Piece of Me
"Piece of Me" is a song by American singer Britney Spears from her fifth studio album, Blackout. It was released on November 27, 2007, by Jive Records as the second single from the album, but was actually the last song recorded. It was written and produced by Swedish producers Bloodshy & Avant and Klas Åhlund as a response to the media scrutiny and sensationalism of the singer's private life, which they had witnessed firsthand after working with her over the years. The song, acting as the singer's manifesto, has biographical lyrics retelling Spears's mishaps. It can be classified as an electropop, dance-pop and EDM-pop song that features an "electro instrumental track" and runs through a down-tempo dance beat. Spears's voice is heavily synthesized and her pitch constantly shifts; backing vocals are provided by Bloodshy & Avant and Robyn.
"Piece of Me" garnered widespread acclaim from the music critics with many deeming it as one of the highlights of Blackout. Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 15 on their list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. It peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Spears's second single from the album to top the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. "Piece of Me" was a global success, topping the charts in Costa Rica and the Republic of Ireland and peaking within the top ten in twelve additional countries.
The music video to "Piece of Me", directed by Wayne Isham, portrays the state of Spears' life in 2007; it shows her and her friends disguising themselves in order to confuse the paparazzi, which ties directly to the lyrics. Director Isham's concept was to have Spears confidently parodying her situation. It received mixed reviews from critics, most arguing her body was digitally altered. The video, however, was nominated and won in three separate categories at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year.
"Piece of Me" was performed on tour at the Circus Starring Britney Spears and the Femme Fatale Tour. The song shares its title with Spears's Las Vegas residency show, Britney: Piece of Me, where it was also performed. The show went on to become a world tour, retaining the name, known as the Piece of Me Tour.
Background
"Piece of Me" was co-written and produced by the Swedish duo Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg, professionally known as Bloodshy & Avant, along with Klas Åhlund. While recording with Spears over the years, Karlsson and Winnberg often saw first-hand how her regular activities were interrupted by the paparazzi, including one experience in Hamburg which Winnberg deemed "really scary". For Blackout, Spears worked with them on "Radar", "Freakshow" and "Toy Soldier". When the album was considered to be finished, Bloodshy & Avant were persuaded by her A&R Teresa LaBarbera Whites to work on a new track. Winnberg commented that it had always been an unwritten rule not to write songs about Spears's personal life since the label rejected "Sweet Dreams My LA Ex", a response track to Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River". However, the duo wrote "Piece of Me" with Åhlund and sent it to Spears, who loved it. Bloodshy & Avant worked on the track at Bloodshy & Avant Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, and Spears recorded her vocals at Chalice Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California. Winnberg stated that Spears was extremely psyched when she came to the studio, where she recorded the song in about half an hour as she had learned the lyrics by heart in her car. "Piece of Me" was later mixed by Niklas Flyckt at Mandarine Studios in Stockholm. On October 31, 2007, during a radio interview with Ryan Seacrest, Spears talked about the song, saying,
"Wherever you go, there's a lot of people who ask questions, and sometimes you don't know their intentions and stuff like that. So, it is kind of a cute way of putting it out there. You know, like, 'You want a piece of me?', you know, in a cool, cute and clever way. It is a cute song I like it".
Composition
"Piece of Me" is an electropop, dance-pop and EDM-pop song backed by an "electro instrumental track" and performed in an insistent pop groove. Sheet music for the song shows the key of C minor with a time signature in common time. The melody runs through a down-tempo dance beat.Spears's vocals span over two octaves from D3 to D5. They are heavily synthesized and are constantly pitch-shifted. The track consists of over-the-top vocal distortions, causing a split sound effect, making it difficult to discern which voice is Spears's. Background vocals were also provided by Swedish pop singer Robyn. Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg sing the line "Extra! Extra!" during the chorus and writer Klas Åhlund, along with Robyn, alternates the repeated "piece of me" line in robotized voices. Dave De Sylvia of Sputnikmusic drew comparisons to the songs in Robyn's Robyn, specifically to her single "Handle Me".
