Britney Spears fans have a message for Justin Timberlake: cry us a river.
Timberlake, 42, launched his comeback on Thursday, January 25, with the release of “Selfish,” his first solo single in over five years. Fans of Spears, however, had other plans in mind. After Spears, also 42, made accusations about her tumultuous relationship with Timberlake in her 2023 memoir, The Woman in Me, her fans enacted a little revenge by streaming her 2011 song “Selfish” instead of Timberlake’s new tune.
The campaign seemingly began thanks to a Britney Spears fan account on X called @BritneyTheStan. By claiming Spears would “release the new single, ‘Selfish,’” on Thursday, the post whipped up all Spears’ followers to start streaming the track.
Spears’ “Selfish” is from the deluxe edition of her 2011 album, Femme Fatale. Her song entered the Top 40 of the U.S. iTunes chart the same day Timberlake’s comeback single dropped. As of this writing, Timberlake’s “Selfish” is at No. 1, while Spears’ “Selfish” is at No. 4.
Spears’ followers have been at odds with Timberlake since he released “Cry Me a River” in 2002, alleging Spears’ infidelity in the lyrics and the song’s music video. He and Spears dated from 1999 to early 2002. While “Cry Me a River,” released in November 2022, doesn’t mention Spears by name, the actress in the video famously resembled Spears.
Spears wrote in The Woman in Me that “there was no way … to tell my side of the story” after the video dropped. “I couldn’t explain, because I knew no one would take my side once Justin had convinced the world of his version,” she wrote. “I don’t think Justin realized the power he had in shaming me. I don’t think he understands to this day.”
Spears also claimed in the book that she had an abortion in the early 2000s while dating Timberlake because he didn’t want to be a father. “He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young,” she recalled. She terminated the pregnancy but noted she “never would have done it” if it were solely up to her.
Elsewhere in the memoir, Spears claimed Timberlake ended their three-year relationship via text message. Afterward, he visited her home in Louisiana to deliver a handwritten breakup letter, which she still has stored at her home to this day.
Timberlake’s “Selfish” is the first single from his upcoming album, Everything I Thought It Was. The follow-up to 2018’s Man of the Woods arrives on Friday, March 15. Timberlake also announced the Forget Tomorrow World Tour, his first in five years. The first leg of North American dates will kick off in Vancouver, Canada, on Monday, April 29.
