0:01

She's a true pop icon who emerged from

0:03

nowhere to become one of the biggest stars in

0:05

the world. Everyone knows

0:08

her songs and her smile, but

0:10

few know the private towns beyond the

0:12

public spectrum. Now

0:14

Britney spears as you've never seen her before,

0:17

as she reveals the stories behind some

0:19

of her most sensational scenes. She

0:22

dishes about living and loving in

0:24

a white hot media glare, and

0:27

she bears her soul about the pitfalls

0:29

of growing up in the public eye. It's

0:32

time for an uncensored backstage

0:34

pass with pop's reigning princess. Go

0:37

behind the scenes, behind the headline,

0:40

behind the spotlight, Britney

0:42

Spears, the story behind the

0:44

music. It's

0:48

the fall of two thousand three and Britney

0:51

Spears is preparing to release her groundbreaking

0:53

fourth album in the Zone. Laced

0:56

with everything from edgy pop to a haunting

0:58

ballad, the disc is a sonic portrait

1:00

of a young woman coming of age.

1:04

The album is basically a journey. There's some

1:06

songs that talk about love, talk about

1:08

romance, and their songs that talk about its

1:10

having a good time. My

1:13

idea was just to really experiment

1:15

and just to kind of go there and do

1:17

stuff that I'm not used to doing. The

1:20

record is a conscious break with the past,

1:23

but Britney Spears has never been afraid

1:25

to take chances in the studio or

1:28

on the stage. In five

1:30

years, she's tangled with a ten foot snake,

1:33

liplocked with Madonna, and

1:35

earned a reputation is one of pop's most

1:37

exciting live performers. Britney

1:40

were a quarterback, should be the one you would want

1:43

if you were pointing in the super Bowl, because when

1:45

it comes to actually getting on that stage and nailing

1:47

it, there is nobody better

1:50

who has ever gone on the stage. And I truly believe

1:52

that she's all about show biz.

1:54

She's all about entertainment, and that's

1:57

what makes her special. There's not

1:59

a lot of people have that ability to

2:01

really just jump out at you and really bring

2:03

you in. With fans spanning

2:06

five continents and media interest

2:08

at a constant fever pitch, Britney

2:10

lives life as a human highlight breathing, but

2:13

she's determined not to believe the hype.

2:16

Once you start believing in your own press, that's and things that

2:18

really messed up. So just be true to yourself and know

2:21

within you what's real. And what's not real, and that way

2:23

you can't be affected by anything. Britney

2:26

Spears maybe a truly global superstar,

2:29

but she is determined to stay true to her humble

2:31

roots. Born in December

2:34

one, and she was raised in tiny Kentwood, Louisiana,

2:37

a town so isolated. The nearest

2:40

hospital is nearly twenty miles away.

2:43

It's really small. It's only two thousand people,

2:45

and I mean, everybody knows each other here, so it's

2:47

just a great place to live. There's

2:50

no Walmart. You have to travel like thirty

2:52

minutes just to go to a Walmart. It's a really,

2:54

really small town and everybody knows

2:56

everybody. So that's that's all.

2:59

That's where I'm from. Brittney's

3:01

father, Jamie, worked steadily as a building

3:03

contractor. Still, money was tight

3:05

in the Spears household, especially

3:08

during the early nineteen eighties when America

3:10

was in the grip of a deep recession at

3:13

that time, that's when the economy was going down.

3:15

The town was kind of going down, and it

3:17

was just really hard to make guns meet. But people

3:20

knew us, and they knew what kind of people

3:22

we were, and they knew that we were hard working

3:24

people, and they would wait on us

3:26

if they had to. You know, that

3:28

was what was with then. Cheerful

3:31

and outgoing from the start, Brittney seemed

3:34

unfazed by any hardship. She

3:36

was an accomplished gymnast early on, and

3:38

by the time she was eight, she had already adopted

3:40

a hero and role mode. I've

3:43

always really looked up to Madonna, just her

3:45

sense of her performing and her individuality,

3:48

and I don't know, there's just something about

3:50

her that really triggered me, made

3:53

me feel alive to watch. I

3:55

remember her first song being like a

3:57

prayer by Madonna, her

4:00

singing in the bathtub. I remember my mom

4:02

calling her friends saying, you know what, I think, my daughter

4:04

consent and it was very

4:07

unique to hear from the first time. But after that

4:09

he was so annoying. It

4:11

was because she was constantly singing in the bathtub.

