What was Britney’s smartest career move?

[zxcvb]

2 hours ago, ObsessedBritFan1 said:

Baby One More Time is an iconic and timeless track. It still slaps today and considered the pinnacle and transition to what we now know as "Pop" genre music. Couple that with an iconic music video with unbeatable dance moves, BOOM, a star is born!

Toxic matches (or surpasses) Baby One More Time in absolutely every single way, except for music video impact.

[Toxic.Latin]

To Born in 1981.

 

[ObsessedBritFan1]

16 minutes ago, zxcvb said:

Toxic matches (or surpasses) Baby One More Time in absolutely every single way, except for music video impact.

Toxic is VERY much up there, alongside Oops. Same calibre, absolutely. When I think of pop music, I think of those three. I would include HIAM to that mix, but she hardly performed it.

Tracks like Womanizer, Slave, TTWE, Overprotected, Boys, WB, Slumber Party are just pure ear candy but I wouldn't say they are staple in music history imo. 

[warioaddams]

All of the above but for me it was performing the Medley at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards. She was in a good place and it showed in the performance. The press the next day was crazy saying Britney's back and her red costume became iconic.

[zxcvb]

30 minutes ago, ObsessedBritFan1 said:

Tracks like Womanizer, Slave, TTWE, Overprotected, Boys, WB, Slumber Party are just pure ear candy but I wouldn't say they are staple in music history imo. 

I mean to me, 'Everytime' is arguably both her best song-since she wrote it- and music video, since it literally foreshadows big parts of her life.

But is it anywhere near impactful as some of her other songs? Of course not.

[MissSpearsSaysSo]

Working with Max Martin.  

[ObsessedBritFan1]

1 minute ago, zxcvb said:

I mean to me, 'Everytime' is arguably both her best song-since she wrote it- and music video, since it literally foreshadows big parts of her life.

But is it anywhere near impactful as some of her other songs? Of course not.

Definitely. We all have those tracks that touches our hearts and are pivotal moments in our lives. Almost like taken from the pages of your own personal story in life. Then there are those tracks that are timeless and will forever resonate and Baby is one of them in my opinion. It will always capture that earnest part of me that yearns for the hope of reconciliation and everlasting love. Nothing worse than unrequited love and we all can identify with that - whether in 1999 or 2050. 

[northfacing]

The umbrella tbh. That’s when she transcended fame altogether. But legit aside from a couple missteps, everything she’s ever done has been utterly iconic. 

[northfacing]

24 minutes ago, warioaddams said:

All of the above but for me it was performing the Medley at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards. She was in a good place and it showed in the performance. The press the next day was crazy saying Britney's back and her red costume became iconic.

This performance was level 10 Britney. So iconic. 

[Antidote]

4 hours ago, PokemonSpears said:

it depends on what sense. I think in the end any decision, smart or not, defined the outcome of her career. 

Some may say the BOMT video, but if I'm not mistaken, they had already recorded like half the album before she worked with Max Martin. If she didn't work with him, we wouldn't even have BOMT, the song, in the first place. So that was a really important decision. Whose decision, probably someone in the record label 

Also working with Max Martin was her idea.

back in 1997 Jives gave her a lot of demos and and when she heard BOMT for the first time she said "this is the song" that was the exact moment when everything changed because during the previous months all the material for her first album was very "Sheryl Crow style" but after she fell in love with the demo she said "I want something more pop because I can dance too" Clive Calder (Jive records president) sent her to sweden to work with Max Martin, Deniniz Pop and more producers.  Also the concept of bomt video was her idea too.

And she was just 15/16 in 1997:

 

 

[Kletus]

When she slapped her puta housekeeper

[KatieKat]

4 hours ago, Tear the floor up up said:

To an extent, MMC..hear me out. I believe the training and experience she learnt from those two years really prepared her for the BOMT era. The director of BOMT said she even came on set already prepared on how to work the cameras.

I bet that’s where she learned her “the show must go on” work ethic and how to always keep composure on stage even when things are going wrong. 

Think of all the times she’s been under extreme stress while performing and she never just fled the stage in tears or gave up all together on the performance like some people.

