Following the release of will.i.am‘s latest collaboration with Britney Spears, the club-ready track “Mind Your Business,” fans have been raising questions online about the song — including when it was recorded and if Spears’ vocals are truly hers.
Neil Jacobson — CEO of Hallwood Media, will.i.am’s management company — tells Billboard that “Mind Your Business” was first recorded “several years ago” but the duo revisited the track and refreshed it recently, including “making changes to the music up until 2 weeks ago.” While the Grammy-winning producer was on his summer European tour with the Black Eyed Peas — which most recently stopped at a festival in Switzerland this past weekend — the pop superstar recorded her vocals separately in Los Angeles with music producer Anthony Preston, Jacobson says.
After some fans noticed that the picture of Spears used in the promotional single cover was from a photo shoot 20 years ago, speculation began to rise that the star’s vocals were also not new. Additionally, the “Piece of Me” singer hasn’t posted about the song on her social media pages, except for a pre-save link on her Instagram Stories. She has since deactivated her Instagram page after the song was released.
Another theory began to circulate from a TikTok user named AllyNaston, alleging that Myah Marie, a backup singer who has done demo vocals for Spears in the past, could be behind the lead vocals on “Mind Your Business.” AllyNaston referenced a Reddit AMA that Myah Marie did in 2019, in which she answered the question, “What demo did you sing on that you wish Britney had recorded?”
“There was one that Will.I.Am wrote, it was really cool, it was kind of rappy, it was for Britney Jean,” she explained. “[It was called] something like ‘Business,’ like ‘be up in my business,’ something cool.”
However, Myah Marie has not confirmed that “Mind Your Business” is the song she’s referring to, or if her vocals are on the track.
In a recent interview with Variety, will.i.am also put the rumors to rest about Spears’ vocals, though he did not specify when the song was written and recorded.
“Here it is, 2023, people want to hear this. But they ask, when did I record this with Britney? And is that really Britney on it? Yes, it is,” he explained. “When did I record it? That’s not important. For example, I have a track from several records ago, ‘Girl Like Me.’ I wrote and produced it for Shakira in 2008, but it came out in 2021. That’s a lot of fermenting. Not everything should be instant. If you want to make great wine, there’s no such thing as instant wine. Intoxication on anything that you consume takes a while. Sh–’s gotta sit around for a minute … fine-tune it, perfect it. Certain things come out when they’re supposed to come out.”
He added: “‘Mind Your Business’ needed time. Now, at this time, it is perfect.”
The producer also noted that he and Spears wrote the song together. “We’d meet up for lunch sessions in the Valley, talk about life, I’d take notes about what we discussed,” he recalled. “She’d ask to change this, change that. She’s the first person I wrote like that with – let’s just sit and chat about life, love, news, pop culture products. Just talk… I’d show her song structures, rhymes, metaphors. She’d shape and edit the lyrics.”
