Britney Spears

Spears on the "Flesh" music video, shot by David LaChapelle.

## Music Career (2016-Present)

#### **"Britney: Unplugged"**

In 2016 after a hiatus, Britney is back to making music. She was signed under an independent label and released the single "**You Think**", which was assumed to be attached to an album cycle but to her fans' surprise, the song served as the first and only promotional single for her album "Britney: Unplugged". The song became Britney's first Hot 100 top 10 with it peaking at #10 when the album was released. The song scanned a Gold certification by RIAA as well. As to the album, it was a commercial failure, with it as of now selling over 170K copies around the world.

#### **"Spotlight", "Dancing Through Revenge", "Girl, Interrupted" and Warner Music Group fiasco.**

Shortly after that, Britney gets signed by Republic Records and both get Warner Music Group interested in what Britney could bring to the table. To spark interest in the new signee, Warner Music Group and Republic Records decided to make Britney write a song for the movie, "***Finding Dory***". This one being "**Home**" which peaked at #3 on the Hot 100 and gave Britney her first multi-platinum single, as it was certified 3x Platinum not long after being released.

As it turned out to be a success, Republic Records started to push what would be Britney's debut album under them, one called "**Spotlight**". The cover was revealed through Twitter, with a photograph of Britney being seen in what seemed to be a movie set and she was in a director's chair, photo taken by no other than David LaChapelle. Right after that, a new single was released. "**Stand Still, Look Pretty**" and it was clear that Spears was now heading into a new sound, with the song being R&B/Pop.

"***Stand"*** was a commercial failure. Even though it reached the #6 position on the Hot 100, the song didn't meet the expectations of Warner Music Group as it sold a little over 1 million copies around the world (a bast difference if compared to "Home"), so the single and the album were halted. This was the beginning of Britney's problems with Warner Music Group. After announcing the cancellation of "Spotlight" through Twitter, Britney met with Republic Records and Warner Music Group to discuss her next steps. This time, Warner Music Group brought Céline Dion and Christina Milian to the meeting, offering them to write songs for Spears for what would be her upcoming album.

The new album was announced, "**Dancing Through Revenge**", with a more mature sound and image, shocking fans around the world as the lead single "**Fingertips**" was released. "Dancing" was shaping up to be a great debut for Britney as there was a lot of hype surrounding it with the lead single reaching the #5 position on the Hot 100 and selling over 2,5 million copies on its first few months of being available. The next single came, "**Aladdin**", produced by Spears and Oscar Holter and written by Dion and Millian. "Aladdin" was Britney's first actual commercial failure since, "You Think", as it sold less than 500K copies worldwide and peaked at #11 on the Hot 100. After that, Warner Music Group decided that it was enough of the era and they cut short the promotional campaign of the single, halted her album once again, and canceled any touring plans Britney had for the album. This led to Britney's public meltdown and to the now infamous $50 million dollar lawsuit (which she lost) where Britney exposed Warner Music Group as being too controlling and not letting her have any decisions in the making of her music. This would also end up halting "Girl, Interrupted", an album Spears was planning on releasing independently. The lead single was announced without Warner Music Group knowing, "The Art of Persuasion" which featured Madonna. But the song and the album, both were canceled.

#### **Sony Music Group Lawsuit, Holy Tongues Recordings & "Hungry".**

After her rocky relationship with Warner Music Group was over, Sony Music Group intervened. They helped Spears by paying out the $50 million dollar lawsuit and handing her a three-album cycle contract under their label. Britney also left Republic Records and signed with an upcoming label, Holy Tongues Recordings (Christina Aguilera). After a few months of hiatus once again, Britney came back and announced her new album "**Hungry**" and released the lead single off it, "**Blame it on the DJ"** and it was her biggest commercial failure ever. The song peaked at #37 on the Hot 100 and sold no more than 200k copies around the world. Sony would then team up with Belinda, Céline Dion, and Christina Milian to quickly create a new song. "**Dreaming of California**" was released. And to no one's surprise, the song was even a bigger failure than the previous single. Problems with Sony Music Group would only grow bigger from there.

