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Britney Jean Spears (born December
2, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, author and
entertainer. Born in Mississippi and raised in Louisiana, Spears first
appeared on national television in 1992 as a contestant on the Star Search
program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The All
New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993 to 1994. In 1997, Spears signed a
recording contract with Jive, releasing her debut album ...Baby One More
Time in 1999. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and has
sold over 25 million copies worldwide. Her success continued with the
release of her sophomore album, Oops!... I Did It Again in 2000, which
established her as a pop icon and credited for influencing the revival of
teen pop in the late 1990s.
In 2001, she released Britney and played the starring role in the film
Crossroads. She assumed creative control of her fourth studio album, In
the Zone released in 2003, which made her the only female artist of the
Nielsen Soundscan era to have her first four albums debut at number one.
Her fifth studio album, Blackout was released in 2007. Her sixth studio
album, Circus released in 2008, also debuted at number one in the
Billboard 200 albums chart with the hit single "Womanizer" which is Spears
second song to peaked at number one on Billboard Hot 100 in over 10 years.
In late 2009, Spears released The Singles Collection which include Spears
third number one hit single entitled "3".
Spears has sold over 83 million records worldwide. On December 11, 2009
Billboard Magazine named Spears the second-best selling act of the 2000s,
solely based on album sales as well as the 8th overall best act of the
decade based on album sales, chart success, and cultural relativity. She
is ranked as the eighth best-selling female recording artist in the U.S.
with 32 million copies of her albums certified by the Recording Industry
Association of America, and is currently the fifth best-selling artist act
of the decade in the country, as well as the top-selling female album
artist. Spears is also ranked by Forbes 2009 issue as the 13th most
powerful celebrity, and with earnings of over $35 million dollars in 2009,
the 2nd-highest earning young musician of the year. Spears made a history
in the music industry when four of her albums made the Billboards top 20
biggest-opening-week albums of the decade.
Spears was born in McComb, Mississippi and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana
as a Southern Baptist. Her parents are Lynne Irene (née Bridges), a former
elementary school teacher, and Jamie Parnell Spears, a former building
contractor and chef. Spears is of English heritage through her maternal
grandmother being born in London and distant Maltese descent, with her
maternal 2nd great-grandfather Edward Portelli being born in Malta then
moving to England where he settled. Spears has two siblings, Bryan and
Jamie Lynn. Bryan Spears is married to Jamie-Lynn's manager, Graciella
Rivera.
Spears was an accomplished gymnast, attending gymnastics classes until age
nine and competing in state-level competitions. She performed in local
dance revues and sang in her local Baptist church choir. Spears entered
New York City's Professional Performing Arts School when she was eight.
Spears's parents would often argue, and they eventually divorced in 2002.
At age eight, Spears auditioned for the Disney Channel series The New
Mickey Mouse Club. Although she was considered too young to join the
series at the time, a producer on the show introduced her to a New York
City agent. Spears subsequently spent three summers at NYC's Professional
Performing Arts School and also appeared in a number of off-Broadway
productions. She was an understudy in the 1991 off-Broadway musical
Ruthless!. In 1992, she landed a spot on the popular television show Star
Search. She won the first round of competition, but ultimately lost. At
age eleven, Spears returned to the Disney Channel for a spot on The New
Mickey Mouse Club in Lakeland, Florida. She was featured on the show from
1993 to 1994, until she was 13. After the show ended, Spears returned to
Kentwood and attended high school for a year.
In 1997, Spears briefly joined the all-female pop group innosense. Later
that same year, she recorded a solo demo and was signed by Jive Records.
She began a U.S. concert tour sponsored by American teen magazines, and
eventually became an opening act for 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys.
