Britney's Videography: 'Boys'

Britney Spears 'Boys' # # # # #

Last time, I admitted that Britney's previous single, 'I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman,' was the first single of hers that I fell out of love with after the initial glow wore off. 'Boys' was the first single of hers I outwardly didn't like from the first time I heard it and onwards. Even today, I'm still turned off by this draggy, monotonous, uninspired dreck to the point that I consider it easily Britney's worst single. The video doesn't add much to the song, but at least it's a tad more interesting to look at than Britney wandering around a canyon, contemplating her future. 'Boys' is Britney back in ho mode, ready to take on fourteen boys at the same time, have her fun with them and then toss them aside. And the 'Boys' video could have been a lot of fun--think 'I'm a Slave 4 U' but even skankier--except for the fact that the director forgot one important element: the boys. Besides Pharrell, who features on this song, and a cameo from Mike Myers as Austin Powers (the song was on the soundtrack for Austin Powers in Goldmember), there's only one other guy in the video and he's totally the kind of skanky, unattractive guy Britney put in all of her videos around this time. What is the use of having a video for a song about fucking boys and then not putting any boys in the video? It really baffles me sometimes how these music video directors come up with these lame concepts that completely fail to capture the spirit of the song. Did anyone listen to the song beforehand?

Britney and Pharrell interact for a few seconds, although you'd be forgiven if you forget it mere seconds later since Britney couldn't give two shits about him. During the interaction, he's a mere prop, a stripper pole of sorts, for Britney to dance around. Pharrell tries his best to make it look they are connecting but Britney is just looking away from him, never once looking like a believable duo. What saves this video from damnation is the final 15 seconds or so when Britney does her obligatory routine with Mike Myers/Austin Powers. It's nothing special, but Britney looks so happy and full of life being silly with Austin Powers that it makes the preceding 3.5 minutes worth it. Believe it or not, silly Britney is not a side of her we get all that often so we must relish it every chance we get.



Previous installments: ...Baby One More Time | Sometimes | (You Drive Me) Crazy (The Stop Remix!) | From the Bottom of My Broken Heart | Born To Make You Happy | Oops!...I Did It Again | Lucky | Stronger | Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know | I'm a Slave 4 U | I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman