Description

In the late 1990s, Madonna had long since become a mature artist, turning her back on the carefree dance-pop of her early days ("Like A Virgin," "Holiday," etc.). Teenage singer Britney Spears picked up on this specific Madonna era, albeit with a more girl-next-door approach. Her coy mix of innocence and sensuality (and infectious songs) made her a superstar, and helped inspire the teen-pop phenomenon that soon dominated pop music. By the early '00s, Spears was casting about for a more adult image, and remade herself into a vixen, experimented with acting and reality TV, and had two children with the controversial wannabe rap star Kevin Federline. While her personal life preempted her musical output for a while, she seemed on the road to artistic recovery after the 2006 birth of her second child.

Biography

b. Britney Jean Spears, 2 December 1981, Kentwood, Louisiana, USA. One of the last teenage pop superstars of the 20th century, Spears enjoyed her breakthrough success at the end of 1998. She appeared in local dance revues and church choirs as a young girl, and at the age of eight auditioned for The Mickey Mouse Club. Although she was too young to join the series, a producer on the show gave her an introduction to a New York agent. She subsequently spent three summers at the Professional Performing Arts School Center. She appeared in a number of off-Broadway productions as a child actor, including Ruthless (1991). She returned to the [Walt] Disney Channel for a spot on The Mickey Mouse Club, where she was featured for two years between the ages of 11 and 13. She began to audition for pop bands in the New York area, her demo tapes eventually landing on the desk of Jive Records' Jeff Fenster. "Her vocal ability and commercial appeal caught me right away," he recalls.
Spears was expensively groomed by Jive, who put her in the studio with Eric Foster White (producer and writer for Boyzone, Whitney Houston and others). They employed top R&B writer Max Martin (of Backstreet Boys fame) to produce her debut single, "... Baby, One More Time', and an album of the same title. They also set up a promotional free phone number where fans could listen to Spears' music and interviews throughout the summer of 1998. She toured American venues for a series of concerts sponsored by US teen magazines, eventually joining "N Sync on tour. The careful planning paid off when her debut album and single went on to top the American charts at the start of 1999. The album and single enjoyed similar success in the UK and Europe. The ballad "Sometimes" and the funky "(You Drive Me) Crazy" were also substantial transatlantic hits, and "Born To Make You Happy" topped the UK charts in January 2000.
By now Spears had become a bona fide media sensation, although the discrepancy between her professed sexual innocence and her titilating image (notably dressing as a schoolgirl for the video to "... Baby, One More Time"), was the cause for much debate about her status as a role model for teenage girls. Her success also prompted the emergence of a new wave of teen divas, notably Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson and Pink. The demand for new Spears material was satisfied when her second album, Oops! ... I Did It Again, was released in May 2000. The album contained the expected quota of well-produced, expertly crafted pop songs, including the title track, "Lucky", "Stronger" and "Don't Let Me Be The Last To Know", alongside a risible cover version of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction'. The singer's relationship with "N Sync's Justin Timberlake meant she was rarely out of the public eye, although Spears was still rather half-heartedly preaching abstinence until marriage.
Spears' self-titled third album was a laboured attempt to cultivate a more mature approach, with the singer also going a long way towards shedding her puritanical image. Although its initial sales were not as strong as her previous two albums, Britney shot straight to the top of the US album chart on its release in November 2001 for a brief stay. Spears' mainstream film debut, Crossroads, was released the following February to a rousing chorus of critical disapproval. Her fourth album saw Spears moving further away from teen pop, disposing of the services of Max Martin and cultivating a sexually charged adult image at odds with the flirtatious schoolgirl of her earlier albums. The album, released in November 2003, included a collaboration with Madonna on "Me Against The Music" (the two singers had raised some eyebrows by snogging on stage at the MTV Video Music awards in August). Despite mixed reviews, In The Zone debuted at the top of the US charts. Spears also notched up her fourth UK number one single when "Toxic" topped the charts in March 2004. "Everytime" repeated the success three months later.
DISCOGRAPHY: Baby, One More Time (Jive 1998)***, Oops! ... I Did It Again (Jive 2000)***, Britney (Jive 2001)**, In The Zone (Jive 2003)***.
COMPILATIONS: Greatest Hits: My Prerogative (Jive 2004)***.
VIDEOGRAPHY: The Britney Spears Story: Unauthorised (Creative Media 1999), Time Out With Britney Spears (Jive/Zomba 1999), Britney In Hawaii: Live And More! (Jive/Zomba 2001), Britney: The Videos (Jive/Zomba 2001), Live From Las Vegas (Jive/Zomba 2002), In The Zone (Jive/Zomba 2004).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Britney, James R. Blandford. Britney Spears' Heart To Heart, Britney Spears.
FILMOGRAPHY: Longshot aka Jack Of All Trades (2002), Crossroads (2002).

Encyclopedia of Popular Music
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