Britney Spears will do as she pleases no matter who’s watching. Even the protective gaze of a burly bodyguard or a sudden downpour isn’t enough to stand between her and a night of fun. That’s the gist of Spears’ new video, for a remix of “Overprotected,” which was shot last weekend in Los Angeles, according to its director Chris Applebaum (American Hi-Fi, Willa Ford).
The clip furthers her “I’m Not a Girl” crusade to shirk her adolescent image, as she and five friends outsmart her bodyguard with the old “you’re wanted elsewhere” trick and sneak out of a hotel and into an underground dance club.
Spears envisioned the treatment herself, said Applebaum, who also remarked that her stamina and patience through the marathon shoot, which wrapped 5 a.m. Monday morning after 23 consecutive hours of filming, was impressive. The director, who has dozens of videos under his belt, added that the shoot went so smoothly, the most derailing obstacle was less-than-scrumptious catering.
The clip opens with the pop princess and her friends in a hotel room, where a tabloid reporter on television criticizes her for the sexy, revealing outfits she’s often seen wearing publicly. At that point Spears, determined to be self-sufficient and unaffected by media comments, leads her pals out of the hotel and toward the dance club. But before they arrive, they’re caught in an alley by a flash shower. As they make their entrance, they’re dripping wet, an image which makes for more sensationalist fodder for the tabloid reporter. Some girls just can’t win.
Producer Rodney Jerkins is responsible for reworking the Britney track. The song, which he described as having an old-school-type rhythm, will begin to surface at radio April 1, according to Jive Records.
