Because Britney Spears continues to be a commodifiable resource well-past her “prime” in the 00s, even the most Podunk of places can find a way to capitalize on renewed interest in the pop star as a result of her “conservatorship drama.” Baxter’s 942 Bar & Grill in Louisville, Kentucky (a mere ten-hour drive from Britney’s hometown of Kentwood, Louisiana) is just one such place. For, even in spite of the “lessons learned” by white people about racism in the wake of 2020, someone (namely the bar’s alcohol distributor, Brown-Forman) thought it would be prudent to call a drink “The Slave” as a way around copyright infringement (oh, the curses of being “aboveboard”).
But even the most die-hard of Britney fans might not immediately make the association between a drink called “The Slave” and Spears’ 2001 hit, “I’m A Slave 4 U.” That is, if it wasn’t a menu created specifically in honor of a Britney night with other themed drinks that included such titles as “Poison” (that means “Toxic”), “The Kiss” (that means the 2003 VMAs) and “The Feder” (surely, you can guess who that references). But perhaps even more offensive to Spears on a personal level was a final drink called the “Adult Handler”—an obvious “homage” to the very conservatorship that has cruelly made Britney relevant anew to a subsequent generation for more social justice-oriented reasons.
A new generation that finds both “quaint” nostalgia and extremely problematic lyrics in a decade that people living in the moment seemed to believe was pretty progressive. After all, weren’t women claiming their own agency if they were flashing their asses and snatches? Well, not necessarily. Not when it was apparent (based on the scrapping of Original Doll alone) that Spears and many other pop stars like her were, despite all their clout with teens, the industry puppets of suit-clad record executives. The kind who thought, “Yeah, it’s a great idea for a white girl to sing about being a slave—metaphor or not.”
Speaking of the nostalgia element that has piqued Gen Z’s interest (if only vaguely to see what it was like in the “old days”) and drawn in millennials as well, another theme night taking place in TV land as opposed to Louisville is Y2Gay. In a show called Girls5eva. The pertinence of the Meredith Scardino–penned premise applies to the girl groups and pop stars who came up in the early 00s and might suddenly realize the messages they shilled weren’t ideal. This is precisely why Wickie (Renée Elise Goldsberry), wanting another hit, tries to briefly gaslight the others in the group into believing that singing objectifying, extremely-offensive-to-women lyrics is just the name of the game.
But the women aren’t in the same vulnerable, malleable place they were as teenagers, which is part of why they can presently see the issue with taking another song from hit-making Swedish songwriter Alf Musik (yes, he’s clearly based on Max Martin, a Britney staple). Dawn (Sara Bareilles) is the one to note about this new track that talks of being a “forever side piece,” “I thought Alf was going to write us a fun song, like our old stuff.” Wickie points out, “Are you kidding? That song was exactly like our old stuff!” A smash cut to all of their misogynistic songs ensues, with Dawn afterward demanding, “Do earworms bore holes in your brain?” Gloria (Paula Pell) chimes in, “Oh my god, are we part of the problem? Did we cause Hillary to lose Pennsylvania?” Wickie seethes, “Oh grow up! This is pop music, not Vermont public radio! We were no wronger than anyone else. Britney ‘I’m A Slave 4 U,’ Destiny’s Child ‘Cater 2 U,’ ABBA ‘Dancing queen was only seventeen!’”
That Wickie should see fit to call out “I’m A Slave 4 U” as one of the more problematic 00s hits is not a coincidence, as the single was already a bit dicey to begin with in terms of its moniker’s connotations (compounded by Brit saying they should dance to “another time and place”—uh, like where, the Antebellum South?) and its content about being submissive at any cost in order to get the one she desires. Hence, “I’m a slave for you/I cannot deny it/I’m not tryna hide it.” Willing to surrender her body to the “pleasure” this man is supposed to be able to give, likening the sexual exchanges they share to slavery doesn’t actually hold up all that well either. Nor does the line, “I really wanna do what you want me to.” It also seemed to eerily presage (like Spears auditioning for The Notebook) her own lack of agency in the post-2008 future. Not to say there was anything “karmic” in Britney’s unwarranted punishment for singing casually about slavery like it was something to be likened to “true love” (or rather orgasm-generating sex, therefore “true lust”). It was, as they say, “a different time.” A different world. One in which it was still okay to call somebody “gay,” if what you meant by that was “hella lame” and/or stupid.
But we don’t live in that time anymore, and maybe part of healing some of the damage it did is admitting that “I’m A Slave 4 U”—“banger” or not—is extremely offensive. Whether it’s in its normal written form or bastardized otherwise. Granted, just “The Slave” definitely makes it all the more pronounced for its issues.
Alcohol distributor Brown-Forman offered as a mea culpa for apparently getting caught up in the free-for-all atmosphere of the aughts, “It appears someone was making an effort to name a cocktail after the Spear’s song ‘[I’m A] Slave 4 U’ and did not consider the hurtful and unintended consequences of using a word that holds a much deeper and painful meaning. We apologize for this poor word choice in naming a cocktail.”
But will Spears herself ever apologize for this poor word choice/analogy in naming a song? Likely not. Especially as, because of her current situation, fans and casual listeners alike have found a new way to deify this particular celebrity. It would be “insensitive” to call out Spears for some of the rhetoric she was spouting at the height of her career. Even if the obsequiousness it promoted as a feminine ideal will still take many more decades to undo.
