"Womanizer" is a song by American singerBritney Spears from her sixth studio album,Circus (2008). It was released on September 26, 2008, byJive Records as thelead single of the album. Produced and written bythe Outsyders, the song was re-recorded after a snippet was leaked onto the internet. "Womanizer" is an up-tempoelectropop anddance-pop song. Described by Spears as a girlanthem, the song's lyrics recall a womanizing man, while the protagonist of the song makes clear she knows who he really is.
"Womanizer" received critical acclaim with critics mostly praising its hook, melody and empowering lyrics. Critics also observed it as a stand-out track from the album, while some deemed it a comeback single for Spears. It became a major global success, topping the charts in twelve countries, including the United States, and reached the top five in every country it charted in, as well as receiving several certifications from multiple countries. In the United States, "Womanizer" was Spears' first single to reach number one since "...Baby One More Time" in 1999. The song broke the record for the highest jump to number one at a time which was later broken byKelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You" in 2009. It is also Spears' best-selling digital song in the country, having sold over 3.5 million copies.[1] The song received a nomination forBest Dance Recording at the52nd Grammy Awards, becoming her second nomination in the category.
The music video, directed byJoseph Kahn, was created by Spears as a sequel to the music video of "Toxic". It portrays Spears as a woman who disguises herself in different costumes and follows her boyfriend through his daily activities to expose him in the end. The video also contains interspersed scenes of Spears naked in a steam room, as a response to the attacks she had received over the years about her weight. The video was also nominated for two categories at the2009 MTV Video Music Awards, and won for theBest Pop Video.
The song was written and co-produced by Nikesha Briscoe and Rafael Akinyemi of the production team,the Outsyders. Spears recorded main vocals with Brendan Dakora at Glenwood Place Studios inBurbank, California and Bojan "Genius" Dugic at Legacy Studios in New York City.Pro Tools engineering was done by John Hanes, assisted by Tim Roberts.[2] On September 19, 2008, a low quality 37 second snippet of the song was posted on the official website of107.5 The River, a radio station inLebanon, Tennessee. According toJive Records, a representative of the label played a roughmix of the song for people at the station, who recorded it and leaked it on the Internet. The snippet was later removed from the website.[3] The song was scheduled to premiere on September 23, 2008, but the release was delayed when Spears went into the studio to re-record some vocals.[4] The new recordings were done withJim Beanz and Marcella "Ms. Lago" Araica.[5] The song was finally mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios inVirginia.[2][6]
According to Ann Powers of theLos Angeles Times, Spears' "quick-witted" vocals are similar to the style ofthe Andrews Sisters.[10] It was also noted byDaily News writer Jim Farber that Spears' delivery has a "tone of petulance".[4] After thebridge, Spears sings the chorus one more time and the song ends while the beat drops and Spears sings the "you're a womanizer, baby"hook.[8]
The song is set in a 12/8 time signature and played in the key ofC♯ minor at atempo of 137beats per minute. The chord progression in the song is C♯m – F♯m – E – D♯ – D.[11]
Lyrically, the song refers to awomanizing man.[10] It has been suggested that the lyrics address Spears' ex-husbandKevin Federline.[4]
Upon release, "Womanizer" received critical acclaim. Peter Robinson ofThe Observer gave the song the maximumfive stars referring to it as a "comeback single" and as having a "geniushook". He added that the song "[has] been called lazy, largely by misinformed people who also think thatKylie's'la la la's would have been better with proper words".[12]Popjustice compared it to "Some Girls" byRachel Stevens and added "[The] track lays a really strong foundation for the fully-realised comeback that didn't quite happen last time and it's hard not to think of it as a late contender for single of the year. [...] It's literally quite good".[8] Myrddin Gwynedd ofThe New Zealand Herald said "it's gothit written all over it".[13] On the week of November 24, 2008, theDerby Telegraph chose it as single of the week.[14] In the album review,Nekesa Mumbi Moody ofThe Providence Journal said that along with "Shattered Glass", they were "[two] fun disco tracks".[15]