4:14

Didn't buy a bug to perform. Brittney

4:16

began singing wherever and whenever

4:19

she could. I was

4:21

pretty obnoxious when I was little. We

4:23

always would have people like family friends

4:25

over, and I thought something was wrong

4:27

with me because I wouldn't be quiet. I

4:29

was always running around, like singing

4:32

from the top of my lungs. So

4:34

we even had a little group, and

4:37

she was the lead singer, and I was one of

4:39

the backup dancers. We would practice all

4:41

week. Emboldened by her

4:43

wreck room rehearsals, Brittney began performing

4:45

at county fairs around Louisiana. A

4:48

few of the audience were prepared for what they

4:50

heard. So we're at the craft

4:52

show. Brittney walks up onto the stage.

4:54

So all of a sudden, she hits the microphone, and

4:57

she opened her mouth, and out of this eight

4:59

year old body comes a thirty year old voice.

5:02

This little bitty person was singing all these amazing

5:04

grown up songs that I'm thinking, why didn't anybody

5:07

tell me this? So slowly

5:10

the ground in front of the stage started

5:12

filling up and people started listening. She was

5:14

bullown entertainment. She

5:16

always had these big ambitions,

5:20

just larger than when anyone else could

5:22

ever dream up at eight nine years

5:24

old, and it was I'm

5:27

gonna be famous. Watch. Brittany's

5:29

parents soon realized Brittany had abilities

5:31

and aspirations too large for a small

5:34

town. So in the fall of nine,

5:37

when her father read about a casting call in Atlanta

5:39

for the Mickey Mouse Club, he didn't miss

5:41

a beat. My dad.

5:43

I saw that, you know, and

5:46

UM, we were like, what is this?

5:48

We're going to travel all the way to audition for this kids

5:50

show, you know, But we did. We

5:53

dropped in the car and we went down

5:55

there and I ended up being narrowed down

5:57

to like the last six kids, and

6:00

um, I didn't get it though, I was too. Brittany

6:03

was eight when she came to that audition, and

6:05

she stuck out like a store thumb in that group.

6:07

Number one because she was so tiny, and number

6:09

two because she was not nervous at all. And by

6:11

the end of the day she was one of

6:13

may I think four people

6:16

out of eight hundred that I kept that I put on tape

6:18

and I did that even knowing she was

6:20

too young to be put on the show. That year. The

6:23

talent scout there said, listen on, she's

6:25

very talented. She should go to New York

6:27

and meet this agent, you know, and just see what happens.

6:29

Maybe I'm getting brow with quick. We just loaded

6:32

up, oh amn, tracking to golf

6:34

and it was like country came to talent. We

6:37

just all got in. There's a family and one after

6:40

and it didn't take long for nine year old Brittany

6:42

to Wow, an agent in New York, courage

6:45

to begin auditioning for stage roles. Britney

6:47

soon moved into a small New York apartment

6:50

with her mother and baby sister, Jamie

6:52

Lynn. We had like this apartment

6:55

that the bag came out of the wall and

6:58

and I remember my mom just being, oh, well,

7:00

we'll just, you know, go downstairs. It's more chickenoodle

7:03

soup. Now

7:06

when I look back and I think, oh my gosh,

7:08

how did I do that? You know, I

7:10

couldn't do it now, but I

7:12

look back then and I don't know what got

7:15

into me. But anyway, um,

7:17

it was pretty hard because you know, we didn't really

7:20

have a lot of money, and I was worried about money

7:22

at home. It was hot, but

7:25

the sacrifice quickly paid off. Within

7:27

weeks, Brittany had landed her first role in an

7:29

off Broadway play called Ruthless.

7:32

I played a part of a bad

7:34

little girl and her name

7:36

was Tina Denmark. I

7:39

got to tap dance on a coffee table and

7:41

the whole school. It was really fun.

