exhale 2004-06: The K-Fed Era

[Guest]

The K-Fed Era

2004

• April 23: Britney and Kevin are first photographed together on a beach in Santa Monica, California.
• June 7: Britney proposes to K-Fed on a flight back from Europe, but he declines.  Then, "he changes his mind and asks her, and she says yes." (Britney & Kevin Timeline)

• June 9: Britney busts her knee during the video shoot for "Outrageous" and cancels the second leg of her Onyx Hotel tour.
• 

Quote

"Marrying Kevin was the last thing I was thinking about doing, but then I said, 'You know what? This is my life and I don't care what people think. I'm going to get married. I'm in love with him.' " (A Summer Surprise: Britney & Kevin's Engagement)

 

Spoiler

 

• September 18: Britney and Kevin have a surprise marriage ceremony in Studio City, California
• October 6: The couple file their marriage license and are officially married. They fly to Fiji for their honeymoon.
• November 9: Britney releases her Greatest Hits: My Prerogative album

Quote

"My prerogative right now is to just chill and let all of the other overexposed blondes on the cover of Us Weekly be your entertainment...Good luck girls!" (Britney Spears Announces She's Taking a Break From Her Career)

2005

• May 17 :"Britney and Kevin: Chaotic" premieres
• September 14: Sean Preston Federline is born
• November 22: Britney quietly releases B in the Mix, the Remixes. 

2006

• May 9: Britney appears on "Late Show With Dave Letterman" to announce she's five months pregnant.
• September 12: Jayden James Federline is born
• November 7: Britney files for divorce.  He finds out via text message.

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The "K-Fed era" has become a real sore spot for the B-Army.  For many fans, K-Fed's entry into the Britney narrative is a major point of contention for being the moment when Primeney Era came to an end.  Personally, when I look at photos of Britney around this time in her life, I see a certain type of beauty that's different from her previous years.  At age 22, Britney had 4 incredibly successful studio albums under her belt, a lead role in her own feature film, 6 successful concert tours, etc., and was a bonafide international icon. Britney was also burnt out from being overworked to the bones all those years.  I see a young woman who had grown up in front of the world, determined to live her life on her own terms.  Let's take a moment to appreciate K-Fedney's beauty. 

These are some of my favorite pictures of Britney from this period in her life.  What are yours?  Thoughts?

[canwesynchronize]

[Million Billion]

This and the 07 era are a f**king mess not only in her career but in her entire life. Up until early 05 she was still Britney f**king Spears the pop star. God, the downgrade that piece of **** brought to her. 

But let's not act like we never warned her, everybody tried to warn her but she never listened 

[kasavas]

she looked incredible in her honeymoon, so fresh, relaxed and youthful

 

 

[sibode]

19 minutes ago, kasavas said:

she looked incredible in her honeymoon, so fresh, relaxed and youthful

well... youthful... She was 23 back then so... 

[brit4u1998]

This era was a foreshadow of what was going to happen late 2006 to early 2008.

She was in full rebellion mode by 2004. Then came early 2007, and the shaving of the hair. The 55 hour marriage (pre K-Fed era) was a foreshadowing/preview of the 2007 breakdown era.

The paparazzi following her, and Kevin, in 2004, was a sign of the paparazzi/press following Britney in 2007, driving her mad. 

There were a lot of warning signs during the K-Fed era, and maybe even a little before. But we can only see things fully in retrospect.

[MrTrouble]

The only good thing from that time I can think of is My Prerogstive, especially the music video. I love this dark, angry and unapologetic Britney. 

 

As to the era itself, I kind of understand where it all came from. It’s not hard to imagine that leading such an orchestrated life under so much scrutiny can cause a lot of frustration and a desire to rebel from it. It’s a pity that she didn’t have the chance to express this frustration and anger musically though. If she had more independence, and her artistic choices were supported by the label, maybe it all would be different. Those few songs like Let Go, Baby boy, Rememberance of Who I Am etc are great and I wish they had been released on an album. Yet, it seems that after all these years her label still doesn’t allow her to develop as a performer. We’re often disappointed by Britney’s detachment from her career but honsetly, if I were expected to follow the image I had created as a teenager, I wouldn’t be passionate about my career, too. Seriously, most people cringe when they think of what they did and looked like when they were teenagers, not to mention having to stick to this image for such a long time. 

 

Sorry, I went slightly off topic but it upsets me to think how controlled she’s been even since before the conservatorship. 

 

 

[tsss]

I personally don't get how you can so fast fall for a person and decide to bound your life with them

especially if you have so much fortune

 

[fnfurter]

7 hours ago, Khoazie said:

I was still on WorldofBritney on this day, and I remember when the pap shots hit the forum. 

And it's funny that y'all are talking about only being able to see things once they're in retrospect, because amusingly, nope. We weren't slow on the uptake. We all saw it back then, too. There were topics dedicated to begging Britney to dump him, fights about whether he was trash or not, etc etc. She never listened to us, obviously.

But eh. It was what it was.