The lyrics of "Piece of Me" are written as a reaction to the scrutiny of Spears's private life in the media. They deal with fame and living under the spotlight. During the first verse, Spears sings the hookline "You want a piece of me?", that is repeated throughout the song. According to Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times, the line "could be an accusation or an invitation or a threat". "Piece of Me" is constructed in the common verse-chorus pattern. "Piece of Me" is written like a biography retelling Spears's mishaps, sung in a nearly spoken manner. Alex Fletcher of Digital Spy compared the lyrics to Amy Winehouse's "Rehab". Bill Lamb of About.com said that "Piece of Me" makes Michael Jackson's "Scream" "sound like a whimper."
Critical reception
"Piece of Me" received widespread acclaim from music critics, most of whom considered it the standout track from Blackout. Alex Fletcher of Digital Spy gave "Piece of Me" four stars, calling it "a two fingered-salute to the media hounds and an electro-thudding cry of defiance, warning us that this popstrel is not for turning. poops from a great height on anything Lily Allen has ever penned and reveals that it's been Spears who's been laughing hardest during her year of zany media antics". Peter Robinson of The Observer and Margeaux Watson of Entertainment Weekly named "Piece of Me" one of the standout tracks of the album. Dennis Lim of Blender called it one of the best tracks of Blackout along with "Gimme More". Laura Herbert of BBC News said that the song is "without doubt the best track on the whole album. It's a masterpiece." Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times said " evoke the horror, the exhilaration and the boredom of overexamined life. It’s brilliant".Tom Ewing of Pitchfork Media suggested that "the hypertreatment of the voice, the way it edges into the music, suggests that the price of fame is identity erasure. We understand her through a filter, and that's how we have to hear her too. The multiple backing vox fragment identity further, turn the song more universal". Dave De Sylvia of Sputnikmusic also picked it as one of the album's highlights. Melissa Maerz of Rolling Stone named it the best track of the album along with "Freakshow", deeming it as a "tabloid-bashing banger". Jim Abbott of the Orlando Sentinel said that "Musically, songs such as 'Piece of Me,' 'Radar' and 'Break the Ice' are one-dimensional, robotic exercises."
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic commented that "Bloodshy & Avant try desperately to craft a defiant anthem for this tabloid fixture, as she couldn't be bothered to write one on her own". Chris Wasser from the Irish Independent said the song "drowns slowly under cloggy production and a lyrical theme that for all of its close connection with the trials and tribulations Spears has had to deal with, weren't even penned by the singer who could have very easily recorded her fairly unchallenging input on Blackout in less than a week." The song was later included in Rolling Stones 100 Best Songs of 2007 list, at number fifteen. In 2024, Billboards staff included "Piece of Me" on their "The 100 Greatest Songs About the Music Industry" list, ranking it at number nine.
Chart performance
On November 17, 2007, "Piece of Me" debuted at number sixty-five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. On February 9, 2008, the song peaked at number 18. It was the second consecutive single from Blackout to reach number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart. The song shipped over 2,000,000 copies in the United States, earning a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America. As of March 2015, "Piece of Me" has sold 1.9 million digital downloads in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan. It is her sixth best-selling digital single in the country. In Canada, the song debuted at number 37 on the Canadian Hot 100 for the week of November 17, 2007. For the week of April 26, 2008, it reached its peak position of number five. "Piece of Me" was certified platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association for paid digital downloads of 40,000.In Australia, "Piece of Me" debuted at the ARIA Singles Chart at number two on February 4, 2008 – for the week ending date February 10, 2008. The song has shipped over 70,000 copies in Australia, earning a platinum certification by the Australian Recording Industry Association. In New Zealand, the song debuted at number 34 on the New Zealand Singles Chart on December 31, 2007 – for the week ending date January 6, 2008. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand for sales over 7,500 copies.
In the United Kingdom, "Piece of Me" debuted at number 69 on the UK Singles Chart on December 23, 2007 – for the week ending December 29, 2007. After its physical CD release, the song peaked at number two on the chart on January 13, 2008 – for the week ending date January 19, 2008. According to the Official Charts Company, the song has sold 276,000 copies in Britain. In the Republic of Ireland, the song debuted at number 27 on the Irish Singles Chart on December 14, 2007 – for the week ending date December 20, 2007. It peaked at the top of the chart on January 4, 2008 – for the week ending date January 10, 2008 – where it remained for two consecutive weeks. "Piece of Me" achieved similar success across continental Europe, peaking inside the top ten in the European Hot 100 Singles chart, Austria, Denmark, Finland and Sweden and reaching the top forty in Belgium, Czech Republic, Italy and the Netherlands.