I find it hilarious when I see memes and tweets by Gen Z trying to tell people of my generation, “You don’t understand Britney and what she’s been through”, to which I want to retort, “You fool! I saw the original airing of Baby One More Time in 1998, when your parents were still trying to make a baby one more time. I saw the original movie Drive Me Crazy on which the song (You Drive Me) Crazy is based in a single screen theatre in 1999 before even the multiplex was invented.
I used to adjust the colour settings on my new BPL colour TV to get the perfect red on her top by requesting Born to Make You Happy over a landline telephone on ITV in 2000 — years before YouTube, and when MP3s were still being downloaded on dial-up internet connections. I can sing the entire lyrics to Oops! I did it again and tell you every single scene in the music video including the moment when the astronaut’s head just puffs up randomly like a puffer fish or a girl with a few too many likes on her Insta reels. To all the Insta reel girls thinking you’re the real cheese by sashaying to Toxic, I’m a Slave For You was a staple background score in every college dance and fashion show a good two decades before Instagram. So, I suggest you treat me with some respect because I’m Britney B***. On a more sober note, “I’m a slave for you” is also what I sing to myself every time I fret over my domestic help not turning up.
On an even more sober note, to someone who saw her as an integral part of adolescence, her dramatic fall was just as jarring. At her peak, she and Christina Aguilera were rivals for the top female popstag tag among the youth. In some ways, she was the female Justin Bieber of our times, or perhaps a Selena Gomez far ahead of her time. But while Christina’s star faded soon after Genie in a Bottle, Britney’s seemed to explode in a supernova fashion, resulting in a blackhole that seemed to swallow her whole life and sanity. Perhaps some indications could be seen in her song Lucky, with rather prophetic lyrics in hindsight:
This is a story about a girl named Lucky
It’s time for make-up, perfect smile
It’s you they're all waiting for
She's so lucky, she's a star
But she cry, cry, cries in her lonely heart, thinking
If there's nothing missing in my life
Then why do these tears come at night?
Perhaps the song was also far, far ahead of its time in predicting the dark side of K-pop and the reality of influencers reeling from the pressure of having to put out yet another Insta reel. Perhaps her rather brutal caricature in the 300 parody film, Meet the Spartans, also reminds us about the unforgiving nature of the glamour industry. And a sobering note to stand-up comedians like yours truly who mock celebrities — someday our own private lives may go viral even more than our stand-up videos.
In more recent times, her battles with her father and ex-manager over accusations of exploitation, and the court-mandated change in her conservatorship have brought more attention. I wonder if the Miley Cyrus-starring Black Mirror episode, Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too, had borrowed from Britney’s life — an unscrupulous manager exploiting material straight from the artist’s head. But today, as we wish Britney Spears a happy birthday, let’s close on a more cheerful note, hoping we can all look at ourselves in the mirror and sing,
Sometimes I run (sometimes)
Sometimes I hide
Sometimes I'm scared of you
But all I really want is to hold you tight
I’ll treat you right, I'll be with you day and night
The author is a Marwari investment banker turned corporate comedian. The views expressed in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the website.
