May 12, 2022 • 32 mins
She’s one of the biggest stars in the world and a human highlight reel. The story behind Britney Spears’ early career comes from her aspirations too large for her small town. Britney knew she wanted to perform and see the world after her early roles in off-broadway plays and The Mickey Mouse Club, which led to her solo career in music. Her debut album, “...Baby One More Time” became a #1 hit and a global phenomenon. From the debut of her second album to her fourth, Britney was met with iconic moments such as opening for NSYNC, dancing with a python at the VMAs, and collaborating with Madonna. In the later 2000s, Britney continued to captivate the music world with additional hits like “Womanizer” and “Hold It Against Me”. The pop star currently holds 5 albums at #1 along with many accolades. Since recently being liberated from her conservatorship, fans are excited to see what Britney has in store next. Watch Behind the Music now on Paramount+.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
She's a true pop icon who emerged from nowhere to
become one of the biggest stars in the world. Everyone
knows her songs and her smile, but few know the
private towns beyond the public spectrum. Now Britney spears as
you've never seen her before, as she reveals the stories
behind some of her most sensational scenes. She dishes about
(00:23):
living and loving in a white hot media glare, and
she bears her soul about the pitfalls of growing up
in the public eye. It's time for an uncensored backstage
pass with pop's reigning princess. Go behind the scenes, behind
the headline, behind the spotlight, Britney Spears, the story behind
(00:44):
the music. It's the fall of two thousand three and
Britney Spears is preparing to release her groundbreaking fourth album
in the Zone. Laced with everything from edgy pop to
a haunting ballad, the disc is a sonic portrait of
a young woman coming of age. The album is basically
(01:05):
a journey. There's some songs that talk about love, talk
about romance, and their songs that talk about its having
a good time. My idea was just to really experiment
and just to kind of go there and do stuff
that I'm not used to doing. The record is a
conscious break with the past, but Britney Spears has never
been afraid to take chances in the studio or on
(01:28):
the stage. In five years, she's tangled with a ten
foot snake, liplocked with Madonna, and earned a reputation is
one of pop's most exciting live performers. Britney were a quarterback,
should be the one you would want if you were
pointing in the super Bowl, because when it comes to
actually getting on that stage and nailing it, there is
(01:48):
nobody better who has ever gone on the stage. And
I truly believe that she's all about show biz. She's
all about entertainment, and that's what makes her special. There's
not a lot of people have that ability to really
just jump out at you and really bring you in.
With fans spanning five continents and media interest at a
constant fever pitch, Britney lives life as a human highlight breathing,
(02:13):
but she's determined not to believe the hype. Once you
start believing in your own press, that's and things that
really messed up. So just be true to yourself and
know within you what's real. And what's not real, and
that way you can't be affected by anything. Britney Spears
maybe a truly global superstar, but she is determined to
stay true to her humble roots. Born in December one,
(02:34):
and she was raised in tiny Kentwood, Louisiana, a town
so isolated. The nearest hospital is nearly twenty miles away.
It's really small. It's only two thousand people, and I mean,
everybody knows each other here, so it's just a great
place to live. There's no Walmart. You have to travel
like thirty minutes just to go to a Walmart. It's
a really, really small town and everybody knows everybody. So
(02:58):
that's that's all. That's where I'm from. Brittney's father, Jamie,
worked steadily as a building contractor. Still, money was tight
in the Spears household, especially during the early nineteen eighties
when America was in the grip of a deep recession
at that time, that's when the economy was going down.
The town was kind of going down, and it was
just really hard to make guns meet. But people knew us,
(03:20):
and they knew what kind of people we were, and
they knew that we were hard working people, and they
would wait on us if they had to. You know,
that was what was with then. Cheerful and outgoing from
the start, Brittney seemed unfazed by any hardship. She was
an accomplished gymnast early on, and by the time she
was eight, she had already adopted a hero and role mode.
(03:43):
I've always really looked up to Madonna, just her sense
of her performing and her individuality, and I don't know,
there's just something about her that really triggered me, made
me feel alive to watch. I remember her first song
being like a prayer by Madonna, her singing in the bathtub.
I remember my mom calling her friends saying, you know what,
(04:03):
I think, my daughter consent and it was very unique
to hear from the first time. But after that he
was so annoying. It was because she was constantly singing
in the bathtub. Didn't buy a bug to perform. Brittney
began singing wherever and whenever she could. I was pretty
obnoxious when I was little. We always would have people
(04:24):
like family friends over, and I thought something was wrong
with me because I wouldn't be quiet. I was always
running around, like singing from the top of my lungs.
So we even had a little group, and she was
the lead singer, and I was one of the backup dancers.
We would practice all week. Emboldened by her wreck room rehearsals,
Brittney began performing at county fairs around Louisiana. A few
(04:48):
of the audience were prepared for what they heard. So
we're at the craft show. Brittney walks up onto the stage.
So all of a sudden, she hits the microphone, and
she opened her mouth, and out of this eight year
old body comes a thirty year old voice. This little
bitty person was singing all these amazing grown up songs
that I'm thinking, why didn't anybody tell me this? So
(05:09):
slowly the ground in front of the stage started filling
up and people started listening. She was bullown entertainment. She
always had these big ambitions, just larger than when anyone
else could ever dream up at eight nine years old,
and it was I'm gonna be famous. Watch. Brittany's parents
(05:30):
soon realized Brittany had abilities and aspirations too large for
a small town. So in the fall of nine, when
her father read about a casting call in Atlanta for
the Mickey Mouse Club, he didn't miss a beat. My dad.
I saw that, you know, and UM, we were like,
what is this? We're going to travel all the way
to audition for this kids show, you know, But we did.
(05:53):
We dropped in the car and we went down there
and I ended up being narrowed down to like the
last six kids, and um, I didn't get it though,
I was too. Brittany was eight when she came to
that audition, and she stuck out like a store thumb
in that group. Number one because she was so tiny,
and number two because she was not nervous at all.
And by the end of the day she was one
(06:13):
of may I think four people out of eight hundred
that I kept that I put on tape and I
did that even knowing she was too young to be
put on the show. That year. The talent scout there said,
listen on, she's very talented. She should go to New
York and meet this agent, you know, and just see
what happens. Maybe I'm getting brow with quick. We just
loaded up, oh amn, tracking to golf and it was
(06:34):
like country came to talent. We just all got in.
There's a family and one after and it didn't take
long for nine year old Brittany to Wow, an agent
in New York, courage to begin auditioning for stage roles.
Britney soon moved into a small New York apartment with
her mother and baby sister, Jamie Lynn. We had like
this apartment that the bag came out of the wall
(06:57):
and and I remember my mom just being, oh, well,
we'll just, you know, go downstairs. It's more chickenoodle soup.
