Tag: Britney Spears

Britney: The Pop Star Barbie America Turned Into Its Fucked-Up Voodoo Doll

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Britney Spears was never given much of a chance in the way of being “taken seriously.” From the beginning, she was written off as another cookie-cutter pop star from the Jive Records factory, including Spears’ boy band contemporaries, Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. And, despite her massive success from the beginning, there was little interest from those with a “refined ear” for music in opening their arms to her (just their zippers).

Hence, a 2000 review (that barely made mention of the actual songs’ content) of Britney’s sophomore album on The A.V. Club was sure to lambast her for being “a true cipher, a dress-up doll programmed to satisfy as many different fans and fantasies as possible.” Harsh indeed. And yet, there is something to that idea. The one where Spears, in the early years of her career was this moldable Pop Star Barbie that fulfilled the Aryan ideal (long before Taylor Swift) of “the girl next door” who would also pull her skirt up if you asked. That was for the fulfillment of the Nabokovian male fantasy, of course. For the girls who looked up to Spears, it would be stated by polite marketing tactics that it was because she could be seen as someone you wanted to be “best friends” with. A greater truth was that all the guys wanted to bang her so all the girls wanted to be her.

Then came her inevitable “fall.” The one that conveniently coincided with her no longer being in her teen years, therefore “virginal.” Which meant it was time to paint her into the outright “slut” everyone always thought she was merely because she dressed provocatively for her stage performances and music videos. Enter the rumors of cheating on Justin Timberlake with Wade Robson. Then Justin’s almost immediate retaliation with the song and video, “Cry Me A River”—which, in case anyone was confused as to whether it was about Britney, included a very on-the-nose lookalike targeted by her jilted ex (played by, who else, Justin). From that moment forward, Britney was damned to be branded a “good girl gone bad.” One of the American media’s favorite tropes.

The systematic dismantling of Britney as “teen dream” to “cautionary tale” was further solidified in January of 2004, when she married her childhood friend, Jason Alexander, at a Las Vegas wedding chapel. It took no time for her mother and her manager to swoop in and convince her to petition for an annulment. One that provided language with eerie foreshadowing with regard to her conservatorship: “Spears lacked understanding of her actions.” It was obvious with that abrupt maneuver that Britney was in desperate search of someone to love. Particularly after the earth-shattering breakup with Justin. And if someone like Alexander could worm his way in, it was certainly no challenge for Kevin Federline, the catalyst for the eventual downward spiral America would see documented so fully in 2007. Just two years after TMZ was born, and being stalked by the paparazzi took on a decidedly British ferocity. In fact, perhaps only Princess Diana could know how Britney felt in those peak years of being endlessly pursued—thanks to the often million-dollar price tag that a photo of Britney could fetch.

And so, it all provided even more “reason” (read: motive) to make a spectacle of her, prove she was some “out of control” (that was the phrase actually used to describe her marrying Jason Alexander on an Us Weekly cover) party girl unfit to be a mother. Unfit even compared to Kevin fucking Federline. Who was given carte blanche to do what he wanted throughout his short-lived marriage to Britney, even though Britney assumed she’d have an actual partner around to help raise her children (and yes, almost every photo of Britney from that period is with just her and her kids, with no sign of K-Fed anywhere). This paired with her unaddressed postpartum depression brewed the recipe for Britney’s own addiction to form as a coping mechanism. The headlines making such damning declarations with Spears’ image attached as, “Time Bomb,” “Sick!” and “Hollywood’s Drug Problem.”

Even as a married woman (for the second time in the same year) to K-Fed, Britney couldn’t be deemed “tame” enough, stoking the outrage of “child advocates” when she was photographed with her son, Sean, in her lap while driving. Undeniably, members of the press were always waiting to catch the perfect shot of her “failing” as a mother—and if anyone had as many photos taken in rapid-fire succession as Britney, that sort of “proof” would be bound to materialize. Just as it did when Britney was caught almost dropping Sean on a New York sidewalk in May of ’06.

2006 was very stressful indeed for Britney’s motherhood role, as she gave birth to her second son in September. Just two months later, she filed for divorce from Federline in November of ’06. One that wouldn’t be finalized until July 2007, with K-Fed likely trying to hold out for a better settlement. With nothing left to lose (or so she thought), Britney took being single and in her twenties to heart again as she hit the Hollywood nightclub scene (most famously with Paris Hilton). Through it all, America feasted on her reckless decline (sometimes just called: being in your twenties), then pretended to act shocked when she got 5150’d. Anyone would be if they were put in a situation like that.

