Britney Spears Proves She's Still Got It at 'Femme Fatale' Tour Kickoff

Britney Spears is a dozen years into her career, and yet the kickoff of her Femme Fatale tour at the Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento last night managed to propel her forward. She's wisely focusing on the present – she sang nine songs from her latest album Femme Fatale and snagged Nicki Minaj as her opening act – while offering possibly her flashiest, fastest moving, and most entertaining production yet.

Taking her entrance atop a moving platform in the first of many skimpy and sparkling Barbarella-esque outfits, Spears kicked off her performance with "Hold It Against Me." Flipping her massive blonde locks/weave/wig in what the Glee kids call "hairography," Spears shook what her hairdresser gave her while dancing hunks in policeman gear suggestively wielded truncheons around her. For "Up n’ Down," she and her female dancers reappeared in several cages made of poles, and were soon to be joined by the cops executing jungle gym acrobatics atop the cages. White satin fedoras and trench coats were donned for "3," and for "Piece of Me" she flew over the stage until the cops ripped off their shirts to reveal S&M bondage harnesses.

It was that kind of show, and the largely female audience sprinkled with some enthusiastic guys liked it that way: Throughout her set, the screaming from the fans rarely relented. Just about every number offered a different a visual theme more over-the-top than the one before it. "Big Fat Bass" featured giant speaker cabinets with woofers circled by flashing, color-changing lights. Spears took her entrance during "How I Roll" in a car that resembled a pink Mini Cooper. The hood folded into steps that allowed Spears to walk over and down the car – one of many agile moves Spears executed without twisting an ankle.

Her set was half over before she sang a track older than four years; this was "Boys (Remix)," followed by the sole slowie, "Don’t Let Me Be the Last to Know," which she sang on a swing. Here her mike was clearly turned on, and the results confirmed why Spears typically relies on prerecorded vocals. Her surprise cover of Madonna’s early single "Burning Up" lacked Madge’s authority, but it did feature Spears straddling a giant glittering guitar 10 or so feet high and twice as long. Her encore of "Toxic" featured a booming Dance Dance Revolution-styled remix with Japanese kimonos and dancing ninjas to match while "Till the World Ends" included Minaj rapping via video — an odd choice, since she was likely still backstage.

Britney Spears' Life in Photos: Her Rise, Fall and Comeback

Minaj’s own set lacked Spears’s budget or sharp choreography. Instead, the rapper tottered around on lime green platform shoes that threatened to tip her balance. Although she’s styled as a dance-pop diva, Minaj did little dancing — or singing, or even live rapping. Like Spears, much of her vocals were clearly prerecorded, which got a little too obvious during "Monster." Obviously she doesn’t have Kanye West with her, but throughout even her part in the song she sat nearly immobile, not bothering to hold a mike or move her lips.

Minaj clearly has stage presence, and the fact that fans cheered through abbreviated versions of her hits means that she’s doing something right by just showing up. But as a showcase for her considerable talents, her Thursday night performance lacked the commitment of her records. Surely the wild woman of "Did It On’em" can do better.

But really, the night belonged to Britney: She managed to prove that she's still progressing as a showgirl. Not only that, she's doing it better than even diehard defenders would’ve predicted. At 29, the pop star whose career seemed in danger of ending just a couple years ago has shown that she's back – hopefully this time to stay.

Source: Rolling Stone

Britney Spears On Her New Album, Her Favorite Music and Working With Will.I.Am

Do your kids like the new record? What have they said about it?
Yes. They definitely dance to it but its kind of funny because they are still confused …. It’s like, ‘who is this Britney Spears singer in contrast to mommy?’

How has your involvement in the record-making process changed over the years?
I have always been heavily involved in every album I have ever made. I’m very stubborn when it comes to recording and will only record songs I love, which is why it takes me a long time to make an album. I have to feel connected before I record and the song has to spark something inside me. Very few songs do that. I guess it’s a good process because I love all of my music. I know there are a lot of artists that hate songs they recorded. I don’t feel that way.

What was your idea for the overall sound of this album?
I wanted to make a fresh-sounding album for the clubs or something that you play in your car when you’re going out at night that gets you excited but I wanted it to sound different from everything else out right now. I also wanted to experiment with all the different types of music I love which is why you hear a mixture of pop, hip-hop and dance throughout the album. I also really wanted to play with my voice and change up my sound here and there which was really fun.