Now when I look back and I think, oh my gosh,
how did I do that? You know, I couldn't do
it now, but I look back then and I don't
know what got into me. But anyway, um, it was
(07:18):
pretty hard because you know, we didn't really have a
lot of money, and I was worried about money at home.
It was hot, but the sacrifice quickly paid off. Within weeks,
Brittany had landed her first role in an off Broadway
play called Ruthless. I played a part of a bad
little girl and her name was Tina Denmark. I got
(07:39):
to tap dance on a coffee table and the whole school.
It was really fun. I mean, the crowd wasn't that
much at all, but you felt the energy, so it
was very very cool. She had a vision she's what
she wanted. She didn't know how she was going to
get there, but she knew what she wanted and if
the ships fell right, if she was gonna be successful.
Not even ten years old, Britney Spears had already begun
(08:01):
the journey that would make her one of the most
celebrated pop stars on the planet. It's September of two
thousand three, and Britney Spears is still molding the music
for her fourth album, in the Zone. With just two
months ago until the album's released. She arrives for a
surprise set at a Las Vegas club, eager to sample
(08:22):
her songs in front of a live audience. My favorite
thing to do is after you do a song whatever,
go to a club and play it and see how
the you know, the people respond to it and let
it seek into you before you know reason. The club
gig is an unusual way to break out new material,
but Brittany has built her career on surprises and by
(08:43):
listening to her gut. Britain's got amazing instincts. At the
end of the day, she just knows what's right and
what's wrong for her. Everyone has their ideas and the
kings of what they think is called I'm so open
to you know, people, you know they're advice, but we
just have to, you know, say what you want to
do and do it. With fifteen years of performing experience,
(09:06):
Brittany has the confidence of a show biz veteran, but
she says she's always known what she wanted and how
to get it. I was always a little different. I
don't know where my drive comes from. I've always been
very driven and always very focused and always knew exactly
what I wanted for Britney Spears, Achieving her dreams of
(09:29):
fame first seemed possible in when, as a ten year
old girl, she snared her first job with a minor
part in an off Broadway play. The role seemed like
a dream opportunity for an aspiring child star, but after
six months on stage, the reality of it was far
from glamorous. Works six days a week and we had
(09:49):
Sundays off, and I remember I was going to have
to work on Christmas Day and I didn't want to
do that. So I said, you know what, Brittany, do
you want to go home? And she looked at me,
you want to go home? Yeah? I did, and so
that was it. Britney returned home and continued to perform
(10:10):
at local fairs. Then she got a shot on the
show she hoped would launch her onto the national stage,
Ed McMahon's Star Search. I was so excited to be
on the show, and I remember my mom. I didn't
my outfit wasn't very nice to where. But when we
got there, she ended up going to the Loomingdale's and
(10:31):
getting me a cool dress. I won the first one,
but I lost the second one. I was really sad
that I lost. I was devastated. I remember she held
her sound very good on TV when we saw it,
but when she got in the car, she broke down.
She is very very strong competitor and she hates to lose.
(10:52):
She does and that is probably the deciding on she realized,
I'm really going to do this, you know. Britney's second
round loss only fueled her desire for startom. In the
spring of she headed to Orlando, Florida for as second
audition with the Mickey Mouse Club. She soon found herself
competing with a room full of future stars like Carrie Russell,
(11:13):
Justin Timberlake, and Christina Aguilera. It was so nerve wracking,
and then I ended up going home, and then I
got the phone call and they called the other like
Britney guy. I was in my kitchen and I started
screaming and jumping open down because I was so so excited.
It was very cool. This was the first success. Britney
(11:34):
spent two years dancing at the House of the Mouse
until the show was canceled. In putting her dreams of
fame on hold, the up and coming star returned to
Louisiana and the life of a small town girl. I
was on the basketball him and it was a point
guard her. I could really dribble the ball really good.
But the one thing I couldn't do, I couldn't make
(11:56):
a lamp for my life. I was so spastic, but
it was fun. The break was a welcome one, but
less than a year after returning to Kentwood, Brittney was
itching for the Spotlight. I think she had experienced so
much of the world that the small hound was just
not something she was used to. I think sometimes you
(12:16):
know when you're supposed to do certain things, and I
just remembered I and I would get on stage like
that was just that's when I felt alive. And I
missed that, and I was ready to go. I can.
I was like, I'm ready to perform, and seen next,
Brittney breaks out when Behind the Music continues. In the
(12:43):
spring of ninety six, Britney spurned and offered to join
a new Orlando based girl group called Innocence. Instead, the
Spears asked attorney Larry Rudolph, a longtime family friend, to
help her get a solo record deal. I told them
that I felt confident that I could get Brittany and
so deal. It was a risk, There's no doubt about it.
I sang, Whitney Houston's I have nothing, and I sent
(13:07):
it to the record label as a really bad demo,
and then they end up flying me to New York
and I sang in front of all these executive people
in on cars and it's very nerve wracking. Three of
the labels rejected Brittany outright. Undeterred, she went to Jive
Records for a fourth and final audition. She was wearing
(13:27):
like a short black dress and high heels, and she
looked absolutely stunning. We just couldn't believe that she was
only fifteen. I mean, we were pretty shocked. There were
streets of real professionalism and star appeal embodied in some
of at such a young age was pretty remarkable. Jive
signed Brittany to a development deal, but for almost a
year she struggled to find her sound. Then in the
fall of Jive executives got a sample caught written by
(13:50):
Swedish songwriting sensation Max Martin. It was a tune called
Baby One More Time. This was a case where the
minute we got this record and we set this sounds
like an absolute bulls eye for Brittany and it could
be a huge worldwide hit for her. She heard it
exactly the same way, and I saw her and she
looked over at me and she said, that's it, that's
(14:12):
my song. Writtney flew to Sweden and recorded five songs
in five days with her debut album, Shaping Up. She
then returned to America and embarked on a mall tour,
showcasing her first songs to young fans. I performed in peaktails, okay,
peaktails and plaid pants and tie. That was my performance
(14:35):
at it, and the stage was no bigger than this
rain right here. Nobody knew her and nobody bothered us.
And then after that people slowly started catching and I
wanted to follow into the stores, and we just thought
that was the neatest thing in the whole world. I
thought I was just such a star, like you know,
lud as me from my artograph on okay, I'll give
you my autograph. Such a dork. Britney couldn't know it,
(14:56):
but soon her fans would number in the millions. It's
just weeks before the release of her fourth album, and
Britney Spears is in the midst of her promotional blitz.
You'd think that interviews would be old hat to Brittany
by an app she says she still gets butterflies every
time she bears her soul. I can nervous on interviews,
like right now, I get yeah, I get very nervous, definitely.
