Britney Spears and will.i.am Release New Song “Mind Your Business”

Britney Spears and will.i.am‘s latest collaboration, “Mind Your Business,” dropped on Friday.

The new song focuses on Spears’ experiences being followed by paparazzi and people’s obsession with her as a high-profile musician. It serves as a reunion for both artists, who in 2021 released the hit “Scream & Shout,” which peaked at no. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the first No. 1 song on the then-newly established Dance/Electronic Songs chart.

“When you’re in the spotlight, a lot of times you just want to live your life. There are lyrics in the song that point to that,” will.i.am told CBS Mornings on Thursday ahead of the song’s release. “There is a thin line, and everyone deservers their version of privacy.”

For the producer and rapper, who teased the new single earlier this week, within the connection between music and dance, many people find a form of therapy and a way to express themselves, which he sees happening with Spears, “every time I see her dance on her Instagram.”

“Mind Your Business,” which is described by Epic Records as having an “irresistible hook and infectious energy,” as well as an “enigmatic and captivating beat,” kicks off with Spears telling listeners to “Mind your business, bitch.” (Like “Scream & Shout,” it’s a reference to the lyric “Britney, bitch” from the Princess of Pop’s 2007 single “Gimme More.”)

Lyrics repeatedly ask “Where she at?” and “What she do?” with Spears herself singing, “Uptown, downtown, everywhere I turn around; Hollywood, London, snap-snap is the sound; Paparazzi shot me, I am the economy.”

Speaking to the collaboration, will.i.am said he’s “been a fan, friend and supporter of Britney throughout the years,” and called Spears “an amazing person.”

“Supporter as far as a person that goes out and listens to her music, a support as far as somebody that’s there to help champion her through her times when she was fighting for her liberation,” he added. “To collaborate with her now and then — when you’re in the studio, and you’re making music, that’s the only thing that matters — so I see the same light, the same joy, the same love and passion.”

“Mind Your Business” is Spears’ second release since the end of her conservatorship. The first was a collaboration with Elton John, “Hold Me Closer,” which debuted in August 2022 and pulls from one of John’s most famous singles, “Tiny Dancer.”

Earlier this summer, Once Upon a One More Time — a jukebox musical featuring a concept from Spears and songs from her catalog — opened on Broadway. The Grammy-winning singer is also slated to release a memoir, The Woman in Me, about her time in her 13-year conservatorship in October.