You hear traces of some real cutting-edge dance music on the album – for instance, the dubstep break on “Hold It Against Me.” How do you find new sounds?
I listen to a lot of different music from all over the world and I guess I just gravitate towards what sounds fresh and what makes me want to move. I really didn’t want to record anything on this album that could be mistaken for anyone else out there. I think my first two singles, “Hold It Against Me” and “Till The World Ends,” sound completely different from anything else and I think when my fans hear the rest of Femme Fatale they’ll see how fresh every song is.

Do you still go out to clubs? What kind of dance music do you like?
I don’t go out that much anymore but when I do, I definitely like to go out and dance. I’m a big vibe person when it comes to music so a song really has to make me feel a certain way in order for me to fall in love with it. I love hard pounding dance songs with really beautiful melodies over them. Those are my favorites.

What kind of music do you listen to at home?
I love the Peas but I also love Deadmau5. I guess I’m all over the place. Lately I have been listening to Robyn and Adele non-stop but I also love to find new artists that very few people know about. It’s one of my favorite things to do because it’s like being part of a secret. Friends and people around me are always showing me new artists that they love and that’s how I learned about Sabi and ended up working with her on “(Drop Dead) Beautiful.” I have always wanted to feature a new artist on one of my albums and she is really cool.

What led to your collaboration with willi.am? What was it like working with him?
The Peas make incredibly catchy, fun pop/dance records and I LOVE will.i.am’s style. I have always wanted to do a song with him and would love to work with him more in the future. He is so interesting.

Dr. Luke has become a big-name producer in his own right since your last album – is it different working with him now?
Not really. We have known each other for a really long time. Most people don’t know this but we actually worked together when I was recording “Blackout.” He was incredible back then and he has only gotten better over the years.

Dr. Luke said last fall that “I want [the sound] to get harder in some ways, and maybe a little more deep into electronic — grimier.” Did you have that same agenda for the album? Do you feel like you accomplished that?
When we first sat down to talk about Femme Fatale I knew I wanted to make a dance album that was ahead of everything else out there but unique to me which is why I was so picky with the recording process. I only wanted songs that I immediately connected to. I also wanted to make sure that this album was completely different from Circus or anything else I had ever recorded. I love Circus but I wanted something darker and edgier. I also wanted to make an album and didn’t want to just record a bunch of songs and put them together. I think Femme Fatale is really connected from start to finish.

What is it about Max Martin that makes you so comfortable collaborating with him? How much bigger of a role did he take on this album than he did for “Circus”?Max played a huge role on this album and he has been there since the beginning so there is such a huge level of trust. He gets exactly what I am saying when I tell him what I want and don’t want musically. His melodies are incredible and he is always coming up with weird sounds, which I love. The whistle on “I Wanna Go” still gets me every time I hear it. Who would have thought of that? There is nobody I feel more comfortable collaborating with in the studio.

How would you characterize the studio relationship between Max and Dr. Luke?
They are two peas in a pod. It’s a total bromance.

Source: Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone Reviews ''Femme Fatale''

Britney Spears is pop music's stealth avant-gardist. For years, critics have dismissed her as a cipher with a wisp of a voice. But from the minute she burst on the scene — heralded by the keyboard power chords of ". . . Baby One More Time" — her music has steered bubblegum into weirder, woollier territory. "Toxic" was a mélange of Bollywood and spy-movie guitar; "Piece of Me" was an essay on 21st-century tabloid infamy crooned over 22nd-century club rhythms. Then there's this year's "Hold It Against Me," which dissolves into a furious dubstep breakdown — easily the most assaultive beat on the Hot 100 right now.

Femme Fatale may be Britney's best album; certainly it's her strangest. Conceptually it's straightforward: a party record packed with sex and sadness. Max Martin and Dr. Luke, the world's two biggest hitmakers, are responsible for seven of 12 songs: big melodies and bigger Eurodisco thumps. But other producers go nuts, tossing the kitchen sink at Britney. The Bloodshy-helmed "How I Roll" is sputtering, oddly beautiful techno. In "Big Fat Bass," Will.i.am turns Britney into a cyborg obsessed with low-end. ("The bass is getting bigger!" she exults.) On nearly every track, Britney's voice is twisted, shredded, processed, roboticized. Maybe this is because she doesn't have much of a voice; it's certainly because she, more than almost any other pop diva, is simply game. Femme fatale? Not so much. But say this for Britney: She's an adventuress.

Source: Rolling Stone

Exclusive: Britney Spears' Producer Dr. Luke Reveals 'Femme Fatale' Details

The following italicized article is from www.rollingstone.com:

Britney Spears announced today that her new album, due March 15, is titled Femme Fatale – but the superstar singer and her Los Angeles producers are still choosing songs and determining the final direction of the overall sound. "It's not done," Dr. Luke, co-producing the album with longtime Britney collaborator Max Martin and Montreal dance-pop songwriter Billboard, tells Rolling Stone. "We're in the middle of it right now. It's a little bit fluid right now. I can't even say at this stage what songs for sure are making it and what songs aren't. We're working with a lot of producers and overseeing it with her A&R and record label and management and trying to make something cohesive."

