“Slumber Party” by Britney Spears
The lyrics of this song are not about a literal “slumber party”, i.e. the singer and her girl friends spending the night together, chillin’ and getting into “pillow fights” or what have you. Rather the matter at hand is “like a slumber party”.
Or put more plainly, the titular “slumber party” is actually a metaphor. And what the lyrics rather focus on is a steamy night being spent between the singer and the addressee. And without a shred of doubt, the addressee is her romantic interest.
Indeed this track has been described by some professional critics using colorful language like it being an “ode to fornication”. But such a description is actually a bit of an overstatement.
Lyrics
Indeed whereas the chorus utilizes some NSFW language, there aren’t any direct references to sex contained therein. Simply put, a small child isn’t likely to pick up on the fact that the singer is talking about sex based on the lyrics alone.
But as for the rest of us (even though the wording isn’t explicit), by the time the chorus rolls around, it should become apparent to any mature adult that Britney is referring to spending the night with her lover, not her BFFs.
Thus going back to the first verse for instance, when she refers to the neighbors complaining about the “commotion” being caused by her “slumber party”, now it becomes like oh, she was actually talking about engaging in some wild sensual bedroom activity.
And in the second verse, those in the know will also recognize that she references a teenage make-out game called “seven minutes in heaven”. She implies that, like “pillow fights”, such is also a feature you will find at “a slumber party”.
But considering that slumber parties are usually same-sex affairs, then obviously she doesn’t mean that in a literal sort of way, maybe. But instead, it will allude to something like slumber parties being the type of activity which teenagers engage in, as with the aforementioned love game.
Or let’s say that with the “seven minutes in heaven” analogy what she is really doing is comparing herself and the addressee to aroused teenagers, not participants in a slumber party per se.
Overall…
So simply put, this is a lovemaking song based on a slumber-party motif. And said analogy is put forth a lot more cleverly than some of the other sex metaphors Britney Spears has used in the past.
That is to say that as the song progresses, it becomes gradually apparent whom she is speaking to and what she is singing about. And it is all presented in such a way where the wording used, outside of the mention of the two of them ‘going f**king crazy’ and ‘using their bodies to make their own videos’ isn’t really anything raunchy at all.
Music Video
Slumber Party’s music video was directed by a prolific filmographer in that regard named Colin Tilley. And it was inspired by a Tom Cruise film that came out in 1999 entitled “Eyes Wide Shut”.
Britney Spears’ romantic interest in the music video is an actor / personal trainer by the name of Sam Asghari. This is the same Sam Asghari who Britney began dating in November of 2016. Actually she is still with him as of the onset of the writing of this post in early-2021. In fact it was on the set of this video that the two of them first connected.
Apparently Britney had her eyes on Sam prior to his participation on “Slumber Party”. Or as Asghari recalls, she actually enlisted him to participate on the video after he was likewise featured on a Fifth Harmony clip that same year entitled “Work From Home“.
Facts about “Slumber Party”
This song is from “Glory”, the album Britney Spears came out with in 2016. It was originally released on the same date as the album itself, which was 26 August 2016.
And a few months later RCA Records re-issued the track, this time as the second and last single from that overall project.
The producers of this song are two dudes, hitmakers actually from Sweden, known as Mattman & Robin. Those are the codenames for Mattias Larsson and his buddy since the days of high school, Robin Fredriksson. And they are also, under their real names, credited as co-writers of “Slumber Party”. And the other authors, Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter, are also regular composition partners themselves.
Some people may be more familiar with this song not via the original album version but rather via a remix that Britney Spear dropped featuring fellow American singer Tinashe. In fact it was that particular version that was released as a single from “Glory”, and it marked the first time those two vocalists teamed up.
The first time Britney Spears performed this song live was during her highly-celebrated Las Vegas residency, Britney: Piece of Me, on the date of 16 November 2016.
And a couple of weeks later, on 2 December marked the first time she did so with Tinashe. The said performance was at an annual concert known as KIIS-FM Jingle Ball. And it was also during that same event that Britney celebrated her 35th birthday.
Did this song chart?
“Slumber Party” did not blow up like some of Britney’s other singles, but it was a hit nonetheless. Most tellingly it reached number one on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart.
And to note, the tune also made it onto the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart, albeit not necessarily performing well outside of making the lists themselves. But this song did manage to top a lesser-known list known as the Billboard + Twitter Trending 140 when it was released as a single.
What genre of music is “Slumber Party”?
It is a pop song. However, when analyzed deeper, it is also belongs to the reggae fusion genre. This is because it fuses reggae and pop together. Simply put, it can also be referred to as a reggae-pop song. In addition to that, it is also a Contemporary R&B song.
