"Overprotected" was the 2nd single to be released from Britney's third studio album, Britney (2001). It was written and produced by Max Martin and Rami. In 2003, the song received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
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"Overprotected" is a dance-pop and teen pop song that is about a girl who is tired of being overprotected and just wants to be herself. David Browne of Entertainment Weekly noticed Europop influences on the song, while other critics compared it to previous songs released by Spears. Lyrically, the track is about a girl who is tired of being manipulated by people around her and doesn't need to be told what to do, which is perceived in lines such as "You're gonna have to see through my perspective/ I need to make mistakes just to learn who I am/ And I don't want to be so damn protected". Dana Alice Heller said that, with "Overprotected", "Spears addresses the problem of being a teen star whose personal and professional are handled by others."
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Jocelyn Vena of MTV said that "with songs like "Overprotected" and "Let Me Be," Spears seemed to be letting out her adolescent angst," while Kyle Anderson of MTV Newsroom said, "the real first blush with emancipation from [the singer] teen pop past came with ['Overprotected']". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said the track, along with "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" and "What It's Like to Be Me", "are pivotal moments on Britney Spears' third album, the record where she strives to deepen her persona, making it more adult while still recognizably Britney". Nikki Tranker of PopMatters said the song "is an absolute belter reminiscent of Britney’s previous big-bang singles, 'Oops! I Did It Again' and 'You Drive Me Crazy' [sic]", while commenting that Spears "sings about ridding herself of the girlie chains around her, gripes about her need for space in the whirlwind that is her life, and lets us know she don’t need nobody telling her what to do."
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While it did not perform well on the Billboard charts in the United States, "Overprotected" attained commercial success in Europe : it peaked at #22 in Canada, while reaching the top 5 in Italy, Romania, Sweden and UK. In France, it peaked at #15, and was later certified Silver by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP), for selling over 125,000 units of the single.
This song made me fall in love with her again after hearing it for the first time in years my old Stan came out again. The bridge and final chorus is what I picture heaven to sound like