7:43

I mean, the crowd wasn't that much at all, but

7:45

you felt the energy, so it was

7:47

very very cool. She had

7:49

a vision she's what she wanted. She didn't know

7:51

how she was going to get there, but she knew what

7:53

she wanted and if the ships fell right, if

7:55

she was gonna be successful. Not

7:58

even ten years old, Britney Spears

8:00

had already begun the journey that would

8:02

make her one of the most celebrated pop stars

8:05

on the planet. It's

8:08

September of two thousand three, and Britney

8:10

Spears is still molding the music for her

8:12

fourth album, in the Zone. With

8:15

just two months ago until the album's released.

8:18

She arrives for a surprise set at a Las Vegas

8:20

club, eager to sample her songs

8:22

in front of a live audience. My

8:25

favorite thing to do is after you

8:27

do a song whatever, go to a club and play

8:29

it and see how the you know, the people

8:31

respond to it and let it seek

8:33

into you before you know reason. The

8:36

club gig is an unusual way to break

8:38

out new material, but Brittany

8:41

has built her career on surprises and

8:43

by listening to her gut. Britain's

8:46

got amazing instincts. At

8:48

the end of the day, she just knows what's

8:50

right and what's wrong for her. Everyone

8:53

has their ideas and the kings of what they think is

8:55

called I'm so open to you know, people,

8:58

you know they're advice, but we just have to,

9:01

you know, say what you want to do and do it.

9:03

With fifteen years of performing experience,

9:06

Brittany has the confidence of a show biz veteran,

9:09

but she says she's always known what she wanted

9:11

and how to get it. I was

9:13

always a little different. I

9:18

don't know where my drive comes from.

9:20

I've always been very driven and always

9:23

very focused and always knew exactly

9:25

what I wanted for Britney

9:27

Spears, Achieving her dreams of fame first

9:29

seemed possible in when,

9:32

as a ten year old girl, she snared

9:34

her first job with a minor part in an off Broadway

9:37

play. The role seemed like

9:39

a dream opportunity for an aspiring

9:41

child star, but after

9:43

six months on stage, the reality of

9:45

it was far from glamorous. Works

9:48

six days a week and we had Sundays off, and

9:51

I remember I was going to have to work on Christmas

9:53

Day and I didn't want to do that. So

9:56

I said, you know what, Brittany, do you

9:58

want to go home? And

10:01

she looked at me, you want to go home?

10:05

Yeah? I did, and so that was

10:07

it. Britney returned

10:09

home and continued to perform at local fairs.

10:12

Then she got

10:14

a shot on the show she hoped would launch her

10:16

onto the national stage, Ed McMahon's

10:19

Star Search. I

10:21

was so excited to be on the show,

10:24

and I remember my mom. I didn't my

10:26

outfit wasn't very nice to where. But

10:28

when we got there, she ended up going

10:30

to the Loomingdale's and getting me a cool

10:32

dress. I won the first

10:34

one, but I lost the second one. I

10:37

was really sad that I lost. I

10:39

was devastated. I remember

10:41

she held her sound very good on TV when

10:43

we saw it, but when she got in the car,

10:46

she broke down. She is very

10:48

very strong competitor and

10:50

she hates to lose. She does

10:52

and that is probably the deciding on she realized, I'm

10:55

really going to do this, you know. Britney's

10:59

second round loss only fueled her desire

11:01

for startom. In the spring of she

11:04

headed to Orlando, Florida for as second audition

11:06

with the Mickey Mouse Club. She soon found

11:08

herself competing with a room full of future

11:11

stars like Carrie Russell, Justin

11:13

Timberlake, and Christina Aguilera.

11:17

It was so nerve wracking,

11:19

and then I ended up going home, and then I got

11:21

the phone call and they called the other

11:23

like Britney guy. I was in my kitchen and

11:25

I started screaming and jumping open down because

11:27

I was so so excited. It was very cool.

11:30

This was the first success.

11:33

Britney spent two years dancing at

11:35

the House of the Mouse until the show was

11:37

canceled. In putting

11:40

her dreams of fame on hold, the up

11:42

and coming star returned to Louisiana

11:45

and the life of a small town girl. I

11:48

was on the basketball him and it was a point guard her.

11:51

I could really dribble the ball really good.