Spears released her debut single, "...Baby One More Time", in October 1998
which peaked at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1999 and
topped the chart for two weeks. It opened at number-one in the UK Singles
Chart selling over 460,000 copies, a record for a female act at the time,
and became the top-selling single of 1999 and the 25th most successful
song of all time in British chart history with over 1.45 million units
sold. Gillian G. Gaar, author of She's a Rebel: The History of Women in
Rock & Roll (2002), documented that "eyebrows were raised over the
schoolgirl-in-heat persona Spears projected in her (music video for
...Baby One More Time), along with an increasingly revealing series of
stage outfits". Spears's debut album ...Baby One More Time peaked at
number one on the Billboard 200 in January 1999. Rolling Stone magazine,
in a review of the album, wrote: "While several Cherion-crafted
kiddie-funk jams serve up beefy hooks, shameless schlock slowies, like
E-Mail My Heart, are pure spam". NME commented " (Spears's debut album and
its title-track) are the kind of soullessness that saturates Stateside
charts and consists of nothing but over-chewed bubblegum beats and
saccharine sensibilities". In contrast, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of
Allmusic wrote: "Like many teen pop albums, ...Baby One More Time has its
share of well-crafted filler, but the singles, combined with Britney's
burgeoning charisma, make this a pretty great piece of fluff". ...Baby One
More Time was later certified fourteen times platinum by the Recording
Industry Association of America, denoting fourteen million units shipped
within the United States. Spears posed for the cover of Rolling Stone
magazine in April 1999, shot by photographer David LaChapelle. Geoff
Boucher of The Los Angeles Times reported, "there was no mistaking the
titillation factor in the recent Spears cover story and accompanying
photos in the April 15 issue of Rolling Stone, which sent eyebrows arching
throughout the music industry, where several executives half-jokingly
called it "child pornography". Gillian G. Gaar reported, "The American
Family Association charged that the pictures, which showed Spears in
push-up bras and a minuscule pair of shorts with 'Baby' in rhinestones on
the bottom, presented a 'disturbing mix of childhood innocence and adult
sexuality' and asked that all 'God-loving Americans' boycott stores
carrying her albums". More controversy arose when Spears declared that she
would "remain a virgin until marriage". This pledge has been questioned
due to her apparently sexual relationship with fellow pop singer Justin
Timberlake.
In late 1999, Spears appeared in the teen sitcom, Sabrina, the Teenage
Witch and performed the song "(You Drive Me) Crazy"; this cameo was a
cross-promotion for the film Drive Me Crazy, which starred Sabrina's
Melissa Joan Hart and was named after the song. In December 1999, she won
four Billboard Music Awards, including Female Artist of the Year. A month
later, she received the Favorite Pop/Rock New Artist award at the American
Music Awards.
Following the success of her previous album, Spears released the album
Oops!... I Did It Again in May 2000. It debuted at number one in the U.S.
by selling 1,319,193 units during its first week of sales, breaking the
SoundScan record for the highest album sales in its debut week by any solo
artist. The RIAA awarded the album with a diamond certification with over
10 million copies sold in the U.S. Allmusic gave it awarded the album 4
out of 5 stars, saying that the album "has the same combination of sweetly
sentimental ballads and endearingly gaudy dance-pop that made "...Baby One
More Time." Rolling Stone gave the album 3.5 stars out of 5 by noting the
album as "fantastic pop cheese" and "Britney's demand for satisfaction is
complex, fierce and downright scary." The album's lead single "Oops!... I
Did It Again" broke the record for most radio station additions in a
single day, and quickly became a top ten hit in the U.S. and other
countries. The same year, Spears launched her first world tour, the
"Oops!... I Did It Again World Tour". During the tour, she made a stop in
New York for the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. As part of her performance,
she ripped off a black suit to reveal a provocative nude-colored and
crystal-adorned outfit that generated much controversy. Spears earned two
Billboard Music Awards for Oops!... I Did It Again.
Spears released her third studio album Britney in November 2001. In the
album, she assumed some creative control by co-writing five tracks.
Britney was also known as the album that Spears combined her originated
pop sensibilities with more hip hop and R&B beats. Although not as
successful as her previous albums, Britney debuted at number one in the
U.S. by selling 745,744 units during its first week. The album's success
made her the only female artist in music history to have her first three
albums debut at number one. The album fared well with critics such as
Allmusic who gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars, describing the album's title
tracks as being "pivotal moments on Britney Spears's third album, the
record where she strives to deepen her persona, making it more adult while
still recognizably Britney." In contrast, Rolling Stone said of the album
Britney "belabors the obvious: Spears is one month away from entering her
twenties and clearly needs to grow up if she's going to bring her fans
along." Britney's lead single "I'm a Slave 4 U" peaked at 27 on the
Billboard Hot 100 making it the album's biggest hit. To help promote the
album, Spears embarked on the Dream Within a Dream Tour in November 2001.
The tour was forced to cut short in Mexico City due to bad weather. With
the end to her tour, Spears announced she would take a six month break
from her career.
In early 2002, Spears's four-year relationship with Justin Timberlake
ended. His 2002 song "Cry Me a River" and its music video, which featured
an actress resembling Spears, caused speculation that Spears had been
unfaithful; Timberlake, however, denied that his song was meant to portray
her. June 2002 saw the opening of Spears's restaurant, Nyla, in New York
City, which served Louisianan and Italian cuisine. However, she was pulled
out of the business venture in November as a result of debts and
management issues. Nyla officially closed in 2003. In the same year, Limp
Bizkit frontman Fred Durst confirmed that he was in a relationship with
Spears. Durst was also hired to help write and produce tracks for her
album In the Zone, which were eventually scrapped.
