Passenger (Britney Spears song)

After serving as a judge on the second season of the American version of The X Factor, Spears began work on her eighth studio album in December 2012.[1]

In April 2013, Diplo, who already had worked with Spears previously in a remix of her 2008 single "Circus", was revealed to be working with Spears for her eighth album by Jean Baptiste via Twitter.[2] Later in July, Spears revealed that she had a session with Sia, with whom she also co-wrote her single "Perfume".[3] The song was originally written for Katy Perry's (who co-wrote the song) fourth album Prism.[4]

In November 2013, the song leaked on the Internet. It was originally believed to be a demo of the final track[5] but later confirmed to be the final version once the album was released.

"Passenger" is an EDM-inspired pop rock,[6] electro and pop[7] power ballad[4] written by Spears, Diplo, Furler, Swanson and Perry. The song lasts for three minutes and forty seconds, with background vocals by Furler. In a review, Jason Lipshutz from Billboard said that the song "finds the singer ruminating on romantic trust while delivering an empowering vocal performance over Diplo's guitar-driven production."

Following the release of the album, "Passenger" received critical acclaim from music critics, who praised Spears voice and the composition of the song. Jason Lipshutz of Billboard praised the pop rock sound of the song, also saying that "Spears does her part by delivering resonant melismas and lyrics about giving your inhibitions over to another(...)".[6] Rob Sheffield from Rolling Stones called it a "Brit's answer to Beyoncé's "Halo", as she emotes about finding someone to take the wheel and drive her home."[8] Michael Gragg, writing for The Guardian, said that "the Diplo-produced Passenger sounds refreshingly experimental",[9] while Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine compared it favorably to Alien, saying that "it's one of the few moments on Britney Jean that even make an attempt to push Britney's sound forward."[10]

Some critics compared the track to Spears's single at the time, "Perfume", with Kevin Harley of The Independent saying: ""Passenger" revisits that self-image [of Perfume], words yielding no surprises here: any fool knows that "You never know what you've got" completes the lyric of "Til it's Gone".",[11] while Genevieve Koski from A.V. Club noted that both songs were "well-developed conceit and its genuine-seeming vulnerability, something Spears is much better at than most of her collaborators usually to give her credit for", later completing that Passenger "could easily be mistaken for a cover of a lost Katy Perry single."[12] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic highlighted the track by calling it "the purest pop moment on the record that finds a counterpart in the album's best ballad, "Perfume" and saying that Spears was "on focus" on the track.[13]

Rudy Klap from Sputnikmusic gave a mixed review, praising Diplo production and Spears voice, while criticizing the lyrics for being too submissive: "Spears should be the dominating one here, the force of her personality and that voracious hunger that powers her best songs pushing and pulling".[14] Barry Walters from Spin too gave a mixed review by comparing it to the works of Perry, more specifically on 2013's Prism, finishing by saying that the track "features Perry's straightforward vocal style (...) while delivering the album's only meaty melody, but its lyrics about living without a map aren't believable coming from Brit's lips. Unlike Madonna or Janet Jackson (or Katy Perry), Spears never seems in control."

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Britney Jean.

Recording

• Engineered at Westlake Village, California and at Record Plant, Hollywood
• Mixed at MixStar Studios, Virginia Beach, Virginia

Personnel

• Britney Spears – backing vocals, lead vocals, songwriter
• Diplo – producer, songwriter
• Sia – songwriter, background vocals
• Katy Perry – songwriter
• Anthony Preston – vocal producer
• Julian Prindle – engineer, vocal editing
• Daniel Andres – engineer
• Billy Hickey – engineer
• Serban Ghenea – mixing