During the time of the "Dreaming of California" recording sessions, Belinda was going through legal problems with Sony Music Group with a $100 million dollar lawsuit and a big scandal against Leona Fluella and how she was treated as a slave to the corporation. This only brought problems to Britney, as a punishment to Belinda, Leona Fluella decided to erase her music from all platforms consequently removing "Dreaming" from Caltube, Encore, iTunes, and more. In order to try and let the song live, a Charli XCX remix was released but once again, it only was a commercial failure for both singers. The situation led to the now-infamous Malala Caltube interview where Belinda, Maluma, Charli XCX, and Britney Spears would discuss the problems with Sony Music Group but it went viral because of Belinda's affirmation of it all being a scam as she was ordered by Leona so Britney and Charli's music wouldn't suffer. Leona Fluella threatened both Charli XCX and Britney Spears of removing their music and "ending their careers" as she did to Belinda. The hate was too strong that Britney was forced to cancel "Hungry", this would be her fourth consecutive album being halted.

#### **Republic Records, "Hungry" revival, Warner Music Group + controversies**

Not long after that, Republic Records was seen in the picture once again. She would be signed back to the label and "Hungry" was announced to not be canceled after all. Spears would explain to fans that the songs released would be in the album, "Fingertips", "Aladdin", "The Art of Persuasion (feat. Madonna)", "Dreaming of California (feat. Belinda)" and that she was in the recording studio working on a new song that she would drop not too long after that. A big image change was seen, with a more raunchy Spears being seen. The single cover for her new single, "**Flowin' (Are You Nasty?)"** was revealed through Twitter with Spears being seen being held by an almost naked man in the air. She would reveal that Mario Testino was working with her on the album's visuals.

The song did well, as it entered the top 10 on iTunes worldwide and was steady on the charts. It peaked at #9 on the CAL 100 and sold over 1 million copies, a bast difference from her previous singles' performance. Britney teamed up with Steven Klein and David LaChapelle and the filming of the music video begun in Belgium. The 5-minute music video caused an uproar online that has never been seen before, thanks to its highly sexual visuals and the religious imagery used (in one scene Spears would be seen masturbating with a cross upside down hanging on the wall). The music video exposed the Catholic church, as Britney stated that the music video was made to make everyone see that the Catholic church would only care about what she made them see like on the music video instead of actually be a part of solving real issues that she later exposed on her now-suspended Twitter account. It went viral as it garnered over 100 million views on its first two days on Caltube and was the fastest most disliked video by users on the site. Britney was called out by various politicians and religious people, one of them being Sarah Palin calling her a "whore" on Twitter. The controversy was so big that a mob of people stayed outside of Spears' home for weeks, burning her gates and trying to jump them to harm the star. She had to be contacted by the Police to be guarded by and taken care of as her family was also threatened.

The "Flowin'" controversy didn't stop for over three months, it caused severe damage to Britney's career and mostly image but she didn't stop. Britney continued promoting the song around the world until taking a break again as she was being still chased by religious people. "Hungry" was released and it's campaign re-taken once again after the release of "**Cougar**" with Maluma, the second single off the era, which had a quick cancellation because the "Flowin" controversy still was in effect and the song couldn't properly be promoted around the world as Britney was still banned in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and several other countries. Even so, the song was a short-lived success as it debuted at #6 on the Hot 100 and sold over 1,8 million copies during the time it was being promoted as a single. The music video was teased but also canceled, also directed by both Steven Klein and David LaChapelle. "Hungry" would become Spears' biggest debut ever on the Billboard 200, with it debuting at #1 with over 770k units wold worldwide. The album went on to sell over 5 million copies being Spears' biggest commercial success to date. Tour plans were canceled due to the "Flowin" effect being still on. The music video for "Flowin" also made Spears earn her first GRAMMY® Award, as it won "Best Music Video" which also sparked controversy. Gunshots and a riot were formed at the GRAMMYs® that year right after her win.

