Actors - I'm a Slave 4 U

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	Actors - I'm a Slave 4 U

"I'm a Slave 4 U" is the first single from Pop singer Britney Spears released from the album Britney
during the third quarter of 2001.

It is often considered a developmental milestone in Spears' career because of the single's steamy music video, somewhat raunchy lyrics and R&B origins. The single is probably most well-known for the aforementioned video, which more fully redefined Britney's public image from the virginal 'girl next door' to a powerful vamp.

Song information

"I'm a Slave 4 U" parts ways with Spears' previous singles in a number of ways. Firstly, it was written and produced by The Neptunes, who have worked with rappers such as Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Mystikal and other hip-hop artists; many therefore believe it symbolized a change in Britney's genre of music. Spears declares her independence in the song whilst also saying how she cannot control herself around a person as she proclaims "I'm a slave for you." Although she has said that the song is about dancing and not necessarily sex, her performance at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards (which featured her dancing with an albino python draped around her shoulders) meant that her explanation went unnoticed.

Music video

Directed by Francis Lawrence at Universal City in California, the music video for "I'm a Slave 4 U" is arguably Britney's most risque ever. It became her first project ever to not retire on MTV's TRL because the video for her next single, "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman," premiered on the countdown before "Slave" had enough days to allow itself to retire (with TRL, an artist may only have one video on the countdown at a time, meaning "Slave" was knocked off in favor of the newer video). Still, it was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards in 2002, including Best Female Video, Best Dance Video and Best Choreography. The video was also chosen as the Most Fashionale Video of 2001 in the MTV Philippines.

The video's setting is at sauna found within a run-down, futuristic city. We first find Spears out on a balcony, tempting viewers with her eyes and hands. She makes her way inside the building, while wearing her thong outside her jeans and sweating profusely, and begins a dance segment that continues in different cuts throughout the video. The next cuts show Britney staring into a mirror in a dirty bathroom as she shakes her rump, and in front of a wall of bright lights.

Towards the second half of the video, Spears makes her way into a different room of the sauna and puts her hands up to one of the walls. Here, she begins dancing suggestively for the people behind her. This tempts the group of people to raise Britney up, in a similar fashion that is done to an artist at concerts when they jump into the crowd.

The ending of the video finds Spears sitting in the corner of the main room, sweating as hard as ever. Several people begin to crowd around her, and some even start to lick the sweat off her face. As Britney is gasping for breath, we see that the starlet is in the center of a group orgasm. Next, someone opens a lighter towards the ceiling sprinklers, and it begins to rain down on the dehydrated dancers. Apparently, the ignition of the sauna sprinklers also prompted real rain to pour down from the sky, and the people are seen running out onto the balcony to get a taste right before the video ends.

Chart performance

"I'm a Slave 4 U" proved to be a moderate success, peaking within the top thirty of the Billboard Hot 100; the track also became a top thirty hit on the Hot 100 Airplay, but just barely made into the top seventy-five of the Hot 100 Singles Sales. The low sales points are due mostly because of the song's 12" single release in place of that of a true CD single, but in reality, had the song been released in the CD single format, it would've made only a sparse difference in its chart peak being that the physical singles market had been in decline since the turn of the Millennium.

"Slave" became the first and currently only Spears single to make an appearance on the R&B charts (reaching a peak of only number eighty-five). The single also became her first Dance hit, reaching the top five of the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.

At Top 40 radio, "Slave" was a moderate success, peaking within the top twenty of the Top 40 Tracks and Mainstream Top 40, and at number twenty-one on the Rhythmic Top 40.

Internationally, the single was highly successful, becoming a top ten hit in nearly every country that it charted in.

In the U.K. 'I'm A Slave 4 U' was a sucess, peaking within the top five and selling a total of 149,000 copies.

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