Editing Everytime (section)

==Music video==
===Development and release===
On March 9, 2004, the treatment of the music video for "Everytime" was released online. It featured Spears as a star hounded by photographers, who eventually kills herself by taking prescription drugs and drowning in a bathtub. The suicide scene was perceived to be Spears's response to rumors that suggested she suffered from a [[mental disorder]].<ref name=puzzling>{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1485641/britney-spears-puzzling-new-video-has-singer-drowning-in-fame/|title=Britney Spears' Puzzling New Video Has Singer Drowning In Fame|date=March 9, 2004|access-date=April 18, 2022|last=Vineyard|first=Jennifer|website=MTV|archive-date=April 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220419042416/http://www.mtv.com/news/1485641/britney-spears-puzzling-new-video-has-singer-drowning-in-fame/|url-status=dead}}</ref> After news of the concept broke, it was criticized by a number of organizations in the United States and the United Kingdom. [[MTV News]]' "You Tell Us" received numerous letters from upset viewers, who criticized Spears, saying they perceived the ending as a glamorization of suicide. On March 12, 2004, Spears announced through her label that she had removed the concept, "due to the potential for a fictional accidental occurrence to be misinterpreted as a suicide". She also clarified it was not her intent to present suicide in any sort of positive light.<ref name=remove>{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1485729/britney-spears-removes-suicide-plot-from-everytime-video/|title=Britney Spears Removes Suicide Plot From 'Everytime' Video|date=March 12, 2004|access-date=April 18, 2022|last=Vineyard|first=Jennifer|website=MTV|archive-date=March 9, 2016|archive-url=https://archive.today/20160309130556/http://www.mtv.com/news/1485729/britney-spears-removes-suicide-plot-from-everytime-video/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The video was directed by [[David LaChapelle]] and shot on March 13–14, 2004, in Los Angeles. The lighting was described as "saturated, but low and naturalistic" to give the video a cinematic feel, referencing the film ''[[Leaving Las Vegas]]'' (1995).<ref name=puzzling/> It premiered on ''[[Total Request Live]]'' on April 12, 2004. Spears called the show and explained the video explored [[reincarnation]]. She added, "It's more like a movie. It's different than anything I've ever done. It's dark, and it shows me in a different light. Of course, I'm going to go back and do dance videos, but I wanted to be inspired and challenged."<ref name=reincarnation>{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1486294/britney-says-controversial-new-video-is-about-reincarnation/|title=Britney Says Controversial New Video Is About Reincarnation|date=April 12, 2004|access-date=April 19, 2022|last=Vineyard|first=Jennifer|website=MTV|archive-date=March 9, 2016|archive-url=https://archive.today/20160309132009/http://www.mtv.com/news/1486294/britney-says-controversial-new-video-is-about-reincarnation/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The video was released through a [[DVD single]] in the United Kingdom. An alternate version of the video which only features Spears singing in the white hallway scenes was released on the 2004 DVD ''[[Greatest Hits: My Prerogative (video)|Greatest Hits: My Prerogative]]''.<ref name=dvd>{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1493176/britney-dvd-has-alternate-takes-of-her-videos-plus-more-skin/|title=Britney DVD Has Alternate Takes Of Her Videos, Plus More Skin|date=October 27, 2004|access-date=April 19, 2022|last=Vineyard|first=Jennifer|website=MTV|archive-date=April 12, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412181010/http://www.mtv.com/news/1493176/britney-dvd-has-alternate-takes-of-her-videos-plus-more-skin/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Synopsis===
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Britney Spears Everytime music video.jpg|thumb|left|200px|alt=A blond woman in a bathtub. She is looking at her hand covered in blood.| Spears looking at the blood in her hand.]] -->
The video begins with an aerial shot of [[Las Vegas]], showing the [[Palms Casino Resort]] and continues with a shot of a marquee hotel that reads "''Britney Spears Live from [[Miami]]'' [[The Onyx Hotel Tour]] Las Vegas", with a picture of Spears holding a leather strap and referencing her [[Showtime (TV network)|Showtime]] concert special from Miami. Christian author Eva Marie Everson compared the image to "[[Madonna]] doing her own impersonation of [[Marilyn Monroe]]".<ref name="everson">{{harvnb|Everson|2006|p=39}}</ref> Spears and her boyfriend (played by [[Stephen Dorff]]) arrive at the hotel inside a limousine.<ref name="everson"/><ref name=vegas>{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1569081/britney-spears-las-vegas-affair-from-losing-her-shirt-to-launching-a-comeback/|title=Britney Spears' Las Vegas Affair: From Losing Her Shirt To Launching A Comeback|date=September 7, 2007|access-date=April 28, 2010|last=Vineyard|first=Jennifer|website=MTV|archive-date=October 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001132630/http://www.mtv.com/news/1569081/britney-spears-las-vegas-affair-from-losing-her-shirt-to-launching-a-comeback/|url-status=dead}}</ref> They sit apart from each other, staring out separate windows.<ref name="everson"/> Spears wears a [[Birmingham Barons]] cap in these scenes.<ref name=barons>{{cite news|url=http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3025870&l_id=&t_id=|title=Birmingham Barons go Hollywood|date=April 22, 2004|access-date=May 2, 2010|website=OurSports Central|archive-date=June 29, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629171438/http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3025870&l_id=&t_id=|url-status=live}}</ref> The boyfriend is talking on his cell phone, and when she attempts to get his attention, he puts his index finger up indicating he is unable to shift his attention to her at that moment. The entrance is full of fans and [[paparazzi]] taking pictures.<ref name="everson"/> When they leave the car, fans and paparazzi alike act in an extreme way and fights break out in the crowd. While her bodyguards try to protect her, her boyfriend throws magazines at the paparazzi.<ref name=puzzling/> [[Stephanie Zacharek]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' compared the shots of the paparazzi with the Jews in the film ''[[The Passion of the Christ]]'' (2004).<ref name=nytmv>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/25/arts/music-music-video-britney-has-a-bad-dream-for-our-sins.html|title=Music: Music Video; Britney Has a Bad Dream for Our Sins|date=April 25, 2004|access-date=April 28, 2010|last=Zacharek|first=Stephanie|work=[[The New York Times]]|archive-date=November 14, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131114023304/http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/25/arts/music-music-video-britney-has-a-bad-dream-for-our-sins.html|url-status=live}}</ref> During this scene, she gets hit in the head with a camera, and unknowingly gets a wound on her head, but keeps walking.

