“2002” is a love ballad by English singer and songwriter Anne-Marie that pays tribute to

the year 2002. The song’s lyrics see Anne-Marie thinking about her childhood or rather
adolescent romantic relationship that occurred in the year in question. In doing so, she
recollects all the classic songs she loved listening to around that time.

During the song, Anne-Marie makes references to six of these classics that in one way or
another accompanied her happy life. The following are the classics Anne-Marie references:

“Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears

“Ride wit Me” by Nelly
“Oops!… I Did It Again” by Britney Spears
“99 Problems” by Jay-Z
“Bye Bye Bye” by NSYNC
“The Next Episode” by Dr. Dre

All the aforementioned hits came out when Anne-Marie was growing up. With the
exception of “99 Problems” by Jay-Z, all the songs were released between 1999 and 2000.
“99 Problems” was released by Jay-Z in 2004. Anne-Marie could therefore have not
listened to it in 2002.

However, according to Anne-Marie, the song is all about her experiences of that special
year of 2002.

During a 2018 interview with The Guardian newspaper, Anne-Marie revealed more about
this nostalgic song. According to her, the song is about remembering a time in your life
when your world was devoid of so many cares.