Spears had her first starring role in the 2002 film Crossroads, in which
she portrayed a high school graduate who travels to find her long-lost
mother. The movie was poorly received, as was her performance; Spears
received Razzie Awards for Worst Actress and for Worst Original Song.
Nonetheless, the film grossed over $60 million worldwide, which was five
times its budget. Spears also made cameo appearances in Austin Powers in
Goldmember and Longshot. Footage of Spears appeared in the 2004
documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, which samples a 2003 CNN interview about the
Iraq War in which Spears stated that she thought "we should just trust our
president in every decision he makes and should just support that".
Spears made her third consecutive MTV Video Music Awards performance.
While performing "I'm a Slave 4 U", she used caged animals as props and
danced with a large albino python draped over her shoulders. Animal-rights
organization PETA claimed that the animals featured in the performance
were mistreated and cancelled plans for an anti-fur billboard that was to
feature Spears. Her career success was highlighted by Forbes magazine in
2002 as Spears was ranked the world's most powerful celebrity, earnings of
over $39.2 million. On October 7, 2002, "People Magazine declared that,
Spears sold 52 million albums worldwide in the last four years and making
between $40 million and $50 million a year as a result. At a performance
at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, she appeared with Christina Aguilera
performing the song "Like a Virgin", and was later joined by American pop
singer Madonna, with whom Spears and Aguilera both locked lips; the
incident was highly publicized.
Spears released her fourth studio album In the Zone in November 2003,
jettisoning the Max Martin-produced synthpop of her earlier releases. The
album took in lesser-known producers such as RedZone and big names
including Moby and R. Kelly. Spears co-wrote eight of the album's thirteen
songs and co-produced several pieces of her material for the first time.
In the Zone reached number one in the U.S. charts during its debut week,
selling over 609,000 copies. This made Spears the first female in the
Nielsen SoundScan era to have her first four studio albums to debut at
number one. The album had a mixed reception from critics. Stylus Magazine
gave the album a D and blamed Spears's career choices by stating,
"Ultimately, In the Zone suffers greatly from Britney's uneasy transition
from teen tart to sexually powerful woman. Had Britney been in charge of
her career direction instead of mercilessly prostituted by her management,
she might have been able to produce something with some semblance of
musical vision." The Guardian praised the album's melodies and her effort,
giving it 4 out of 5 stars: "Unlike previous Britney albums, In the Zone
has no filler and no shoddy cover versions, just 57 varieties of blue-chip
hit-factory pop. There is southern hip-hop, deep house, Neptunes-style
R&B, the ubiquitous Diwali beat and, most importantly, oodles of Madonna."
The album spawned the hit single "Toxic", winning Spears her first ever
Grammy in the category of Best Dance Recording.
Spears married childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander on January 3, 2004,
at The Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. The marriage lasted 55
hours, ending with an annulment stating that Spears "lacked understanding
of her actions to the extent that she was incapable of agreeing to
marriage because before entering into the marriage the Plaintiff and
Defendant did not know each others' likes and dislikes, each others'
desires to have or not have children, and each other's desires as to State
of residency".
Months after her Las Vegas marriage, Spears embarked on The Onyx Hotel
Tour, which was canceled in June after Spears injured her knee during the
filming of the video for the single "Outrageous". The tour's choreography
generated much controversy and criticism, which was cited inappropriate
with the presence of young children in the audience. In September 2004,
Spears, although being raised a Baptist, became involved in the Kabbalah
Centre through her friendship with Madonna. However, she publicly left the
religion in 2006, stating on her website, "I no longer study Kabbalah, my
baby is my religion."
In July 2004, Spears announced her engagement to Kevin Federline, three
months after they met. Federline had recently been in a relationship with
actress Shar Jackson, who was eight months pregnant with their second
child. These initial stages were chronicled in Spears's first reality show
Britney & Kevin: Chaotic, which aired on UPN in May and June 2005. On the
night of September 18, Spears married Federline in a surprise,
non-denominational ceremony at a residence in Studio City, California,
filing legal papers on October 6. After the marriage, Spears announced via
her website that she would be taking another career break to start a
family. She gave birth to her first child, Sean Preston Federline, nearly
one year later, on September 14, 2005 in Santa Monica, California by a
scheduled caesarean section.
