- News>
- Music
Britney sexes up the music
NY, Nov 15: If you can believe it, Britney Spears would like people to focus on her music, not her midriff.
NY, Nov 15: If you can believe it, Britney Spears would like people to focus on her music, not her midriff.
But seeing is believing, and since the debut of her music video "I'm a Slave 4 U" two years ago, fans have seen Spears take an increasingly provocative journey into sexual exhibitionism.
From her love life to her infamous MTV Video Music Awards kiss with Madonna to her National Football League kickoff concert and her most recent performance in New York's Times Square, the artist has tested the limits of her sexuality.
But now comes the moment of truth. With her new album, "In the Zone," set to be released Monday (Nov. 17) internationally and Tuesday (Nov. 18) in the U.S., her label, Jive Records, can only hope that her midriff won't overpower her music.
The challenge for the record label is to get across that Spears, 22, has matured as an artist and is ready for a grown-up and more musically diverse audience.
In an interview with Billboard, Spears tries to make the point clear that she's just being herself.
"I'm doing my thing, and it's the media that's misconstruing the whole conception. It's not me," she insists. "I can't help the fact that they write about me going to Starbucks 24-7."
Paradoxically, her album sales seem to have declined in direct proportion to her increasing public profile.
Her 1999 debut, "... Baby One More Time," sold 10 million copies. Subsequent releases -- 2000's "Oops! ... I Did It Again" and 2001's "Britney" -- sold 9.1 million and 4.2 million copies, respectively, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
"Certainly, the kiss at the MTV Awards segued into the Madonna single and video in a big way," Jive president Barry Weiss says.
Perhaps. But so far, public reaction to the new material has fallen well short of the media excitement.
Bureau Report
From her love life to her infamous MTV Video Music Awards kiss with Madonna to her National Football League kickoff concert and her most recent performance in New York's Times Square, the artist has tested the limits of her sexuality.
But now comes the moment of truth. With her new album, "In the Zone," set to be released Monday (Nov. 17) internationally and Tuesday (Nov. 18) in the U.S., her label, Jive Records, can only hope that her midriff won't overpower her music.
The challenge for the record label is to get across that Spears, 22, has matured as an artist and is ready for a grown-up and more musically diverse audience.
In an interview with Billboard, Spears tries to make the point clear that she's just being herself.
"I'm doing my thing, and it's the media that's misconstruing the whole conception. It's not me," she insists. "I can't help the fact that they write about me going to Starbucks 24-7."
Paradoxically, her album sales seem to have declined in direct proportion to her increasing public profile.
Her 1999 debut, "... Baby One More Time," sold 10 million copies. Subsequent releases -- 2000's "Oops! ... I Did It Again" and 2001's "Britney" -- sold 9.1 million and 4.2 million copies, respectively, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
"Certainly, the kiss at the MTV Awards segued into the Madonna single and video in a big way," Jive president Barry Weiss says.
Perhaps. But so far, public reaction to the new material has fallen well short of the media excitement.
Bureau Report