Britney Spears is back.
The superstar surprised her fans earlier this week with the announcement that she would be releasing a new song with previous collaborator and producer will.i.am, who broke the news on social media. The new track, “Mind Your Business,” marks Spears’s first foray into music since her 2016 album Glory, aside from “Hold Me Closer,” her 2022 duet with Elton John. The song is also her first release since the 2021 termination of the 13-year conservatorship that gave Spears’s father (whom she had described as “abusive”) control over her life and finances, and sparked the “Free Britney” movement among her fan base.
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“Mind Your Business” is the first time in over a decade that Spears and will.i.am have worked together, following their 2012 joint hit single “Scream & Shout.” The three-minute track is a high-energy, EDM-forward production that features Spears cheekily chanting over a pulsing beat alongside the rapper.
“I’m sooo honored and excited for this release… Thank you @britneyspears…you’re one of the most fearless, strongest, kindest, purest people I’ve met in my life,” will.i.am wrote on Instagram earlier this week. “I always loved working with you and I always will…”
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The producer also spoke with CBS Mornings ahead of the single’s official release, and shared more about the song’s meaning and how it came to be.
“There’s a thin line, and everyone deserves their version of privacy,” he said. There’s a clear connection to Spears’s experiences as the target of intense media scrutiny for decades.
“[Music can be] therapy for lots of people,” he said. “When you have that connection with music and rhythm and song and melody and harmony, and you express yourself through that, it helps you with anything that you’re going through.”
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Stream “Mind Your Business” here.
This article originally appeared in Harper’s BAZAAR US.