The child of deepest America
On December 2, 1981, Baby Britney was born in McComb, Mississippi and grew up in Louisiana. You know, that swampy state, the famous "Blue Bayou" sung by Linda Ronstadt (which was actually a cover version), full of mosquitoes and inconvenient alligators. Nothing predestined this child to become the celebrity she is today, although she already had solid singing and dancing skills at a very young age.
But you have to admit that the little girl had talent. It is not for nothing that at only 11 years old, she succeeded in the casting of All New Mickey Mouse Club, a very popular show at the time with young audiences. There she met her future crush Justin Timberlake, who was also caught up in the Disney machine.
In 1998, all teenagers heard for the first time…
Back to school 1998: the sound of "Baby One More Time" resounds in the personal stereos (only the real ones remember this device). A teenage girl with pigtails danced in the corridors of a high school like no one else would, and it was a hit! The eponymous debut album was a worldwide success. It went platinum only a month after its release and reached number one in 15 countries, propelling the young Britney Jean Spears to international icon status.
In the early 2000s, the singer followed up with "Oops! .... I Did It Again". The eponymous album sold more than 20 million copies, including 1.3 million copies the week of its release. On the strength of her record sales, Brit' followed up with a mega-tour, lucrative contracts with famous brands and a third album, soberly entitled Britney. The young girl from the depths of Louisiana had grown up a lot by then and took a more adult turn with the title, "I'm a Slave 4 U".
A jack-of-all-trades (and, it must be said, an incredible cash machine), she launched herself into cinema with the movie Crossroads. Described as a "flop", it was both a critical and commercial failure. The song on the soundtrack, written by Dido, "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman", will be remembered.
2003 : the provocation
Puritan America was shocked, and the native daughter, who had taken a vow of chastity, became emancipated with her first notorious scandal on the VMAs stage, where she appeared in a wedding dress singing "Like a Virgin" and languidly kissing Madonna, against her long-time rival Christina Aguilera. On the music side, she collaborated with Moby and R. Kelly and moved into urban music with the huge success of "Toxic". She also started writing and composing for "Everytime".
Her private life, and in particular her romantic relationships, were dissected by the tabloid press. Exhausted, Britney ended up injuring herself on the set of one of her videos and she finally made a first break in her career.
During this break in 2005, she appeared on her own reality show with the future father of her children and husband, dancer Kevin Federline, and continued to unleash the celebrity press. The chaotic couple was scrutinised by the whole world, and the singer was said to have bipolar episodes and certain addictions. In 2007, she shaved her entire head and became the most famous zero ball in history.
It’s Britney B***H
Admit it, you must have been yelling this sentence before your best yoghurt on 'Gimmie More', from her album Blackout, which has never been so aptly named. In September 2007, Britney Spearsappeared on stage at the VMAs staggering and missing her lip-sync, but her album was still a hit. In 2008,she followed up with Circus, from which the famous "Womanizer" was taken, and a huge tour (one of the most lucrative in history), but her mental state continued to deteriorate. It was during this period that she was placed under the care of her father.
Brit' returns in 2011, takes an electro turn with "I Wanna Go" and "Till The World Ends" from Femme Fatale and continues her frantic pace until 2013 with the release of her 8th opus, Britney Jean, which includes the poetic "Work Bitch". At the same time, she obtained a two-year residency at the famous Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, which will be extended until 2017.
#FreeBritney
In 2018, a second residency was announced to great fanfare, but was postponed. In 2019, Spears announced another postponement, this time «indefinite». It was at this point that rumours of abuse from her father began to emerge, as he was still in control of the colossal fortune. In 2020, the singer asked the court to withdraw the curatorship agreement, but the court refused and extended it until 2021. Since then, Brit' has remained silent, making few appearances and only feeding her Instagram with a few posts about her family life. Her long-time fans launched the #FreeBritney movement on social networks and tracked down the slightest message of distress, waiting for her to be "released" from her father.
On the eve of her 40th birthday, Britney Spears has sold over 200 million records worldwide and we challenge you to find a single person who doesn't know one of her songs.
Photo of Vishnu R Nair from Pexels
