An accompanying music video, directed by Billie Woodruff, portrays Spears dancing inside an abandoned factory; the music video for The Darkchild Remix, directed by Chris Applebaum, portrays Spears dancing and having fun with her friends.

I Did It Again Tour (2000), Spears revealed she felt inspired by hip hop artists such as Jay-Z and The Neptunes and wanted to create a record with a funkier sound.

Background vocals were provided by Spears and Bosslady, with the track being mixed by Martin and Rami at Maratone Studios.

[8] Dana Alice Heller, author of Makeover television: realities remodelled (2007), said that, with "Overprotected", "Spears addresses the problem of being a teen star whose personal and professional are handled by others.

[11][10] The remix was heavily played in dance clubs, and Jerkins said he was not surprised with its popularity, stating "[Spears] reinvented herself.

[17] Critic Robert Christgau also considered "Overprotected" and "Cinderella" as the highlights of Britney, while saying, "hardly the first not-terribly-bright teenager to approach self-knowledge via the words of others".

[18] Nikki Tranker of PopMatters said the song "is an absolute belter reminiscent of Britney’s previous big-bang singles, 'Oops!

[7] The staff from Entertainment Weekly placed it at number 24 on their ranking of Spears's songs and said that "there’s an eerie amount of foreshadowing for what was to come in her personal life.

[20] Digital Spy's Alim Kheraj hailed it "an anthem that deals with the complexities of growing up and being held back by other people's perceptions [...] full of distinctive chord progressions and more hooks than it seems possible to include in one song".

In France, it peaked at number 15, and was later certified Gold by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP), for selling over 250,000 units of the single.

[22] In Sweden, the song reached number two, and was later certified Gold by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), for selling over 15,000 units.

[28] The music video for "Overprotected" was directed by Billie Woodruff and produced under Geneva Films,[29] while choreographed by Brian Friedman.

[30] It begins with Spears driving away from the paparazzi, with a part of the instrumental version of the song "Bombastic Love", featured on the album Britney, playing.

[citation needed] The music video for "The Darkchild Remix" was directed by Chris Applebaum and filmed in the first weekend of March 2002 in Los Angeles, California.

[29] The full shooting took 23 hours,[11] and Applebaum was said to be impressed with Spears' "stamina and patience through the marathon shoot, which wrapped 5 a.m."[11] According to Joe D'Angelo of MTV News, "the clip furthers her 'I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman' crusade to shirk her adolescent image, as she and five friends outsmart her bodyguard with the old 'you're wanted elsewhere' trick and sneak out of a hotel and into an underground dance club.

[31][32] Spears directly referenced Janet Jackson's "Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You)" in the scenes on the elevator and when she and her dancers walk down the hotel lobby.

[33] The video opens with Spears and her friends in a hotel room, where a tabloid reporter on television criticizes her for the sexy, revealing outfits she is often seen wearing publicly.

Spears, determined to be self-sufficient and unaffected by media comments,[11] then makes a phone call to her bodyguard, and using a cloth to disguise the sound of her voice, coaxes him to leave the area so that her group may sneak out of the hotel and enjoy the day.

[34] After the announcement of the 2002 extension of the tour, some changes were made to the setlist, replacing the original mix of the song by "The Darkchild Remix".