Billboard: “ The Complicated Reality of Being a Britney Spears Fan During the Conservatorship”

[DougFrmBrazil]

53 minutes ago, SlayOut said:

This Billboard article was posted yesterday and talks about how the conservatorship/#FreeBritney movement has both united and divided the fanbase. An interesting note towards the end:

What are your reactions to the article? Have you reflected on how your patronage of the Britney brand (from albums to tickets to merchandise) since the conservatorship was solidified in 2008 may have empowered its abuses?

How have you balanced your love of Britney’s artistic craft with her desire to be free from the conservatorship?

I don’t mean to post this for people to profess their sins or to make everyone go on a guilt trip. After all, the conservatorship is a largely unjust systemic issue in the courts that has been perpetuated by her father and other handlers…

But I’m curious as to how people are reflecting on themselves as fans during these times!

This thread is meant for respectful and open discussion!

OH MY GAWD!!!! This is basically cancel culture written all over. We can’t erase the past. Whatever is done, it’s done. I don’t regret anything because I enjoyed and bought albums, streamed and even went to her concert in 2011. This article is nonsense.

[Alexanda]

I don't feel guilty, i am thankful for every Britney album and appreciate it even more now, thank you Britney, for being such a strong and inspiring woman. 

And i am glad that many fans show her the support now (#FreeBritney) and we all can give something back to her. Every post, every tweet, every Youtube-comment, all the guys on the streets made the big #FreeBritney movement, so thank you. 

 

 

 

[Almost Mystical]

11 minutes ago, Phonography423 said:

I mean…it’s not like I was gonna just stop buying her albums. She makes bops. We can’t control our inner hair flips. 

Tbh even now when we should’ve boycott her brand, I can’t help not listening to her tracks.. I just can’t. There’s just about her music that’s very different, even compared to Janet or Madonna. 

[Puppy]

4 minutes ago, Lil-Jay said:

Forget about the conservatorship abuse folks, this is the real cruelty right there!

Right? They broke her consecutive number one record and I’m sure as hell it was to be petty. It deserved to be number one!

[Moscow]

Hmmm, I am a pathetic fan to think - I at least 10 CDs and 5 vinyls of everything before and after 2007 - I've spend a lot of money on her tours as well - I've seen her 4 times actually after this whole charade started! I am very ashamed of myself, but TBH I never once criticised her - I knew she went through a hard time, not being a dancer I never really cared if she wasn't dancing like her prime time - I was never disappointed whenever I went to see her! 

Her piece of me show had cheap costumes but Britney was happy and her eyes were really sparkling TBH, she stayed some songs choreography!

[Easy There]

54 minutes ago, Puppy said:

I just want to add that everyone feeling guilty about supporting this prison, don’t. This sounds like corporate PR of “we’re not the problem, you guys are!” Just like companies blaming consumers that they should be recycling. 

We didn’t put her in a cship

Plus we all assumed something was off. But everything was such a hush hush secret that no one couod knew. Plus she seemed genuinely happy a lot of times.

[PokemonSpears]

Quote

By 2009, the FreeBritney movement was born on FreeBritney.net in direct reaction to the conservatorship.

 

Quote

Spears' situation is a wholly unique confluence of circumstances: The reason she could be exploited this way for this long is because she has such loyal fans; if no one cared about her or her work anymore, she wouldn't be exploitable. Now, her fans may well end up helping to save her—though the bravery and significance of her speaking out cannot be underestimated.

that's unfair. Britney Spears didn't reach the massive success just because of her loyal fans. She was consumed by the General Public too, and even if all fans boycotted her, she would still be selling a lot.

I don't know how many of y'all went to Vegas, but the two shows I went to, it was full of people that looked nothing like fans, old couples, ladies in their 40's or 50's, teenagers that looked rather confused lol like, I was expecting a particular kind of people, but it was nothing like that. The general public just keeps getting drawn to her pop music, even more in a place Las Vegas that is such a capital of tourism.

 

Quote

"I'm having a really hard time reconciling my relationship to her music and her artistry, especially post-2008, because I now worry that I helped fund something that maybe she was under duress when she was making," said Bradley Stern, co-host of the It's Britney, *****! podcast, during an episode on Spears' testimony. He continued: "It is a gross feeling. We've spent thousands of dollars on merchandise, tours, flights, tickets, on the Britney brand."

wasn't he the one that was completely opposed to the whole FreeBritney movement?  

 

in the end, it's a tricky situation. 

In one hand, she had to prove she "still got it" by being capable of putting out records and shows, to prove that she didn't need the conservatorship. In order for that to work, she also needed to prove to be successful, or otherwise they would've been like "see, you're not bringing in the numbers, you can't provide for yourself because what else are you gonna do if not perform?". But on the other hand she was clearly not happy in instances like the FF era.

The thing is, I still believe, even if we remove the 2018 Tour, look at her videos in Vegas in late 2015, early 2016 and tell me she wasn't enjoying her time onstage. If you think about it, that was the only time she had to be freed from her father, at least for 90 minutes, and play around, and perform and see the excitement of the crowds. She's still an artist at the end  of the day. 

So how she would've felt if the venues were half empty, or if all of her albums and singles tanked? Not only would her family had abandoned her, but her fans too? That would be horrible, imo 

Most importantly if fans stopped supporting her, caring about her, the FreeBritney movement would've never happened, and she would've still be trapped in that situation, because she would still be worth her royalties. 

[jordeezy river red]

Britney is exposing the reality of celebrity and I am HERE for it - its a false dream that was sold to all of us.

[studlygeorge]

I don’t feel guilty. When I bought stuff I was not doing it with the intention of finding her team but supporting my favorite artist. I bought stuff in hopes of lifting her spirits, even if that happiness was only short lived because they would come in and make it her hell after.