(15:20):
Brittney has learned from bitter experience that a few unguarded
moments can generate weeks of headlines and scandal sheets and
gossip columns. In July two thousand three, she lets slip
a few details about her private life to w magazine
and watched as her comments became front page news around
the world. Oh my gosh, the way the interview that
(15:44):
I asked me some of the question it kind of
forced me to answer him. Actually if I could have
gone back in time, I probably wouldn't have been so
open about everything. But life in the public eye will
always be a high wire act for pop's reigning princess,
because every move she makes because spot er for a
hungry media mob probably of the world. There's not a
(16:05):
day that goes by that her name isn't in a newspaper.
They just won't allow her to have a private life.
It's unbelievable. It just won't allow it. And uh, and
it's really tragic. And that's the only thing that I
really don't envy about her at all. And the irony
is that the rumors are usually much more salacious than reality,
leaving Brittany to constantly manage the gap between the tabloids
(16:26):
and the truth. I think you have its ups and
downs with it. I mean, sometimes, you know, they can
say some amazing things, sometimes they can say some really
stupid things, And I just think it goes with what
you do. And I just learned to try to accept that.
Today Brittany is one of the most sought after pop
stars on the planet, but in the fall of she
(16:47):
was a virtual unknown, trying to figure out how to
introduce herself to the world. Her debut single, Baby One
More Time, was ready for release, but Brittany was beset
by doubts over plans for a cartoonish video to a
company the song it was animated, very animated, and very
bumped and just not cool. So I ended up picking
(17:09):
its phone. I know, I've never done a video before,
but I have a feeling about this. She really had
a lot of the vision for for that video. She's
got great instincts for what she likes and what works
for her and for her audience. You know, the whole
greased saying the schoolgirl thing was all her. The minute
the music starts to roll, and the and the sort
of like the cameras went on. It was like a
(17:29):
personality transformation. In October of Baby one More Time was
released as a single, and within weeks it was a
top ten hit. To sixteen year old Britney Spears, the
song's success and a long time dream had suddenly been realized.
When my song first came on the radio was screening
and like laughing. It was There's nothing like that feeling
(17:52):
of hearing your song on the radio for the first time. Nothing.
It's just so weird. It's like I don't know. I
can't explain. It's very cool. The song unleashed the phenomena.
In January nine, Brittney's first album debuted at number one
on the Billboard charts. Within a month, it would sell
two million copies and become a global smash, with audiences
(18:13):
chopping at the bit for Brittany, reigning heart Throbs in
Sync asked the fresh face Benom to open for them
on a sold out national tour. The tour school was
my first time to perform, you know, in front of
a huge crowd and sink they had an amazing crowd
with him and that helped me a lot. It's really good.
The tour was more than a vehicle for Brittany to
(18:33):
hone or on stage act. She also reconnected with an
old friend, former Mouseketeer mate, Justin Timberly, and I remember
that first day we got there and she was very
nervous to see him because she hadn't seen him in
so long, And on that tour they really kind of
became close that they really liked each other a lot.
Rumors of a budding relationship between Brittany and Justin timber
(18:55):
Lake only added to a growing avalanche of media coverage
about Brittany a tour. It that grew in intensity when
she posed provocatively for Rolling Stone in the spring of nine.
It was her call, and that's the way she wanted
to go, and we were a little nervous. I mean,
we were probably more nervous than she was, because you know,
she was very much of America's sweetheart and the girl
(19:15):
next door, and all of a sudden, she's on the
cover of Rolling Stone. You know, it's scantily clad. But
every move Brittany made only seemed to add to her popularity.
By the end of the year, her debut album had
sold over ten million copies, and she was already at
work on its follow up. I was just coming off
my first tour and the second album just kind of
flew into my lap. It just kind of happened so fast.
(19:38):
I didn't even really have time to think about it,
you know. By the spring of two thousand, Oops I
Did It Again was ready for release, But as soon
as the first voluptuous video hit TV screens, Brittany faced
accusations that she'd had breast implants, So she took center
stage on Saturday Night Live and put a comical spin
on the rampaging rumor, that's a pook fun of what
(20:00):
everybody was saying. Basically, we did a monologue about rust implants.
We had them moving mechanically. It was almost like she
went right into the face of the people that were
sort of making fun of her and sort of just
laughed with them at herself. I think it was, you know,
very funny and um, she had a really great sense
(20:21):
of humor about it. It's sort of led to a
whole another level of her career. When Oops was released
in the summer of two thousand, it's sold one point
three million copies in its first week, most ever by
a female artist. That's a tempt. Brittany announced her arrival
as a daring live performer with a smoking set at
MTVS Video Music Awards when she ripped off the black
(20:46):
outfit into the sequined, flesh colored outfit that one's stripped
to that the costume change, it wasn't that deep, but
it turns out to be this big media frenzy and
she's like, WHOA, I wanted to do simply curly and
you know, and have like a beautiful outfit newt and
just jewels everywhere, and I don't know I'm very visual.
(21:06):
I'm very visual like that, I'm I'm kind of weird.
But I thought it was a cool idea and to
rip all the stuff off and to do it, and
that's how it came about. People were stunned by Britney's
live act. Even greater surprises lay in the future. In
the months before the release of her fourth album, every
public move Britney Spears makes will be dissected by cameras
(21:27):
and columnists. Good friends say it is outside the media
glare that the real Brittney shines through. She devotes private
time to charitable causes, from breast cancer to hospital funding.
She gives her time, She gets her attention, you know
so much. The fact that she takes it away from
her sale to give it to others. It makes you
(21:47):
feel good to be able to put herself out there,
you know, let people not feel so alone and help
them out like that. No project is closer to Britney's
heart than her camp for the Performing Arts in rural
New England, a place where kids get a chance to
escape the city and nurture their creative skills. They told
me this year that I may miss going there because
(22:10):
I have a performance coming up. I'm like, no, I'm
going to damn camp. This is what it's about. You know,
I wouldn't see her anything. The same people that have
trained Brittany and worked with Britney on a yearly basis
worked with these kids for ten days, and in those
ten days, there's a performance by these kids for Britney
and the family. I remember seeing one little girl. She
got out there so nervous, like the point of tears.