 

[DignifiedLove]

3 hours ago, TakeYourHand said:

Britney’s just one of those rare stars where everything she touched and did was iconic and gold. That’s why she’s royalty and was put up there with MJ and Madge early on. She was a Phenomenon. Newer fans will never know the amount of power that girl had. She was it. Everywhere. Haven’t seen it since. It’s also rare to be loved by the entire industry. I mean Madge would normally have beef with other competition or shade the girls often and even she couldn’t help but fall in love with Brit. Then you have the controversy Queen Azelia Banks who hates everyone but Britney Spears. She’s just unmatched on so many levels and that’s also another reason why the media and paps don’t leave her alone. She’s literally addicting. It’s not just one or two things it’s everything. The perfect package. Super rare. And her story is definitely the most fascinating in Hollywood. What’s nice about 2021 is that if you don’t like Britney or love to hate her, the world at least RESPECTS her now. Her legacy will be massive the day she’s gone. 

[chadney spears]

Britney got paired with one of the greatest producers in the world, and he gave her a hit. She made a mark on BOMT that wouldn’t have been achieved by any of the other people it was offered to.

Her deciding the concept for the video was a huge help to catapulting it, as the original concept was strange. Though the video is really 90s, it still has a timeless feeling to it. There’s no crazy special effects that date the video harshly.

She walked onto the set and pissed all over it. Britney trained her whole life to be a superstar, and it paid off. But, there was something about her that made her more special than her peers.

She performed in the video like she had been doing music videos for years. Surrounded by people dressed the same as her, she shined brighter than anyone else. She sold the song so well with her facial expressions, her demeanor, her confidence. 

The video showcased as many of her talents as they could cram into it. She did backflips, high kicks, difficult choreo from start to finish, and the song’s vocals were some of her best and most powerful in her entire career. There’s a reason everyone was trying to replicate the success, but nobody came close to the natural superstar persona she had. 

That magic continued for the first 6 years of her career, and she made something legendary. She worked really hard for it, though I don’t think she needed to. Her natural charisma made it hard to take your eyes off of her.

Second best choice would be releasing Toxic. Another sure fire hit, with a killer video, that solidified her status among a lot of people that had previously dismissed her talents. Can’t tell you how many people I’ve met that don’t listen to her music, but still play Toxic.

[fays1]

3 hours ago, warioaddams said:

All of the above but for me it was performing the Medley at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards. She was in a good place and it showed in the performance. The press the next day was crazy saying Britney's back and her red costume became iconic.

Nobody knows about this performance outside people who follow music. Even the songs she sang on the show were not popular (Touch Of My Hand, Breath On Me, I Love Rock N Roll). She did not even take the opportunity to perform her about to become her comeback single Make Me!

This doesnt take away the fact that its one of my favorite performance by her, but I wouldnt call it a smart career move. During this era her label and team were allowing her to do whatever she wants.

[MysticWomaney]

dont @ me but i think shaving her head is what has given her longevity. without it i think she probably would be as important as xtina. i love her music too but lets be real britney is still top of the game and has been for over 20 years and people like beyonce have been around just as long and now at the top so i think the head shaving was fundemental to keeping her so popular 

look how iconic

 

[WhatTheHellWhoCares?]

Changing her image & sound up with I’m A Slave 4 U. I was a little kid at the time and the change was a bit weird at first, but we all got used to it pretty quick. She would have ended up like Mandy Moore/all the other Britney wannabes if she didn’t mature her music/style I feel. 

[Tar_isa]

I'm surprised no one mentioned the first Rolling Stone cover!

I think a lot of her icon status can be tied to the constant controversy that has surrounded her since day one, as it so often happens with artistic icons.

Other than that, I agree with a lot of the replies here, so I think her career is built on a steady flow of good moves (BOMT video, RS cover and the ****/virgin image, the snake, Toxic, doing Blackout against all odds, a surprising comeback after the breakdown -which I hate conservatorship-wise but Womanized/Circus turned out to be an amazing move-, Las Vegas residence -which I hate conservatorship-wise but she was then again sort of a pioneer-, etc).

The common denominator is her amazing work ethic (thanks MMC) and the fact that she always adds a pinch of magic to whatever she's doing. I think her genius is how she elevates other people's work, be it having concept ideas for mv or tying up her shirt up, or playing with her voice/delivery in songs written for her, or just being a loveable person whose peers like and respect. 

 

[Tar_isa]

5 hours ago, MysticWomaney said:

dont @ me but i think shaving her head is what has given her longevity. without it i think she probably would be as important as xtina. i love her music too but lets be real britney is still top of the game and has been for over 20 years and people like beyonce have been around just as long and now at the top so i think the head shaving was fundemental to keeping her so popular 

look how iconic

 

It certainly is what established her as a pop culture icon, that's for sure! I didn't even like her that much before that but that and the umbrella thing made me root for her so hard, she was such a badass.

[itsqueirozbitch]

smartest career move? to be born