The album, of course, will contain "Hold It Against Me," co-written by Dr. Luke, Martin and Bonnie McKee, the hot songwriter who penned Katy Perry's "California Gurls" and Taio Cruz' "Dynamite." Spears' new single made its debut on the pop charts in mid-January at Number One, before dropping to Number Six last week.

Originally, Dr. Luke and Martin, the Swedish songwriter behind some of Spears' biggest hits, including "…Baby One More Time," planned to give the song to Katy Perry. "We might have played it for her, but it definitely wasn't a Katy Perry record," Dr. Luke says by phone from Conway Recording Studio in Los Angeles. "We had it for a while. I wanted to make sure it didn't sound like everything else I've done. I brought it into Billboard, and he just killed it. It can be hard in the verse, and the bridge is super, super hard, but the chorus is super-pop. You can play that chorus acoustically on a guitar and it's still going to sound great."

Top 40 radio stations continue to spin "Hold It Against Me" in regular rotation. "It feels like a really obvious, easy-to-listen-to first single," says John Ivey, program director for KIIS in LA, which played the song once an hour the first day it came out. "You hear all those little parts that are so Britney – 'here's the video-breakdown-dance part of the song.' That's what my listeners love about her."

Although her 2008 album Circus sold fewer than 2 million copies, not a huge number given Spears' history of blockbuster sales, retailers have high hopes for the March release. "[Circus] ended up doing well, but we were a little cautious about it — a little tense comeback issues were going to be relevant," says Mark Hudson, music buyer for Trans World Entertainment, who predicts the new album could sell 500,000 copies in its first week. "But this time around, her stock is higher."

Dr. Luke also noted that he and Martin, the executive producers, plan on working on several songs directly in addition to "Hold It Against Me." He also confirmed Bloodshy (who co-produced Spears' classic "Toxic") and Benny Blanco (who worked on Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" and Perry's "California Gurls") were among several big names who would make production appearances.

So far, Spears has dropped by the LA studio two or three times to lay down her vocals. "Britney's really fast," Dr. Luke says. "She gets it done."

Source: Rolling Stone

They better hurry up because if this album gets delayed there's gonna be a lot of mentally insane Britney fans...

Britney Phone Home: Why Spears' "Telephone" Beats Lady Gaga's By a Robo-Mile

The following italicized article is from www.rollingstone.com:

Ever since Britney Spears' demo version of Lady Gaga's "Telephone" leaked this week, fans have been buzzing. Producer Rodney Jerkins quickly confirmed that it really was Britney singing, but any seasoned Britneyologist could already identify it by ear within a couple of bars — nobody else pronounces the consonant "r" or the long vowel "e" like our girl. It has all the distinctive vocal tics of Britney, or at least the laptop that does her singing. At this point, I've come to love Britney's demo even more than Gaga's already-brilliant hit version. Even though it's a more bare-bones production, it amps up all the seething rage in the song, stripping it down to the killer combo of a plucked harp and a jaded party girl strung out on Auto-Tune and paranoia.

"Telephone" actually sounds a lot like Britney's 2007 hit "Piece of Me," proving yet again how much impact Britney has had on the sonics of current pop. People love to make fun of Britney, and why not, but if "Telephone" proves anything, it's that Blackout may be the most influential pop album of the past five years. The demo is lighter than Gaga's production, cutting out all the rock bombast, but that just makes the song more linear and urgent. It reduces "Telephone" to a drum machine, that harp, a magic box of vocal effects, and the concept that a girl's soul and a magic box of vocal effects can sometimes be the exact same thing.

Britney uses Auto-Tune the way Bob Dylan used his harmonica — for punctuation, for atmosphere, for an alienatingly weird sound effect. It's a blast of vocal distortion, harsh on the surface, but expressive, capable of sounding wildly funny or abrasively pissed-off or seductive. In "Telephone," as in "Piece of Me," the Auto-Tune does for her voice what the harmonica does for Dylan's in "It Ain't Me, Babe" — a way of telling the world to keep its hands off you. Britney is talking to her phone, talking to the boy who keeps calling, talking herself out of compulsively checking her phone. The way her voice fades in and out of Auto-Tune — mostly in — is totally brilliant. Like Bob Dylan (and I swear this is the last time I'll mention his name right now, despite the millions of things he and Brit have in common) Britney loves to cross-fade between a human voice (hey world, take a look at me, I'm a star, I'm somebody, pay attention) and a machine voice (hey world, fuck off, you can't reach me, I don't believe you, you're a liar).

