Poring over the lyrics to Britney Spears' songs makes one feel like the lead investigator at a crime scene, turning the evidence over and over in hopes of finding a clue to the attitudes and beliefs that led to the crash and burn of...
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Poring over the lyrics to Britney Spears' songs makes one feel like the lead investigator at a crime scene, turning the evidence over and over in hopes of finding a clue to the attitudes and beliefs that led to the crash and burn of her personal life. Of course, Britney doesn't write her own material, so in some ways the search provides little but false leads and blind alleys. Sometimes, though, life doesn't merely imitate art; it far outstrips it. For instance, how do you ignore the line in her hit song "Outrageous," when Britney talks about going out before the paparazzi in nothing but "a trench coat and my underwear" -- as if she actually wore underwear.
Over time, Britney has evolved from singing about being hurt and hurting in love (she does confess to being "not that innocent," after all). In her hit "Lucky" she was already wondering what would happen should her fame and fortune come crashing down ("And the world keeps spinning/And she keeps on winning/But tell me, what happens when it stops?"). By her third album, Britney, Spears was chafing at being "Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" and also at being "Overprotected" ("I need to make mistakes just to learn who I am"). And on 2007's Blackout, released amidst a veritable "Sorcerer's Apprentice" of tabloid maelstrom, she defiantly basks in her role as "miss bad media karma" and "Mrs. Oh-my-God that Britney's shameless," inviting us to hit her baby one more time as she bumps and grinds through these libidinous, synthesizer-heavy club tracks.
