Britney turns 25 with five songs nobody has heard, including a Justin Timberlake co-write

Britney, the record that gave us the strut of "I'm a Slave 4 U" and the ache of "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman", is 25 this month, and Britney Spears has marked it by opening the vault. The 25th anniversary edition of the album came out on 6 November 2026, and it carries five songs that have never been officially released.

What is on it

The Apple Music listing shows 23 tracks and a running time of 1 hour 18 minutes, released through RCA Records. That is the original 2001 album, the previously unreleased material and two remixes.

The five new-to-the-world songs are:

• "She'll Never Be Me"
• "Am I a Sinner"
• "When I Say So"
• "Right Now (Taste the Victory)"
• "My Big Secret"

The remixes are a Darkchild remix of "Overprotected" and "Boys (The Co-Ed Remix)", which features Pharrell Williams. "Boys" was already a Neptunes production, so the Pharrell remix feels like a family reunion more than a guest spot.

"She'll Never Be Me" is the one with the backstory. It was co-written by Spears and Justin Timberlake in 2001, and it did not make the final album.

Why this record, and why now

Britney was released in November 2001, her third album and the one where she stopped being a teen-pop act and started steering. It opened with "I'm a Slave 4 U", a Neptunes production that remains one of the stranger and more confident lead singles of that era, and it also held her cover of "I Love Rock 'N' Roll" and "Overprotected". Its pop arrived at the moment the charts were turning towards R&B-flecked, club-ready records, and it has aged better than a lot of what it sat beside.

Anniversary editions can be a shrug. This one is built around songs that fans have asked about for years, so it gives the reissue a reason to exist beyond a new sleeve.

How to get it

The digital edition is available now. A 2LP vinyl and CD package from Legacy Recordings and RCA Records is due on 22 January 2027, and is described as including unreleased photographs from the album's making. Retailers are listing vinyl colour variants, so check the exact edition on the shop page before you order.

We will have more once the physical release gets closer. You can find more on the artists in this story at Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams.