Britney spears meta-narrative is long & ever evolving.
Her Image change from innocent southern teeanger girl to a sexualised women.
(Innocent Mickey mouse kid, virginal yet sexy teen, trashy rehab terror, bounce back femme Fatale)
Here I have basically accounted the "pop princess's" personal history, however this has a lot to do with the development of her star image, in relation to Britney it all interlinks. Her troubled social life (which relates to the development of her image( will of course be in some way connected to the pressures of The industry, their control over her, the breach personal space, and the influences this type of business has upon a person. She started off as such a 'imitation' somebody who was subtly sexualised but yet still a women set up to be a "role model" for teenagers, somebody they could aspire to be like, and in fact she is probably a clear example of Goodwin's concept of Projection, when this imitated obsession reaches an extreme (her fans behaviour became more than a simple mimic of clothes). Her early days where a time of 'girl power' and 'fun' - a rise in structured female iconic figures (followed suit to artists such as madonna) and this was clearly represented in her early videos. she often played a cheesy / playful character, and relied heavily upon narrative pieces, costume & choreography (the school girl outfit from 'Hit me baby one more time' and the air-hostess suit-in 'Toxic') presenting a story with a clearly fixed look & audience type . This image evolved throughout her time as an artists & of course in suit to the changing industry & cultural society (the rise is voyeuristic appeal and the promiscuity deemed show-able to the mainstream society growing & developing), & her personal & media coverage (she is an artist who was bombarded with 247 press & was unable to ever hide herself from the public eye). Her music videos clearly present this gradual progression and later work displays the dance features of the primary ones but in a mature and now much more overtly sexual way - a new sales strategy as such (also presented through the fast pace of the edits which amplify her energy & drive). Most of her modern videos are wholly performance based & rely upon the edition of special effects, and mis en scene to support her image. This change is also notable through her lyrical connotation for instance "hit ME baby one more time" and "your toxic I'M slippin' under" -placing a subtle emphasis on male domination over her, contrasting to her later work for instance "But all of the boys and all of the girls are begging to if you seek Amy" which still revolves around sexual innuendoes but places strain on her power & open sexuality & freedom.
She was your typical child star, traumatised teen who the media & industry moulded into a bomb ready to explode under the pressure of stardom. She was only 8 when she and her mum forced her to audition for a part in the “Mickey Mouse Club” & she was rejected, something which can't exactly play well against a child's confidence. She made it in after time at performing arts school at 13 and was groomed to become a pop star from such an early age,( and is rumoured/ a conspiracy is that she entered in to the CIA mind control project - a traumatic molding into the elite ‘handler's’ vision for their future). She was only 16 at the time "Hit me Baby one more time" was released and the video for the song raised eye brows, she was also on the cover of a Rolling Stones issue where she was shot as a blend of innocence and sexuality - not overt and brash but a tamed victim to voyeurism.
She began as the patron saint of innocent virtues first emerged into the big time in 1999 as a Mississippi ‘princess of pop’. Becoming a prominent figure in popular culture, a media frenzy, with her first x2 albums breaking record sales & having international number 1’s. She was an icon & the revival of teen pop turning into the ‘best-selling teenage artist of all time before she turned 20’.
When the naughty’s began she had sold more than 70 million records and was ranked as the most powerful celebrity in the world on Forbes Magazine’s 2002 list. In 2003 she confessed in an interview with W magazine that she “had only spelt with one person” in her entire life. She famously said that she would remain a virgin until marriage. She was a teenage role model with songs such as I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman” which reached out to young girls and spoke about the angst and heartache of going through puberty, creating a musical helpline and connection to her fan base.
Her media attention had previously been huge but when she started getting picked up for the social elements of her life it was went it hit the roof. First it began with the marking shift her virginal status, the pole opposite marriage. She married her childhood friend Jason Alexander On the 3rd of January in 2004, in a 5:30am Vegas style ceremony with a total period of wedded bliss equaling a mere 55 hours. The marriage was annulled 55 hours later, stating that Spears "lacked understanding of her actions".
Despite this first public explosion, it was Britney’s second marriage that really captured the always wandering tabloid eye. In July 2004 she got engaged to American dancer called Kevin Federline, who she had only known for a three months. Their relationship received mass media attention from the media, as Federline had only recently broke up with his ex the actress Shar Jackson, who was pregnant with their second child at the time - the marriage was seen as very scandalous.
She had her first child (Sean Preston Federline) in 2005 and in February 2006, pictures were released of Britney driving with her son Sean, on her lap instead of in a car seat. The public were horrified by the photos of her holding the wheel with one hand and Sean with the other, and rumors started circulating about her capabilities as a mother. Later that year Spears posed nude for the cover of Harper's Bazaar.
