Really interesting NYT interview with Britney from 2003

[SamanthaBailey]

The last paragraph was the most profound to me:

 

STRAUSS Who do you listen to for advice?

SPEARS I don't listen to anybody. Nobody can tell me anything. I'm stubborn.

STRAUSS Really?

SPEARS No. If someone tells me not to do something, I do it. But I do listen to Madonna. For some reason I listen to her. I know that sounds really silly.

STRAUSS Is there some advice she's given that's inspired you?

SPEARS I don't want to say. But it's nice to have somebody just to ask questions to. She's a visual artist and a deep artist as well. I like the way she thinks. I wish I could be inside of her head.

STRAUSS Outside of Madonna, are there other people whose careers are a model for you?

SPEARS Well, I like Madonna's career, and what she's done with her family. I like Faith Hill too, just the way she's been able to balance her career and her family.

There is a clear thread to this last response: Ms. Spears's worries are not necessarily related to music, but to balancing her public life with her real life and, eventually, having a family.

When the interview ended, Ms. Spears put on make-up and a dress so that an MTV crew could interview her for a promotional special, "In the Zone and Out All Night." They asked her about the energy level in one of the clubs at which she performed a surprise show, and Ms. Spears dutifully responded that it was great and exciting.

Suddenly, five minutes into the interview, Ms. Spears seemed to snap out of her trance. "This just isn't working," she told the crew. Then she stood up and left the room, leaving the crew and her assistants befuddled. Clearly, as Ms. Spears's publicist later confirmed, her mind was elsewhere.

It was a decision that took a degree of independence, confidence and honesty, which are all mature qualities. But it was also an impulsive act. A more polished pro might have forced herself to snap into focus and give a good interview, even if she didn't want to. Neither choice is right or wrong, but they are emblematic of the crossroads where Ms. Spears, at 21, finds herself: one route may lead to the isolation and disorientation of a Michael Jackson, the other to the perseverance and inner strength of a Madonna. The path Ms. Spears takes is another decision she must make by herself.

 

you can read the rest here:  http://events.nytimes.com/2003/11/02/arts/music/02STRA.html?pagewanted=2

 

I wonder what her relationship with Madonna is like today, and I wonder how much she's really changed since then.   And I know she has, we all do in 15 years but she went through so many life changes.  It's an intense juxtaposition reading her interviews then and now.   But the one thing I think that never really changed was her longing to have a family and private life, I'm glad that she's found that now. 

[Steel Magnolia]

I remember when this article originally came out. Not the article itself, but that excerpt was reprinted in other publications.

This was around the time she was starting to become notorious for being impulsive.

There are elements about the conservatorship that I really despise, but it does force her to complete her contractual commitments. And that is a good thing. 

[edamamebeans]

t4p! i dont think ive read this one before

"In the most interesting moments, Ms. Spears discussed her own writing, spirituality and soul-searching — although never on the record. At other times, however, she did not recognize the names of producers she had worked with for her new CD." < - this part stuck out to me, she does the same sort of thing sometimes in interviews nowadays. lol

she seemed very passionate about itz as an album but i think by this era she was really over the actual 'celebrity' aspect of her job.

[Hypnotherapy]

As much as people don’t want to believe it, Britney was always about family first and her career was very much a job to her, nothing more, she was just better at hiding it. Since 2007 she’s just given up the pretence. You could see the cracks very much starting to show after the breakup and in 03-04.

 

She ******* despises the industry, and no wonder. She was literally being **** shamed and questioned about her virginity on TV at 18 and torn down for everything she did. I honestly believe in a lot of ways the Conservatorship is in place to help her not be exploited and keep her doing what she wants. People blame her team, but it’s Britney who doesn’t want to be in media eye.

HOWEVER what I would say is all that shouldn’t be an excuse not to put 100% into the job she still does, go hard in rehearsals, try your best to sing live etc that’s what I have issues with her now. It’s  one thing to be done with industry bullshit, another to give zero ***** about your work and the people paying to see you.

[Inherzone]

sorry but britney never had the drive that madonna, mj, pink &co. have (had). 

it always just was a job to her. i dont even now if she deserved the awards, status&co. she got. there are other people, that deserve it more tbh. 

she was a good worker. but not passionate about her work. thats why everybody says shes a puppet.