Its not beyond the realms of fantasy to expect that a song whose chorus starts with the words My loneliness is killing me, I must confess I still believe was heavily influenced by Morrissey, but no, Baby One More Time was actually Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov made into a teen pop reality by Britney Spears. After Madonna made the environment for women in pop a much more even playing-field with the boys, a whole heap of female artists sprung from nowhere to espouse their sexual freedom, though perhaps not in the way that Germaine Greer had in mind. The first through the gates was Tiffany with I think were alone now, but Britney Spears got the whole idea much better and took a song of teenage love into a completely different space to show that she had the ability to make a perfect pop record. With the benefit of hindsight, there is no denying two things about this song. Firstly Britney Spears was an incredibly weird artist, she started out like Twilights Bella Swann; an embracer of chastity, but secondly her ambivalence about sex was an incredibly calculated move to generate some controversy. But going beyond all the furore about titillation, Baby one more time is part of the story of the music of the 90s in a nutshell, super-slick production, songs written for artists by songwriters for hire, teenage angst, choreographed dancing and huge choruses. Well, doesnt that sound exactly like Motown? Baby One More Time was perfect teenage angst made real. This was the chase of the chaste.