11:53

But the one thing I couldn't do, I

11:55

couldn't make a lamp for my life. I was

11:58

so spastic, but it was fun. The

12:01

break was a welcome one, but less

12:03

than a year after returning to Kentwood, Brittney

12:05

was itching for the Spotlight. I

12:08

think she had experienced so much of the world

12:11

that the small hound was just not

12:14

something she was used to. I think

12:16

sometimes you know when you're supposed to do certain

12:18

things, and I just remembered

12:20

I and I would get on stage like

12:22

that was just that's when I felt alive. And

12:25

I missed that, and I was ready to go. I can.

12:27

I was like, I'm ready to perform, and seen

12:31

next, Brittney breaks out when

12:34

Behind the Music continues. In

12:43

the spring of ninety six, Britney spurned

12:45

and offered to join a new Orlando based

12:47

girl group called Innocence. Instead,

12:50

the Spears asked attorney Larry Rudolph, a

12:52

longtime family friend, to help

12:54

her get a solo record deal. I

12:56

told them that I felt confident that

12:59

I could get Brittany and so deal. It

13:01

was a risk, There's no doubt about it. I

13:03

sang, Whitney Houston's I have nothing, and

13:07

I sent it to the record label as a really bad

13:09

demo, and then they end up flying me to

13:12

New York and I sang in front

13:14

of all these executive people in on

13:16

cars and it's very nerve wracking. Three

13:19

of the labels rejected Brittany outright.

13:22

Undeterred, she went to Jive Records for

13:24

a fourth and final audition. She

13:26

was wearing like a short black dress and high

13:29

heels, and she looked absolutely stunning. We just

13:31

couldn't believe that she was only fifteen. I mean,

13:33

we were pretty shocked. There were streets of

13:35

real professionalism and star appeal embodied

13:37

in some of at such a young age was pretty remarkable.

13:40

Jive signed Brittany to a development deal,

13:43

but for almost a year she struggled to find

13:45

her sound. Then in the fall of Jive

13:48

executives got a sample caught written by Swedish

13:51

songwriting sensation Max Martin. It

13:53

was a tune called Baby One

13:55

More Time. This was

13:57

a case where the minute we got this record and we set

14:00

this sounds like an absolute bulls eye for

14:02

Brittany and it could be a huge worldwide hit

14:04

for her. She heard it exactly the same

14:07

way, and I saw her

14:09

and she looked over at me and she said, that's

14:12

it, that's my song. Writtney

14:14

flew to Sweden and recorded five songs

14:16

in five days with her debut

14:19

album, Shaping Up. She then returned

14:21

to America and embarked on a mall tour,

14:23

showcasing her first songs to young fans.

14:27

I performed in peaktails, okay,

14:29

peaktails and plaid pants

14:32

and tie. That

14:34

was my performance at it, and the stage was no bigger

14:36

than this rain right here. Nobody

14:38

knew her and nobody bothered us. And then after that people

14:41

slowly started catching and I wanted to follow into the stores,

14:43

and we just thought that was the neatest thing in the whole

14:45

world. I thought I was just such

14:47

a star, like you know, lud as me from my artograph

14:50

on okay, I'll give you my autograph.

14:53

Such a dork. Britney

14:55

couldn't know it, but soon her fans

14:57

would number in the millions. It's

15:01

just weeks before the release of her fourth album,

15:03

and Britney Spears is in the midst of her promotional

15:05

blitz. You'd think that interviews

15:08

would be old hat to Brittany by an app she

15:10

says she still gets butterflies every

15:12

time she bears her soul. I

15:15

can nervous on interviews, like right now, I get yeah,

15:17

I get very nervous, definitely.

15:20

Brittney has learned from bitter experience

15:22

that a few unguarded moments can generate

15:24

weeks of headlines and scandal sheets

15:27

and gossip columns. In

15:29

July two thousand three, she lets slip

15:31

a few details about her private life to

15:33

w magazine and watched as

15:35

her comments became front page news

15:37

around the world. Oh

15:40

my gosh, the way

15:43

the interview that I asked me some of the question

15:45

it kind of forced me to answer him. Actually

15:47

if I could have gone back in time, I probably wouldn't

15:49

have been so open about everything.