November 2004 saw the release of her first greatest hits collection,
Greatest Hits: My Prerogative, which features all of Spears's singles with
the exception of "From The Bottom Of My Broken Heart". It also featured
three previously unreleased songs: a cover version of American R&B singer
Bobby Brown's 1988 hit "My Prerogative", "Do Somethin'", produced by
Bloodshy and Avant, with whom she had worked on In The Zone, and "I've
Just Begun (Having My Fun)", which was a song originally recorded for
Spears's fourth album, In The Zone, but did not make the final cut. By the
end of that year, Spears had become one of the best-selling artists in the
world.
In November 2005, Spears released her first remix album, B In The Mix: The
Remixes. The album ranged from "...Baby One More Time" to "Toxic". Her
single "Someday (I Will Understand)" was also remixed. Another single,
"And Then We Kiss", was released on Vinyl worldwide and it charted in many
countries. The song peaked at number 15 on Billboard's Hot Dance Airplay
chart, despite it not being officially released in the U.S. B in the Mix:
The Remixes had sold a total of 100,000 copies in the U.S after 4 years,
it was the first album for which Spears didn't receive any RIAA
certification.
In 2006, Spears guest-starred on the Will & Grace episode "Buy, Buy Baby"
as a closeted lesbian. Spears announced her second pregnancy in May 2006
during an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. She also
appeared on Dateline the next month to discuss tabloid rumors about an
impending divorce, and motherhood. She addressed an incident which
occurred in February when photos revealed her driving with her son
unrestrained in her lap, explaining, "I see a bunch of photographers and
I’m scared and I want to get out of the situation... They’re coming up on
the sides of the car which is a scary situation for me… so I get my baby
out of the car and I go home." The month following the televised
interview, Spears posed nude for the August 2006 cover of Harper's Bazaar.
Just two days before Sean's first birthday, Spears gave birth to her
second son, Jayden James Federline on September 12 in Los Angeles. Spears
filed for divorce from Federline on November 7, 2006, citing
irreconcilable differences and asking for both physical and legal custody
of their two children, with visitation rights for Federline. The following
day, Federline filed a response to Spears's divorce petition, seeking
physical and legal custody of their children. American attorney Laura
Wasser was hired to represent Spears in the case. According to a
representative for Federline's lawyer, the divorce filing "caught Kevin
totally by surprise". The couple reached a global settlement agreement in
March 2007 and their divorce was finalized in July. Spears's aunt Sandra
Bridges Covington, with whom she had been very close, died of ovarian
cancer on January 21, 2007. Spears then stayed in an off-shore drug
rehabilitation facility in Antigua for less than 24 hours on February 16.
The following night at a hair salon in Tarzana, California she shaved her
head with electric clippers. A few days later, she admitted herself to
another treatment facility in Malibu. While leaving the facility briefly,
she quickly returned on February 22. The previous day, Kevin Federline had
requested an emergency hearing regarding the custody of their children but
then his attorney announced that Federline asked to cancel the court
appearance. No further explanation was given.
Throughout 2007, Spears's behavior received heightened media attention,
including attacking a paparazzi vehicle with an umbrella. Spears left the
rehabilitation center on March 20 according to her manager, who said she
was released after "successfully completing their program." As the legal
battle over the custody of their children continued, many members of her
entourage have been summoned to testify about her parenting skills. In
March 2007, Leonard Pitts, Jr. wrote that in the aftermath of Spears's
personal struggles that have become widely publicized, Spears had been
reduced to an abstract idea as opposed to being regarded as a real person.
"The abstraction is not surprising: Whatever media touch, they
objectify... What must it be like to have your marriage and divorce, your
relationship with your parents and kids... dissected by millions of
strangers who think they know you?" Pitts further commented that fame and
fortune do not qualify the media scrutiny Spears has faced, but observed
that fact has been overlooked by "our rush to a day of 'reality'
television" and "tabloid journalism". Though "there is no reverence, no
privacy, and nothing held back as sacred", Pitts argues "Britney Jean
Spears is not an idea."
In May 2007, she produced a mini-tour for the House of Blues just after
she left a rehabilitation facility under the name The M+M's; with six
shows altogether, she sang live during some lines of her songs. She
recorded her next album with producers such as Sean Garrett, J. R. Rotem
and Nate "Danja" Hills throughout 2006 and 2007.
