Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know

"Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know" is the fourth single from pop singer Britney Spears' album Oops!... I Did It Again. It was released during the first quarter of 2001.

The song was written by record producer Robert Lange and country music singer Shania Twain, produced by Max Martin and Rami, and programmed by Swayd aka Richard Meyer. This track shows Britney explaining to her love that he shouldn't let her hear everything else from other people and should tell everything straight to her as she exclaims "don't let me be the last to know." Only the UK version of Britney's greatest hits album Greatest Hits: My Prerogative has this track.

Don’t Let Me Be The Last To Know lyrics:

My friends say you’re so into me
And that you need me desperately
They say you say we’re so complete

But I need to hear it straight from you
If you want me to believe it’s true
I’ve been waiting for so long it hurts
I wanna hear you say the words, please

[CHORUS:]
Don’t, don’t let me be the last to know
Don’t hold back, just let it go
I need to hear you say
You need me all the way
Oh, if you love me so
Don’t let me be the last to know

Your body language says so much
Yeah, I feel it in the way you touch
But til’ you say the words it’s not enough
C’mon and tell me you’re in love, please

[Repeat CHORUS]

C’mon baby, c’mon darling, ooh yeah
C’mon, let me be the one
C’mon now, oh yeah

I need to hear you say
You love me all the way
And I don’t wanna wait another day
I wanna feel the way you feel
Oh, c’mon

Don’t, just let me be the one
Don’t hold back, just let it go
I need to hear you say
You need me all the way
So…baby, if you love me
Don’t let me be the last to know

Music video

Directed by Herb Ritts at Key Biscane, Florida, the music video for "Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know" features Spears cuddling and making out with a supermodel by the beach while she is wearing only a bikini and short-shorts. Britney's lover in the video is French model Brice Durand.

The video starts with Britney and her boyfriend in a hammock. Cuts of her cuddling with this model beside a fire are also included. We also see her and her boyfriend on the seashore doing a love scene. Inside a tiki hut, Spears exclaims the words she wants her boyfriend to know. In the second half of the video, she is seen on a tree where her boyfriend reaches for her. There are also scenes where she is running on the beach and her boyfriend is chasing after.

Allegedly, these scenes caused Britney's then-boyfriend Justin Timberlake to become jealous^. Her mother Lynne Spears ordered to cut some of the scenes which contained sexually-explicit material before releasing it to the public. It still was a TRL hit however, debuting at #1 and managing to retire itself just like all of her previous efforts. The video also was nominated for a Billboard Music Award for Best Adult Contemporary Clip.

Chart performance

"Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know" was arguably Britney's first flop single, as the song failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Becoming Britney's 1st single not to peak within the Top 25 of the Billboard Hot 100. It did, however, make a short appearance on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, reaching a peak of number twelve, which would be equivalent to number 112 on the Hot 100, if the chart ran past one-hundred places. Some of the reason as to why "Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know" flopped can be accounted to the fact that it was never released with a commercial single of any kind, and therefore had no sales to aid it on the charts. However, in retrospect, the physical singles sales market was already in decline by early 2001, so even if the song had been released with an accompanying CD single, chances are it still would have flopped.

The track was her biggest failure to-date at Top 40 radio: the single failed to chart on either the Top 40 Tracks or Rhythmic Top 40, and just barely made it into the lower reaches of the Mainstream Top 40.

Internationally, "Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know" didn't fare quite as poorly, but its peak in most countries was still lackluster in comparison to the success of her previous singles. It performed best in South American nations such as Argentina and Brazil.

The Australian commercial release was cancelled at the last minute and the manufactured stock was added to the album and marketed as a bonus remix disc.

"Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know" was a moderate success in the UK peaking just outside the top ten at #12 and selling a total of 67,000 copies. Many believe the overtly provocative video had a lot to do with the single's flop.

Chart (2001)	Peak Position
United World Chart	10
Austrian Singles Chart	7
Argentinian Singles Chart	9
Belgian Singles Chart	13
Brazilian Singles Chart	5
Canadian Singles Chart	34
Dutch Singles Chart	16
Finnish Singles Chart	17
French Singles Chart	27
German Singles Chart	12
Irish Singles Chart	12
Norwegian Singles Chart	20
Swedish Singles Chart	12
Swiss Singles Chart	9
UK Singles Chart	12
U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100	12
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	36