![]() ![]() ![]() Instead, Britney Spears lives trapped in a state of permanent legal adolescence, personally traumatised by other people’s decisions to keep the human pop star enterprise that she was at 26 permanently intact. Part of the relatability of pop icons used to be that they could make bad decisions like the rest of us – blow fortunes, love dickheads, sing “regrets, I’ve had a few” and remind us all that money’s only money and the paths of glory lead but to the grave. I can’t face watching the episode of Black Mirror in which Spears’ real-life friend, Miley Cyrus, portrayed a pop star sanitised and controlled into insensibility so the parasites around her may continue to feed on the wealth she creates. Her treatment since provokes unsettling questions about how pop stars are punished for their success by becoming the targets of other people’s opportunism. It’s an age not typically associated with making brilliant life choices, even when most 26-year-olds are not also burdened with vast fame, wealth, constant pursuit by the paparazzi, two small children and an ex-husband. We also know that Spears was only 26 when the conservatorship began. Since she lost control of her own decisions, someone has decided that she should release several albums, host a television show and tour relentlessly. There’s a lot we don’t know about Spears’ mental health diagnoses in the wake of her nervous breakdown and substance abuse struggles of 2008 – but what the whole world knows is that the woman considered too unwell to look after her own money somehow wasn’t considered too unwell to keep working. California law typically assigns a conservatorship to enable care for someone who can’t “care for himself or herself or manage his or her own finances” it’s more commonly applied to people with severe developmental disabilities or dementia. ![]() She said she’s prohibited from driving a car as well as removing an IUD, and has been forced to take physically punishing lithium. Now, he still oversees the money and business dealings, while Jodi Montgomery, a care professional, oversees Spears’s personal decisions. Until recently, the conservatorship legally empowered Spears’s father alone to control major decisions of his daughter’s life, '“from business to health, to voting and marriage”. It’s hard not to be reminded of the Piece of Me lyrics given the latest revelations. As a human mirror to a vast collective self, it’s unsurprising that the same loyalty that motivated so many fans to buy her albums has also mobilised them to paste #FreeBritney on placards and march for her liberation.” Rarities like Spears manage it for far longer, becoming an avatar not just of a cultural moment, but of that moment’s people. Some acts only manage this for a small window of years or even a single song. ![]() What makes pop stars into pop stars is the dark, precious magic that enables them to sing a simple tune in a way that encapsulates a complex, otherwise inexpressible generational feeling. When Spears sang “Another day another drama / Guess I can’t see no harm / In working and being a mama / And with a kid on my arm / I’m still an exceptional earner / You want a piece of me?” … it sounded so worldly, so disappointed. There was something painfully relatable in the lyrics of Piece of Me. By the release of her Blackout album in 2007, though, I was struggling to manage my expectations of becoming an adult with the responsibilities that “growing up” entailed. I was a just a smidge too much older, too drunk, and haughtily obsessed with Bob Dylan to be much interested in her music when her teen pop anthem Baby, One More Time appeared in 1999. I admit, this might be me wilfully creating an Instagram narrative out of my own hopefulness I really like Britney Spears. She thanks her fans for supporting her through her ordeals in court. This last is captioned with “I feel GRATITUDE and BLESSED !!!!”. ![]()
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