In September 2007, the official findings in Spears's custody battle were
announced by the court. She was ordered to undergo random drug and alcohol
testing and to attend parenting counseling. Spears and Federline continued
to share joint custody of their two children on a conditional basis. A few
days later, she was officially charged with misdemeanor hit-and-run and
driving without a license. If convicted, she could have faced a year in
jail. Spears lost physical custody of her children to Federline on October
1, with the court ruling that Federline will keep full custody of the
children. The charges for her alleged hit-and-run that occurred in August
2007 were officially laid, she was booked for the charges by the Los
Angeles Police Department on October 15 but was not arrested.
The release of Spears's fifth album, Blackout, was rescheduled to October
30, 2007 rather than November 13, 2007 due to online leaks. Blackout
debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart and the U.S. Billboard 200.,
making Spears the only female music artist to have her first five albums
go to number one and two. It was fairly well received by critics. As of
June 2008, there have been 3.1 million digital downloads of the songs and
remixes from the album in the United States. Rolling Stone gave the album
3.5 out of 5 stars. Allmusic also rated the album 3.5 out of 5 stars,
calling Blackout "coherent and entertaining" and stating that "it holds
together better than any of her other records". Blackout's lead single,
"Gimme More" leaked on the internet on August 30. The song, which was
Spears's first produced by Danja, peaked at number three on Billboard Hot
100 on October 3, making it, at the time, her most successful single in
the U.S. since her debut, "...Baby One More Time".
Spears's highly anticipated performance of "Gimme More" at the 2007 MTV
Video Music Awards attracted worldwide attention which exceeded
expectations. It became perhaps the most talked-about televised song and
dance routine since her friend Michael Jackson's appearance a quarter
century earlier on the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever special. Her
singing, her dancing and even her wardrobe were all commented on
extensively. The BBC stated that "her performance would go down in the
history books as being one of the worst to grace the MTV Awards." The
single rocketed to worldwide success. The second single, "Piece of Me",
peaked at No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart.
In December 2007, Spears began a relationship with Adnan Ghalib, had been
working as a paparazzo, taking photographs of Spears outside her house. Of
his relationship with Spears, Ghalib stated, "I think she's a great
person.". This relationship lead to speculation Spears was suffering from
a form of Stockholm Syndrome in which kidnapping victims feel attached and
show sympathy for their captors". New York psychologist, Patricia
Saunders, said about Spears: "some of the characteristics of persistent
paparazzi are similar to stalkers. And for Britney, she’s looking for any
port in a storm. The elements of Stockholm syndrome come from that sense
of 'If you can’t beat them, join them'". Stacy Kaiser, a well-known
Californian psychotherapist, relationship expert and media personality,
stated in the E! channel documentary titled Britney Spears: Price of Fame,
that "Britney hands down has to be the most photographed person since Lady
Diana".
On the evening of January 3, 2008, after not sleeping for over four days,
Spears refused to relinquish custody of her children to Federline's
representatives. In response, police were called to Spears's home. She was
hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after she "appeared to be
under the influence of an unknown substance", though blood tests tested
negative for any illicit substances. She was held for psychiatric
evaluation for two days. Pending a February 19 hearing, Commissioner Scott
Gordon issued an order on January 14 stating that her visitation rights
have been suspended indefinitely. On January 31, a court placed Spears
under temporary co-conservatorship of her father James Spears and attorney
Andrew Wallete, giving them complete control of her assets. As a result of
an order placed by her psychiatrist, she was taken to UCLA Medical Center
to be put on a 5150 involuntary psychiatric hold for the second time that
month. On February 1, a restraining order was issued against Sam Lutfi, a
prominent figure in Spears's life. She was released from the hospital on
February 6, amid speculation that she has bipolar disorder, although
medical records are confidential, and no confirmation has been made. Her
parents expressed disappointment and concern at the decision to release
her. She has regained some visitation rights after coming to an agreement
with Federline and his counsel. On July 18, 2008, Spears and Federline
reached a custody settlement in which Federline retains sole custody while
Spears keeps her visitation rights.
Vanessa Grigoriadis reported in "The Tragedy of Britney Spears" (2008),
her cover story for Rolling Stone, that "more than any other star today,
Britney epitomizes the crucible of fame for the famous: loving it, hating
it and never quite being able to stop it from destroying you". Grigoriadis
wrote that "every day in L.A., at least a hundred paparazzi, reporters and
celebrity-magazine editors dash after her" and that paparazzi estimated
Spears generated "up to twenty percent of their coverage for the past
year". She further documented that in addition to tabloid journalists, the
Associated Press declared that everything Spears does is considered news.
"The paparazzi feed the celebrity magazines, which feed the mainstream
press, while sources sell their dirtiest material to British tabloids, and
then it trickles back to America," wrote Grigoriadis, "She's the canary in
the coal mine of our culture, the most vivid representation of the excess
of the past decade."