Then came the journalists’ endless splooge-fest over assessing what led to the “breakdown” (a.k.a. a woman simply wanting to have more time holding her son and locking herself in the bathroom to get it). Most harshly, Vanessa Griogoriadis in a Rolling Stone cover story called “The Tragedy of Britney Spears.” Among other descriptions of her time spent observing the pop star (no one seems to know how this story was approved), Griogoriadis states, “If there is one thing that has become clear in the past year of Britney’s collapse—the most public downfall of any star in history—it’s that she doesn’t want anything to do with the person the world thought she was. She is not a good girl. She is not America’s sweetheart. She is an inbred swamp thing who chain-smokes, doesn’t do her nails, tells reporters to ‘eat it, snort it, lick it, fuck it’ and screams at people who want pictures for their little sisters.” So there it is: the Pop Star Barbie America turned into its fucked-up voodoo doll.

Even now. Just take one look at the comments on what she posts. For example, “Can we actually have this page banned? I mean I think it’s in the best interest of the occupant that it gets completely logged out and deleted. Please, this isn’t what anyone was thinking Brittany would be free to do… it’s causing severe 2ndhand embarrassment and making ppl question their childhood lol” or “Literally do anything else please” or “She is filming this herself and it’s gross, have some dignity and think of your poor boys” or “This woman is definitely off her meds. There’s no one to keep her in check. Seem as though she is surrounded by ‘yes’ people, including her husband. ‘Let her be, she’s not harming anyone.’ YES SHE IS!!!! She has CHILDREN!! She is spiraling out of control. This will not end well.”

Who knows how it will really “end” for Britney, but it’s clear that something within her died quite some time ago when it was stamped out repeatedly by dissection to the nth degree. This includes, above all else, in photo and video format. Some would like to believe she’s gotten a happy “end” in her current husband, who, to be honest, seems like he was planted in her life. And, talking of him, he once had the gall to caption a photo of them together with the back-handed advice, “Women are the most powerful humans on this 🌎 fellas listen up: what they don’t teach you in school is that your ability to listen and agree with your woman 👩 even if you don’t agree is the 🔑 to a happy life 😎 What do they say? Oh… Happy wife, happy life.” It’s the kind of yuk-yuk-yuk misogyny that speaks to a man who isn’t really listening to a word “his” girl is saying, just nods along to get along—all the while thinking what a crazy little ninny she is. But, hey, ain’t she cute? In short, Spears is just recreating the relationship she’s had with America since the beginning.

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Genna Rivieccio

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December 2, 2022
Britney Saying She’s Turning 12 Instead of 41 Has Everything to Do With Retreating to a “Safety” Age

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Being that tabloid-type publications still enjoy the parading of a headline that makes a celebrity come across as unhinged, OK! Magazine frequently weighs in on Britney Spears’ various Instagram posts (which, as most should know by now, usually include dancing and twirling—and also plenty of shade) with more than a hint of judgment. One such headline referred to a post she put up on Thanksgiving wherein she referred to her erstwhile conservatorship by mentioning, “I know most didn’t get them in the past but I hope you’re all being served with my handwritten letters now.” She then added, in anticipation of her December 2nd birthday, “I hear the new thing to do is to have slumber parties and dance in the kitchen 😜😜😜 !!! I’m not turning 41 … I’m turning 12.”

Even though it was a light-hearted way to “brush off” her self-infantilization, OK! chose to bill that as “Britney Spears Bizarrely Jokes She’s ‘Not Turning 41’ But 12 Years Old Ahead Of Birthday.” But many might either empathize or at least be able to clearly understand that her allusion to that particular age is her “safe place.”

Granted, being on The Mickey Mouse Club wasn’t exactly a time of “innocence”—what with Justin Timberlake kissing her during a game of spin the bottle (Ryan Gosling claimed the same, but Britney insisted she only ever kissed Justin). Timberlake, among many other sources of pervert-oriented pride about Britney, would be sure to later announce that he was her first kiss. In addition to shaming her for lying to the media about being a virgin while dating Timberlake. Something he would keep doing well after their breakup, finding a way to incorporate Britney into a 2009 SNL sketch called “Immigrant Tale.” Playing the part of Cornelius Timberlake, he tells his fellow immigrants on the boat bound for Ellis Island of the exploits his great-great-grandson will have, including dating a “popular female singer… Publicly, they’ll claim to be virgins but privately… he hit it.”

