 In November 2001 , Spears released her third album , Britney , which portrayed more adult and provocative themes and featured the lead single " I 'm a Slave 4 U " . The album sold 4 million copies in the United States ; nevertheless , it was viewed as " poor @-@ selling " in comparison to her previous efforts . The following year , her relationship of three years with pop singer Justin Timberlake ended after months of speculation . After the Dream Within a Dream Tour in support of Britney finalized in July 2002 , Spears announced she would take a break from her career for six months . In November 2002 , she revealed that she had started working on her next studio album . She explained , " Well , actually , I just said that I wanted two or three weeks off . [ .... ] And the whole world was like , ' Ohmigod , [ sic ] she 's gone ... " 