USA Today writer Steve Jones named it one of the standout tracks of the album and commented that "she seems most at ease when she's playing the teasing tart".[16] Talia Kraines of theBBC commented that Spears needed more songs like "Womanizer", saying "Britney 2.0 needs to be full of wild dancefloor driven moves".[17] Simon Price ofThe Independent commented the song borrows itselectronic sound fromGoldfrapp.[18] Ann Powers of theLos Angeles Times complimented Spears' delivery and the lyrics, saying the song is "about the kind ofgirl power that's focused on besting one obnoxious man, is alsovintage and contemporary at the same time – more feminism asindividualism".[10] Mike Newmark ofPopMatters called the song " a meaty, high-voltage shuffler helmed by the Outsyders, who do an admirable job of recreating the chemistry of Spears andDanja on last year's single 'Gimme More'".[19]
Jim Farber of theDaily News said the pre-chorus was the most repetitive in a pop song sincethe Shaggs's "Gimmie Dat Ding".[4] Jim Abbott of theOrlando Sentinel called it "basically an adult update of herteen-pop tease act".[20] Ian Watson ofDotmusic wrote that Spears sounded "trapped on this single. Not trapped, as in desperate and distraught, but trapped as in literally frozen – like she's been placed into a robot on a production line and she has to sing these words, dance these steps, work it like this, until the spotlight snaps off and the factory's powered down for the night".[21] The song has been nominated for aGrammy Award in the category ofBest Dance Recording on December 2, 2009. Spears had previously won the category in the2005 ceremony for her single "Toxic".[22] However, it lost toLady Gaga's "Poker Face".[23]
In the United States, the song entered theBillboard Hot 100 at number ninety-six on the issue dated October 18, 2008. The following week, the song jumped to number one breaking therecords for largest jump to number one and largest jump to any position in the history of the chart, previously held byT.I.'s "Live Your Life" (feat.Rihanna) andBeyoncé andShakira's "Beautiful Liar", respectively.[24] The record was later broken byKelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You".[25] It also garnered first-weekdownload sales of 286,000, the biggest opening-week tally by a female artist sinceNielsen SoundScan began tracking digital downloads in 2003, surpassing the record previously held byMariah Carey's "Touch My Body".[24] The record was broken on January 27, 2010, byTaylor Swift's "Today Was a Fairytale".[26] "Womanizer" was Spears' first number one single since her debut "...Baby One More Time" in 1999.[24] On the week of January 3, 2009, the song reached number one on theBillboardPop Songs and number six onRadio Songs.[27] As of July 2009, "Womanizer" was listed at number thirty-nine in the best selling digital songs of all time, with sales over 2,777,600.[28] As of March 2015, "Womanizer" has sold 3.5 million digital downloads in the United States, according toNielsen SoundScan.[1] It is Spears' best-selling digital single in the country.[1]
In Canada, the single topped theCanadian Hot 100 on October 18, 2008, and stayed in the position for five consecutive weeks.[27] "Womanizer" entered the Australian charts on October 13, 2008, at number sixteen.[29] Three weeks later, it peaked at number five.[30] It shipped over 70,000 copies, earning aplatinum certification by theAustralian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).[31] In New Zealand, the song peaked at number nine on October 27, 2008.[32] The song was certified gold according to theRecording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ), selling over 7,500 copies.[33] The track debuted at number four in the United Kingdom on November 9, 2008, and reached its peak position of number three four weeks later.[34][35] On January 16, 2009, it was certified silver by theBritish Phonographic Industry (BPI), with sales over 200,000 copies.[36] According toThe Official Charts Company, the song has sold 447,000 copies there.[37] "Womanizer" reached the peak in a number of European countries, including Belgium (Flanders), Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Norway and Sweden. It also reached the top ten in Austria, Belgium (Wallonia), Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.[38] In addition, the track became Spears' sixthEuropean number-one single.[27] As of May 2020, "Womanizer" has generated over 202 million streams in the US.[39]
"Working on 'Womanizer' with Joseph was a lot of fun. [...] He makes sure that he gets the types of shots that go with the music. It's not like a movie, it's more like a musical. You know, if I say 'on thehi-hat here or on the drumbeat here, I want my leg to be in the air.' And it's that detail, and it does make a difference, and that's what he can do. It's very rare to find people that still know how to do that."