Britney’s sudden lack of “credibility” in the wake of their breakup was further spurred by Justin, who did everything in his media blitzkrieg power to insinuate or outright declare that 1) Britney cheated on him and 2) they had sex throughout their relationship. One such announcement being made on a radio show when Timberlake was asked point-blank, “Did you fuck Britney Spears?” Without hesitating, he responded, “Okay yeah, I did it!”

All of this is to say that, while many people turning a so-called “icky” age would prefer to return to their twenties, that decade, for Britney, was her most traumatic, commencing with the Timberlake breakup that sealed the media’s sudden dismantling of her image as America’s sweetheart and culminating in her conservatorship. Placed under it at the beginning of 2008, Spears was just twenty-seven years old and would spend the theoretical prime of her life in this form of captivity.

And it’s only natural for her to feel as though time was robbed from her. Time from what is seen as the last dalliance with precious youth before full-tilt middle age. Now thrust into her forties, Britney’s bifurcated personality/identity crisis isn’t just about being caught up in the curse of an obsession with youth because she founded her image on a Lolita one, but because the safest place right now probably does feel like twelve.

Regardless of the fact that her parents were pimping her out already at that time, it was still her own life. And the work she did at twelve would end up providing the launching point to total freedom and agency with a solo career. What’s more to be that age and concerned only with frivolous, frothy things is likely all Britney wants at this juncture. For she’s spent so much of her life worrying about pleasing people, making one wrong step or, worse still, being threatened with loss of access to her children (who, tragically, don’t want to see her anyway) that it’s understandable for her to want slumber parties and dancing in the kitchen. Along with other “trifles” like makeup, dessert, planetary destruction through fashion and talking about hot guys (since the quote unquote hot guy she’s married to appears so often to be missing, when he’s not trying to get her to go Instagram Live against her will).

So yes, Britney can say she’s turning twelve if she wants to. If that’s the age that makes her feel best, why not? Plus, that old saying is true: you’re as young as you feel. And based on Britney’s posts, she’s feeling like the deranged twelve-year-old within.

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Genna Rivieccio

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December 2, 2022
How To Dress Like 2022’s Power Dresser Of The Year: Bella Hadid

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When you think about fashion, who immediately springs to mind? Bella Hadid – supermodel extraordinaire, fashion icon, TikTok bestie. The woman inspires trends like Y2K fashion and mini platform UGGs. She simply makes every look look effortless. As such, it should come as no surprise that she’s been named Lyst’s 2022 Power Dresser of the Year.

The younger Hadid sister’s impact on the fashion industry is earth-shattering. On average, her outfits spark a 1,900% increase in searches for similar pieces. After being photographed wearing Ultra Platform UGG Minis, she caused them to sell out in 24 hours, amplifying the style by 152%.

We all want what Bella’s having. Hadid contributed to the rise of the “weird girl” aesthetic – which throws together patterns and textures that don’t typically match. Plus, now she achieved Lyst’s Viral Moment of the Year with her Coperni catwalk moment.

Bella Hadid out and about, Haute Couture Fashion Week, Paris, France – 22 Jan 2020

Beretta/Sims/Shutterstock

Coperni found itself as the most searched brand with a 3,000% increase in searches after artists sprayed a dress onto an otherwise nude Bella Hadid for their Spring Summer 2023 fashion show. Call it Bella’s golden touch.

@voguemagazine For spring 2023, #coperni dedicated its runway to “women of this world.” The main event? @Bella Hadid taking front and center stage while three men spray painted a dress onto her body. A female artist then went on to finish the look with her bare hands and a pair of scissors. You never know what to expect during #ParisFashionWeek! #fashionforyou ♬ original sound – Vogue

Here are some pieces à la Hadid to inspire your wardrobe and take your streetwear up a level:

Corset Tops

Bella Hadid at the Dior Dinner, Arrivals, 74th Annual Cannes Film Festival, France – 10 Jul 2021

LAURENT VU/JP PARIENTE/SIPA/Shutterstock

Nothing says Bella Hadid like a corset top. For Bella’s look, a pantsuit and matching corset top is just the trick…but this leather one is a Hadid essential as well.

Denim Tops

Offset and Bella Hadid at the US Open Tennis, Flushing Meadow, New York, United Stated – 29 Aug 2022

John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock

The denim-on-denim look was born via Britney Spears back in the early 2000s. But Bella’s revamped it with a superb denim corset. Channel your inner Y2K baby.