In 2008, Spears guest-starred on CBS's television show How I Met Your
Mother playing a receptionist. She received positive reviews for her
performance as well as bringing in the series' highest ratings ever.
Spears reprised her role in May 2008, leaving the storyline open for a
future return.
On September 7, 2008, Spears opened the MTV Video Music Awards for the
third time. Although having not performed, a sketch comedy with Jonah Hill
was pre-taped, as well as an introduction speech to the official opening
of the show. Spears won Best Female Video, Best Pop Video and Video Of The
Year for "Piece of Me". On September 15, Jive released a statement
announcing the title of her sixth studio album, Circus as well as the
first single, "Womanizer". The single was released to radio stations on
September 26, and the release date for the album is December 2, Spears's
27th birthday. On October 15, the song made a record-breaking jump to
number one on the Billboard Hot 100, breaking the record set by T.I.'s
Live Your Life. It also garnered first-week download sales of 286,000, the
biggest opening-week tally by a female artist since Nielsen SoundScan
began tracking digital downloads in 2003. It marked Spears's first number
one single on the Hot 100 since her debut, "...Baby One More Time".
On October 21, 2008, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Steele
declared a mistrial and dismissed the August 2007 driving without a
license misdemeanor charges against Spears, who was represented by
attorney J. Michael Flanagan. Spears claimed she had a valid Louisiana
license and a California permit was not required.
On November 6, 2008, Spears won two awards at the MTV Europe Music Awards
2008, "Album of The Year" for Blackout and "Act of 2008", and despite not
being present, two acceptance videos were taped and shown at the show.
Circus debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 selling 505,000 copies
in its first week. This became Spears's fifth number one album, making her
the only act in Nielsen SoundScan history to have four albums debuted with
500,000 copies or more. It is also Spears's second album, the first being
...Baby One More Time, to have charted two top-ten singles as "Circus",
the follow up single to the number-one hit "Womanizer", debuted at number
three on the Hot 100, making it, at the time, her highest debut on the
chart as well as her seventh top ten hit.
In January 2009, Spears and her father obtained a restraining order
against the singer's former manager/friend Sam Lutfi, one-time beau Adnan
Ghalib, and attorney Jon Eardley—all of whom, court documents claim, have
been conspiring to gain control of the pop star's affairs. The restraining
order forbids Lutfi and Ghalib from contacting Spears or coming within 250
yards of her, her property or family members.
In February 2009, Spears achieved further success in solidifying her
comeback by having the second single of off her comeback album, "Circus"
rise to number one on the Top 40 Radio Chart, making it the first time
Spears has achieved back-to-back number one hits on the Top 40 Chart along
with her comeback single, "Womanizer". This makes her fifth number one
song on the chart, putting her in a tie for second place for most number
one Top 40 songs in the Mainstream Top 40's sixteen year history. Mariah
Carey is in first place with six number one songs.
In March, Spears launched her seventh tour to promote the Circus album.
The Circus Starring Britney Spears began its run on March 3, 2009 in
Spears's home state of Louisiana. Opening night, as well as every
following show in North America, sold out. The tour spanned through North
America, Europe, and Australia. Spears was accompanied by her children on
the tour, and were in her custody for over 50% of the time for the
duration of the tour. The tour ended in November 2009. It garnered
positive reception from contemporary critics and became the fifth highest
grossing tour of 2009 worldwide.
In April 2009, Spears declared her support for same-sex marriage to the
media, following the controversial incident on Miss USA where contestant
Carrie Prejean, representing California, expressed her disapproval of
same-sex unions. The message left by Spears on her Twitter page read “Love
is love! People should be able to do whatever makes them happy!” After
years of absence, Forbes magazine listed Spears as the 13th most powerful
celebrity and the second most top-earning young musician as she made $35
million from June 2008 to June 2009.
On November 24 Jive released a greatest hits album, The Singles Collection
to honor her 10th anniversary in the music industry. It contained the new
single "3" which topped the Billboard 100 making it her 3rd #1 hit on the
chart. It also marked the first time in 3 years that a song had debuted
directly at #1 on the chart. The album was released in a standard edition,
deluxe CD+DVD edition, BoxSet edition, and as a digital download.
It has been confirmed Spears is recording her seventh studio album. No
release date has been announced.