The music video was filmed on September 24 and 25, 2008 in Los Angeles, directed byJoseph Kahn, who previously worked with Spears for the music videos of "Stronger" and "Toxic".[41]
According to Kahn, Spears pitched him her original concept, which included all the main elements used in the final version.[42] Spears thought of the video as a sequel to "Toxic", as seen in her documentaryBritney: For the Record, whereas Kahn approached it as "a 2008 answer" to the previous clip. He added that, "'Toxic' was a crystallization of her career at that time, [...] There are elements and moments of that I felt could [have been] improved. ['Womanizer'] is a bit more fashion-forward".[5][43] About how the concept of the video related to their previous work, Kahn commented that "It's just a great girl fantasy. There are things she's really good at, like having a really natural knack for knowing what girls want. [...] It's a much more mature sound and much more mature lyrics, and she always has the greatest ideas. She's hyper-aware ofpop culture".[43][44]
The costumes and looks for each of the different women were chosen by Spears and Kahn. The scenes in thesauna were suggested by Kahn, as a response to the attacks Spears received over the years about her weight. He stated, "I knew that the whole world would be watching, so I wanted something in there that stated, 'This is Britney, this is why you should respect her'". The set was cleared for two hours, leaving her and Kahn alone shooting the sequence.[44] Kahn also decided to end the video with an image of Spears smiling, because "We just needed to tell everybody she's OK".[42]
A censored version of the music video premiered on October 10, 2008, onABC's20/20 at the end of their show. The uncensored version premiered on MTV the same night.[45]
The video begins with an opening caption that reads "Womanizer". During the introduction, Spears is naked and smiling in a sauna, while covering herself with her hands. These scenes are seen throughout the video. When the first verse begins, the official version of Spears wearing a slip nightgown is making breakfast for her boyfriend (Brandon Stoughton) as he gets ready for work. When he is at the office, he sees a new secretary, which is actually Spears in disguise wearinghorn-rimmed glasses and apencil skirt. She starts dancing in front of him and sings the chorus. She makes him follow her into the photocopier, where she photocopies her buttocks. On the back, a man who appears in the plane scene on "Toxic" can be seen. Then, Spears is disguised as a red-haired, tattooedwaitress in a restaurant. She dances around him with her dancers and plays with him over the kitchen counter. After this, her boyfriend is seen getting driven home by Spears, disguised as achauffeur. She starts to kiss him, driving the car with her heel until both get home. Once they get into the bedroom, Spears reveals that she was the three women he was "womanizing" all along. She then begins attacking her boyfriend. This is shown through Spears as her three alter egos, and then as the real version of herself. Spears throws a blanket over her boyfriend and makes the bed. The video ends with Spears smiling, and a repeat of the opening caption.[45]
Margeaux Watson ofEntertainment Weekly said the video "looks promising. [...] The dancing is stiff and minimal, a disappointment since her moves are her strong suit. But this is a welcome return to the Britney we love – gorgeous, gyrating, greased up, and gamely playing the vamp".[46]OK! commented that "in addition to seeing Brit in three different sexy getups, the video [...] features an oiled-up Britney writhing around in nothing but a smile".[47]Rolling Stone said the video was "a cross between 'Toxic' andThe Office" and added, "she's dancing [and] looking like the old Britney".[48] Courtney Hazlett ofMSNBC claimed "When Spears isn't shown naked and writhing in a steam room, she's fired up".[49]TV Guide writer Adam Bryant said that "the music video features some of the most strategically placed hands in music-video history [...] [The] video is quite a return to form for the troubled pop star".[50] The music video for "Womanizer" became a worldwide success right after it premiered on the Internet, gaining seven million viewers in less than 48 hours.[51] The music video was listed as the best video of 2008 in polls by MTV andFuse TV.[52][53] It won Music Video of the Year at the 2009NRJ Music Awards.[54] The video was also nominated forBest Pop Video andVideo of the Year at the2009 MTV Video Music Awards, winning the former category.[55] "Womanizer" wasVevo certified after it reached 100 million views onYouTube.[56]
Spears during the performance of "Womanizer" on theBritney: Piece of Me residency concert
The song was performed for the first time at theBambi Awards in Germany, on November 27, 2008. For the performance, Spears wore hot pants, fishnet stockings and a black top hat. The ensemble was compared to the costumeMadonna wore during the first act of herSticky & Sweet Tour (2008–2009).[57] Spears was also presented with an award for Best International Popstar byKarl Lagerfeld, who said, "I admire you ... not just for your art, but for your energy. [You are] coming back not only as a phoenix but as a bird of paradise".[58] The following night, Spears performed the song atStar Academy, with similar choreography and dance moves but wearing a red strapless dress.[58] On November 30, 2008, Spears performed atThe X Factor. On December 2, 2008, she performed the song atGood Morning America along with a performance of "Circus".[59] On December 15, 2008, she performed at the Japanese music showHey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ.
