Songfacts®:

• This ballad was penned by Britney Spears with the Australian singer-songwriter Sia, who has also co-written hits for David Guetta ("Titanium"), Flo Rida ("Wild Ones") and Rihanna ("Diamonds"). Speaking with Alan Carr on his Chatty Man talk show, Britney explained: "It's about a girl that knows her boyfriend is cheating on her. She just wants him to smell her perfume so she can mark her territory on him; it's a really beautiful song."
• Britney told E! Online about the song. "'Perfume' is incredibly special to me because it hits close to home, and I think the story is relatable to everyone," she said. "Everyone's been through an insecure moment in a relationship that's left them vulnerable and I think this song captures that."
• The song was co-produced by Black Eyed Peas' leader, Will.i.am and English singer-songwriter Chris Braide. The latter previously worked with Clay Aiken on his US #1 hit "This Is The Night," Christina Aguilera on her Lotus track "Blank Page" and Lana Del Rey on her Born To Die cut, "Millionaire Dollar Man."
• This song is synthesizer-free and full of emotion. "We wanted to treat her vocal as the main character of the song," said Will.i.am at Britney Jean's listening party.
• Here's some perfume trivia:
  
  The earliest form of perfume was incense, which gives off its odor when burned. (The word perfume is derived from the Latin per fumum, meaning "through smoke.")
  
  The earliest use of perfume bottles is Egyptian and dates to around 1000 BC.
  
  Perfume was an integral part of Greek society, even though some of the greatest philosophers like Socrates thought them "effeminate". Scents were designed to clear the mind, cure illness, and win true love.
  
  Chanel No 5 perfume was named because Coco Chanel had rejected the first four fragrances presented to her.
  
  60 years ago there were just 19 perfumes on sale to the public. Now a new fragrance is launched every three days at an average cost of $40-50 million.
  
  Two fragrances are included in almost every perfume - the extracts of rose and jasmine flowers.
• The song's fragrance-heavy music video was directed by Joseph Kahn, who previously directed Spears' clips for "Stronger," "Toxic," and "Womanizer." The storyline has Britney caught in a love triangle and as well as the shots of the singer with her love interest, there is plenty of product placement for her perfume, Fantasy.
  
  Britney's 'womanizer' beau is played by model Alexander Kjellevik. The Norwegian hunk has starred in campaigns for various designers including Emporio Armani, John Varvatos and Ermanno Scervino.
  
  The official video is a far cry from Kahn's unseen director's cut, which follows Britney as an assassin who sacrifices herself when her next target turns out to be the man she loves. Kahn told Video Static:
  
  "It sucks, especially since my director's cut is an entirely different video. The released edit is missing half of the story and all of the editorial structure. It took a lot of serious salvaging of footage to get it to an acceptable place after the concept was gutted. It's like watching people pet a shaved, bald, declawed cat. I don't gain any satisfaction from people liking work I did that's heavily compromised. I need to stand behind the work honestly otherwise I feel like a fraud. I guess people still like the video because of the gritty look which feels different, and the twist of the second girl in the second act. A narrative in two identical parts is still a solid idea even in compromised form. But it's such a faint reflection of the real narrative with broken execution and far less ambition. If they liked the weak version, I'd bet they'd love the strong one. No one knows what they're missing, and they're missing a lot."