Following her debut, Spears was credited with leading the revival of teen
pop in the late 1990s. The Daily Yomiuri reported that "music critics have
hailed her as the most gifted teenage pop idol for many years, but Spears
has set her sights a little higher-she is aiming for the level of
superstardom that has been achieved by Madonna and Janet Jackson." Rolling
Stone wrote: "Britney Spears carries on the classic archetype of the rock
& roll teen queen, the dungaree doll, the angel baby who just has to make
a scene." Rami Yacoub who co-produced Spears's debut album with lyricist
Max Martin, commented, "I know from Denniz Pop and Max's previous
productions, when we do songs, there's kind of a nasal thing. With N' Sync
and the Backstreet Boys, we had to push for that mid-nasal voice. When
Britney did that, she got this kind of raspy, sexy voice." Following the
release of her debut album, Chuck Taylor of Billboard observed, "Spears
has become a consummate performer, with snappy dance moves, a clearly
real-albeit young-and funkdified voice ... "(You Drive Me) Crazy", her
third single ... demonstrates Spears's own development, proving that the
17-year-old is finding her own vocal personality after so many months of
steadfast practice." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic referred to her
music as a "blend of infectious, rap-inflected dance-pop and smooth
balladry." Spears later commented, "With ...Baby One More Time, I didn't
get to show my voice off. The songs were great, but they weren't very
challenging".
Oops!...I Did It Again and subsequent albums saw Spears working with
several contemporary R&B producers, leading to "a combination of
bubblegum, urban soul, and raga." Her third studio album, Britney derived
from the teen pop niche, "rhythmically and melodically ... sharper,
tougher than what came before. What used to be unabashedly frothy has some
disco grit, underpinned by Spears' spunky self-determination that helps
sell hooks that are already catchier, by and large, than those that
populated her previous two albums." Guy Blackman of The Age wrote that
while few would care to listen to an entire Spears album, "the thing about
Spears, though, is that her biggest songs, no matter how committee-created
or impossibly polished, have always been convincing because of her
delivery, her commitment and her presence. For her mostly teenage fans,
Spears expresses perfectly the conflicting urges of adolescence, the
tension between chastity and sexual experience, between hedonism and
responsibility, between confi dence and vulnerability."
Her vocal ability has also been criticized, often drawing unfavorable
comparison to her pop rival, Christina Aguilera Critic Allan Raible
derides her overdependence in Circus on digital effects and the robotic
effect it creates. "She’s never been a strong vocalist..." writes Raible,
"Could she handle these songs with stripped down arrangements and no vocal
effects? More importantly, would anyone want to hear her attempt such a
performance? Does it matter? No. The focus is still image over substance."
Her image and persona are also often contrasted to Christina Aguilera.
David Browne of Entertainment Weekly observed "Christina Aguilera may
flash skin and belly button, but in her music and manner, she's too eager
not to offend — she's a good girl pretending to be bad. Spears, however,
comes across as a bad girl acting good ... Spears' artificial-sweetener
voice is much less interesting than the settings, yet that blandness is
actually a relief compared with Aguilera's numbing vocal gymnastics. In
contrast, Allmusic comments: "Like her peer Christina Aguilera, Britney
equates maturity with transparent sexuality and the pounding sounds of
nightclubs ... Where Christina comes across like a natural-born skank,
Britney is the girl next door cutting loose at college, drinking and
smoking and dancing and sexing just a little too recklessly, since this is
the first time she can indulge herself. Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine
notes, "The disparity between Aguilera and Spears can't be measured solely
by the timbre and octave range of their voices ... Aguilera's popularity
has never reached the fever pitch of Britney's.
Like other dance-oriented pop stars, it has been widely reported that
Spears lip-syncs in concert. Author Gary Giddins wrote in his book Natural
selection: Gary Giddins on comedy, film, music, and books (2006) that
"among many other performers accused of moving their lips while a machine
does the labor are Britney Spears, Luciano Pavarotti, Shania Twain,
Beyoncé, and Madonna." Rashod D. Ollison of The Baltimore Sun observes:
"Many pop stars ... feel they have no choice but to seek vocal
enhancement. Since the advent of MTV and other video music channels, pop
audiences have been fed elaborate videos thick with jaw-dropping effects,
awesome choreography, fabulous clothes, marvelous bodies. And the same
level of perfection is expected to extend beyond the video set to the
concert stage. So if Britney Spears, Janet Jackson or Madonna sounds
shrill and flat without a backing track, fans won't pay up to $300 for a
concert ticket." Giddins adds, "it was reported Britney Spears fans prefer
her to lip-sync—despite her denials of doing so (contradicted by her own
director)—because they expect flawless digitalization when they pay
serious money for a concert." In Australia, NSW Fair Trading Minister
Virginia Judge has advised disclaimers be printed on any ticket for
concerts which contain any prerecorded vocals. She commented: "There could
have been some instances where people actually go and purchase a ticket
thinking that they're going to have a live performance ... for some people
that means that everything is live, it's fresh, it happens
instantaneously, it's not something that's been pre-recorded. You want to
make sure that they're actually paying for what they think they're
getting." Noting on the prevalence of lip-syncing, Los Angeles Daily News
reported "in the context of a Britney Spears concert, does it really
matter? Like a Vegas revue show, you don't go to hear the music, you go
for the somewhat-ridiculous spectacle of it all". Similarly, Aline
Mendelsohn of the Orlando Sentinel remarked: "Let's get one thing
straight: A Britney Spears concert is not about the music ... you have to
remember that it's about the sight, not the sound." Critic Glenn Gamboa
comments her concert tours are "like her life—a massive money-making
venture designed to play up her talents and distract from her shortcomings
with a mix of techno-tinged sex appeal and disco-flavored flash. And, like
her life, it is, more or less, a success.