The song was a major part inThe Circus Starring Britney Spears (2009), as theencore of the show. After a video interlude of Spears's music videos set to "Break the Ice" ended, Spears appeared wearing a police officer uniform designed byDean and Dan Caten, with black sunglasses, a hat with her trademark logo and sequinedhandcuffs. Her female dancers were also dressed as policewomen, while her male dancers were dressed as criminals.[60] During the performance, she danced and flirted with the male dancers. At the end of the song, she returned to the main stage while her dancers surrounded her and a shower of sparks fell over them.[61] She thanked the audience and bowed to each side of the arena. She left the stage with an instrumental version of "Circus" playing in the background.[62] Jane Stevenson of theToronto Sun praised the performance for being a standout number in the show.[61]
"Womanizer" was also performed at theFemme Fatale Tour (2011) as the last song of the fourth act. Following "I Wanna Go", which featured her dancing with members of the audience onstage, Spears performed "Womanizer" while surrounded by her dancers dressed as police officers. Shirley Halperin ofThe Hollywood Reporter stated that "[the] mid-tempo numbers [...] seemed to stall out quickly, where faster offerings like 'Womanizer,' 'I Wanna Go' and 'Toxic' had the sold out crowd jumping in place and pumping their number twos in the air."[63] Ed Masley ofThe Arizona Republic called the back-to-back performances of "I Wanna Go" and "Womanizer" "a triumphant double shot of dance-pop greatness."[64] Keith Caufireld ofBillboard said the performance "seemed a bit flat after the crowd-wowing 'I Wanna Go.'"[65] Spears is currently performing "Womanizer" as the second song for her Las Vegas residency,Britney: Piece of Me atThe AXIS theater. She is accompanied by dancers clad in spandex outfits and masks, and walks on their backs.[66]
"Womanizer" has beencovered by many artists from a variety ofmusic genres, as well as a great number of amateurs.[71] Clark Collis ofEntertainment Weekly explained that "the song has been covered by other artists with an enthusiasm only matched in recent times by musicians' desire to remakeRadiohead's 'Creep' in their own image".[72] On December 8, 2008, New Zealand singerLadyhawke performed a cover atBBC Radio 1'sLive Lounge.[73] The song was covered by American bandthe All-American Rejects on theYahoo! MusicPepsi Smash show in December 2008. It was performed in an acoustic version, in which the band members played percussions withbeer bottles. The cover also included an excerpt fromthe Turtles's "Happy Together".[74] British singerLily Allen also covered the song, because "simple really, I love Britney and I love the song".[71] Her cover was a stripped-down version, that according to Nick Levine ofDigital Spy, "might provoke those who reckon it doesn't have much of a chorus to revise their opinion".[75] Allen also performed the song as the encore during her2009 tour.[76] French singerSliimy cover was deemed as an "indie makeover".[71] He would later be the opening act of the second Paris date at The Circus Starring Britney Spears.[77]
On January 13, 2009, English singerAna Silvera covered the song during one of her London concerts.[78]On April 6, 2009, Scottish bandFranz Ferdinand also covered the song at Radio 1's Live Lounge. Lead singer Alex Kapranos claimed "It's been the best song out in the last few months".[79] It was also covered regularly by them during their 2009 American spring tour.[80] The song was performed live by British girl groupGirls Aloud during theirOut of Control Tour, starting April 24, 2009, and released on their 2009 live albumOut of Control: Live from the O2.[81] "Womanizer" was also covered byFall Out Boy, among others.[72]"Weird Al" Yankovic also covered this song for part of the polka medley off his 2011 albumAlpocalypse. In the 2012Glee episode "Britney 2.0", actorsMelissa Benoist,Alex Newell andJenna Ushkowitz performed a cover of the song.[82]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
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