Britney Spears (b. December 2nd, 1981)
BRAVE NEW GIRL Pop Queen Britney Spears Gets in the Freaky Zone
Britney Spears has grown up in the public eye (my how she's grown!), and with her fourth disc, In the Zone, the onetime teen queen emerges as a young woman unafraid to express her sexuality. The album features 13 dance-driven tracks, eight of which Spears co-wrote with an eclectic group of artists and producers including Madonna, R. Kelly, and Moby. As the 22-year-old pop star revealed in round-table discussion with journalists prior to the release of In the Zone, she's no longer a girl but is very much an independent thinking woman.
Question: What songs are most meaningful to you on the album?
Britney Spears: "Touch of My Hand" and "Every Time" were two of the first songs that I wrote for the album. And [those songs] really laid the foundation for the rest of the album -- the whole vibe and how I wanted the music to be portrayed.
Q: How personal are these songs to you?
BS: I really love the vibe of "Touch of My Hand." I love the subject that I'm touching on because no one's really talked about some of those things in a lot of songs written lately because people are scared to express themselves in that way. I think it's an empowering thing for girls. And "Every Time" is one of the songs that when you hear it, it kind of takes you away.
Q: Are you afraid that you're going to lose your younger fans because the album is so sexual?
BS: Honestly, I don't want to be responsible for young people. I love kids and I think they're great. But I'm getting older. So the things that I talk about aren't going to be [relatable] to a seven-year-old. So I think it's a cool thing and not a negative thing to be able to attract older fans instead of such [young] ones.
Q: You have a song called "Brave New Girl." At this point in your career, what do you think has made you stronger?
BS: Probably being alone. I think being by myself has really made me strong. And I think hard times [also] make you a better person. If everything in life was, you know, on this huge plateau, that would get monotonous and you'd be complacent. So I think the best thing that's happened for me is probably going through trying times.
Q: Do you worry that you're becoming more famous for being you rather than being a singer?
BS: I think everyone has their interpretation or looks at me in their own way. Some people look at a certain outfit and you become famous for [that]. Or you do a performance and that's embedded in [someone's] brain. But in a way it's a contradiction. It's like you go out and you perform but then they talk about you for that. So I'm not really concerned about being famous for being this or famous for being that. I'm just going to do my music and let that speak for itself.
Q: With young hot shots like Avril Lavigne being hyped as anti-Britney's, I'm wondering if there's a Britney backlash? And in light of the new album, are you yourself in some ways an anti-Britney, in the sense that this CD represents a new you?
BS: I think that I'm always going to be me, but I think we change every day and express ourselves in different ways. So I'm not anti-Britney at all. I totally love everything that I've ever done. And as far as Avril Lavigne and all those girls like that, they all have their game and what they do. But at the end of the day we're all one. When I see Avril Lavigne, Gwen Stefani, or Christina Aguilera, I take pieces from them but I don't copy their music. The emotions in their music inspire me. Instead of girls being anti this or anti that, we should support and inspire each other.
Q: How did you go about choosing the collaborators for this album?
BS: The Moby [collaboration on "Early Mornin' "] kind of fell in my lap. I was really excited about that because I've heard of stuff that he's done with Gwen Stefani. He's really good at working with women. I remember being overseas and listening to his CD. He has this mesmerizing kind of music that really takes you out of your element. Sometimes you don't want to be in reality and music is there to do it for us, to take us out of it. I think he has a really good way of doing that on a spiritual level. And Madonna -- [having her] on the record happened in such a natural way, which is really, really cool. I love the way ["Me Against the Music"] turned out.
Q: You also worked with Ying Yang Twins and R. Kelly, but why didn't you choose to incorporate more hip-hop in this album?
BS: I love hip-hop music and I'm very inspired by it, and I think the last album [had] a lot of hip-hop incorporated [in it]. But I love to dance and I love upbeat music. I think "(I Got That) Boom Boom" [with the Ying Yang Twins] is probably one of the more [urban] songs on the record. But other than I wanted to try to do something different with this album, like the trancey club thing.
Q: You've said that you want to have a long and meaningful career, but your career at the moment seems to be focused on your sexuality and publicity stunts like the kiss with Madonna at the MTV Video Music Awards. Is that what you want to do?
BS: Well, actually I can't help that. I'm just performing. I'm just doing my job. I'm not the one putting it all over the papers. So if you think it's me trying to make a publicity stunt, then hell no. It's [the media] making a big deal out of it.
Q: Do you see yourself as a role model? And what you do you think about your childhood pastor's reaction in a recent article to your image?
BS: You can't please everyone. That's his opinion and that's how he feels about things. I really don't understand what exactly about my image he's taken aback by. I'm just a person and I have to express myself the way I need to express myself. I can't relate to him on a [certain] level. He has his belief system and I have mine. But his belief system is [Christianity] and this religion thing. If you think about, religion is the thing that's causing wars right now. Who's to say he knows what he's talking about.
Q: You and Madonna seem to have become pretty good friends. What have you learned from her?
BS: She's really an interesting and fun person to be with. She thinks about the big picture on all levels. She's a very smart lady. Probably the main advice she gave me is to not care what people think and to believe in myself.
November 12, 2003
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