The point isn't whether Britney is punching the buttons herself. (When is that ever the point with a pop star?) It's the romance going on between the voice and the machine. Part of what makes Britney the perfectest of perfect pop stars is the way she expresses her personality most passionately when she's turning herself into a machine — surrendering to the beat, disappearing into the thrill of the pop moment, singing like a robot. That's what makes her sound so human after all. In "Telephone," she doesn't want to think any more, talk any more, feel any more — she just wants to hit the floor and dance to the rhythm machines until she turns into a machine herself.

Nothing could express the Britney cosmology like a phone song, since phone songs are usually a place where singers distort their vocals to sound like they're on the line — my favorite might be ELO's "Telephone Line," Kraftwerk's "The Telephone Call," or maybe Missy Elliott, Timbaland and Nicole Wray's "Make It Hot." But it's ideal for Britney — especially when the phone song doubles as an "I'm out on the club jumping on strange boys" anthem. She's kind of biz-zaaay. She's kind of biz-zaaay. You can't hurt her, can't even touch her, because she's kind of biz-zaaay. Call all you want but she's not at home, and you're not gonna reach her telephone.

I'm definitely not disparaging Gaga's version — I couldn't live without it, especially not her Beyoncé video epic. But "Telephone" has so much Britney in it, it's no big surprise to learn that Gaga may have written the song for her. Since Britney is the perfect pop star, and songs about telephones are always excellent, it's a just plain mathematical fact that Britney's "Telephone" is a perfect pop song, and the world is an infinitely better place because it exists.

Bizarro note: despite all the advances in phone technology over the past 25 years, both versions of "Telephone" end with the same recorded message from the Replacements' 1984 punk rock classic "Answering Machine." That Britney — she is so punk.

Source: Rolling Stone

RS just got so cool again.

Britney Spears Trades Plot for Simple, Sexy Dancing in “3″ Video

The following italicized article is from www.rollingstone.com:

After teasing fans with 15-second clips on her Twitter yesterday, Britney Spears finally revealed the video for her Hot 100-topping single “3,” the new track that will feature on her upcoming The Singles Collection. You’d expect the video for a song about threesomes to be Rated-X, but Spears keeps things borderline tasteful with the “3″ vid, busting out some suggestive dance moves that are nowhere near as racy as the lyrics to “If U Seek Amy.” Instead, Spears and her cadre of dancers go the “Single Ladies” route by scaling back on sets and simply dancing in front of white and gray backgrounds. It’s not Britney’s best (it’s nowhere near her “Slave 4 U” clip), but we haven’t seen her dancing with this much conviction since the In the Zone era.

Considering that today marks the two-year anniversary of Blackout, as Spears’ official Website points out, it’s clear Britney’s dance skills are getting back on track.

As Rolling Stone previously reported, Spears’ The Singles Collection will be released on November 24th, joining a release week that also features Adam Lambert’s For Your Entertainment, Rihanna’s Rated R, Lady Gaga’s The Fame Monster and 50 Cent’s Before I Self Destruct.

Source: Rolling Stone

Soon-To-Be Pop Princess Talks about The Soon-To-Be Queen of Pop

The following italicized article is from www.rollingstone.com:

Britney Spears was featured in a video clip during "Human Nature" in your Sticky & Sweet show. She's stuck in an elevator and starts to go crazy. Is that how you analogize what's happened in her career?

Yes. Didn't that explain what I thought? "I'm not your bitch, don't hang your shit on me." I just think people should mind their own business and let her grow up. I think everyone goes off the deep end at one time or another, and she, like Michael Jackson, didn't really have a childhood, so there are some inherent problems in that scenario. I have a lot of compassion for her, and I hope that she can find balance in her life. I don't know how bad her meltdown was. One can't believe everything one reads.

Source: Rolling Stone

All Hail Britney, Queen of the VMAs!

The following italicized article is from www.rollingstone.com:

Congratulations, Britney! You’re up for seven VMAs this year! It’s a moment of sweet redemption for Britz, because it means she will return once again to the stage where she’s tasted her sugariest highs and her most Xanax-tical lows. Let’s face it, Britney is the VMAs. She’s the reason we watch every year — it’s how we take the temperature of the Britney universe. She was made for this show, and it was made for her.