Due to Spears' strong year, she earned the title of "Woman of the Year" by Billboard.

#### **"Devotion", New Year's Eve / Maluma, VMAs performance & "P.I.P" controversy.**

A new era began with Britney surprise-dropping the new single, **"Flesh",** an Electronic/Synthpop song produced by Diplo and Robyn. The song was an instant success for Spears as it ended up debuting and peaking at #2 on the Hot 100 with over 800K copies around the world. It also marked her first big streaming hit on Encore, with a 32 million debut on the weekly streaming charts. In true Britney nature, the song was accompanied by a controversial music video directed by David LaChapelle. In the video, Spears would be seen walking around a mansion with her love interest, actor Jamie Dornan (50 Shades of Grey), as he would see her eating "human" flesh, perform brujería, gay men and women having very explicit sexual scenes. The music video was X-Rated and sparked controversy to the extent that her Caltube comments were removed from the music video indefinitely.

In order to continue the commercial strake Britney was having, she teamed up with Maluma once again and this time they released their collaboration, **"Casanova".** It was a massive single for both artists, it debuted and peaked at #2 on the Hot 100 and as of now is Spears' biggest streaming debut with it doing 70,7 million in its first week. The music video went viral as well, with it almost breaking the record for the fastest video with 100M+ views thanks to it's thematic. Spears was meant to be seen as a gigoló, a millionaire that had naked men around her house to do whatever she pleases, including Maluma, reversing the roles of how women were treated in music videos as objects. The video also sparked interest because of Maluma and Britney's semi-nude scenes. The name of the album was revealed, "Devotion", and it caused an uproar amongst fans. It was set to be released right after "Casanova" but Spears' father finally dying wrecked the plans of the release and the album was postponed for a later date.

Britney came back after a few months with the release of a new controversial single, the raunchy "**Libido**". Britney would team with rapper Cardi B and up and coming Electronica artist KYLIE (Formerly known as Kylie Jenner / Rose). The highly sexual thematic of the song sparked interest amongst fans and the public, but the song exploded after the release of the music video for it, and the album track "Pussy is Power". The music video revolved around "the day after Flowin", you would see Spears be seen in a court in the middle of a lawsuit, with fans being outside cheering for the pop star with signs that alluded to what Britney went through during that time. The music video had several guest stars, including Christina Aguilera who played as Spears' lawyer in the video, Charli XCX who played as a stripper, duo INRETROGRADE and also, Beyoncé for the "Pussy is Power" part of the music video. It also sparked controversy, especially for Beyoncé who was, alongside Britney, dragged in the media for using indecency to sell records. Britney, KYLIE, and Cardi B were also a target after the raunchy VMAs performance, where the three of them would perform alongside semi-nude strippers and even share a three-way passionate kiss on the stage as the song came to an end which of course, caused another uproar.

Controversy would hit once again, Spears would release "Devotion" on December 31st, 2019 with a performance on the iconic Dick Clark show. Before that, Spears would sign a contract with ABC to prevent indecency on the show and to control what she would be performing on stage. The performance caught everyone's eyes when Maluma would hit the stage to perform with Britney their hit single, "Casanova", as the song ended, like at the VMAs, Britney and Maluma would share a passionate kiss that led ABC to censor the performance and make it end abruptly. The singers went viral on Twitter, with everyone attacking both and calling Spears a "Puta" and Maluma a "womanizer". This led to another problem with Warner, as Britney's manager would attack her verbally on messages and Spears exposed the text messages on Twitter.

The era came to an end after that. The Devotion World Tour is set to embark in 2021 with a rumored new single off the era to support it.

## Discography

* *Britney: Unplugged (2016)*
* *Hungry (2018)*
* *Devotion (2019)*

## Awards and Nominations

#### Sony Music of Excellence

 2018
 2018
 2018
 2018