Cargo Pants + Baby Tee

Bella Hadid arriving at Milan Fashion Week, Italy – 22 Sep 2022

Laurent Vu/SIPA/Shutterstock

Any low-rise baggy pant is automatically a Hadid Sister’s go-to. Pair baggy pants with a more fitted top like a baby tee that flatters your figure.

Ultra Platform Mini Uggs

All it took was one snap of Bella Hadid sitting on a curb with these shoes and they sold out globally. This winter’s hottest shoe is a personal Bella rec.

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Jai Phillips

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November 30, 2022
Millie Bobby Brown and Lindsay Lohan: A Teen Star Correlation

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Being that Lindsay Lohan was the same age as Millie Bobby Brown when her career was reaching a zenith, it seems somewhat fitting (or at least cyclical) that both should have a movie out on Netflix at the same time. While the former’s “film” (a schlock-y Hallmark wannabe) is further proof that she made a career out of simply being “teenaged,” the latter’s proves that she has more enduring staying power. And, to be frank, more talent and acting range. Both qualities have been shown in the short length of her career, which is starting to expand more heavily into film with the end of Stranger Things on the horizon—Enola Holmes and Enola Holmes 2 being part of that steady segue.

And yes, Brown, like Lohan, seems to understand the value of clinging to the Netflix tit for work, even amid cries of the online film and TV giant “not being what it once was.” Sort of like Lohan herself, whose steady stream of hits only flowed when she was a youth, mainly as a result of sucking on Disney’s tit instead of Netflix’s (then still mailing out DVDs to subscribers). This included a succession of “feel-good” movies that started with The Parent Trap in 1998 and continued at the dawn of the 00s with Life-Size, Get A Clue, Freaky Friday and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. All, of course, Disney-backed endeavors that complicated things when Lohan opted to embark upon the requisite Disney teen star “gone bad” route. Right around the time she decided to reteam with the juggernaut for the production of Herbie: Fully Loaded (after Paramount released Mean Girls in ’04).

A title that, obviously, left plenty of room for the tabloids to jestingly riff off of as Lohan was hospitalized for “exhaustion” and, oh yeah, an infected kidney. At the same time filming was going on, her partying (a.k.a. going out to clubs back when they were still bankable due to people actually being sentient, sexual creatures) was coming under more scrutiny. After all, she had just turned eighteen and was far more prone to wanting to sow the oats that being a highly-paid actress permitted (see: her being on the cover of a May ’04 Us Weekly with the headline, “Teens Gone Wild: Older men, all-night partying, extreme PDA…”). Plus, just as Britney and the Olsen twins before her, the obsession with Lohan “being legal” was part of the Nabokovian bread and butter that sold magazines in the late 90s and 00s. Lohan even appeared on an issue of Rolling Stone the year she turned eighteen with the headline, “Lindsay Lohan: Hot, Ready and Legal!”

In the decade when Millie Bobby Brown would come of age in her fame, the nascent #MeToo movement bubbled to the surface in 2017, when Brown was thirteen years old and one year into her stint as Eleven on Stranger Things. By 2020, the year of her sixteenth birthday (in addition to Miss Rona’s havoc), Brown had had enough of the overt sexualization of her body despite being a child. Something that Billie Eilish avoided full-stop by covering her own in baggy clothing that spoke to her being the twenty-first century ideal of a sexless pop star. Brown wasn’t exactly “flashing it” either, least of all à la Britney or even Lindsay—usually while they were out drinking and drugging to the tabloids’ (and TMZ’s) delight.

Brown did none of these things, and was not nearly as ridiculed or hounded as someone such as Lohan. Yet Brown grew up in an era where so much less is “tolerated.” Including the acceptance of men fetishizing underage girls in this way no longer being so “welcomed” by the media. Hence, the freedom of Brown being able to declare on her Instagram (a tool that 00s teen stars didn’t have the luxury to access), “There are moments I get frustrated from the inaccuracy, inappropriate comments, sexualization, and unnecessary insults that ultimately have resulted in pain and insecurity for me.”

On one level, somebody like Lohan would probably want to say, “Bitch, you don’t know from inaccuracy, inappropriate comments, sexualization or unnecessary insults.” On another, maybe Lohan can take comfort in having paved the way for subsequent teen stars to have far less of a hard time (all while narcissistically assuming it’s still “so hard”). Brown, too, wants to offer that courtesy to subsequent generations of famous teen girls, as made clear when she added to her sixteenth birthday comment, “I feel like change needs to happen for not only this generation but the next. Our world needs kindness and support in order for us children to grow and succeed.”