While there’s been plenty of times where Britney has gone on stage and looked like she would rather be somewhere else, there were even more times where her smile was so bright and genuine and you can tell she loved being up there with her fans. 

[On_Mah_Raydah]

I bought so much merch (albums, cassettes, vinyls, sweaters, POM accessoires, dvds...) and it all has a little bad taste since June 23rd.

[Puppy]

6 minutes ago, Easy There said:

Plus we all assumed something was off. But everything was such a hush hush secret that no one couod knew. Plus she seemed genuinely happy a lot of times.

Yeah like we knew something was wrong, it’s them that makes it such a conspiracy and it’s annoying how her team constantly deflects. They hold control over her yet now we are the problem for feeding into it? She’s been living in hell for all these years but like true Britney fashion, she always makes the best of a situation for her own sake. 

[ICouldntThinkOfOne]

For 11 years, we were led to believe a narrative that said Britney was happy and content, as to some degree, wanted the conservatorship in place, to help her with finances. We heard rumours, but we had too much trust in a narrative formed by Team Con. Was the information available to us? Yes! Did we have a reason to read it? No. 

I'm not saying we had no reason to question anything, I mean we had an album she didn't write on and then an album she didn't sing on entirely, but when it came to social media, interviews, connections, team con were successful in their operations. I don't think any fan could have expected this all to happen in the way it has.

 

For the past two years, we have had no reason to support the brand, and we had more than enough proof before her testimony to stop streaming music or buying vinyls etc etc.

 

We know better now and we're righting that wrong.

 

[Bboy1988]

I don’t regret funding sales for the Circus tour. It was the most amazing night of my life. At this point I just want Britney to be free and happy. 

[Oxic]

Yes it is really hard to be a Britney fan thank you for noticing 

[PokemonSpears]

35 minutes ago, Puppy said:

Yeah like we knew something was wrong, it’s them that makes it such a conspiracy and it’s annoying how her team constantly deflects. They hold control over her yet now we are the problem for feeding into it? She’s been living in hell for all these years but like true Britney fashion, she always makes the best of a situation for her own sake. 

not only they controlled her, but they also controlled the narrative, as the media did before by telling the world she was not ok, and now them saying she was good thanks to the conservatorship

if it's about making people accountable, then every single person, fan or not, that has ever went to one of her shows, that has ever streamed one of her songs or videos, should be made guilty too, but that's just dumb 

 

[Puppy]

Just now, PokemonSpears said:

not only they controlled her, but they also controlled the narrative, as the media did before by telling the world she was not ok, and now them saying she was good thanks to the conservatorship

if it's about making people accountable, then every single person, fan or not, that has ever went to one of her shows, that has ever streamed one of her songs or videos, should be made guilty too, but that's just dumb 

 

Yeah it doesn’t make sense to say “you all were complicit” so they can feel less guilty about their actions. It’s rather childish as we didn’t put together the tour or slammed papers in front of her to sign so she can further make money. We didn’t spent millions of dollars on PR to craft their “mentally challenged popstar” like if we’re gonna get dragged…how about the lack of promo we got from the past eras? 
 

it all comes down to them being bitter they aren’t in control no more and can’t say “oh she’s ******** so look away guys”

[G-unit]

No one should feel guilt for having supported her during the last 13 years.  She wouldn’t want that.  We supported HER and her art.  Not her team.  It’s unfortunate that they got money from all of this, but we didn’t know the extent they were going to exploit her…and I do believe when she’s on the stage (at least a lot of the times) she is happy to see her fans cheering her on.  She spoke highly of her passion for her work during her first testimony…she didn’t speak the words of someone who didn’t want to do any of it.  She never once said she wanted to be done, she said she “deserves a 2-3 year break” because she needs rest and wants to have a baby.  And her team needs to realize, lying to her fans and making it seem like everything was fine…pissed us off.  We were taken advantage of so yeah we will fight back, but MOSTLY because we love this woman for HER.  Not because we want her to perform again, but because she deserves everything good in this world.

but I truly believe Britney appreciated all the support she received for her career over the last 13 years.  She’s smart and knows we didn’t know the truth.

[MinakoS]

She's Britney Spears, c-ship or not, people would have supported her anyway, listen to her music and go see her perform. Simply because at the time, the narrative was that her father was a hero, saved her life and put her in better place. Even herself got fooled, they promised her she'll get her kids back and freedom and it never happened. Too easy to insinuate that we had somehow a responsibility in this s*it, especially now that our "conspiracy therory" as the medias loved to say revealed to be a reality! So shut up already! Oh and when they managed to get a contract of 15M with X Factor, did the fans had something to do with it? Absolutely not. Her name alone worth a lot of money because of all the huge things she accomplished since 1998. Her family, team and the California legal system are the solely responsible, and they'll pay for that. 

[AOLUV]

I think this situation is two-fold.

On one hand, it's our financial support for the brand which has given her conservators incentive to keep it going (allegedly). 

On the other hand, her releasing albums, going on tours, and having a successful Vegas residency has proven her capability.

If she wasn't working during those years, her conservators could've made the argument that she wasn't working because she wasn't capable of doing so. They probably would've released compilations, unreleased songs, and done other things to make money off her. We've seen this in full force last year with The Zone museum and the Glory re-release. They may have attempted to keep the brand going without her.

It may have helped her case tremendously to have worked as hard as she did for the past 13 years.

 

[HolyTrinity]

I've never been to a Britney concert but I've been wondering for the last few months how did she feel when she was on stage seeing all this ppl shouting and screaming and saying her name then coming home tho that living hell... Is kinda hard if you think about it, it just hits different now...