(22:33):
I'm just after she performed and she expressed herself like that,
she just looked so good about herself, and I was
just like, wow, you know, I mean, if that's I
just think it's important to be able to have outlets
like that for kids and to be able to make
them feel good about them performing is an outlet that
Britney Spears has ridden to the pinnacle of pop. By
(22:54):
the fall of two thousand, just two years after she
burst on the scene, her first two records had sold
over eight million copies worldwide, and her face was on
billboards and TV screens from Miami to Milan. A lot
of young artists made impact, but this was worldwide impact
that I think nobody had ever seen before. On January
(23:14):
two thousand, one, the nineteen year old was asked to
take center stage for the biggest spectacle on Earth, the
halftime celebration for Super Bowl thirty five. Nearly a billion
people around the world would witness her strutt and shout
with Aerosmith and in Syne, I think that was the
most nervous I've ever been in my whole life, to
be honest with you, just the fact that it's Aerosmith,
(23:36):
Steven Tyler, I'm up there performing with him was just, Oh,
you know, it's just mind bottling. As soon as she
hits that stage, man, she nails it. I mean, she
just becomes a different person. And that's the difference between
everybody in a Superstar Next Brittney's latest onstage stunner When
behind the Music continues. Despite all her success, Brittany was
(24:04):
determined to grow as an artist. As she began work
on her third album, She took greater control of her destiny,
co writing five of the album's tracks and collaborating on
the sultry first single with hip hop heavyweights the Neptunes.
I'm a Slave for You is a very edgy dance song.
I mean this is much more cool and funky and
(24:27):
had a certain artistry to it that none of other
songs up until that point it had. She knew she
wanted to do some things that were edgier, that we're
not quite as pop as she had been known for
in the past. I wanted it to be a little
bit more sexual, a little bit um more fisty, and
(24:48):
I'm just a different sound in general. In September of
two thousand one, Brittany unveiled her new lyrical stylings when
she ballied with a Boa at MDVS Video Music Awards.
The sexy Stunted drew some venom from conservative critics, few
of whom knew that Brittany had begun the night reeling
from dealing with the ten foot reptile. Nobody realized that
(25:10):
that was such a source of worry and fright for her.
The snake comes from this gigantic ice chest and she
looks over me and she said, can you threw it?
It's just Brittany with the snake, and they've referenced it
to be in something very sexual. Well, we didn't think
about that. It was just part of the act. And
Brittany was determined to shed some skin of a rome.
(25:33):
Her third album pointedly entitled Brittany, was released in November
two thousand one and debuted at number one on the charts,
selling close to a million copies in its first week.
It was sweet vindication for a woman looking to outgrow
her team pop passed. I think it was more to
me just becoming more into my skin and they feel
more comfortable with me. At that time, I was singing
(25:56):
a song, not a girl, not yet a woman, when
in reality I was becoming what I was at that point,
right there in front of the world. By early two
thousand two, with the release of her first feature film, Crossroads,
Brittany was a true pop culture phenomena. But with stunning
popularity came an ever increasing price in privacy. In the
(26:17):
twenty year old faced a constant barrage of articles probing
her personal life. I can write some her whole things.
They I mean, that's what they're paid to do. They
want stories, they want to sell magazines, they do that.
I think the thing that saddens me the most is
that she is a public figure, and I think the
public thinks they're entitled to her at all times. In
(26:39):
March of two thousand two, the scrutiny grew painful does
cover stories around the world chronicled the sudden demise of
Brittney's relationship with Justin timber Lake. Although much has been
written about the star Cross love affair, Britney says she's
determined to keep the details as private as possible. Frankly,
it really is none of anybody's business because certain things
(27:00):
are sacred and should be completely kept hotally private. And
I've learned my lesson completely. If she breaks up with
the love of her life, the whole world feels like
they need to be involved in comment and you know
that there's no time to gather your thoughts or I mean,
what if you do want to just crap? We just crap.
Britney soldiered on with a sold out world tour and
(27:23):
brought her new material to millions of fans, but by
August of two thousand two, she was ready for an
extended break. After nearly three years of living in the spotlight,
Brittany announced that she was taking six months off, and
she returned who would be as a new woman. It's
(27:44):
the fall of two thousand three and britney Spears fourth
album is almost ready to shift the stores. But just
as recording on in the Zone is wrapping up, Brittney
gets a last minute chance to collaborate with the Ridol Madonna.
I was rehearsing with her for the INTWO vn IS
and I played her the single. All of a sudden,
I was like, you should do this with me. With
(28:05):
just week's remaining before the album's release, Brittany and Madonna
rework in The Zone's first single, Me Against the Music.
I think she has such a awareness about her and
she knows how to live her life. And soon afterwards,
the two pop icons combine their star power on the
song slick video. Never actually get a chance to see her.
(28:25):
It's like her spirits there, but I never get a
chance to touch her, physically touch her. And I'm make
sensing her wherever I go. And at the very end
of the video, something kind of cool happens. But what
wasn't consummated on screen was sealed with a kiss on
stage at MTV's Video Music Awards in August two thousand three.
Well Brittany had made a habit of outrageous starts at
(28:47):
the v m a s, viewers were stunned by the
mini makeout session. The kiss was not my idea. It
was Madonna's idea. She's the groom and I'm bride, so
you know, she probably felt kiss or whatever, but she
was like, why don't we do it here? Why don't
we do the kiss here? And I was like, okay, alrighty.
(29:07):
The kiss was the moment of the night. It took
all of you know, a second and a half and
it was the moment of the night, front page of
every newspaper. Brittany was already making headlines before her record
had even wrapped. In September two thousand three, she was
back in the studio hard at work on her fourth album.
Besides Madonna, the dis sports and all star cast of
contributors that includes Moby and R Kelly, but nobody brought
(29:31):
more to the music than Brittany. I think the difference
analysis that I look forward to being involved in each
process of collaborated for the first time on this album.
I think that's fog thing for me. Daring and different.
In the Zone represents Brittany's final transition to womanhood. Having
co written eight of twelve tracks, she is clearly determined
(29:53):
to showcase a new artist to her audience. It's a
real evolution for her. We really wanted to experim and
try some different things, you know, and I think we've
achieved that with this album. They'll definitely experience me in
a completely different light, like totally different light. But whatever happens,
good or bad, those who know her say Britney will
(30:15):
never lose touch with the values of her small town past.
It's pretty remarkable how sweet she is. But she's a
really good bit. She can be in front of thousands
of people and you walk off the stage and be fun.
You know. She hasn't changed she either, like fame hasn't
changed her. But she's for the same person she was
(30:36):
ten years ago. Britney Spears has achieved almost everything she
ever hoped for, and she embarks on a new stage
in her career and in her life. She's more than
happy to keep on dreaming. Britney Spears continues to captivate
the music world. Since two thousand three, She's released quite
(30:57):
a few major hits, most notably Woman Niser in two
thousand eight and Hold It Against Me in both reaching
number one on the Billboard One. Spears's musical success is astounded.
She became the youngest female artist in the US to
have five album's debut at number one, earning a place
in Guinness World Records. Spears was reportedly the highest paid
(31:21):
female musician of two thousand, two and twelve. With all
of these accolades, her announcement to go on a work
hiatus in twenty nineteen came as a bit of a surprise.
