Britney Spears: Artist Discussion

[Deleted]

I don't have to agree or like everything she has said but I believe in giving people grace and not policing them when it comes to little stuff like this. The woman has spent the majority of her adult life locked away while R Kelly and Jeffrey Epstein were roaming the streets abusing minors. I'd be a tad mad and angry when I got free.

I'm not absolving her of everything as I've been critical of her posts about her own children which is way more important to me than her opinions on a loud, shouty, obnoxious and stout celebrity. I fail to understand how the girls are more pressed at her posts towards a former star than the posts about her own damn children, underage at that.


Let me run down Christina's long list of meanness and her also body shaming Kelly Osbourne. Receipts below.

[Koochie]

The blowup doll thing was hilarious considering “Dirrty” happened, which was more than a little inspired by “I’m a Slave 4 U,” but yeah she has never been one for self-awareness.

Britney’s given Christina two decades of grace. In a way it’s kind of funny that a couple of back-handed posts about her is what caused people to think Britney has finally crossed a line or some s**t. I know some of y’all know better.

[adamalterlago]

Sept 15, 2022 21:05:16 GMT -5 @pma2015 said:

I don't have to agree or like everything she has said but I believe in giving people grace and not policing them when it comes to little stuff like this. The woman has spent the majority of her adult life locked away while R Kelly and Jeffrey Epstein were roaming the streets abusing minors. I'd be a tad mad and angry when I got free.

I'm not absolving her of everything as I've been critical of her posts about her own children which is way more important to me than her opinions on a loud, shouty, obnoxious and stout celebrity. I fail to understand how the girls are more pressed at her posts towards a former star than the posts about her own damn children, underage at that.


Let me run down Christina's long list of meanness and her also body shaming Kelly Osbourne. Receipts below.

and you did that. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 back the f**k off Britney. we love receipts.

[It's me, bitch.]

To talk about something else for a little bit, which track from any album do you think is the biggest missed opportunity for a single. I think it’s I got that boom boom on in the zone. It would’ve been huge with the current music trends at the time.

[Marooned@Midnight]

Sept 18, 2022 3:59:04 GMT -5 It's me, bitch. said:

To talk about something else for a little bit, which track from any album do you think is the biggest missed opportunity for a single. I think it’s I got that boom boom on in the zone. It would’ve been huge with the current music trends at the time.

Love this discussion as I think each album has at least one. I’m listing my thoughts with the biggest missed opportunity first where there are multiples.

Baby - Born To Make You Happy (in the states)
Oops - they picked the right singles
Britney - Lonely, Cinderella, What It’s Like To Be Me
ITZ - Boom Boom, Breathe On Me.
Blackout - Toy Soldier, Perfect Lover, Freakshow (this whole album has aged like fine wine)
Circus - Kill the Lights, Unusual You, Out From Under
Femme Fatale - Inside Out
Britney Jean - Alien, Til It’s Gone
Glory - Liar, Clumsy, Just Luv Me

*Edited to include Femme Fatale, which I initially forgot. #fakefan

Overall I feel like the biggest missed opportunities were Lonely, Boom Boom, and Alien.

[Daenerys]

I think Britney's singles were well thought out for the most part. There isn't one song that I think would have drastically changed any of the campaigns she did. I would say the biggest misses to me are less single choices, and more of the fact that Jive didn't seem to be able to push her songs to become bigger than they were. I said awhile back on another one on of her threads, that Britney, Backstreet Boys and N'SYNC were all the biggest acts in music, at the same time, at the same label. Previous to the teen-pop explosion they dealt with mainly R&B and urban artists. They had limited experiences in playing the longer game when it came to album campaigns for out of the box successes. Prior to those three acts their biggest artists were R. Kelly and Aaliyah who were more slow burners and appreciated years after their initial releases. The label wasn't prepared for what they received when they signed those artists.

I could see BOMT, OIDIA and Britney all being received better, had she had a label behind her who could push an album past 4 singles, and really promote the record. I'm thinking Def Jam with Rihanna, Katy with Capitol, Janet on A&M, Micheal on Epic, Whitney on Arista kind of deal. Even if Britney had the same attention Christina had when she debuted on RCA I think she could have achieved more certifications, stronger sales, and higher charting placements. She already did most of that with what appeared to be shoe-string resources during her peak.

Another point I would say is that Britney's catalog in her earlier years seems very isolated. There could have been an opportunity for her to collaborate more with her peers and even industry veterans. Had they done that I think she would have been better received within the critics community. It's odd because if you look back at her discography the potential was right there. She worked with Eric Foster White who worked with BSB, Gloria Estefan, and Whitney back in the day. I imagine if Jive's A&R made the call plenty of opportunities would have sprang up for her to duet with Justin, N'SYNC, Dido, Cher, or Shania.

[Deleted]

Missed singles:

Britney: Cinderella would've smashed

Blackout: Toy Soldier was screaming to be a single

Circus: Kill The Lights could've been a big hit

Glory: Just Luv Me should've been the 1st single with an iconic VMA performance

[Ty]

My way of supporting her recovery is by not following her and just letting this woman heal, in any way she wants, at her own pace. With what has happened to her, she can afford a lot, a lot of trials and errors. This is the last person SJW should try to police and shout their "do better" at because 99% of them didn't have to go through hell like this. And in public.

[c0ldasfire]

BOMT - Born to Make You Happy (USA)
Oops - What U C (Is What U Get)
Britney - Cinderella or Bombastic Love
In The Zone - Breathe on Me
Blackout - Toy Soldier
Circus - Unusual You
Femme Fatale - Big Fat Bass
Britney Jean - It Should Be Easy
Glory - No Sea Cortes

[iHype.]