Inside their hotel room, Spears and her boyfriend start shouting at each other. When he tries to make amends and get close to her, she brushes off his attempts and walks away. Her boyfriend gets mad and then throws a vase at the wall while Spears goes into the bathroom, hurling a drink at the mirror. She begins to fill the bathtub and remove her clothes. After this, the video includes intercut scenes of a close-up of Spears singing in a white coat in front of a bright white light.<ref name=puzzling/> As she lies in the bathtub, a [[Red string (Kabbalah)|red string]], a custom associated with [[Kabbalah]], is seen on her wrist. She touches her head and looks at her hand, realizing she is bleeding from the wound. Writer Jennifer Vineyard of MTV News speculated the blood in her hand is [[stigmata]], but also indicates she did not know where the blood was coming from, meaning Vineyard may have missed the camera hitting Spears' head and that this is a misinterpretation.<ref name=reincarnation/><ref name=vegas/> She loses consciousness in the bathtub and drowns.<ref name=reincarnation/> Shortly after, her boyfriend finds her and tries to resuscitate her.<ref name=puzzling/> Meanwhile, it is revealed that in the close-up scenes Spears is actually inside a hospital hallway. The video continues with scenes of her being carried into an ambulance and surrounded by photographers, as well as scenes of her being resuscitated by doctors in a hospital bed.<ref name="everson"/> The ghost of Spears in a white shirt watches herself in the bed and walks into the next room, where a baby girl is born. Spears is then seen running away from the camera into the light. The music video ends with her rising from under the water, resting her head and smiling, suggesting the whole scene of her death was a dream or a morbid fantasy.<ref name=reincarnation/>

===Reception===
Eva Marie Everson wrote that the music video showed the reality "behind the glitz and the glamour".<ref name="everson"/> Dominic Fox commented, "Even in its bowdlerised form, the 'Everytime' video presents a moment of existential indecision, a fugue of suicidal ideation in which the singer fantasises about her own death".<ref name="fox">{{harvnb|Fox|2009|p=47}}</ref> While reviewing the music video for her 2009 single "[[If U Seek Amy]]", James Montgomery of MTV called the music video for "Everytime" "underrated".<ref name="bestmtv">{{cite web |last=Montgomery |first=James |title=Is Britney Spears' 'If U Seek Amy' Her Best Video Ever? |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1606882/is-britney-spears-if-u-seek-amy-her-best-video-ever/ |website=MTV |date=March 12, 2009 |access-date=April 19, 2022 |archive-date=March 14, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090314024740/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1606882/20090312/spears_britney.jhtml |url-status=dead }}</ref> ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' in their 2009 article "Britney Spears: The Complete Video Guide", called it "horribly prophetic and depressing" and added that the clip foreshadowed Spears's struggles with fame and mental instability during 2007 and 2008.<ref name="rstone">{{cite magazine |first= |date=2009 |title=The Complete Video Guide: "Everytime" |magazine=Rolling Stone |issn=0035-791X}}</ref>