Not only is she celebrating the release of her new memoir The Woman in Me this week, Britney Spears has another special milestone for her star-studded career, the 25th anniversary of …Baby One More Time. 

On this day 25 years ago, October 23rd, Spears made pop music history by releasing …Baby One More Time, which continues to be a hit track. It was written by Swedish singer/songwriter Max Martin, who wrote Quit Playing Games (With My Heart), which ultimately went to the Backstreet Boys. 

Britney Spears recalled first hearing the song while working with Martin. She noted that prior to the song, she had been in the studio for six months and hadn’t heard a “hit” yet. “He played the demo of Baby One More Time for me, and I knew from the start it [was one] of those songs you want to demo,” Spears once told Billboard. “It just felt really right. I went into the studio and did my own thing with it, trying to give it a little more attitude than the demo. In 10 days, I never even saw Sweden. We were so busy.” 

As predicted by Spears, …Baby One More Time was a huge success and scored a Teen Choice Award for Single of the Year and an MTV Europe Music Award for Best Song. Since the single’s release, Britney went on to win eight Billboard Music Awards from 21 nominations. The Guinness Book of Records also confirmed that both …Baby One More Time and Oops!.. I Did It again made Spears the best-selling teenage artist of all time.

Before Britney Spears, TLC Was Asked to Perform ‘… Baby One More Time’ 

Although Britney Spears made …Baby One More Time the hit track it is now, the single wasn’t originally for the now pop icon. 

In October 2013, TLC bandmates, T-Boz and Chilli, explained that Max Martin had approached their all-girl girl to perform …Baby One More Time. However, the bandmates agreed that the song wasn’t for them due to the lyrics. 

“I was like, I like the song, but do I think it’s a hit?” T-Boz explained to MTV News. “Do I think it’s TLC? I’m not saying ‘hit me baby.’ No disrespect to Britney. It’s good for her. But was I going to say ‘hit me baby one more time?’ Hell no!”

While T-Boz and Chilli agreed that the single just didn’t represent their group appropriately, the ladies agreed that Britney Spears made the single her own. “That’s not even my subject of conversation, so you know, it worked for her,” T-Boz continued. “I’m happy for her, I like Britney. Every song isn’t good for each artist, and when you’re a real artist you know what you believe in and what you really want to single.”

T-Boz reiterated that she acknowledges that the song was a hit, but she also made it clear it wasn’t for TLC.