Once more, Lady B shall take the stage where she suffered the indignity of the 2007 VMAs, where she mumbled, bumbled, and stumbled through a rendition of “Gimme More” that traumatized her fans, bumping into her scared-looking back-up dancers, rocking her spray-painted abs and one of Bret Michaels’ used hairpieces. As people used to say way back in 2007, it was a “fail,” as well as a “hot tranny mess.”

Britz made her return to the VMAs last year, showing she could make the scene as a wholesome, soft-spoken Southern gal, but with all these nominations, she has a chance for an even bigger comeback — not to mention an even bigger celebration of her place as the pop queen of the decade. Nobody should be surprised if she sweeps all seven of her categories, just because “Womanizer” is a seven-times-awesome kind of song, although given that it’s up against heavy hitters like “Single Ladies,” “Poker Face” and “Love Lockdown,” she might want to rehearse her “it’s an honor just to be nominated, y’all” cliche just in case. (Bizarrely, she’s not nominated for Best Female Video, maybe because she’s too much of a woman-woman-womanizer?)

Given that Eminem got a bunch of nominations as well, maybe MTV is just having spasms of 1999 nostalgia. But this a moment for all her fans to savor, wonder why the new category for “Best [Old] Video That Should Have Been A Moonman” doesn’t have a nod for her “Lucky” video, from 2000. That’s a classic. It was her Kid A.

Source: Rolling Stone

Britney Spears Announces Controversial Third Single

The following italicized article is from www.accesshollywood.com:

“If You Seek Amy” will be the third single from Britney Spears’ “Circus,” the pop princess announced on her Web site on Wednesday.

In December, fans chose the controversial track as the song she should chose for her next single in a poll on the site, with “Amy” winning 26 percent of the vote.

Many parents are up in arms over the song’s chorus, “All of the girls and all of the boys are looking to… If you seek Amy,” which could be heard as “F*** me.”

“I was astonished and totally taken aback when I heard my 5 and 7-year-old kids walking around the house singing ‘F-U---K,” one parent has complained, according to Rolling Stone.
“When I asked them what it was, they told me it was Britney Spears. I was horrified.”

The first two singles from “Circus” were “Womanizer,” which topped the charts, and the album’s title track.

Brit took a break over the holidays from promoting the album to celebrate the wedding of her brother, Bryan, who was married on New Year’s Eve in New Orleans.

Source: Access Hollywood

New Rolling Stone Outtake

Source: The One Who Can't Stop Taking Pictures Of Himself

'Circus' To Sell More Then 450.000 Copies

The following Italicized article is from www.hitsdailydouble.com:

Britney might not want to call her latest release a comeback, but whatever you dub it, her new Jive/ZLG album Circus is soaring past all expectations.

Thanks to a barrage of good publicity for a change, the pop star, who just celebrated her 27th birthday yesterday with a performance on ABC’s Good Morning America, will debut at #1 on next week’s HITS Album Sales chart with a total that seems to be in excess of 450k, and very capable of climbing even higher.

According to retailers who haven't been clubbed into submission by the economy, first-day sales were brisk for the album, coming on the heels of MTV’s highly rated documentary, Britney: For the Record, a Rolling Stone cover story and surprisingly rave reviews. Hey, the media owes her.

With initial guesstimates in the 350k range, Spears appears to be blowing away the pundits' first-week predictions. Based on first day sales reports, the album seems poised to top the recent first week total of the current #1, Kanye West, and, possibly, even Beyonce.

Meanwhile SRC/Universal Motown’s Akon, fresh off a hit single, will be the next highest debut of the week in the 80-90k range, while Asylum rapper (and one-time Geto Boy) Scarface looks to scare up some 30-40k in sales.

The market was up 29% vs. last week, thanks to Black Friday, basically flat vs. the same week last year and still down 14% year to date.

Source: Hits Daily Double

Behind the Britney Story: A Conversation With Writer Jenny Eliscu

The following Italicized article is from www.rollingstone.com:

Rolling Stone contributing editor Jenny Eliscu first interviewed Britney Spears in RS 877, when Spears appeared on her third cover. Here Eliscu talks about the changes she's seen in Britney over the years, and what it was like getting access to the star for her new story, Britney Returns.

When did you first meet Britney?

It was in summer of 2001. She had just moved into a new house in the Hollywood Hills and she was decorating it with her mom. She was dating Justin at the time. We went into her bedroom into the walk-in closet there was a shirt in the closet that was obviously Justin's. It was a cowboy shirt. It was hanging by itself — I looked at it and I remember thinking, "That's Justin's! He must sleep over here!" And she was very down-to-earth and friendly and silly — I was charmed by her immediately. She was easy to be around. She was just in jeans and a T-shirt and her eyeliner was from last night — which always seems to be the case with Britney. We went to the studio together, and she was working with producer B.T. She got in the booth and sang, and it was surprisingly effortless for her.

