Ever since will.i.am and Britney Spears dropped their latest collaboration, “Mind Your Business,” fans have had several questions: Namely, when did the two actually record the track, and is that really Britney’s voice on it? Well, we have the answer to both of those questions…we think.
When Variety asked will when the song was recorded, he was evasive, saying “People…ask, when did I record this with Britney? And is that really Britney on it? Yes, it is. When did I record it? That’s not important.”
But now Neil Jacobson, the head of will’s management company, tells Billboard that “Mind Your Business” was first recorded “several years ago.” However, Jacobson says that will and Britney recently “revisited” and “refreshed” the track, noting that the two were “making changes to the music up until two weeks ago.”
Jacobson explains that, when will.i.am was touring Europe with the Black Eyed Peas, Britney recorded her vocals separately in LA with producer Anthony Preston.
That jibes with what Britney told Vogue: “We worked on this song years ago, and it was time re-produce it and share it with my incredible fans.”
But how long ago is “years ago?” Well, when the song came out, a TikTok user named AllyNaston floated the theory that a backup singer named Myah Marie, who’s done demos for Britney in the past, might have actually recorded the original vocals on “Mind Your Business” during the sessions for Britney’s 2013 album Britney Jean.
AllyNaston played a video in which Marie answered the question, “What demo did you sing on that you wish Britney had recorded?” She replied, “There was one that will.I.am wrote, it was really cool, it was kind of rappy, it was for Britney Jean…something like ‘Business,’ like ‘be up in my business,’ something cool.”
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