By September 2006 she had had her second child Jayden James Federline, and x2 months later she filed for a divorce (which was finalised in July 2007 with shared custody). Spears's aunt Sandra Bridges Covington, with whom she had been very close, died of ovarian cancer in January and by February she had started to break down and had been checked in to a drug rehabilitation facility in Antigua (for less than a day).
The following night (after being submitted), she shaved her head with electric clippers at a hair salon in LA & attacked a car with an umbrella. She then admitted herself to other treatment facilities during the following weeks. After completing a month-long program at Promises (is a for-profit provider of residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation with facilities in Malibu). she wrote on her website, "I truly hit rock bottom"
She had passed her peak in terms of any form of popularity as an artist Britney was starting to fall completely flat as a trashy trailer terror - going back to her alleged roots and for-filling the underlining stereotype of the Southern slut - "white trash" . She didn’t write her own music, or have an extremely powerful voice, and had thus had always relied upon her image and appearance as a main selling drive. This key appeal to keep a profitable consumer base now meant it was critical for her to uphold a new image, one which she could believably sell after the cheap reputation she had built she self.
COMPLETE IMAGE CHANGE
Consequently In May 2007, she produced a series of promotional concerts at House of Blues venues, titled The M+M's Tour. The show featured Spears accompanied by four female back-up dancers performing shortened versions of five songs to choreographed dance movements and little only one costume change throughout the entire performance (very unlike Britney and her previously cute & theatrical shows). During the performance of one of the song a male audience member actually participated onstage, and she gave him a lap dance during the performance. Her x2 costumes were very promiscuous, she wore a silver beaded bra & pleated white skirt and boots and then a hot pink bra, white fur coat and jean skirt. Her choreographed dance moves were very sexualized EG: using a chair as a prop, and shakira like dance moves. Mtv’s statement after the concert was :"Her body newly toned and her smile beaming, she looked every bit like a woman who had emerged from her quarter-life crisis stronger than yesterday." She also said Spears performed with "a naughty, free-spirited attitude", as though she "had invited 900 friends to her dirty little dance party, and too bad for you if you couldn't roll with the fun.”
She lost custody of her children to her ex husband Federline in October 2007 and was sued by Louis Vuitton (the fashion designer) over her 2005 music video "Do Somethin'" for pimping out her truck interior in counterfeit Louis Vuitton cherry blossom fabric (wlhich resulted in her video being banned on European TV stations). Later that year she was back and Her fifth studio album ‘Blackout’ was released which debuted at the top of chart’s in several countries. Spears became the only female artist to have her first five studio albums debut at the two top slots of the chart and Blackout managed to sell over 3.1 million copies worldwide. However On January 3, 2008, Spears refused to relinquish custody of her sons to Federline's representatives. She was hospitalised at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre, after police men who arrived at her house had noted she appeared to be under the influence of an illicit substance. Her visitation rights were suspended at an emergency court hearing, and Federline was given sole physical legal custody of the children. In January (2008) she was committed to the psychiatric ward of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Centre and put on 5150 involuntary psychiatric hold. The court then placed her under temporary conservatorship (a legal concept where an entity or organisation is subjected to the legal control of an external entity or organisation, known as a conservator) of her father James Spears and attorney Andrew Wallet, giving them complete control of her assets.
She did bounce back to some degree after her release - with tv cameo’s, some visitation rights for her kids, opening the MTV Video Music Awards with comedy sketch with Jonah Hill & an introduction speech, winning Best Female Video, Best Pop Video and Video of the Year for "Piece of Me", A 60-minute documentary produced to chronicle her return to the recording industry ( with the highest ratings in the networks history). Her sixth studio album had positive reviews (‘circus’) and debut and number one in several places becoming one of the fastest-selling albums of the year selling 4 million copies worldwide. In January 2009, Spears and her father James obtained a restraining order against her former manager, ex-boyfriend Adnan Ghalib and attorney Jon Eardley—all of whom, court documents claim, had been conspiring to gain control of Spears's affairs.
Her tune started to alter again, not back to innocence by any stretch of the imagination, she holds an overtly sexual image still, and though she has claimed back a more ‘popular’ pop identity it is as a but as a sexualised and empowered adult not school girl or trashy loon. Huge markers for her bounce back to teen affection were: Her appearance on the popular television show ‘Glee’ ,as an inspiration for their episode & a whole episode based around her with a holy, Goddess status, giving ‘Glee’ their highest ever ratings! Her appearance in the remix of the song "S&M" by Rihanna (after Rihanna asked her fans via Twitter who they wanted her to collaborate with). Her latest album release Femme Fatale (2011). With the release Spears explained that she "wanted to make a fierce dance record where each song makes you want to get up and move your body in a different way." She wanted to stray away sonically from her previous material, and worked with different producers over the course of two years.
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