How would you compare the girl then to the girl now?

What's the most different was the experience. I had interviewed her a handful of times since that first story, and we'd even talked about doing a book together a couple years ago. I mean, she used to send me Christmas cards and thank-you notes and stuff. Which, by the way, is super rare for anyone to do after you've written about them. Given all this background, I was really suprirsed by the restrictions on my access to her. I was like,"'What's the problem here?" That made me immediately uncomfortable. So, to answer your question is tough, because, compared to my previous experiences with her, this one was so much more micro-managed. I saw her several times over the course of September and October, but I was only allowed to speak with her on two of those occasions. My impressions are based on the very limited constraints that were put on us. That said, the first time I saw her on this story, my first impression was that she looked great. She looked like Britney. But there was much more of a sense of "can we get this over with" and her manager had to sit in. It wasn't possible to engage with her in the ways I was used to, both in my past interviews with her and compared to what it's normally like in general to talk in-depth with a subject.

You've heard her quote from the documentary about how she feels like a prisoner. Did you get that vibe from her?

The thing is, when I met with her, I wasn't looking for that. I had started to feel uncomfortable with all the restrictions, like submitting my questions for approval and not being left alone with her. And whenever I asked who was making these rules, I was told it had to do with the conservatorship. Like most people I didn't know much about conservatorships or how they're supposed to work. Of course, the funny coincidence is that the most famous conservatorship in recent years isn't even Britney's: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were being run by a government conservatorship. And we see how brilliantly that turned out. Anyway, I had done some preliminary research into it, but I was not yet aware how hard Britney had tried to fight it initially and why. As my research progressed, it started to become clear to me that this might not be something that should still be in place. Because it is designed, ideally, to protect people who are seriously ill. We're talking about people who are non compus mentis, according to the lawyers I consulted. Or they're in a vegetative state. Or they're just so old that they can't take care of themselves anymore. But Britney? It was making less and less sense as time went on.

So, as I say, it wasn't until after my last meeting with her that I realized how far beyond the scope of my interview this level of control extended into all facets of her life. And so, unfortunately, I wasn't, like, checking to see if she blinked out an S.O.S. code or whatever. But in hindsight, I did have a new understanding of the quote of hers at the end of the story, which is the last thing she said to me, in the context of being interviewed. She was describing this song she wrote about artistic expression and masquerade — pretending to be other people and putting on shows. And she says, "Through this you create your world." The song is about a girl who likes to live in a world of make-believe, and she's got all these people trying to come into her world that she didn't invite in. It's pretty telling. When you think about it, Britney Spears is an artist — a pop artist, in the truest sense — and sometimes artists do crazy things. I'm not sure why Britney isn't allowed to act out in the ways that we normally consider acceptable from artists. And we're guilty too because we created this Britney Spears character and we won't let her change.

What do you think will happen next? Is this conservatorship thing going to be a problem for Britney in the future?

It's a problem for her now. And the commissioner recently granted their request to make it permanent. If something doesn't change — if somebody doesn't contest it — it would theoretically remain in effect until her father dies. So far, Britney has failed in her attempts to hire her own lawyer.

Why do you think the court keeps approving the conservatorship?

One credible theory goes that the conservatorship manages to remain in effect due to political pressure on the courts to keep Britney off the streets. Her reckless behavior definitely was a problem for tax-paying Los Angelenos, who deserve to be able to drive their roads without fear of being run down by a Britney-led paparazzi chase, you know? She was creating mayhem, and it's fair to consider the impact on her neighbors and community. But I also think it's important for conservatorship not to be manipulated into a form of censorship. As Britney herself notes in that documentary, the punishment for her antics ought to fit the crime. At this point, it's like we're punishing her for acting shamlessly. and for being tacky. And this is America! If Britney is famous for acting tacky, we've got no one to blame but ourselves.

Source: Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone Scans

Click on the pic to see them!

Source: Breathe Heavy

Exclusive Britney Behind The Scenes 'Rolling Stone' Pics

If you guys are like me, you can't get enough of the sexy Rolling Stone photos of Britney. She looks hot!

So, because BritneySpears.com never leaves our readers hungry, we have some more EXCLUSIVE shots taken from behind the scenes at the photo shoot with Peggy Sirota.

And to answer your question, NO. These photos are not photoshopped or airbrushed in any way, shape or form. Britney just looks THAT fabulous!!

See more pics here!