[Winter _90]

That beauty!My favorite era was early 2004,2005(She tried to grow personality and professionally,I value it)and 2003(she was the best ever,though it was very short) .She was the great superstar at the time and I thought it was very brave to leave everything, unfortunate things were not as she wanted  personal and professional ..,she kept recording and the result was Blackout.Personally,I will always love that she tried to do what she wanted at the moment.The moment to Remembrance of who I am will  ALWAYS for me TOP, it will always be mysterious.At the time as a fan .I would love to know what happened at the moment in your life, your mind and your heart,because I'm sorry but ..I do not think it was Kevin.

[zxcvb]

6 hours ago, Million Billion said:

But let's not act like we never warned her, everybody tried to warn her but she never listened 

But why would she have listened?

At the end of the day, Britney was a manufactured pop puppet, no matter how hard she worked.  She basically worked hard at being a puppet.  And she became tired of being a puppet.

This is a good article detailing all of it:

"Spears seems well on the way to losing whatever professional or monetary rewards she was able to reap from her meteoric childhood ascension, in part because she was never the motor behind it. She was processed food: created and packaged and put on shelves. All the people who are close to her -- from her mother to her managers to her shrinks to her friends to her songwriters -- are the very people who made her so widely available, who have profited from her. Maybe she's sick of being told what to do and how to do it and what to wear and what to sing and how to look good and when to take a break, but her insulation from self-sufficiency has left her declawed, unable to make sharp choices to preserve herself. She probably should have had the chance to see through that marriage to her childhood pal Jason Alexander a few months ago. As screw-ups go, it wasn't so bad. He was an old friend; she could have figured out a way to undo a youthful snafu, could have learned from cleaning up her own mess. But her handlers arrived with mops, sending the bummed-out groom back in coach. So no wonder she's freezing out people who tell her that Federline is bad news..."

https://www.salon.com/2004/08/23/britney_9/

Of course she did get a prenup.  (Prenups do not affect child support, of course)  So that was huge.

(In a lot of ways one can argue that the only good that came from her entertainment career was her fragrance line.)

[severusvape]

She does look indeed gorgeous and was becoming herself, which unfortunately backfired as we all know. But the first picture where the paparazzi is blocking her view from the sea, is really sad to me. Imagine going on a trip and want to relax but these people stand in front of you 24/7. Can’t imagine living like that, I would go insane. 

[The Greatest Show]

He turned her into (look and clothes wise) trailer trash.. she was always so classy and this was definitely her rebelling. It was so frustrating to watch back then. I'm sure it really hurt her how much the whole world hated the guy she loved. 

[GimmeBritney320]

Sadly, she hasn't looked this happy since then. I also love so many pictures she took with complete strangers on her honeymoon and she looks happy to do so. Interesting how she wasn't panic stricken by strangers then. Britney would have a heart attack at the thought of taking pics with locals now. 

[zxcvb]

1 hour ago, The Greatest Show said:

He turned her into (look and clothes wise) trailer trash.. she was always so classy and this was definitely her rebelling. It was so frustrating to watch back then. I'm sure it really hurt her how much the whole world hated the guy she loved. 

But aren't you basically saying she was a manufactured pop star before this? 

That's kind of what I alluded to in my previous post, that she was tired of being told what to do.

Nevertheless, she was the face of pop music.

[The Greatest Show]

28 minutes ago, zxcvb said:

But aren't you basically saying she was a manufactured pop star before this? 

That's kind of what I alluded to in my previous post, that she was tired of being told what to do.

Nevertheless, she was the face of pop music.

I'm sure she was tired of being perfect all the time but I don't think that she was forced to be like that. I think she was naturally a perfectionist. I think by ITZ she was kind of over show bizz but she loved the music of the album and wanted to share it. She was still very passionate. ITZ out all night was exhausting but you can tell that it was still a thrill for her and that she wanted to do it. 

I think Kevin's lazyness made her see just how much she was overworked and how perfect she was in the past and made her overcorrect in the other direction.

[zxcvb]

18 minutes ago, The Greatest Show said:

I'm sure she was tired of being perfect all the time but I don't think that she was forced to be like that. I think she was naturally a perfectionist. I think by ITZ she was kind of over show bizz but she loved the music of the album and wanted to share it. She was still very passionate. ITZ out all night was exhausting but you can tell that it was still a thrill for her and that she wanted to do it. 

I think Kevin's lazyness made her see just how much she was overworked and how perfect she was in the past and made her overcorrect in the other direction.

Ah, but she did say in the 2006 Dateline interview that she married Jason Alexander as a form of resisting being told what to do.

[The Greatest Show]

6 minutes ago, zxcvb said:

Ah, but she did say in the 2006 Dateline interview that she married Jason Alexander as a form of resisting being told what to do.

Yeah but that doesn't mean her entire image was fake. I think she was talking about music/directors/tours/promo stuff.

[Britney2003]

 

 

 

Both became the epitome of trash.

[Britney2003]

I wonder how obnoxious Britney had to be in order to drive him away. He might have not loved her completely but if she hadn't broken up with him, he would have broken up with her. I don't where I read this but apparently, Britney was insufferable and moody all the time with him. She was extremely clingy and needy. Maybe that's why he started to party so much. Even if you were in it for materialistic purposes, you'll eventually get used to it. I feel like she did so many things to drive him away. (That and the fact that he was probably infatuated with her more than actual love)