Because releasing “bonus tracks” for Glory has become some kind of compulsion for Britney Spears (perhaps she needs her own tailored version of the DSM)–in addition to even revamping the cover with the original David LaChapelle image–we now have “Matches.” Joining a newly released “deluxe edition” (or reissue) of Glory along with “Swimming in the Stars,” “Mood Ring” and remixes of “Mood Ring,” “Matches” does, indeed, play with fire on taking a chance in summoning forth the millennials (and their already strong fetish for nostalgia porn). Or perhaps, more accurately, rubbing salt in their wounds as they think of the glory (album pun intended) days. When life was simple, when surgical mask wearing was something you quaintly heard about other people doing in “foreign lands” when swine flu “or whatever” was going around in 2009.
At the same time, maybe that’s at least part of the reason why Spears has chosen to keep coming with the old “new” releases, this time knowing that one featuring the Backstreet Boys could be just the sort of comfort millennials have been needing all year (sorry Taylor, it wasn’t folklore or evermore in the end). Something to comfort and soothe them with its “vintage” familiarity. A port in nothing but a shitstorm of uncertainty. Back when Spears and BSB were coming out with their first major hits at the end of the 90s, there was still an air of innocence in the world. The internet hadn’t really blown up to the post-2000 level and 9/11 hadn’t happened yet to cause a permanent tint of American jadedness not seen since the Vietnam War. No, when Backstreet Boys hit the charts with Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) in 1997 or when Britney did with “…Baby One More Time” in 1999, the U.S.’ bubble of innocence, in hindsight, was still so perfectly intact. Sure, the president had been impeached for a blow job and O.J. was acquitted for murder, but that seems like such frivolous child’s play in contrast to the horrors of the present.
Furthermore, it seems to be yet another way Britney can subtly dig the knife into Justin Timberlake’s heart (since he’s made it quite clear he still thinks about the betrayal of her infidelity in the early 00s). After all, it’s no secret that BSB and NSYNC were “rivals” pitted against each other the same way Britney and Christina Aguilera were. Britney was always very clearly Team NSYNC for personal reasons, however, and even toured with them from 1998-1999 for their Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now Tour.
But now, the Princess of Pop (before Ariana came along) has seen fit to pay greater attention to that other boy band of millennial adolescence, Backstreet Boys. She’s even generous enough to let them open the song with their vocals. Instead of loneliness (as was the case in “…Baby One More Time”), in “Matches,” “the fire is killing me”–but “the good kind of killing me,” as Spears and BSB are sure to note. It’s around the fifty second mark that Spears shows up to sing the chorus, “Like playing with matches, matches, matches/This might leave some damage, damage, damage.” Except, apparently, unlike a California wildfire, it’s going to be “the good kind of damage.” Because, yes, thanks to Spears and BSB existing in a pre-“everything is toxic and offensive” time, they’re able to illuminate for subsequent generations perhaps not in the know that masochism dictates there is a “good kind” of killing and damage.
Of course, millennials aren’t complete barbarians when it comes to knowing how to be politically correct. Case in point, Spears is the one who is sure to be the one to do the objectifying as she notes, “I like the way you dress, yeah/And then how you undress, yeah.” Not exactly the most innovative or artful of lyrics, but then, Spears has always been sexually charged and to the point in the majority of her songs. This one, co-written by many including Justin Tranter (who also composed lyrics for other Glory tracks, namely “Do You Wanna Come Over?,” “Slumber Party,” “Just Like Me,” “Better” and “Change Your Mind”), is no exception.
And, as is usually the case with Britney, she never seems to be aware of just how on the pulse her finger is with regard to tapping into a moment. In this particular one, she’s managed to wield a poignant metaphor for how the entire world at large continues to find playing with matches irresistible, despite the present state we’re in being a tinderbox ready to alight with even the smallest glimmer of a flame. That, and, once again, she is the satyr to all millennials, calling out to them when they need her the most to remind them of a time when it wasn’t all so shit. Or, at the very least, it was easier to mask how shitty it was with the glitz and glamor of performances put on by the likes of Spears and Backstreet Boys (keyword: choreography, not TikTok bullshittio).