Source: BritneySpears.com

Go Behind the New Rolling Stone Cover: Britney Spears

The following italicized article is from www.rollingstone.com:

For the 2008 version of the Rolling Stone “Hot Issue,” Britney Spears found her way onto the cover of the magazine for the seventh time on the heels of her new album Circus and her seemingly unlikely comeback. Click above to go behind the scenes at Britney’s cover shoot and to hear Rolling Stone’s Jodi Peckman discuss the ideas behind the cover.

Source: Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone 'Circus' Review

Britney may have left the psych ward, but on Circus, she proves she's still a freak. The clubby, adventurous pop on her sixth album — her first since getting committed and losing custody of her kids — would have made a fine follow-up to 2003's In the Zone. "Toxic" producers Bloodshy & Avant hit pay dirt again with the melodic, glowing "Unusual You." The Max Martin-produced "If U Seek Amy" (say it fast) is a saucy, swinging standout, and the photographer-taunting stomper "Kill the Lights" recalls the synth crush of 2007's Blackout.

Britney's vocals on Blackout sounded phoned in, but on Circus, she put in real studio time, actually singing some slow jams. Frou Frou's Guy Sigworth contributes "Out From Under," Spears' best ballad since "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman." But there are creepy ones too: Danja's "Blur" updates 2003's hungover "Early Mornin'," as the mom of two sighs, "Where the hell am I?" She does her kids a greater disservice with "My Baby," the trite ballad dedicated to them. And Mommy shows she has psychodrama to spare on "Mmm Papi," a go-go romp with daddy issues ("Grab me tight and don't let go/Mmm Papa, love you"): Is it about the papa who controls her affairs or the paparazzi she had an affair with? The fact that we're even curious shows Britney hasn't lost her talent: Her fans still can't look away.

Source: Rolling Stone

Britney Spears Is More 'Self-Conscious' And 'Reserved' Now, Rolling Stone Photo Editor Says

The following italicized article is from www.mtv.com:

Jodi Peckman isn't new to working with Britney Spears on a photo shoot. Rolling Stone's director of photography has worked with the pop star several times over her career and admits that 2008 Britney isn't the bubblegum pop star she met back in 2002.

"There was a difference now than in 2002," she told MTV News about the recent Rolling Stone cover story on Spears. "She was really childlike then. She came bouncing in with her iPod and chewing her bubble gum with her thick Southern accent. She was very outgoing.

"I think she feels less comfortable now, and that's natural for any woman getting older," she added. "I think she's more self-conscious now. She didn't hold back, it's just that she's more reserved."

Peckman also worked with Spears in 2003, and she already saw Spears rapidly maturing from a bouncy kid to a woman. "She was a little more down to earth in 2003. It was quite different," she told MTV News. "She was more to herself, smoking cigarettes in the parking lot. She kept to herself more. She was a bit more private."

Peckman has noticed over the years that the people and the energy surrounding Spears have never been the same. And despite any issues RS writer Jenny Eliscu had gaining access to the singer, Peckman said that the shoot went smoothly.

"It was much more low-key this time around. There was much less pressure on us," she said. "She arrived to the shoot before I did. She came with her publicist and her personal assistant. Her mom was with her; her manager showed up about an hour later. Very calm, very mellow. It was really stripped-down. The time before, it had been more high-intensity, more controlled."

The theme for the shoot was no theme at all. Peckman wanted to show everyone the natural Spears. No costumes, no sets, no drama. "She's still a young girl, but she looks more mature. There's something about her. She's a mom now, and she's been through a lot, and maybe just her motherly aura comes through."

And the inspiration was simple for the shoot: stripped-down Marilyn Monroe — not glossy, sexy Marilyn Monroe. "We wanted her to be natural, almost as a reference was Marilyn Monroe in the actor's studio," Peckman explained. "We just let her under the beautiful light and let her be herself. We kept it simple."

And the moment Spears took the picture that would end up as the cover shot, Peckman knew. "Well, first of all, having a celebrity on the cover where there's no eye contact with the reader isn't the norm. But it was such a spontaneous, caught moment. It wasn't posed that way," she said. "The minute we got that picture, I knew right away. Caught moments just translate so well.
"She's so great that she can do high-concept and stripped-down," Peckman added. "She really gives it to the cameras. ... We just wanted to make her look like a beautiful woman."

Source: MTV

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Source: Rolling Stone

Britney Returns

The following italicized article is from www.rollingstone.com:

There's an understanding among those who know Britney well: When she's blond, she's happy. When she's brunette, she's sad. When she's pink, she's crazy. Her hair was back to glowing and golden this fall, when she spent her time diligently shuttling back and forth from her Beverly Hills mansion to dance rehearsals and video shoots and recording studios, in preparation for her new album, Circus. It was a complete transformation, following a year in which she spent a month in rehab, endured a brutal custody battle with her ex-husband Kevin Federline and careened toward a massive — and very public — meltdown that culminated in two involuntary psychiatric hospitalizations in January.

