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The Truth About Britney's Prime


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There is a lot of delusion among the fans about what Britney's prime was like. You really had to be there and take it all in. Yes, she was on top of the world, but it was complicated and she was dismissed by a lot of people who believed she had no chance of being a lasting star. All in all she was like Bieber but even bigger -- she had a core fanbase that made her the biggest star in the world, and a LOT of haters who despised her and wanted to see her fail. She didn't win serious and lasting credibility with the general public until after the comeback.

* When Baby One More Time came out, she was a phenom and everyone was obsessed with her. Sometimes, Crazy, and FTBOMBH weren't nearly as good as BOMT, but they were all hits because anything with Britney's name attached to it became a hit. She was America's Sweetheart.

* OIDIA peaking at #10 was a bit of a disappointment, though the song had a major cultural impact and everyone had heard it and knew about the video with the red catsuit. When the album debuted at #1 and broke sales records, she was truly on top of the world. Still, the singles continued to be a bit underwhelming on the charts, and only Stronger (barely) reached the Top 10.

* The general public started to turn on her around the time of the 2000 VMA performance. It was seen as a solid performance and kind of a coming-out for a new, racier image, but it was overshadowed by the controversy: Too ****, too soon? Is she a bad role model? Is she really a virgin? Is she a bad influence? Is she everything that's wrong with the music industry? She was also seen by now as going in the direction of being a completely manufactured act with questionable talent. These questions had always been there but they grew and grew after that performance.

* When Slave 4 U came out, it wasn't received all that well. She was seen as trying too hard, as alienating her core fanbase of young girls, of being too small and youthful a presence for the song. Her dance moves were often compared to a ********'s. She ended up growing into the song, interestingly, but if someone told you in 2002 that Slave 4 U would become a top Britney classic, they would have probably been surprised.

* The Britney album was seen as a pretty significant sales disappointment -- after two diamond albums, 4-5x platinum is a pretty serious sales drop-off. Not a Girl Not Yet a Woman, Overprotected, and Boys did horribly on the charts. And no, sorry, it wasn't just because of the radio ban. It was because people were confused about who she was trying to appeal to anymore. Not a Girl and Overprotected are all about adolescent angst and self-discovery and have no crossover appeal like BOMT or OIDIA, and Boys is just not that great a song.

* The Dream Within a Dream Tour (including the HBO special) and especially the mega-budget Pepsi commercials (especially the one with Bob Dole -- imagine if Mitt Romney or John McCain were in a commercial with Ariana Grande!) were big moments for her, and cemented her status as a cultural force.

* There were basically three core groups of Britney opinion-havers by 2001: those who thought she was a brilliant performer and the next Madonna, those who thought she was a good dancer with a few good songs but aren't 'fans,' and those who thought she was manufactured fake trash that would fade away within a few years.

* Crossroads was seen as "better than Glitter," but did nothing to increase her credibility outside of her core fan base

* 2002 was full of Justin drama, and Britney got the worse of the publicity -- she cheated on him, and Justin told the world about it with the Cry Me a River video. Britney looked terrible as this saga was unfolding. Acts like Michelle Branch and Avril Lavigne were debuting, too, leading a lot of critics to wonder whether the Britney Era was ending with a reaction against it.

* The Madonna kiss a big moment for her, and there was a lot of tabloid gossip speculating about Madonna making Britney her ingenue. It bought her some credibility, although it was also seen as somewhat cynical on Madonna's part, since she had underwhelmed with American Life. Me Against the Music flopped on both pop radio and the Hot 100.

* In the Zone was seen as having strong opening sales and earned Britney her best reviews yet. It was often grouped in with Stripped and Justified as being solid teen-to-adult transition albums. From the perspective of a fan it was amazing -- she was EVERYWHERE and doing an insane amount of good promo.

* Toxic was a HUGE moment for her and she FINALLY earned serious credibility among the general public -- people just couldn't deny that song. It went to #1 on Pop Radio but was held back to #9 on the Hot 100 (urban tracks were big back then -- hence Boom Boom and Outrageous). Toxic and to a lesser extent Everytime made her look good -- and she won her first (and only) Grammy at this time, too

* The Onyx Hotel Tour was a bit underwhelming, sales-wise, frequently selling to 70-90% capacity and rarely selling out. Critics blasted the overly-****** nature of the show.

