Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake’s early 2000s romance has a lost soundtrack. Spears has unearthed “She’ll Never Be Me,” an unreleased duet with her famous ex recorded for her 2001 album Britney, ahead of the LP’s 25th anniversary reissue on Nov. 6 by RCA.
Timberlake and Spears recorded the song with Bradley Daymond and Alex Greggs, the songwriting and production duo known as Riprock ’n’ Alex G, who also worked extensively with Timberlake and *NSYNC.
Keeping with Spears’ ongoing retreat from the music industry machine, the song was announced with barely any fanfare. Instead, the artist posted a Reel on Facebook, with no accompanying announcement on her website or other social media accounts and no press release.
“She’ll Never Be Me” is apparently one of five previously unreleased tracks on the anniversary edition. The others are “Am I a Sinner,” “When I Say So,” “My Big Secret” and a full version of “Right Now (Taste the Victory),” which was originally used in a 2002 Pepsi commercial.
Although the material dates back more than a quarter century, its release marks the first new Spears recordings to emerge since 2023’s “Mind Your Business,” her collaboration with will.i.am, which was also assembled from older recordings.
The unearthed duet arrives as Spears’ story continues to draw interest in Hollywood. As previously reported, New Girl creator and filmmaker Liz Meriwether is adapting Spears’ memoir The Woman in Me for a feature film, which will be directed by Jon M. Chu and produced by Marc Platt. The film marks a return to feature filmmaking for Meriwether, who hasn’t written a feature in 15 years.