15:53

But life in the public eye will always

15:55

be a high wire act for pop's reigning

15:57

princess, because every move

15:59

she makes because spot er for a hungry media

16:01

mob probably of

16:04

the world. There's not a day that goes by that

16:06

her name isn't in a newspaper. They just

16:08

won't allow her to have a private life. It's

16:10

unbelievable. It just won't allow it. And

16:13

uh, and it's really tragic. And that's the only thing that I really

16:16

don't envy about her at all. And

16:18

the irony is that the rumors are usually

16:20

much more salacious than reality,

16:23

leaving Brittany to constantly manage the gap

16:25

between the tabloids and the truth.

16:28

I think you have its ups and downs with it. I

16:30

mean, sometimes, you know, they can say

16:32

some amazing things, sometimes they can say some really

16:35

stupid things, And I just think it goes with

16:37

what you do. And I just learned to

16:39

try to accept that. Today

16:41

Brittany is one of the most sought after pop stars

16:43

on the planet, but in the fall of

16:46

she was a virtual unknown, trying to figure

16:49

out how to introduce herself to the world.

16:51

Her debut single, Baby One More Time,

16:54

was ready for release, but Brittany

16:56

was beset by doubts over plans for a cartoonish

16:59

video to a company the song it

17:01

was animated, very animated, and

17:04

very bumped and just not

17:06

cool. So I ended up picking

17:09

its phone. I know, I've never done

17:11

a video before, but I have a feeling

17:13

about this. She really had a lot

17:15

of the vision for for that video. She's got

17:17

great instincts for what she likes and what works

17:19

for her and for her audience. You know, the whole

17:21

greased saying the schoolgirl thing was all her. The

17:24

minute the music starts to roll, and the

17:26

and the sort of like the cameras went on. It

17:28

was like a personality transformation. In

17:31

October of Baby one More

17:33

Time was released as a single, and

17:36

within weeks it was a top ten hit. To

17:38

sixteen year old Britney Spears, the song's

17:41

success and a long time dream

17:43

had suddenly been realized. When

17:46

my song first came on the radio was screening

17:48

and like laughing. It was There's nothing

17:51

like that feeling of hearing your song on the radio for the

17:53

first time. Nothing. It's just so weird.

17:56

It's like I don't know. I can't explain. It's

17:58

very cool. The song unleashed

18:00

the phenomena. In January

18:02

nine, Brittney's first album debuted

18:05

at number one on the Billboard charts. Within

18:07

a month, it would sell two million copies

18:10

and become a global smash, with

18:12

audiences chopping at the bit for Brittany,

18:15

reigning heart Throbs in Sync asked the

18:17

fresh face Benom to open for them

18:19

on a sold out national tour. The

18:21

tour school was my first time to perform, you

18:24

know, in front of a huge crowd and sink

18:26

they had an amazing crowd with him

18:28

and that helped me a lot. It's really good.

18:31

The tour was more than a vehicle for Brittany

18:33

to hone or on stage act. She

18:35

also reconnected with an old friend, former

18:38

Mouseketeer mate, Justin Timberly, and

18:40

I remember that first day we got

18:43

there and she was very nervous to

18:45

see him because she hadn't seen him in so long, And

18:47

on that tour they really kind of became close

18:49

that they really liked each other a lot. Rumors

18:52

of a budding relationship between Brittany

18:54

and Justin timber Lake only added to a growing

18:56

avalanche of media coverage about Brittany

18:59

a tour. It that grew in intensity

19:01

when she posed provocatively for Rolling

19:03

Stone in the spring of nine. It

19:07

was her call, and that's the way she wanted to go, and

19:09

we were a little nervous. I mean, we were probably

19:11

more nervous than she was, because you know, she was

19:13

very much of America's sweetheart and the girl next

19:16

door, and all of a sudden, she's

19:18

on the cover of Rolling Stone. You know, it's scantily

19:20

clad. But every move Brittany

19:22

made only seemed to add to her popularity.

19:25

By the end of the year, her debut album had

19:27

sold over ten million copies, and

19:30

she was already at work on its follow up.

