I think that she knows.

[phamos]

I've been watching old videos of Britney performing at the VMAs, and I'm sad.  I'm so sad that this girl, who was once so vital, energetic, athletic, was basically chewed up and spit back out.  No one ever prepared her for adulthood -- not that that's an excuse, but she just never had a chance.  We kinda wanted her to fail, because she represented so much of what is wrong with the American music industry.  I was always ranting about how Britney got to be a famous singer even though she (empirically) couldn't sing any better than about 90% of the girls at any given karaoke bar.  But she did have talent -- not that she was such an amazing dancer, either, because she wasn't.  But she could command a stage, better than any other performer of her generation.  She wasn't the prettiest girl, and she wasn't the most talented girl.  But she had some sort of indefinable star quality.  I don't know if that charisma is worth the gazillion dollars that got thrown at her.  Probably not.  But it was obvious about 5 years ago that this was where the girl was going to end up, and we all watched, and we waited.  Britney's entire life was a car crash in slow motion, and we rubbernecked for the better part of a decade.

This is my favorite fan video of the day.

Comments

[hyounpark.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, Britney's appeal is in exemplifying a sort of ideal. It's not just that she gained weight that made her performance so bad; she just lacked any significant movement or sharpness or stage appeal that could make her look good. If she's sick enough that she can't dance in public and still shows up on the freakin' MTV music awards as the opening act, that's just setting herself up for a public car crash. I don't see anything admirable about that from any viewpoint. When she was stepping out and doing club shows earlier this year, that took courage. Stepping out for a performance that you're not remotely ready to give to be a faded memory of your former sexpot self is just ridiculous.

Considering that the upside for Britney Spears is to come back and be, say, Janet Jackson for the next decade, why bother? Why not go back to the real world and live out the rest of her life? I think the saddest part of this isn't Britney's status specifically as an oversexualized icon, but that this lifestyle of being overexposed in every respect might be all that she has in life. It's not like she's ever shown interest in starting a charity, taking up a political cause, or creating a significant business outside of her fame like, say, Bono or Angelina Jolie.

But Justin Timberlake is a total whore, though there still seem to be a fair number of people who swoon over his looks. (Personally, I don't get it. He and Dave Matthews have looks made for radio as far as I'm concerned...)

Disagreeingly,
Hyoun

[this-monograph.livejournal.com]

oh, i totally agree that she should have bowed out of doing the VMAs. she just wasn't ready. it does kind of seem, though, that mtv set her up just a little. still, she obviously does not have the presence of mind (yet) to understand that she's not in any kind of shape, physical or emotional, to perform on that scale.

i think she could come back, but i think she should take a lot of time off after this record is released and think carefully about it. and definitely get some help. i think it's pretty clear that there are substance abuse issues.

i guess what is really troublesome is the way that a lot of people WANT to see people like britney fail. i can understand why we like to see the rich and famous knocked down a few pegs, but at the end of the day, it seems poisonous.

[hyounpark.livejournal.com]

I don't mind seeing stars knocked down a few pegs the way that, say, Chris Gaines Garth Brooks seemed to disappear after being way too silly for words. But that was just a stupid decision; it didn't actually do him any real harm to lose his legitimacy when he was ready to retire anyways.

But I don't want to see anyone actually be ill or crazy. That doesn't help out anyone. (OK, maybe I'm still on the fence for Paris and those reality TV stars who are famous for being ridiculous.) I'd much rather have the hot comeback album than the failure, though.

Agreeingly,
Hyoun

[this-monograph.livejournal.com]

yeah, it's a shame that it doesn't seem like that hot comeback is going to happen. i am stunned that britney's kids have been taken away and she's still acting a fool. she needs some months in rehab, that's for damned sure. who would have ever thought k-fed would end up being the somewhat classy and concerned part of the parental equation? at least that's the way it seems...