–B ♭–B ♭(9)/D–F/A–F as its chord progression. Spears' vocal range spans almost two octaves from the low note F 3 to the high note E 5. After the bridge, it transposes to B major. The song is composed in the key of B ♭ major and is set in time signature of common time with a moderately slow tempo of 96 beats per minute. "Sometimes" is a romantic bubblegum pop song, with a length of four minutes and four seconds. Problems playing this file? See media help. Composition Ī 22-second sample of the song's chorus, where Spears sings over a bubblegum pop production. Tinder ruled that the singer did not steal the song. That's all I can say about it." The e-mail was considered fake and the lawsuit was dismissed on October 31, 2005, when Judge John D. Wallace claimed Spears confessed he wrote the song, by showing to the court a possible e-mail from the singer, which said, "I now know for a fact that you wrote. Steve Wallace, an Indiana songwriter, claimed he wrote "Sometimes" in 1990, but did not copyright it until 2003, four years after Spears registered the song's copyright. The song created controversy over the writing credits. "Sometimes" was released as the second single from. The track was recorded in 1997 at 4MW East Studios in New Jersey. Spears also co-wrote and recorded a track called "I'm So Curious", produced by Eric Foster White, that was released as a B-side to "Sometimes". Background vocals were provided by Anders von Hoffsten. Keyboards and programming was done by Kreuger, and additional keyboards by Magnusson. Esbjörn Öhrwall played the acoustic guitar, while bass guitar was done by Thomas Lindberg. It was also mixed at Cheiron Studios by Martin. Spears recorded the vocals for the song in May 1998, at Cheiron Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. "Sometimes" was written by Jörgen Elofsson, and produced by Per Magnusson and David Kreuger. She flew to Cheiron Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, where half of the album was recorded the spring of 1998, with producers Max Martin, Denniz Pop and Rami Yacoub, among others. However, the singer agreed with her label's appointment of producers, who had the objective to reach a teen public at the time.
I Did It Again Tour (2000–01), and the Dream Within a Dream Tour (2001–02).īefore recording her debut album, Spears had originally envisioned it in the style of " Sheryl Crow music, but younger more adult contemporary". Baby One More Time Tour (1999), the (You Drive Me) Crazy Tour (2000), the Oops!. Spears has performed "Sometimes" in four of her concert tours: the.
It portrays Spears watching her love interest from afar. An accompanying music video, directed by Nigel Dick, was shot at the Paradise Cove in Malibu, California.
In the United Kingdom, the song reached number three, and is also Spears' third best-selling single in the country. The song reached number one in Belgium (Flanders), Netherlands and New Zealand, while reaching number two in Australia. In the United States, the song peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Sometimes" attained worldwide success, peaking inside the top ten in multiple countries. The song received generally favorable reviews from contemporary critics. "Sometimes" is a bubblegum pop ballad that alludes to a relationship where a shy girl is reserved on expressing feelings to her lover. Written by Jörgen Elofsson and produced by Elofsson himself, Per Magnusson and David Kreuger, the song was released as Spears' second single on April 6, 1999, by Jive Records. " Sometimes" is a song by American singer Britney Spears from her debut studio album.