Hello Britney Army!
It’s Bonnie McKee, your favorite demo archaeologist, back with another spin of the Wheel of Demos….Britney Edition 🎡💿
Now, some of these songs I remember vividly. Others? Not so much. And today’s pick? It falls squarely in the “did I write this?” category. 😂
Risky Business…? Risky WHO?
So today’s unreleased Britney song is called “Risky Business.” And let me tell you:
I hit play and heard myself go: “Risky risqué, risky risqué”
And I was like:
💡 Oh yeah. I definitely wrote this. 💁♀️
Because I remember thinking I was so clever for that little wordplay. (Still kinda am, to be honest.)
Another Day, Another Movie Title 🎬
So here’s the backstory:
There was a time in my writing life when I was obsessed with using iconic movie titles as song names. And yes, Risky Business made that list. I had a whole notebook that was just like:
“Movies people recognize + pop song = hit?”
Not always! 😂 But it was a vibe.
Why It Didn’t Make the Cut 🤷♀️
Okay, real talk:
Even though the production is solid and the Britney energy is on point, I don’t love this one.
• The verses are too long
• It takes way too long to get to the actual hook
• And honestly? I just heard it and still can’t remember what the chorus was
The line was something like:
“Ready for some risky business”
which, okay, cool, but not exactly a stadium scream moment.
I was writing SO MANY songs at the time—double and triple sessions every day—so not every track was going to be a masterpiece. This one? Cute, but not a fave.
The Weird Life of a Songwriter 🎙️
Fun fact: The only reason I even have this demo is because someone leaked it.
(Thanks, I guess? 🤷♀️)
Back then, we weren’t allowed to take songs home. If you wrote in a label studio, they’d treat your session like a CIA mission. You couldn’t leave with a copy because they didn’t want writers leaking stuff—which, clearly, didn’t always work. 😅
Sometimes I’d write an entire song, sing the demo, and never hear it again.
No mp3, no voice note, no nothing. Just vibes and a faint memory of clever rhyming.
And honestly? There are hundreds of songs like that for me. Probably thousands.
A lot of sessions ended in, “Cool, let’s revisit this!”
(Spoiler: We never did.)
Final Thoughts: A Nice Little Mystery Demo
So yeah, Risky Business probably wasn’t Britney-bound greatness, but it’s a fun little time capsule of that Femme Fatale-era hustle.
And hey, “Risky risqué” still kinda slaps. 😉
XO,
Bonnie 💖
P.S. Songwriters don’t get paid to show up to these sessions. Just felt like throwing that in. 😉
Listen to the full version of “Risky Business” below!!
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