19:32

I was just coming off my first tour and the second

19:35

album just kind of flew into my lap. It just kind

19:37

of happened so fast. I didn't even really have time

19:39

to think about it, you know. By

19:41

the spring of two thousand, Oops I Did

19:43

It Again was ready for release, But

19:46

as soon as the first voluptuous video hit

19:48

TV screens, Brittany faced accusations

19:51

that she'd had breast implants,

19:53

So she took center stage on Saturday Night

19:55

Live and put a comical spin on the rampaging

19:58

rumor, that's a pook fun of

20:00

what everybody was saying. Basically, we

20:03

did a monologue about rust implants.

20:06

We had them moving mechanically.

20:09

It was almost like she went right into the face

20:11

of the people that were sort of making fun

20:13

of her and sort of just laughed with them at

20:15

herself. I think it was, you

20:18

know, very funny and um,

20:20

she had a really great sense of humor about it.

20:22

It's sort of led to a whole another

20:24

level of her career. When Oops

20:27

was released in the summer of two thousand, it's sold

20:29

one point three million copies in its first

20:31

week, most ever by a female

20:34

artist. That's a tempt. Brittany

20:36

announced her arrival as a daring live

20:38

performer with a smoking set

20:40

at MTVS Video Music Awards

20:43

when she ripped off the black

20:46

outfit into the sequined,

20:48

flesh colored outfit that one's stripped

20:50

to that the costume change, it wasn't that

20:53

deep, but it turns out to be this

20:55

big media frenzy and she's like, WHOA, I

20:58

wanted to do simply curly and

21:00

you know, and have like a beautiful outfit

21:02

newt and just jewels everywhere, and I

21:05

don't know I'm very visual. I'm very visual

21:07

like that, I'm I'm kind of weird. But

21:09

I thought it was a cool idea and to rip all the

21:11

stuff off and to do it, and that's how it came

21:13

about. People were stunned

21:16

by Britney's live act. Even

21:18

greater surprises lay in the future. In

21:21

the months before the release of her fourth album,

21:23

every public move Britney Spears makes

21:25

will be dissected by cameras and columnists.

21:29

Good friends say it is outside the media glare

21:31

that the real Brittney shines through. She

21:34

devotes private time to charitable causes,

21:36

from breast cancer to hospital funding.

21:39

She gives her time, She gets her attention,

21:42

you know so much. The fact that she takes it away

21:44

from her sale to give it to others.

21:47

It makes you feel good to be able to put

21:50

herself out there, you know, let

21:52

people not feel so alone and help them

21:54

out like that. No

21:56

project is closer to Britney's heart than her

21:59

camp for the Performing Arts in rural New England,

22:02

a place where kids get a chance to escape

22:04

the city and nurture their creative

22:06

skills. They told me this year

22:08

that I may miss going there because

22:10

I have a performance coming up. I'm like, no,

22:13

I'm going to damn camp. This is what it's

22:15

about. You know, I wouldn't see her anything. The

22:18

same people that have trained Brittany and worked with Britney

22:20

on a yearly basis worked with these kids for ten

22:22

days, and in those ten days, there's

22:24

a performance by these kids for Britney

22:26

and the family. I remember seeing

22:28

one little girl. She got out there so nervous,

22:31

like the point of tears. I'm

22:33

just after she performed and she expressed

22:36

herself like that, she just looked so

22:38

good about herself, and I was just like, wow,

22:41

you know, I mean, if that's I just think it's important

22:43

to be able to have outlets like that for kids

22:45

and to be able to make them feel good about

22:47

them performing is

22:49

an outlet that Britney Spears has ridden

22:52

to the pinnacle of pop. By

22:54

the fall of two thousand, just two years after

22:56

she burst on the scene, her first two

22:58

records had sold over eight million copies

23:01

worldwide, and her face was

23:03

on billboards and TV screens from Miami

23:05

to Milan. A lot of

23:08

young artists made impact, but this

23:10

was worldwide impact that I think nobody had

23:12

ever seen before. On January

23:14

two thousand, one, the nineteen

23:16

year old was asked to take center stage for the

23:19

biggest spectacle on Earth, the halftime

23:21

celebration for Super Bowl thirty five.