Spears's personal life took center stage in one when she
went public about her conservatorship. Fans expressed their concern for
her and sparked the viral hashtag free Brittany campaign. The
(31:45):
conservatorship was officially terminated in November. The world can't wait
to see what liberated Brittany has in store for us next.
Listen and subscribe to Behind the Music the I Heart
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Be sure to rate and review Behind the Music on
(32:06):
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She's a true pop icon who emerged from nowhere to
become one of the biggest stars in the world. Everyone
knows her songs and her smile, but few know the
private towns beyond the public spectrum. Now Britney spears as
you've never seen her before, as she reveals the stories
behind some of her most sensational scenes. She dishes about
(00:23):
living and loving in a white hot media glare, and
she bears her soul about the pitfalls of growing up
in the public eye. It's time for an uncensored backstage
pass with pop's reigning princess. Go behind the scenes, behind
the headline, behind the spotlight, Britney Spears, the story behind
(00:44):
the music. It's the fall of two thousand three and
Britney Spears is preparing to release her groundbreaking fourth album
in the Zone. Laced with everything from edgy pop to
a haunting ballad, the disc is a sonic portrait of
a young woman coming of age. The album is basically
(01:05):
a journey. There's some songs that talk about love, talk
about romance, and their songs that talk about its having
a good time. My idea was just to really experiment
and just to kind of go there and do stuff
that I'm not used to doing. The record is a
conscious break with the past, but Britney Spears has never
been afraid to take chances in the studio or on
(01:28):
the stage. In five years, she's tangled with a ten
foot snake, liplocked with Madonna, and earned a reputation is
one of pop's most exciting live performers. Britney were a quarterback,
should be the one you would want if you were
pointing in the super Bowl, because when it comes to
actually getting on that stage and nailing it, there is
(01:48):
nobody better who has ever gone on the stage. And
I truly believe that she's all about show biz. She's
all about entertainment, and that's what makes her special. There's
not a lot of people have that ability to really
just jump out at you and really bring you in.
With fans spanning five continents and media interest at a
constant fever pitch, Britney lives life as a human highlight breathing,
(02:13):
but she's determined not to believe the hype. Once you
start believing in your own press, that's and things that
really messed up. So just be true to yourself and
know within you what's real. And what's not real, and
that way you can't be affected by anything. Britney Spears
maybe a truly global superstar, but she is determined to
stay true to her humble roots. Born in December one,
(02:34):
and she was raised in tiny Kentwood, Louisiana, a town
so isolated. The nearest hospital is nearly twenty miles away.
It's really small. It's only two thousand people, and I mean,
everybody knows each other here, so it's just a great
place to live. There's no Walmart. You have to travel
like thirty minutes just to go to a Walmart. It's
a really, really small town and everybody knows everybody. So
(02:58):
that's that's all. That's where I'm from. Brittney's father, Jamie,
worked steadily as a building contractor. Still, money was tight
in the Spears household, especially during the early nineteen eighties
when America was in the grip of a deep recession
at that time, that's when the economy was going down.
The town was kind of going down, and it was
just really hard to make guns meet. But people knew us,
(03:20):
and they knew what kind of people we were, and
they knew that we were hard working people, and they
would wait on us if they had to. You know,
that was what was with then. Cheerful and outgoing from
the start, Brittney seemed unfazed by any hardship. She was
an accomplished gymnast early on, and by the time she
was eight, she had already adopted a hero and role mode.
(03:43):
I've always really looked up to Madonna, just her sense
of her performing and her individuality, and I don't know,
there's just something about her that really triggered me, made
me feel alive to watch. I remember her first song
being like a prayer by Madonna, her singing in the bathtub.
I remember my mom calling her friends saying, you know what,
(04:03):
I think, my daughter consent and it was very unique
to hear from the first time. But after that he
was so annoying. It was because she was constantly singing
in the bathtub. Didn't buy a bug to perform. Brittney
began singing wherever and whenever she could. I was pretty
obnoxious when I was little. We always would have people
(04:24):
like family friends over, and I thought something was wrong
with me because I wouldn't be quiet. I was always
running around, like singing from the top of my lungs.
So we even had a little group, and she was
the lead singer, and I was one of the backup dancers.
We would practice all week. Emboldened by her wreck room rehearsals,
Brittney began performing at county fairs around Louisiana. A few
(04:48):
of the audience were prepared for what they heard. So
we're at the craft show. Brittney walks up onto the stage.
So all of a sudden, she hits the microphone, and
she opened her mouth, and out of this eight year
old body comes a thirty year old voice. This little
bitty person was singing all these amazing grown up songs
that I'm thinking, why didn't anybody tell me this? So
(05:09):
slowly the ground in front of the stage started filling
up and people started listening. She was bullown entertainment. She
always had these big ambitions, just larger than when anyone
else could ever dream up at eight nine years old,
and it was I'm gonna be famous. Watch. Brittany's parents
(05:30):
soon realized Brittany had abilities and aspirations too large for
a small town. So in the fall of nine, when
her father read about a casting call in Atlanta for
the Mickey Mouse Club, he didn't miss a beat. My dad.
I saw that, you know, and UM, we were like,
what is this? We're going to travel all the way
to audition for this kids show, you know, But we did.
(05:53):
We dropped in the car and we went down there
and I ended up being narrowed down to like the
last six kids, and um, I didn't get it though,
I was too. Brittany was eight when she came to
that audition, and she stuck out like a store thumb
in that group. Number one because she was so tiny,
and number two because she was not nervous at all.
And by the end of the day she was one
(06:13):
of may I think four people out of eight hundred
that I kept that I put on tape and I
did that even knowing she was too young to be
put on the show. That year. The talent scout there said,
listen on, she's very talented. She should go to New
York and meet this agent, you know, and just see
what happens. Maybe I'm getting brow with quick. We just
loaded up, oh amn, tracking to golf and it was
(06:34):
like country came to talent. We just all got in.
There's a family and one after and it didn't take
long for nine year old Brittany to Wow, an agent
in New York, courage to begin auditioning for stage roles.
Britney soon moved into a small New York apartment with
her mother and baby sister, Jamie Lynn. We had like
this apartment that the bag came out of the wall
(06:57):
and and I remember my mom just being, oh, well,
we'll just, you know, go downstairs. It's more chickenoodle soup.
Now when I look back and I think, oh my gosh,
how did I do that? You know, I couldn't do
it now, but I look back then and I don't
know what got into me. But anyway, um, it was
(07:18):
pretty hard because you know, we didn't really have a
lot of money, and I was worried about money at home.
