 Spears originally envisioned " Sheryl Crow music , but younger more adult contemporary " , but felt all right with her label 's producers , since " It made more sense to go pop , because I can dance to it — it 's more me . " The album opens with the first single " ... Baby One More Time " , a teen pop and dance @-@ pop song that begins with a three @-@ note motif in the bass range of the piano . The opening was compared to many other songs , such as " We Will Rock You " ( 1977 ) , " Start Me Up " ( 1981 ) and the theme song of the film Jaws due to the fact the track " makes its presence known in exactly one second " . According to magazine Blender , " ... Baby One More Time " is composed by " wah @-@ wah guitar lines and EKG @-@ machine bass @-@ slaps " . Claudia Mitchell and Jacqueline Reid @-@ Walsh , authors of Girl Culture : Studying girl culture : a readers ' guide ( 2008 ) , observed that the lyrics of the song " gesture toward [ Spears ] longing for the return of an ex @-@ boyfriend . " The next song and third single , " ( You Drive Me ) Crazy " runs through a moderately slow dance beat , and has a rhythm and blues melody mixed with edgy synthesized instrumentals . The third track and second single " Sometimes " is a ballad , that Spears begins with " You tell me you 're in love with me / That you can 't take your pretty eyes away from me / It 's not that I don 't wanna stay / But every time you come too close I move away " . Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic noted the song has " a catchy hook and endearing melody , with a reminiscent euro @-@ dance rhythm . " 
