Until the debut of Stronger, Britney Spears had not really stopped being a teen pop star to become a femme fatale. Most - if not all - of his videos followed the same pattern, with minor mischief and love stories. This was no different until 2000, when he worked with Joseph Kahn on Stronger music from her second album Oops! ... I Did It Again. It was there that Spears started to take more risks, in a version more dangerous and sexy.
"She said 'On Stronger, like to dance on a chair, driving a car and end up with my boyfriend. Those are three elements'. So, as a director, you say 'OK, well, how can I do something cool with it,' "Kahn told MTV News.
"I find this video interesting because it is very sophisticated, with a touch more adult," said Kahn, who has directed dozens of videos like Womanizer Britney and Crawl Chis Brown. "It's definitely a big change in the types of videos she did before, with all that sweetness and color, so I always thought it was the transition from teen pop star Britney, and the diva that she has become."
Kahn finished accepting those elements and creating a semi-futuristic world in which Spears gets into a club, complete with her boyfriend dishonest and walks triumphantly in the rain, knowing that your life is better without it. But it was a dance sequence with a metal chair the pivot that defined the aesthetic of the video.
"She set it for me as an original concept created by it, but the first thing that came to mind when I thought of the dance sequence with the chair in terms of how this applies in music videos, was Pleasure Principle by Janet Jackson - and its iconic sequence with the chair, "Kahn recalled.
Like Janet, Spears was not afraid to be sexy in the videos, even though his assistants were a bit nervous because I think she was going too far. "There is a scene where I am following it (on camera), and her legs are open, and Larry Rudolph, her manager was like, 'Do not do it,'" said Kahn. "And she said 'Yes, definitely do it."
Interestingly, one aspect of the video in which Kahn was insistent, was on the shade for eyes used by Spears. "One of the great things I wanted to do here, well, I was kind of obsessed ... I know it sounds strange, but I wanted her to wear gray shadow to eyes," he said. "I think it looks good. I remember when I was looking close-ups and Britney said, 'You're really obsessed with that shade of gray for the eyes!' And I said 'Yes, completely. "But if you watch, it makes your eyes very attractive. "