It was hot, but the sacrifice quickly paid off. Within weeks,
Brittany had landed her first role in an off Broadway
play called Ruthless. I played a part of a bad
little girl and her name was Tina Denmark. I got
(07:39):
to tap dance on a coffee table and the whole school.
It was really fun. I mean, the crowd wasn't that
much at all, but you felt the energy, so it
was very very cool. She had a vision she's what
she wanted. She didn't know how she was going to
get there, but she knew what she wanted and if
the ships fell right, if she was gonna be successful.
Not even ten years old, Britney Spears had already begun
(08:01):
the journey that would make her one of the most
celebrated pop stars on the planet. It's September of two
thousand three, and Britney Spears is still molding the music
for her fourth album, in the Zone. With just two
months ago until the album's released. She arrives for a
surprise set at a Las Vegas club, eager to sample
(08:22):
her songs in front of a live audience. My favorite
thing to do is after you do a song whatever,
go to a club and play it and see how
the you know, the people respond to it and let
it seek into you before you know reason. The club
gig is an unusual way to break out new material,
but Brittany has built her career on surprises and by
(08:43):
listening to her gut. Britain's got amazing instincts. At the
end of the day, she just knows what's right and
what's wrong for her. Everyone has their ideas and the
kings of what they think is called I'm so open
to you know, people, you know they're advice, but we
just have to, you know, say what you want to
do and do it. With fifteen years of performing experience,
(09:06):
Brittany has the confidence of a show biz veteran, but
she says she's always known what she wanted and how
to get it. I was always a little different. I
don't know where my drive comes from. I've always been
very driven and always very focused and always knew exactly
what I wanted for Britney Spears, Achieving her dreams of
(09:29):
fame first seemed possible in when, as a ten year
old girl, she snared her first job with a minor
part in an off Broadway play. The role seemed like
a dream opportunity for an aspiring child star, but after
six months on stage, the reality of it was far
from glamorous. Works six days a week and we had
(09:49):
Sundays off, and I remember I was going to have
to work on Christmas Day and I didn't want to
do that. So I said, you know what, Brittany, do
you want to go home? And she looked at me,
you want to go home? Yeah? I did, and so
that was it. Britney returned home and continued to perform
(10:10):
at local fairs. Then she got a shot on the
show she hoped would launch her onto the national stage,
Ed McMahon's Star Search. I was so excited to be
on the show, and I remember my mom. I didn't
my outfit wasn't very nice to where. But when we
got there, she ended up going to the Loomingdale's and
(10:31):
getting me a cool dress. I won the first one,
but I lost the second one. I was really sad
that I lost. I was devastated. I remember she held
her sound very good on TV when we saw it,
but when she got in the car, she broke down.
She is very very strong competitor and she hates to lose.
(10:52):
She does and that is probably the deciding on she realized,
I'm really going to do this, you know. Britney's second
round loss only fueled her desire for startom. In the
spring of she headed to Orlando, Florida for as second
audition with the Mickey Mouse Club. She soon found herself
competing with a room full of future stars like Carrie Russell,
(11:13):
Justin Timberlake, and Christina Aguilera. It was so nerve wracking,
and then I ended up going home, and then I
got the phone call and they called the other like
Britney guy. I was in my kitchen and I started
screaming and jumping open down because I was so so excited.
It was very cool. This was the first success. Britney
(11:34):
spent two years dancing at the House of the Mouse
until the show was canceled. In putting her dreams of
fame on hold, the up and coming star returned to
Louisiana and the life of a small town girl. I
was on the basketball him and it was a point
guard her. I could really dribble the ball really good.
But the one thing I couldn't do, I couldn't make
(11:56):
a lamp for my life. I was so spastic, but
it was fun. The break was a welcome one, but
less than a year after returning to Kentwood, Brittney was
itching for the Spotlight. I think she had experienced so
much of the world that the small hound was just
not something she was used to. I think sometimes you
(12:16):
know when you're supposed to do certain things, and I
just remembered I and I would get on stage like
that was just that's when I felt alive. And I
missed that, and I was ready to go. I can.
I was like, I'm ready to perform, and seen next,
Brittney breaks out when Behind the Music continues. In the
(12:43):
spring of ninety six, Britney spurned and offered to join
a new Orlando based girl group called Innocence. Instead, the
Spears asked attorney Larry Rudolph, a longtime family friend, to
help her get a solo record deal. I told them
that I felt confident that I could get Brittany and
so deal. It was a risk, There's no doubt about it.
I sang, Whitney Houston's I have nothing, and I sent
(13:07):
it to the record label as a really bad demo,
and then they end up flying me to New York
and I sang in front of all these executive people
in on cars and it's very nerve wracking. Three of
the labels rejected Brittany outright. Undeterred, she went to Jive
Records for a fourth and final audition. She was wearing
(13:27):
like a short black dress and high heels, and she
looked absolutely stunning. We just couldn't believe that she was
only fifteen. I mean, we were pretty shocked. There were
streets of real professionalism and star appeal embodied in some
of at such a young age was pretty remarkable. Jive
signed Brittany to a development deal, but for almost a
year she struggled to find her sound. Then in the
fall of Jive executives got a sample caught written by
(13:50):
Swedish songwriting sensation Max Martin. It was a tune called
Baby One More Time. This was a case where the
minute we got this record and we set this sounds
like an absolute bulls eye for Brittany and it could
be a huge worldwide hit for her. She heard it
exactly the same way, and I saw her and she
looked over at me and she said, that's it, that's
(14:12):
my song. Writtney flew to Sweden and recorded five songs
in five days with her debut album, Shaping Up. She
then returned to America and embarked on a mall tour,
showcasing her first songs to young fans. I performed in peaktails, okay,
peaktails and plaid pants and tie. That was my performance
(14:35):
at it, and the stage was no bigger than this
rain right here. Nobody knew her and nobody bothered us.
And then after that people slowly started catching and I
wanted to follow into the stores, and we just thought
that was the neatest thing in the whole world. I
thought I was just such a star, like you know,
lud as me from my artograph on okay, I'll give
you my autograph. Such a dork. Britney couldn't know it,
(14:56):
but soon her fans would number in the millions. It's
just weeks before the release of her fourth album, and
Britney Spears is in the midst of her promotional blitz.
You'd think that interviews would be old hat to Brittany
by an app she says she still gets butterflies every
time she bears her soul. I can nervous on interviews,
like right now, I get yeah, I get very nervous, definitely.
(15:20):
Brittney has learned from bitter experience that a few unguarded
moments can generate weeks of headlines and scandal sheets and
gossip columns. In July two thousand three, she lets slip
a few details about her private life to w magazine
and watched as her comments became front page news around
the world. Oh my gosh, the way the interview that
(15:44):
I asked me some of the question it kind of
forced me to answer him. Actually if I could have
gone back in time, I probably wouldn't have been so
open about everything. But life in the public eye will
always be a high wire act for pop's reigning princess,
because every move she makes because spot er for a
hungry media mob probably of the world. There's not a
(16:05):
day that goes by that her name isn't in a newspaper.
