The Intergalactic Cowboy

On Sunday night, Britney Spears distracted the nation’s attention from Usama’s latest terrifying appearance, a few days earlier. Britney gave the media the distracted stage performance that the media had been hoping and praying for, ever since she went into rehab several months ago. You could almost hear the champagne glasses click together as the journalists were finally given their chance to use all of the puns that they had been saving up for months. You may be surprised to hear that I believe that this was a perfectly executed strategy for Ms. Spears. The free publicity that she attracted by her somewhat spaced out performance will sell CDs and downloads of her upcoming recording. She enacted the the persona that the media began painting onto her months ago, which is ” the portrait of an artist melting down.” If Britney had come out on stage and performed as her usual competant self, there would have been scarcely any mention of it in the press. But, her glassy eyed, Prozaced out , Judy Garland styled stumble around the stage caused her image to be broadcasted across the papers, computers and televisions across the entire U.S.A., maybe even the world ! This kind of publicity sells recordings. Although the increase in file sharing prevents all musicians from selling as many CDs as they could in the past, I believe that her new recording will post respectable sales as compared to others. I do believe that Britney is more media savvy than the general public realizes. I will hazard a prediction that her upcoming album will have several songs about how pressured and scrutinized she feels. I should also point out that her audience has outgrown the teenage oriented lyrics of her past and are currently experiencing young adult pressures and scrutinizations as well and can relate to Britney’s new life circumstances. Of course, some of her former fans will believe the public image that the media is portraying and quit listening to her. Of course there will have to be at least one dance music number and one drippy sentimental ballad on the new album. But I predict that the new recording will have lyrics about the life circumstances of her and any twenty-something individual in the modern world and will actually attain a level of artistic validity. I am almost tempted to listen to it myself…
My further prediction is that her album after this new one will feature different musical styles, with musical influences that we have never heard from her before. Her audience will, at this time, be mature enough to have an appreciation of this change in direction and will continue to support her.
Rock on Britney !
I.C.