23:24

Nearly a billion people around the world would

23:26

witness her strutt and shout with Aerosmith

23:29

and in Syne, I think that

23:31

was the most nervous I've ever been in my whole life,

23:33

to be honest with you, just the fact that it's Aerosmith,

23:36

Steven Tyler, I'm up there performing with him was

23:38

just, Oh, you know, it's just mind

23:40

bottling. As soon as

23:42

she hits that stage, man, she nails

23:45

it. I mean, she just becomes a different person. And

23:47

that's the difference between everybody in a Superstar

23:50

Next Brittney's latest onstage

23:53

stunner When behind the Music

23:55

continues. Despite

24:03

all her success, Brittany was determined to grow

24:05

as an artist. As she began work

24:08

on her third album, She took greater control of

24:10

her destiny, co writing five

24:12

of the album's tracks and collaborating

24:14

on the sultry first single with hip hop heavyweights

24:17

the Neptunes. I'm

24:19

a Slave for You is a very edgy

24:22

dance song. I mean this is much

24:24

more cool and funky

24:26

and had a certain artistry to it that none

24:29

of other songs up until that point

24:31

it had. She knew she wanted

24:33

to do some things that were edgier,

24:35

that we're not quite as pop as

24:38

she had been known for in the past. I

24:41

wanted it to be a little bit more

24:43

sexual, a little bit um

24:46

more fisty, and

24:48

I'm just a different sound in general. In

24:51

September of two thousand one, Brittany

24:53

unveiled her new lyrical stylings when

24:55

she ballied with a Boa at MDVS

24:58

Video Music Awards. The

25:00

sexy Stunted drew some venom from conservative

25:02

critics, few of whom knew that Brittany

25:05

had begun the night reeling from dealing with

25:07

the ten foot reptile. Nobody

25:10

realized that that was such a source

25:12

of worry and fright

25:15

for her. The snake comes from this gigantic

25:17

ice chest and she looks over me and she said, can

25:19

you threw it? It's just Brittany with

25:21

the snake, and they've referenced it to be

25:24

in something very sexual. Well, we didn't

25:26

think about that. It was just part

25:28

of the act. And Brittany

25:31

was determined to shed some skin of a rome. Her

25:33

third album pointedly entitled Brittany,

25:36

was released in November two thousand one and

25:38

debuted at number one on the charts, selling

25:41

close to a million copies in its first week.

25:44

It was sweet vindication for a woman looking

25:46

to outgrow her team pop passed. I

25:49

think it was more to me just becoming more into

25:51

my skin and they feel more comfortable with me.

25:54

At that time, I was singing a

25:56

song, not a girl, not yet a woman, when in reality

25:59

I was becoming what I was

26:01

at that point, right there in front of the world.

26:04

By early two thousand two, with the release

26:06

of her first feature film, Crossroads,

26:08

Brittany was a true pop culture phenomena.

26:12

But with stunning popularity came an

26:14

ever increasing price in privacy.

26:17

In the twenty year old faced a constant barrage

26:19

of articles probing her personal life.

26:22

I can write some her whole things. They I

26:24

mean, that's what they're paid to do. They want stories,

26:27

they want to sell magazines, they do that. I think the

26:29

thing that saddens me the most is that she

26:31

is a public figure, and I

26:35

think the public thinks they're entitled to her

26:37

at all times. In

26:39

March of two thousand two, the scrutiny grew

26:42

painful does cover stories around

26:44

the world chronicled the sudden demise of

26:46

Brittney's relationship with Justin timber

26:48

Lake. Although much has been written about

26:50

the star Cross love affair, Britney

26:53

says she's determined to keep the details

26:55

as private as possible. Frankly,

26:58

it really is none of anybody's business because certain

27:00

things are sacred and should be completely

27:03

kept hotally private. And I've learned my lesson

27:06

completely. If she breaks

27:08

up with the love of her life, the whole world

27:10

feels like they need to be involved in comment

27:12

and you know that there's no time

27:14

to gather your thoughts or I

27:17

mean, what if you do want to just crap? We just crap.