They just won't allow her to have a private life.
It's unbelievable. It just won't allow it. And uh, and
it's really tragic. And that's the only thing that I
really don't envy about her at all. And the irony
is that the rumors are usually much more salacious than reality,
leaving Brittany to constantly manage the gap between the tabloids
(16:26):
and the truth. I think you have its ups and
downs with it. I mean, sometimes, you know, they can
say some amazing things, sometimes they can say some really
stupid things, And I just think it goes with what
you do. And I just learned to try to accept that.
Today Brittany is one of the most sought after pop
stars on the planet, but in the fall of she
(16:47):
was a virtual unknown, trying to figure out how to
introduce herself to the world. Her debut single, Baby One
More Time, was ready for release, but Brittany was beset
by doubts over plans for a cartoonish video to a
company the song it was animated, very animated, and very
bumped and just not cool. So I ended up picking
(17:09):
its phone. I know, I've never done a video before,
but I have a feeling about this. She really had
a lot of the vision for for that video. She's
got great instincts for what she likes and what works
for her and for her audience. You know, the whole
greased saying the schoolgirl thing was all her. The minute
the music starts to roll, and the and the sort
of like the cameras went on. It was like a
(17:29):
personality transformation. In October of Baby one More Time was
released as a single, and within weeks it was a
top ten hit. To sixteen year old Britney Spears, the
song's success and a long time dream had suddenly been realized.
When my song first came on the radio was screening
and like laughing. It was There's nothing like that feeling
(17:52):
of hearing your song on the radio for the first time. Nothing.
It's just so weird. It's like I don't know. I
can't explain. It's very cool. The song unleashed the phenomena.
In January nine, Brittney's first album debuted at number one
on the Billboard charts. Within a month, it would sell
two million copies and become a global smash, with audiences
(18:13):
chopping at the bit for Brittany, reigning heart Throbs in
Sync asked the fresh face Benom to open for them
on a sold out national tour. The tour school was
my first time to perform, you know, in front of
a huge crowd and sink they had an amazing crowd
with him and that helped me a lot. It's really good.
The tour was more than a vehicle for Brittany to
(18:33):
hone or on stage act. She also reconnected with an
old friend, former Mouseketeer mate, Justin Timberly, and I remember
that first day we got there and she was very
nervous to see him because she hadn't seen him in
so long, And on that tour they really kind of
became close that they really liked each other a lot.
Rumors of a budding relationship between Brittany and Justin timber
(18:55):
Lake only added to a growing avalanche of media coverage
about Brittany a tour. It that grew in intensity when
she posed provocatively for Rolling Stone in the spring of nine.
It was her call, and that's the way she wanted
to go, and we were a little nervous. I mean,
we were probably more nervous than she was, because you know,
she was very much of America's sweetheart and the girl
(19:15):
next door, and all of a sudden, she's on the
cover of Rolling Stone. You know, it's scantily clad. But
every move Brittany made only seemed to add to her popularity.
By the end of the year, her debut album had
sold over ten million copies, and she was already at
work on its follow up. I was just coming off
my first tour and the second album just kind of
flew into my lap. It just kind of happened so fast.
(19:38):
I didn't even really have time to think about it,
you know. By the spring of two thousand, Oops I
Did It Again was ready for release, But as soon
as the first voluptuous video hit TV screens, Brittany faced
accusations that she'd had breast implants, So she took center
stage on Saturday Night Live and put a comical spin
on the rampaging rumor, that's a pook fun of what
(20:00):
everybody was saying. Basically, we did a monologue about rust implants.
We had them moving mechanically. It was almost like she
went right into the face of the people that were
sort of making fun of her and sort of just
laughed with them at herself. I think it was, you know,
very funny and um, she had a really great sense
(20:21):
of humor about it. It's sort of led to a
whole another level of her career. When Oops was released
in the summer of two thousand, it's sold one point
three million copies in its first week, most ever by
a female artist. That's a tempt. Brittany announced her arrival
as a daring live performer with a smoking set at
MTVS Video Music Awards when she ripped off the black
(20:46):
outfit into the sequined, flesh colored outfit that one's stripped
to that the costume change, it wasn't that deep, but
it turns out to be this big media frenzy and
she's like, WHOA, I wanted to do simply curly and
you know, and have like a beautiful outfit newt and
just jewels everywhere, and I don't know I'm very visual.
(21:06):
I'm very visual like that, I'm I'm kind of weird.
But I thought it was a cool idea and to
rip all the stuff off and to do it, and
that's how it came about. People were stunned by Britney's
live act. Even greater surprises lay in the future. In
the months before the release of her fourth album, every
public move Britney Spears makes will be dissected by cameras
(21:27):
and columnists. Good friends say it is outside the media
glare that the real Brittney shines through. She devotes private
time to charitable causes, from breast cancer to hospital funding.
She gives her time, She gets her attention, you know
so much. The fact that she takes it away from
her sale to give it to others. It makes you
(21:47):
feel good to be able to put herself out there,
you know, let people not feel so alone and help
them out like that. No project is closer to Britney's
heart than her camp for the Performing Arts in rural
New England, a place where kids get a chance to
escape the city and nurture their creative skills. They told
me this year that I may miss going there because
(22:10):
I have a performance coming up. I'm like, no, I'm
going to damn camp. This is what it's about. You know,
I wouldn't see her anything. The same people that have
trained Brittany and worked with Britney on a yearly basis
worked with these kids for ten days, and in those
ten days, there's a performance by these kids for Britney
and the family. I remember seeing one little girl. She
got out there so nervous, like the point of tears.
(22:33):
I'm just after she performed and she expressed herself like that,
she just looked so good about herself, and I was
just like, wow, you know, I mean, if that's I
just think it's important to be able to have outlets
like that for kids and to be able to make
them feel good about them performing is an outlet that
Britney Spears has ridden to the pinnacle of pop. By
(22:54):
the fall of two thousand, just two years after she
burst on the scene, her first two records had sold
over eight million copies worldwide, and her face was on
billboards and TV screens from Miami to Milan. A lot
of young artists made impact, but this was worldwide impact
that I think nobody had ever seen before. On January
(23:14):
two thousand, one, the nineteen year old was asked to
take center stage for the biggest spectacle on Earth, the
halftime celebration for Super Bowl thirty five. Nearly a billion
people around the world would witness her strutt and shout
with Aerosmith and in Syne, I think that was the
most nervous I've ever been in my whole life, to
be honest with you, just the fact that it's Aerosmith,
(23:36):
Steven Tyler, I'm up there performing with him was just, Oh,
you know, it's just mind bottling. As soon as she
hits that stage, man, she nails it. I mean, she
just becomes a different person. And that's the difference between
everybody in a Superstar Next Brittney's latest onstage stunner When
behind the Music continues. Despite all her success, Brittany was
(24:04):
determined to grow as an artist. As she began work
on her third album, She took greater control of her destiny,
co writing five of the album's tracks and collaborating on
the sultry first single with hip hop heavyweights the Neptunes.