Throughout her career, Spears has drawn frequent comparisons to Janet
Jackson and Madonna, in terms of vocals, choreography and stage presence,
citing both as influences in her work. She has also named Michael Jackson
as a source of inspiration." According to Spears: "I know when I was
younger, I looked up to people... like, you know, Janet Jackson and
Madonna. And they were major inspirations for me. But I also had my own
identity and I knew who I was, you know." In the 2002 book Madonnastyle by
Carol Clerk, she is quoted saying: "I have been a huge fan of Madonna
since I was a little girl. I would really, really like to be a legend like
Madonna ... Her choreography definitely opened the door for girls to go in
there and do their own thing".
Many critics have argued that Spears should not be considered in the same
league of talent as Jackson or Madonna. Journalists Erika Montalvo and
Jackie Sheppard of the Rocky Mountain Collegian observed "some may argue
that Spears is not only a good recording artist but also an important
cultural icon." However, in examining her level of skill as an artist, it
is questioned that "although she has been classified among female elites
such as Janet Jackson and Madonna, what does Ms. Spears really have in
common with these divas of rock?" Joan Anderman of the Boston Globe
remarked that "thirteen costume changes in 90 minutes won't bless her with
Madonna's intelligence or cultural barometer. An army of cutting-edge R&B
producers won't supply her with Janet Jackson's sense of humor or sincere
smile ... Britney's heroes aren't great singers. But they're real singers.
Spears sounds robotic, nearly inhuman, on her records, so processed is her
voice by digital pitch-shifters and synthesizers."
Reporter Ed Bumgardner commented her transition from teen pop start to
adult sex symbol with her third studio album Britney "takes its cues from
two other successful performers—Madonna and Janet Jackson—both of whom she
brazenly rips off and both of whom, like Spears, are passable singers, at
best." Critic Shane Harrison wrote: "From the minimalist thump and "Nasty"
feel of "I'm a Slave 4 U" to the scattered quotes in "Boys," Britney feels
like Spears's attempt at 'Control'." Citing Jackson's resolve to
incorporate personal and social issues into her work and Madonna's ability
to constantly redefine the boundaries of socially acceptable material in
the industry, Spears's catalog ultimately pales in comparison, because
"while Jackson and Madonna wrote their own music about subjects of
importance, Spears's music sounds like an upbeat version of either, 'I
want to grow up but the media won't let me,' or 'Here kitty, kitty, I'm
wearing my underwear outside of my leather pants'-type ballads." In
contrast, Guy Blackman argues that although "no one would argue that
Spears is some kind of pioneering pop auteur, there’s still a lot to like
about her back catalogue. During her world-conquering peak, she was just
about as cutting edge as you could get in the world of global pop
superstardom. Spears didn’t just work with big names, she gave big names
their names, and maintained her high currency in the world’s most fickle
industry for years, when most aspiring starlets are lucky to manage
months."
Madonna's respect for Spears has also been a subject of observation.
Santiago Fouz-Hernández and Freya Jarman-Ivens, authors of Madonna's
drowned worlds: new approaches to her cultural transformations, 1983-2003
(2004) note that the most well known cross-generational relationship
exists between Spears and Madonna in which "the entertainment newsmedia
almost became obsessed with their relationship of mutual admiration." The
biographers also report "some observers of popular culture, however, feel
that the comparisons between the two artist are meaningless and fail to
recognize Madonna's unique contribution: Madonna was never 'just another
pop star' whereas Britney can more easily be seen as a standard
manufactured pop act." |
