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"Lucky" is a song recorded by American singer Britney Spears. It was released on August 8, 2000 by Jive Records as the second single from her second studio album Oops!... I Did It Again. After meeting with producers Max Martin and Rami Yacoub in Sweden, the singer recorded several songs for the album, including "Lucky". The song tells a story about a famous movie star named Lucky, who, despite seemingly having it all – fame, wealth, beauty – is truly lonely and unhappy on the inside. It was praised by music critics, who considered its melody and rhythm as sweet and catchy, and noted the lyrics to be about Spears herself.
"Lucky" achieved commercial success worldwide, peaking at number one in Austria, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland, while reaching the top ten in several European countries. In the United Kingdom, the song peaked at number five, and is Spears' tenth best-selling single in the country, having sold over 225,000 copies there. An accompanying music video was directed by Dave Meyers, and portrays Spears as herself and a melancholy movie star Lucky, who just wants to have some fun in life. Spears has performed "Lucky" in a number of live appearances and in two of her concert tours.
Background and composition
In 1999, Spears began work on her second studio album Oops!... I Did It Again (2000), in Sweden and Switzerland. After meeting with Max Martin and Rami Yacoub in Sweden, Spears recorded several songs for the album, including "Lucky", which was co-written and co-produced by Martin and Rami, with additional co-writing from Alexander Kronlund. Upon returning to the United States, the singer revealed in an interview with MTV News that: "I just got back from Sweden, and did half the material over there. I was really, really happy with the material, but we had limited time to get so much done. So I've just really been in the studio nonstop, which is cool, though." Spears recorded her vocals for the song, the first week of November 1999 at Cheiron Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. "Lucky" was released on August 8, 2000 as the second single from the album.
"Lucky" is a song that lasts for three minutes and 24 seconds. According to the digital music sheet published at Musicnotes.com, the song is composed in the key of D♭ major (but will later modulate to E♭ major at the end of the bridge) and is set in the time signature of common time with a moderate tempo of 95 beats per minute, while Spears' vocal range spans over an octave, from A♭3 to E♭5. "Lucky" has a basic sequence of D♭–B♭m–G♭–A♭ as its chord progression. David Veitch of the Calgary Sun and Chuck Taylor of Billboard compared the song's rhythm to the ones of Spears' previous singles "...Baby One More Time" (1998) and "Sometimes" (1999). Lyrically, Spears tells "a story about a girl named Lucky," who is a famous pop star that, despite having all that she wants, still feels lonely inside. Veitch also commented that the lyrics actually refer to Spears' life.
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Critical response
"Lucky" received general acclaim from music critics. A review by the NME staff said that "Lucky" is "perhaps Britney's finest moment. The ultimate mallrat, bittersweet teenage symphony." They considered the song Spears' version of "Where Did It All Go Wrong?" by English rock band Oasis, and went to describe it as "a heart-rending tale of life at the top of the teen pop tree, transformed into an anthem for dramatic, moody 12-year-old girls everywhere by Max Martin's scary talent for teenybop lyrics." However, it was noted that some of the lyrics "sounds pretty heavy when you've just been dumped and Britney's Mickey Mouse Club-trained falsetto is reaching its peak." David Veitch of Calgary Sun called "Lucky" a "sweetly melodic mid-tempo song" and regarding the lyrics commented, "We feel her pain." Billboard magazine contributor Chuck Taylor praised "Lucky" and featured the song on the Spolight column of his Singles Review section. Taylor stated that: "its contagious melody, bang-in-your-brain hook, the empathetic theme of a girl who's the world biggest superstar and yet feels all alone (hmm...) will make it an easy sell to top 40 radio and to her grand legion of dedicated fans".
Chart performance
In the United States "Lucky" peaked at number 23 on Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the Top 40 Mainstream chart. It also peaked at number 39 on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales component chart, and number 14 on Rhythmic Top 40. "Lucky" also achieved commercial success worldwide, reaching number one in Austria, Europe, Sweden and Switzerland, while reaching the top ten in several European countries. On the week of August 28, 2000 "Lucky" debuted at number 5 in the Official Charts Company from the United Kingdom, falling to number six in the following week. According to the Official Charts Company, it is her tenth best-selling single in the country, having sold over 225,000 copies there. In Australia, the song peaked at number three, and was later certified Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), for shipments of more than 70,000 units of the single. In Germany, the song reached number one on the Media Control Charts, being certified Gold by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) for shipping over 250,000 units of the single.
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