I remember being kind of put off by the Britney album at the time. I'd loved her first two albums so much, and Britney in comparison had a production that was a bit darker, in a slightly different direction, there was no Sometimes, there was no Lucky, no Stronger, and I remember thinking I liked it but I didn't play it NEARLY as much as I played the previous two.
Of course I came around on it and realized it's a stronger, more interesting album than its predecessors. But back then it put me off to the point that I was neither here nor there on In The Zone's release two years later. I had to play a bit of catch-up after My Prerogative came out.
When I first heard this album, i wasn't very impressed. I was listening to Britney's discog in reverse and thought it was basic in comparison to its four predecessors. But over time I've come to realize that it's actually pretty good. It really captures this current period of my life well and I'm lucky to have it.