"I feel like an old person now," she says one afternoon, as a manicurist applies rhinestones and girly pink lacquer to her chewed-up nails. "I do! I go to bed at, like, 9:30 every night, and I don't go out or anything, you know what I mean? I just feel like an old fart."

The beauty rest has done her well: In a Hollywood recording studio in September, dressed in black jeans, platform heels and a bedazzled hoodie, Spears looks more like her former self than she has in years. She has makeup on, but it's faded just enough that it could be yesterday's. She says she's considering lopping off the weave she's worn since shaving her head in 2007, and when she counts up her tattoos — "Seven! Oh, my God, y'all!" — she falls back into the couch giggling, kicking her feet in the air.

Spears has always been like this: silly, sweet, humble. She has never been very articulate, but she always tries to be accommodating. Tonight, she's listening to mixes and finishing work on a track called "Lace and Leather." When I ask how she knows if a song is going to be a hit, she says, "You just hear it, and you're like, oh, my God, if somebody else takes this song, you're gonna kill yourself, you know what I mean? Like, this one I'm doing tonight, I think it's good, and it's, like, really quirky and different and girly."

"A little naughty," says her manager, Larry Rudolph, 45, sitting nearby in a T-shirt and jeans.

"A little naugh-tay," Spears agrees, sounding half-embarrassed.

There are differences in Britney, too, from the last time I saw her, in 2006, when we hung out in her New York hotel room watching American Idol while her son Sean Preston crawled around on the bed nearby. She is shyer, more guarded, remote — like the old Britney but with the volume turned way down. Her last hit single, "Piece of Me," dealt with her public image ("I'm Miss Bad Media Karma/Another day, another drama"), but she says she's not sure she wants to include anything so revealing on Circus. "It's scary to put yourself out there and be like, 'Oh, God, is that cool?' If you're not going to really go for it, you can't just go there halfway." And then, as though changing her mind midthought, she adds, "But sometimes, when you go for it, you can't lose."

Of all the things Britney has lost in the past year, it's the custody of her sons, Sean Preston, 3, and Jayden, 2, that has shaken her hardest. "Every time they come to visit me, I think about how they're such special people," says Spears, who currently sees the boys three days a week, with one overnight stay. "Like, they're going to preschool now! I went there to pick them up on Friday, and seeing them in their little classroom and seeing Jayden being bad or not listening? It's like, those are mine, and it's just crazy, you know what I mean? And the things that are coming out of their mouths right now — they're learning so much, and it's new, and you never know what they're going to say, and they're so smart yet so innocent. They're obsessed with monsters, and every night we look outside, and we have to show them that there's no monsters out there. It's dark outside, but there's nothin' out there, you know?"

Ever since she was a little girl growing up in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears dreamed of having her own children. She considered the experience "the closest thing to God," she said in 2004 in a note on her fan site. "To be a really good mom, I feel your child needs to be your full-time job. I want to raise my kids and share all of those precious moments with them."

But things haven't turned out like she imagined. "I didn't think my husband was gonna leave me," she says, deadpan. She laughs to break the tension. "Otherwise, I'd be with my babies 24/7. But since they're almost like twins, they both take care of each other. I think they look like me," she says, going from affectionate to bitter as she gets distracted by thoughts of Federline, whom she sees only when one of them is picking up the boys. "They don't look like their father at all," she continues. "And it's weird 'cause they're starting to learn words like 'stupid,' and Preston says the f-word now sometimes. He doesn't get it from us. He must get it from his daddy. I say it, but not around my kids."

Of course, Britney hasn't quite turned out to be a model parent, either, and it was her own erratic behavior that led to her losing custody. During Britney's second trip to the psych ward, when her dad, Jamie, wanted to convince her to let him take control of her life, he told her he would help her get her babies back. He and attorney Andrew Wallet filed for a legal conservatorship that makes them responsible for overseeing her finances and her personal life — Britney today has about as many legal rights as when she was in the Mickey Mouse Club. She is watched over day and night by security guards Jamie hired (and she's paying for); it's also rumored that Britney's phone calls are closely monitored and that she's not allowed to drive her own Mercedes. Recently, says one source with ties to the Britney camp, Jamie fired a guard who let the singer use his phone. (Her rep denies the claim.)

Source: Rolling Stone

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