* By the time Toxic came around, she was universally known as the Queen of Lip-Syncing

* Between the Vegas marriage and marrying K-Fed, it confirmed her 'trailer trash' status in the eyes of the haters and she lost a lot of the credibility she won with Toxic

* By 2006, she was a punchline, and by 2007 she was a public freakshow act

 

So there you have it. Tell me if I missed anything and I will add it, but that is about how Britney's career went. 

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There are some very valid points here, but I'd still say that she was on top of the pop game around the time of her 3rd album. Endless promo, great tunes and videos,  good press, amazing performances/dancing, *** appeal through the roof, cool style, Pepsi, the super bowl. She was untouchable teen queen princess of America back then.  :bwink:  :bwink:

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Her third album WAS NOT a disappointment in the end. Only critics and haters really think that now. But these are just my opinions.

By the end of 2001, the third album, 'Britney', sold 2.9 million copies. But what critics and haters forget

was that it was only seven weeks into the album's sales. 2.9 million copies in seven weeks is not a disappointment,

even though writers said it was then.  It has sold 4.4 million copies now, which is really good.

People also forget that SHE RELEASED THREE ALBUMS IN A ROW. It's rare for a third album, released in a row

to sell 10 million copies. Of course her third album isn't going to sell as much, Britney was kind of saturated then, and

it was her third album, in a row.

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Lovers and haters will always exist for everyone or everything.  But I always hate the Bieber comparison, primarily because even with all the haters, it was undeniable that she made a shocking debut in the music scene, and she was taken seriously since the first song. Bieber started out a little bit more than just a viral internet joke, and it wasn't until I don't know in which number of albums he is, that he was started to be seen as a somewhat serious artist.

I do know, and I do remember how some people would mock Britney or criticize her for being too ******, but I always prefer to see it from another perspective: everyone else was doing the same thing, but only Britney was the one that was criticized because she was the only one that mattered, or because she was the first of her kind (from her contemporary artists), or simply because she was the best.

Her impact in pop culture didn't came just after the breakdown, BOMT video, OIDIA video, the snake performance, the kiss, everything made a huge impact right after it happened. The influence was noticeable when things were still fresh, because that's how big she was, or how big were the things she did, for the time that they happened. If any, I feel that the breakdown at some point overshadowed all that she did in her first years of career, and that's why it even seemed to be so much worse and bigger than it was, because people compared it to all the great things she had done to that point.

You're telling us things, that are true, but you are just focusing on the negative. You don't mention all the copycats that emerged after Britney, or the impact and respect she gained internationally since the very beginning. How despite other artists getting the awards most of the times, she was the one that was influencing the most both the music scene and the culture in general.

 

"The prime" can be interpreted very differently from each person. From the public's perception, I think the Britney era was her prime, in terms of popularity, respect, likeability, etc. As a performer, I think her prime was In the Zone, and I even think that's when she looked the best, physically, but that's when the public started to hate her more than what they loved her, after the breakup with Justin, the kiss with Madonna, the overly ****** tour, etc. If we asked her, she would probably say she's on her prime right now, cause she's found a balance between her personal life and her profession, something she never had in the first 15 years of her career.

So I don't feel delusional remembering her prime, because I do recognize there was criticism, and chaos and everything, but her songs, her videos, her performances used to speak for themselves. People could talk trash about her, but her greatness was undeniable. She became the standard of a popstar since the beginning, a standard that still prevails today. It didn't matter if the songs never technically hit the #1 spot,  the impact was so big, that it just wasn't relevant.

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I'm 17, but I can assume most of this based on interviews and documentaries. When I was a kid, she was still seen a "controversial", but she was still really popular with songs like womanizer and circus around 2008-2009. Even before I was a fan, I still felt slightly defensive about her because of how judgmental people were, lol. 

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1 hour ago, brit4u1998 said:

Her third album WAS NOT a disappointment in the end. Only critics and haters really think that now. But these are just my opinions.

By the end of 2001, the third album, 'Britney', sold 2.9 million copies. But what critics and haters forget

was that it was only seven weeks into the album's sales. 2.9 million copies in seven weeks is not a disappointment,

even though writers said it was then.  It has sold 4.4 million copies now, which is really good.

People also forget that SHE RELEASED THREE ALBUMS IN A ROW. It's rare for a third album, released in a row

to sell 10 million copies. Of course her third album isn't going to sell as much, Britney was kind of saturated then, and

it was her third album, in a row.

No it was because she was blacklisted on the radio because she didn't sign a deal with clear channel who owns a lot of stations so her songs weren't being played.

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5 hours ago, mauureee said:

So, what is your point? 

