Born to Make You Happy

"Born to Make You Happy" is a song by American singer Britney Spears from her debut studio album, ...Baby One More Time (1999). It was released on December 6, 1999, by Jive Records, as the fourth single from the album in Europe. Spears—whose vision for her sound differed stylistically from that of her producer's—was unhappy with the sexual overtones of the song, and the song underwent at least one re-write before its release. The singer first recorded the vocals for the track in May 1998, which were later re-recorded in September 1999 for the 'Bonus Remix' of the song. The teen pop song alludes to a relationship that a woman desires to correct, not quite understanding what went wrong, as she comes to realize that she was "born to make [her lover] happy".

"Born to Make You Happy" received mixed to positive reviews from music critics, who praised Spears' vocals and deemed it an early classic, but criticized the song's message. The song achieved success throughout Europe, topping the charts in Ireland and the United Kingdom and reaching the top five in 15 countries, including Austria, Belgium, Finland, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland. An accompanying music video, directed by Bille Woodruff, was released. The video portrays Spears dreaming that she is with her lover, while she sings and dances during the majority of the video. Spears has performed "Born to Make You Happy" on four concert tours.

Before recording her debut album, Spears had originally envisioned it in style of Sheryl Crow’s music, but younger [and] more adult contemporary". However, the singer agreed with her label's appointment of producers, who had the objective to reach a teen public at the time. She flew to Cheiron Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, where half of the album was recorded from May 1998, with producers Max Martin, Denniz Pop and Rami Yacoub, among others. "Born to Make You Happy" was written and produced by Kristian Lundin, and co-written by Andreas Carlsson, and was the first work by the duo. The song was mixed at Cheiron Studios by Max Martin. Esbjörn Öhrwall played the guitar, while keyboards and programming was done by Lundin. Background vocals were provided by Carlsson and Nana Hedin. In an early version of "Born To Make You Happy", additional background vocals can be heard in the chorus which were later removed in the final version.

The "bonus remix" of "Born To Make You Happy" was recorded in September 1999, following the record label's idea to re-record and remix the song to have more "punch" and to be more commercial. This idea came from the success of the remix release of the album's previous single "(You Drive Me) Crazy". Within 24 hours of hearing the new remix, Clive Calder decided to keep the original album version for the single release, and to have the remix as the B-side to the single.

"Born to Make You Happy" was released in Europe as the fourth single from ...Baby One More Time on December 6, 1999. It was not released as a single in the United States, where "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart" was released as the album's fourth single instead.

"Born to Make You Happy" is a teen pop and pop song that lasts for four minutes and three seconds. The song is composed in the key of B minor and is set in time signature of common time, with a moderately slow tempo of 84 beats per minute. Spears vocal range spans over an octave, from F♯₃ to B₄. The song's lyrics are about a relationship that a woman desires to correct, not quite understanding what went wrong, as she comes to realize that "I don't know how to live without your love/I was born to make you happy". Writing for Pink News, Mayer Nissim described its lyrics as being about "capturing that pain, denial, and self-pitying misery right after things go south". "Born to Make You Happy" has a basic sequence of Bm–G–D–A as its chord progression.

David Gauntlett, author of Media, gender, and identity: an introduction (2002), noted that, despite wanting her lover next to her in the song, Spears' "fans see her as assertive, strong and confident, and an example that young women can make it on their own". The singer revealed in an interview with Rolling Stone, the writers had to re-write the original lyrics of the song. "I asked them to change the words to 'Born to Make You Happy.' It was a sexual song," she revealed. "I said, 'This may be a little old for me.' Because of the image thing, I don't want to go over the top. If I come out being Miss Prima Donna, that wouldn't be smart. I want to have a place to grow".

"Born to Make You Happy" received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. Kyle Anderson of MTV considered the song's chorus more than "a little bit off-putting," saying the first lines of it "could be a sentiment that a lovelorn 16-year-old can understand, but it also sounds like Spears is in training to be a geisha". Craig MacInnis of Hamilton Spectator said "["Born to Make You Happy"] verges on the sort of boy-worshipping dreck that even Tiffany would have sniffed at". Mike Ross of Edmond Sun said, as Spears emotes in the song, "the message behind the music is worse than mere sweet nothings. [...] So much for Girl Power". Amanda Murray of Sputnikmusic considered "Born to Make You Happy" a "proficient but entirely unrememberable song," while Andy Petch-Jex of musicOMH considered the song an "early classic". Christopher Rosa, from Glamour, deemed it Spears' tenth best song, calling it an "euphoric slice of late nineties bubblegum, featuring some of her fullest vocals and one of her most memorable bridges". Shannon Barbour from Cosmopolitan called it a "prime stare-out-the-widow-pretending-to-be-in-an-emotional-music-video song". Digital Spy's Alim Kheraj praised "Spears' pure vocals and the dreamlike production".