I find it weird she isn’t listed as a songwriter on this song. I mean… the lyrics are too specific and direct regarding her divorce for Pharrell to have wrote them *all* lol.

[Marooned@Midnight]

Sept 20, 2022 1:59:25 GMT -5 iHype. said:

I find it weird she isn’t listed as a songwriter on this song. I mean… the lyrics are too specific and direct regarding her divorce for Pharrell to have wrote them *all* lol.

I thought it was an open secret that she refused a lot of song writing credit on Blackout. I feel like I remember reading producer comments at the time that compared how some artists would write a word and demand a credit and she would write a whole song and not take credit. Could be remembering that wrong, but something like that is sticking in my head.

[think pink.]

I remember Pharrell at the time saying he based the lyrics off from what he read about their relationship in the media/tabloids.

But you’re correct though. Producers around the Blackout and Circus eras did say she co-wrote a lot of songs or had a lot of input that she didn’t ask to receive credit for. Compared to other A.List artists that they worked with who would change one word and slap their name on the writing credits.

[iHype.]

Sept 20, 2022 5:01:14 GMT -5 Marooned@Midnight said:

Sept 20, 2022 1:59:25 GMT -5 iHype. said:

I find it weird she isn’t listed as a songwriter on this song. I mean… the lyrics are too specific and direct regarding her divorce for Pharrell to have wrote them *all* lol.

I thought it was an open secret that she refused a lot of song writing credit on Blackout. I feel like I remember reading producer comments at the time that compared how some artists would write a word and demand a credit and she would write a whole song and not take credit. Could be remembering that wrong, but something like that is sticking in my head.

That’s a bit odd in the sense that I think getting credit isn’t a “choice” and is mandatory you know… in order not to get sued later.

It wouldn’t surprise me if a situation like that can happen though or maybe she just wasn’t aware she wasn’t credited cause her life at the time.

[think pink.]

I don’t think it’s mandatory unless the artist claims it?. We’ve seen cases where artists and writers sued for not being credited.

[iHype.]

Sept 20, 2022 8:02:11 GMT -5 think pink. said:

I don’t think it’s mandatory unless the artist claims it?. We’ve seen cases where artists and writers sued for not being credited.

Legally if someone contributed to songwriting or producing they are entitled to be credited. It’s not a charity/choice lol.

This is why songwriting credits these days have so many names who probably contributed almost nothing or were simply present in the room. They don’t want to get lawsuits and it’s less of a hassle to give someone credit on something even if they didn’t do practically anything rather than waste huge resources in court to try to prove they didn’t contribute anything.

All the large songwriting stuff started happening in recent years though, so it’s possible 15 years ago teams were still getting away with not crediting people on songs.

[Daenerys]

She likely wasn't allowed to receive writing credits because she and Kevin couldn't publicly talk about the relationship and divorce proceedings. Piece of Me and Why Should I Be Sad would be a violation of that. I also think the conservatorship probably limited her credits, they could be used to show competence that would undermine the need for it.

[Koochie]

Nah, it's not even a secret. More than one of her producers has gone on record that she declined writing credits. This was around the time Blackout dropped and various op-eds branded her as a muse for her producers and little else. That's not necessarily an insult—there's a reason she was compared to Elvis around that time—but it's a little backhanded to imply an artist is just a blank canvas.

Britney probably put her spin on some songs and maybe changed the wording of some lyrics, and that would be enough for some artists to ask for credit, but she's not like that. Their points were not only that Britney is more involved in the creative process than people think, but also that she's humble. As far as legality goes, not that she'd ever sue anyone for it, if there was a verbal agreement then the producers are fine.

...and then there's Britney Jean where she allegedly wrote every song and then had Myah Marie sing all of it. Queen.

[It's me, bitch.]

Sept 19, 2022 6:26:43 GMT -5 Codex said:

Femme Fatale - Inside Out
But I would have also liked Big Fat Bass or Gasoline or sth for variety. Though, in the later 2 cases they would need a radio mix with better production like they had to do with Criminal…

Criminal radio mix?

[Ryan]

[Deleted]

When Blackout meets Butterfly the urban rnb of it all. This should have been a #1 smash

[Koochie]

Completely forgot about her popularizing anime in the West! Her impact

Sept 24, 2022 11:24:42 GMT -5 Ryan said:

Oh, now this is gonna be good.

Edit: this is the closest we have to it right now, but the mix from the film is infinitely better

[think pink.]

She (along with Cher Horowitz) made me the woman I am today.

[Daenerys]

Twitter has been mentioning how Karol G, a Colombian artist has created a video homage to I'm A Slave 4 U with her current single Gatúbela. Slave being 21 years old, I wonder if we will start seeing Slave 4 U as a reference point for more artists who want to transition to a more adult orientated sound. I feel like it usually takes about a generation to see the impact an artists work has on other artists and the public.

[Ryan]

[Marooned@Midnight]

Sept 26, 2022 7:39:02 GMT -5 Ryan said:

This song is one of her best pieces of art, and that’s saying something IMO. The melodies/structure/lyrics are so haunting. Lewis does a great job with it too.

[Eqbk]

BOMT makes Pitchfork's list of "The 250 Best Songs of the 1990s":

Also Ed Sheeran covers BOMT:

[Deleted]

I think these two women would make a entire large segment of the population happy if they had a toke, drank some malt liquor and blessed us with a duet that had the entire industry in a chokehold . Longevity and loyal fanbase is not something your favs can say they have

[Deleted]

Sept 26, 2022 7:39:02 GMT -5 Ryan said:

So good!

[Ryan]

[Deleted]

This was fun to watch. :)