Everytime

"Everytime" is a song co-written by American pop singer Britney Spears and her back-up singer Annette Stamatelatos, and is included on Spears' fourth album In the Zone (2003). Produced by Guy Sigsworth, it was released as the album's third single during the second quarter of 2004 (see 2004 in music). The song is a piano ballad about the loss of a loved one, and its protagonist states: "everytime I try to fly I fall / without my wings I feel so small / I guess I need you, baby". It was written in Germany.

Directed by David LaChapelle, the controversial music video for the song was originally supposed to depict Spears' character dying in a bathtub from an "accidental" overdose of pills and alcohol. When word leaked out about the video's content, protests lead to it being changed.

The released video exists in two versions: the American version is slightly cleaned up, and the non-U.S. version shows more skin and blood. The video portrays Spears with her boyfriend (played by Stephen Dorff) arriving at a hotel in Las Vegas, where they are hounded by the paparazzi. One reporter pulls Spears from the back and gives her a concussion, something she does not initially notice. After the couple reach their hotel suite and have an argument (during which the boyfriend throws a vase), Spears disappears into the bathroom. While in the bathtub, Spears realizes that she is bleeding from the head and she loses consciousness and drowns in the bathtub.

In the video for Everytime, Spears dreams that she is found by her boyfriend and reincarnated. Spears' ghost is shown walking through a hospital where a Britney is dying in one cubicle and a baby is being born in the next, symbolizing the reincarnation. She wakes up at the end, in the bathtub, alive and smiling (perhaps realizing the preciousness of life). The video was at number one on MTV's Total Request Live countdown for six days, and it also reached number three on both VH1's Top 20 Countdown and MuchMusic's Countdown.

"Everytime" peaked at number fifteen on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 thanks to its top twenty placement on the Hot 100 Airplay, and it reached the top ten on the Hot Digital Tracks chart; however, digital download statistics did not contribute to a song's Hot 100 position until 2005. It remained on the Hot 100 for eighteen weeks, was certified gold by the RIAA for shipments of over 500,000 units and ranked at number eighty-three on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart for 2004.

Following the major worldwide successes of both "Me Against the Music" and "Toxic", "Everytime" followed the trend of making top ten placement in nearly every country it charted in. In Australia "Everytime" became Spears's third consecutive number-one single, and also received an ARIA gold certification for shipments of over 35,000 units. It also reached number one in the UK, where it stayed in the top forty for eleven weeks, sold 196,000 copies and ranked eighteenth on the 2004 year-end charts.

In Indonesia Chart, the song peaked #1 for non-consecutive 5 weeks. It became Britney's 12th #1 song in the chart.It ended up #5 in Indonesia Chart End-Year Single Chart. It spent 47 weeks on the chart from its first release to early 2005. Then, it made a comeback to chart three times in mid of 2005 to the end of 2005. So for total it spent 50 weeks on the chart. "Everytime" broke Britney's own record on this chart with "Toxic", which spent 47 weeks on the chart. So as now, "Everytime" still holds the record for longest running song on the chart all the time. It gave Britney 2 awards in Indonesia Magazine Music Awards in 2005, as Best Video and Best Pop Song.

In Mexico, "Everytime" spent 87 days inside MTV's "Los 10 + Pedidos" (Mexican TRL).

In Canada"Everytime" became Spears' longest-charting single with forty-six weeks in the top fifty and peaked at number two a week following its debut. The CRIA awarded the track a platinum single certification for shipments of over 10,000 units. It was placed at number sixteen on 2004's year-end list of the best-selling singles.

All mixes listed are OFFICIAL.

• CD single (American version)

1. "Everytime" (Stamatelatos, A./Spears, Britney) — 3:53
2. "Everytime" (Hi-Bias Radio Remix) (Stamatelatos, A./Spears, Britney) — 3:29

• CD maxi-single (European version)

1. "Everytime" (Stamatelatos, A./Spears, Britney) — 3:53
2. "Everytime" (Hi-Bias Radio Remix) (Stamatelatos, A./Spears, Britney) — 3:29
3. "Everytime" (Above & Beyond's Radio Mix) (Stamatelatos, A./Spears, Britney) — 3:47
4. "Don't Hang Up" (Spears, Britney/Schwartz, Josh/Kierulf, Brian) — 4:01

• CD maxi-single (European and Canadian version)

1. "Everytime" (Stamatelatos, A./Spears, Britney) — 3:53
2. "Everytime" (Hi-Bias Radio Remix) (Stamatelatos, A./Spears, Britney) — 3:29
3. "Everytime" (Above & Beyond's Radio Mix) (Stamatelatos, A./Spears, Britney) — 3:47
4. "Everytime" (The Scumfrog Vocal Mix) (Stamatelatos, A./Spears, Britney) — 9:53

Wikiquote has quotations related to Everytime.

• New York Times article about the music video
• Analysis of the music video