I'm a Slave for You is a very edgy dance song.
I mean this is much more cool and funky and
(24:27):
had a certain artistry to it that none of other
songs up until that point it had. She knew she
wanted to do some things that were edgier, that we're
not quite as pop as she had been known for
in the past. I wanted it to be a little
bit more sexual, a little bit um more fisty, and
(24:48):
I'm just a different sound in general. In September of
two thousand one, Brittany unveiled her new lyrical stylings when
she ballied with a Boa at MDVS Video Music Awards.
The sexy Stunted drew some venom from conservative critics, few
of whom knew that Brittany had begun the night reeling
from dealing with the ten foot reptile. Nobody realized that
(25:10):
that was such a source of worry and fright for her.
The snake comes from this gigantic ice chest and she
looks over me and she said, can you threw it?
It's just Brittany with the snake, and they've referenced it
to be in something very sexual. Well, we didn't think
about that. It was just part of the act. And
Brittany was determined to shed some skin of a rome.
(25:33):
Her third album pointedly entitled Brittany, was released in November
two thousand one and debuted at number one on the charts,
selling close to a million copies in its first week.
It was sweet vindication for a woman looking to outgrow
her team pop passed. I think it was more to
me just becoming more into my skin and they feel
more comfortable with me. At that time, I was singing
(25:56):
a song, not a girl, not yet a woman, when
in reality I was becoming what I was at that point,
right there in front of the world. By early two
thousand two, with the release of her first feature film, Crossroads,
Brittany was a true pop culture phenomena. But with stunning
popularity came an ever increasing price in privacy. In the
(26:17):
twenty year old faced a constant barrage of articles probing
her personal life. I can write some her whole things.
They I mean, that's what they're paid to do. They
want stories, they want to sell magazines, they do that.
I think the thing that saddens me the most is
that she is a public figure, and I think the
public thinks they're entitled to her at all times. In
(26:39):
March of two thousand two, the scrutiny grew painful does
cover stories around the world chronicled the sudden demise of
Brittney's relationship with Justin timber Lake. Although much has been
written about the star Cross love affair, Britney says she's
determined to keep the details as private as possible. Frankly,
it really is none of anybody's business because certain things
(27:00):
are sacred and should be completely kept hotally private. And
I've learned my lesson completely. If she breaks up with
the love of her life, the whole world feels like
they need to be involved in comment and you know
that there's no time to gather your thoughts or I mean,
what if you do want to just crap? We just crap.
Britney soldiered on with a sold out world tour and
(27:23):
brought her new material to millions of fans, but by
August of two thousand two, she was ready for an
extended break. After nearly three years of living in the spotlight,
Brittany announced that she was taking six months off, and
she returned who would be as a new woman. It's
(27:44):
the fall of two thousand three and britney Spears fourth
album is almost ready to shift the stores. But just
as recording on in the Zone is wrapping up, Brittney
gets a last minute chance to collaborate with the Ridol Madonna.
I was rehearsing with her for the INTWO vn IS
and I played her the single. All of a sudden,
I was like, you should do this with me. With
(28:05):
just week's remaining before the album's release, Brittany and Madonna
rework in The Zone's first single, Me Against the Music.
I think she has such a awareness about her and
she knows how to live her life. And soon afterwards,
the two pop icons combine their star power on the
song slick video. Never actually get a chance to see her.
(28:25):
It's like her spirits there, but I never get a
chance to touch her, physically touch her. And I'm make
sensing her wherever I go. And at the very end
of the video, something kind of cool happens. But what
wasn't consummated on screen was sealed with a kiss on
stage at MTV's Video Music Awards in August two thousand three.
Well Brittany had made a habit of outrageous starts at
(28:47):
the v m a s, viewers were stunned by the
mini makeout session. The kiss was not my idea. It
was Madonna's idea. She's the groom and I'm bride, so
you know, she probably felt kiss or whatever, but she
was like, why don't we do it here? Why don't
we do the kiss here? And I was like, okay, alrighty.
(29:07):
The kiss was the moment of the night. It took
all of you know, a second and a half and
it was the moment of the night, front page of
every newspaper. Brittany was already making headlines before her record
had even wrapped. In September two thousand three, she was
back in the studio hard at work on her fourth album.
Besides Madonna, the dis sports and all star cast of
contributors that includes Moby and R Kelly, but nobody brought
(29:31):
more to the music than Brittany. I think the difference
analysis that I look forward to being involved in each
process of collaborated for the first time on this album.
I think that's fog thing for me. Daring and different.
In the Zone represents Brittany's final transition to womanhood. Having
co written eight of twelve tracks, she is clearly determined
(29:53):
to showcase a new artist to her audience. It's a
real evolution for her. We really wanted to experim and
try some different things, you know, and I think we've
achieved that with this album. They'll definitely experience me in
a completely different light, like totally different light. But whatever happens,
good or bad, those who know her say Britney will
(30:15):
never lose touch with the values of her small town past.
It's pretty remarkable how sweet she is. But she's a
really good bit. She can be in front of thousands
of people and you walk off the stage and be fun.
You know. She hasn't changed she either, like fame hasn't
changed her. But she's for the same person she was
(30:36):
ten years ago. Britney Spears has achieved almost everything she
ever hoped for, and she embarks on a new stage
in her career and in her life. She's more than
happy to keep on dreaming. Britney Spears continues to captivate
the music world. Since two thousand three, She's released quite
(30:57):
a few major hits, most notably Woman Niser in two
thousand eight and Hold It Against Me in both reaching
number one on the Billboard One. Spears's musical success is astounded.
She became the youngest female artist in the US to
have five album's debut at number one, earning a place
in Guinness World Records. Spears was reportedly the highest paid
(31:21):
female musician of two thousand, two and twelve. With all
of these accolades, her announcement to go on a work
hiatus in twenty nineteen came as a bit of a surprise.
Spears's personal life took center stage in one when she
went public about her conservatorship. Fans expressed their concern for
her and sparked the viral hashtag free Brittany campaign. The
(31:45):
conservatorship was officially terminated in November. The world can't wait
to see what liberated Brittany has in store for us next.
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(32:06):
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