Resultado de imagen para britney confused gif

I guess his point is to state that Primeney is very overrated. But yes, she hardly criticized since her debut ( the BOMT drama)  so for us, her fans since 1998-98 that's not a secret, she has always taken controversy for her benefit (it worked sometimes). 

In my opinion, yes she was criticized BUT:

-She used to do justice to her work

- She delivered amazing performances and had people talking about it. 

-To me, charts meant nothing back then cause I was so young and I had no idea what it was. Just the excitement of seeing her at #1 in my local/country music channel, was amazing. 

-Promotion was everything, at the end she was also an entertainer, and she kept entertaining us with these appearances, magazines covers, music videos, etc. 

Combine all the aspects above and that's what we miss from her. We want her to be OUT THERE. Now she doesn't even try it. We are fans but we cant be fans from someone who barely does her work. That's what I'd add. 

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Britney has always been the underdog, and she has been unnecessarily blasted for her ****** image, when the rest (Madge, CA etc.) did the same. She is labelled as a ****, a ****** predator, and a bad influence. ITZ was Brit's Erotica era. Critics were against her, her popularity went down after the OHT, and as said by the OP, 2007 was a shitshow. Like Madonna, Brit got herself up with Circus, but unlike Britney, Madge never went a public scrutiny in her personal life to such a huge extent, where till date people call Britney a crazy person, mentally ********, and the head shaving joke is still widely used in media. The point is that Britney has had it much worse that most celebs out there, and her problems have been mocked rather than sympathised. This is where she broke, and also the reason, she doesn't care about fame anymore.  Though with Glory, it seems like she's more artistically involved, which is a good sign.

So, even in her her prime, she was always criticised. Its not a new thing. Its always been cool to hate her. 2007 was just the peak of that.

https://www.quora.com/Is-it-okay-for-a-15-year-old-to-listen-to-Britney-Spears

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-keep-saying-Britney-Spears-is-untalented

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Everyone forgets that up until ITZ most people werent tracking numbers and using online forums. So numbers didnt matter back then, just the impact. Numbers honestly didnt matter much until Itunes, where people could start tracking. Fan bases didnt have stupid nicknames and you actually had to be talented to be famous. There isnt a single artist who killed it like Brit back then out there today. As kids we grew up with Brit and she was a living Disney/Nickelodeon to all of us. Of course she didnt appeal to adults, and ultimately her presence was so massive they naturally started to judge her every move because they didnt want their kids being exposed to certain things. That wasnt her problem, she was simply growing up. 

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3 hours ago, neel21 said:

Britney has always been the underdog, and she has been unnecessarily blasted for her ****** image, when the rest (Madge, CA etc.) did the same. She is labelled as a ****, a ****** predator, and a bad influence. ITZ was Brit's Erotica era. Critics were against her, her popularity went down after the OHT, and as said by the OP, 2007 was a shitshow. Like Madonna, Brit got herself up with Circus, but unlike Britney, Madge never went a public scrutiny in her personal life to such a huge extent, where till date people call Britney a crazy person, mentally ********, and the head shaving joke is still widely used in media. The point is that Britney has had it much worse that most celebs out there, and her problems have been mocked rather than sympathised. This is where she broke, and also the reason, she doesn't care about fame anymore.  Though with Glory, it seems like she's more artistically involved, which is a good sign.

So, even in her her prime, she was always criticised. Its not a new thing. Its always been cool to hate her. 2007 was just the peak of that.

https://www.quora.com/Is-it-okay-for-a-15-year-old-to-listen-to-Britney-Spears

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-keep-saying-Britney-Spears-is-untalented

I will be the first to say it, the Onyx Hotel Tour was trash. I've always felt uncomfortable watching it from the time it happened to now. It was definitely too much in the wrong direction.  Unlike DWAD, it reeked of softcore smut rather than a legit artistic or entertainment enterprise.

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48 minutes ago, Scrappy said:

I will be the first to say it, the Onyx Hotel Tour was trash. I've always felt uncomfortable watching it from the time it happened to now. It was definitely too much in the wrong direction.  Unlike DWAD, it reeked of softcore smut rather than a legit artistic or entertainment enterprise.

It wasn't oversexualized. the only slutty or pornographical part of it was the BOM, TOMH section. Shadow,  Everytime, Toxic, OP, IGT(BB) and the rest weren't any more sexualised than her Circus performances of POM, Womanizer, IUSA or POM's WB, IAS4U, MM or SP performances. And I feel that Gaga's tours witch all their violence and goriness et al are much more uncomfortable to watch than the OHT

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