Lifestyle Food Diners, Crop Tops & Jamie Lynn: Britney Spears Reflects on Her Iconic 'Now and Then' Pepsi Commercial 16 Years Later "It's probably one of my most proud pieces of work," she tells PEOPLE exclusively By Melody Chiu Melody Chiu Instagram Twitter Melody Chiu is a Senior Editor for PEOPLE. She has been with the brand since 2009, editing, writing and reporting across all entertainment verticals. She oversees PEOPLE's music and events coverage and has written cover stories on Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Melissa McCarthy, Blake Shelton and Sandra Oh. The Los Angeles native graduated from the University of Southern California and has appeared on Extra!, The Talk, Access Hollywood and Good Morning America. People Editorial Guidelines Published on May 10, 2018 11:00 AM Share Tweet Pin Email Britney Spears will forever be a part of the Pepsi family. The 36-year-old superstar starred in her first commercial for the beverage company in 2001 — and now 17 years later an iconic shot of the singer will appear on retro limited-edition cans this summer as part of the Pepsi Generations Summer campaign. “That was like 15 years ago. Goodness!” reflects Spears about her long relationship with Pepsi in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE. “I’m like, ‘Wait a second!'” Some of her favorite memories collaborating with the company were formed on set of her epic 2002 “Now and Then” Pepsi commercial, for which the entertainer recreated iconic Pepsi ads throughout the decades during a days-long shoot. Courtesy Pepsi Want to keep up with the latest from PEOPLE? Sign up for our daily newsletter to get our best stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox. “We had a couple of different set-ups, and we had one where I was Robert Palmer. We did a remake of ‘Simply Irresistible,’ and I had to go through hair and makeup,” says the star, who is bringing her “Piece of Me” tour to the East Coast and Europe in July and August. “It took forever because they were turning me into a man!” RELATED VIDEO: Britney Spears Flaunts Insane Abs In Sexy Selfie Looking back, however, Spears remembers they made her hair “too big” and she ended up looking “like a girl with a beard,” she jokes. “I was like, ‘I look nothing like him and we spent like four hours on hair and makeup.” She also has fond memories of spending time with her younger sister Jamie Lynn Spears, now 27, who was a tween at the time and made a cameo in the commercial. “She was on set with me and we were all out in this field. It was so hot, and we all had to be like hippies and kind of swing our bodies around,” says Spears. Oops! Britney Spears Broke the GLAAD Media Awards: ‘Everybody Lost Their Minds’ Courtesy Pepsi Spears’s favorite scene from the commercial, though, is the “traditionally classic” one in which she shows off her dance moves in front of a drive-in while baring her infamous abs in a crop top and low-rise bottoms. “It was in a sound studio, and it was really tight,” she says. “At the time [with] my belly showing, it was very, very cool. It’s probably one of my most proud pieces of work.”