27:20

Britney soldiered on with a sold out world

27:22

tour and brought her new material to millions

27:25

of fans, but by August of two

27:27

thousand two, she was ready for an extended

27:29

break. After nearly three years

27:31

of living in the spotlight, Brittany announced

27:33

that she was taking six months off, and

27:36

she returned who would be as a new

27:38

woman. It's

27:44

the fall of two thousand three and britney

27:46

Spears fourth album is almost ready to shift

27:48

the stores. But just as

27:50

recording on in the Zone is wrapping up,

27:53

Brittney gets a last minute chance to collaborate

27:55

with the Ridol Madonna. I

27:58

was rehearsing with her for the INTWO vn

28:00

IS and I played her the single. All of a sudden,

28:02

I was like, you should do this with me. With

28:05

just week's remaining before the album's

28:07

release, Brittany and Madonna rework

28:09

in The Zone's first single, Me Against

28:11

the Music. I think she has such

28:14

a awareness about her and she knows how

28:16

to live her life. And soon afterwards,

28:18

the two pop icons combine their star

28:20

power on the song slick video.

28:24

Never actually get a chance to see her. It's like her spirits

28:26

there, but I never get a chance to

28:29

touch her, physically touch her. And I'm make sensing

28:31

her wherever I go. And at the very end

28:33

of the video, something kind of cool happens. But

28:36

what wasn't consummated on screen was

28:38

sealed with a kiss on stage at

28:40

MTV's Video Music Awards in August

28:43

two thousand three. Well

28:45

Brittany had made a habit of outrageous starts

28:47

at the v m a s, viewers were stunned

28:49

by the mini makeout session. The

28:52

kiss was not my idea. It was Madonna's

28:54

idea. She's the groom and I'm

28:56

bride, so you know, she probably

28:59

felt kiss or whatever, but she was like, why

29:01

don't we do it here? Why don't we do the kiss here?

29:03

And I was like, okay, alrighty.

29:07

The kiss was the moment of the night. It took all

29:10

of you know, a second and a half and it was

29:12

the moment of the night, front page of every newspaper.

29:15

Brittany was already making headlines before

29:17

her record had even wrapped. In September

29:19

two thousand three, she was back in the studio

29:22

hard at work on her fourth album.

29:24

Besides Madonna, the dis sports

29:26

and all star cast of contributors that includes

29:28

Moby and R Kelly,

29:30

but nobody brought more to the music than

29:33

Brittany. I think the difference

29:35

analysis that I look forward to

29:37

being involved in each process of collaborated

29:40

for the first time on this album. I think that's fog

29:43

thing for me. Daring

29:45

and different. In the Zone represents Brittany's

29:47

final transition to womanhood. Having

29:50

co written eight of twelve tracks, she

29:52

is clearly determined to showcase a new

29:54

artist to her audience. It's

29:57

a real evolution for her. We really wanted

29:59

to experim and try some different things, you know, and

30:02

I think we've achieved that with this album.

30:04

They'll definitely experience me in

30:07

a completely different light, like

30:09

totally different light. But whatever

30:12

happens, good or bad, those

30:14

who know her say Britney will never lose touch

30:16

with the values of her small town past.

30:20

It's pretty remarkable how sweet she is.

30:22

But she's a really good

30:25

bit. She can be in front of thousands

30:27

of people and you walk off the stage

30:30

and be fun. You know. She hasn't changed she either,

30:32

like fame hasn't changed her. But she's for the same

30:34

person she was ten years

30:36

ago. Britney Spears

30:38

has achieved almost everything she ever hoped

30:41

for, and she embarks on a new

30:43

stage in her career and in her life. She's

30:45

more than happy to keep on dreaming. Britney

30:51

Spears continues to captivate the music

30:53

world. Since two thousand three,

30:56

She's released quite a few major hits,

30:58

most notably Woman Niser in two thousand

31:01

eight and Hold It Against Me in both

31:04

reaching number one on the Billboard One. Spears's

31:08

musical success is astounded. She

31:10

became the youngest female artist in the US

31:13

to have five album's debut at number

31:15

one, earning a place in Guinness World

31:17

Records. Spears was reportedly

31:20

the highest paid female musician of two

31:22

thousand, two and twelve. With

31:25

all of these accolades, her announcement to

31:27

go on a work hiatus in twenty nineteen

31:29

came as a bit of a surprise. Spears's

31:32

personal life took center stage in one

31:35

when she went public about her conservatorship.

31:38

Fans expressed their concern for her and

31:40

sparked the viral hashtag free

31:42

Brittany campaign. The

31:45

conservatorship was officially terminated

31:47

in November. The

31:49

world can't wait to see what liberated

31:51

Brittany has in store for us next.

31:57

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