Alas, it appears as though the bullying nature of tabloid journalism (parading as newsworthy events) has only transferred with more unmitigated vengeance to the online landscape. The germinal example of this being Perez Hilton’s illustrious blog (that was, let’s be honest, far more deliciously cunty in the 00s). An entity that came full-circle when both Perez and Lindsay, at one of her many nadirs in 2012, decided to use one another to their respective advantage by cameo’ing on an episode of Glee called “Nationals.” And, speaking of gays, Brown’s closest brush with intense online bullying was when a series of memes attributing her with homophobic quotes that she never said bombarded her Twitter account. Then just fourteen, Brown decided to quit the medium (long before it was chic to do so in 2022). Lohan, simultaneously loving and hating celebrity, likely wouldn’t have “quit” being present in magazines had it even been an option.

Brown and Lohan’s divergence when it comes to romantic prudence is also markedly different. For while Lohan was dating Wilmer Valderrama—undoubtedly before she turned eighteen—a notorious player with a penchant for courting women with age gaps (though not to the same extent as Leonardo DiCaprio or Jake Gyllenhaal), Brown has kept it decidedly staid and age-appropriate with her current boyfriend, Jake Bongiovi (the spelling of which is somehow supposed to make us forget he’s Jon Bon Jovi’s son). Lohan’s mistake with her first high-profile romance at the apex of her career didn’t account for how Valderrama would, just a year after the breakup, describe, among other details to Howard Stern, that Lindsay was “a big fan of waxing.” So yeah, exactly the type of sleaze someone should be dating when they’re tabloid fodder already. That Brown is taken more seriously as an actress than Lohan ever was has also contributed to the “safe space” form of her celebrity. Less laughingstock, more tissue box stock (that’s a tear reference, not a cum one).

However, going back to the similarities between Lohan and Brown, the ages at which each actress was when they got their first major start also eerily align, for Brown was twelve when Stranger Things debuted, and so was Lohan when The Parent Trap arrived in theaters. What’s more, when Lohan was seventeen and eighteen, her two biggest movies came out—Freaky Friday (2003) and Mean Girls (2004), respectively. Brown has also released her two biggest movies (so far) around the same age, being sixteen when Enola Holmes came out and eighteen upon the arrival of Enola Holmes 2.

In noticeable contrast to Lohan, Brown’s future beyond teen stardom seems far brighter (more like Emma Watson’s post-Harry Potter…at least Serious Roles-wise). Not just because she has that arcane aura of “British dignity” (ironic considering how undignified that country is), but because she’s grown up in a generation that has proven itself to be the antithesis of millennial youth values: drinking and clubbing. To boot, Brown also has the advantage of “setting the record straight” on social media that no millennial star ever had.

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Genna Rivieccio

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November 18, 2022
Britney Spears Slams Anyone Saying They Want To Play Her In A Biopic: ‘Dude I’m Not Dead!’

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By Becca Longmire.
Published: 4 mins ago

Britney Spears took a swipe at anyone talking about playing her in a movie in her latest Instagram post.

The singer was criticizing her parents Lynne and Jamie again, before talk turned to a possible biopic.

She wrote, “I hear about people wanting to do movies about my life… dude I’m not dead!!!”

Spears began her post by saying, “Good news, good news!!! Still breathing…” before adding of her parents: “It’s funny the same two people who gave me life are the same exact 2 people who took it away… but guess what!!! I’m alive and I’m breathing again!!!”

READ MORE:
Britney Spears Reveals She Suffers Permanent Nerve Damage That Causes Parts Of Her Body ‘To Go Numb’

She also admitted to posting “too much” on Instagram this week.

Spears didn’t name names, but her comments about a biopic came after Millie Bobby Brown told Drew Barrymore that she’d want to play the singer on screen.

On Global’s “The Drew Barrymore Show”, the host took the “Enola Holmes 2” star for spin around New York while talking about their careers, and the one role she’s been dreaming of playing.

“I wanna play a real person, and I think for me, it would be Britney Spears,” Brown said confidently.

READ MORE:
Britney Spears Appears To Address Alexa Nikolas’ Claim That She Yelled At Her On The Set Of ‘Zoey 101’

“Her story resonates with me,” she continued. “Growing up in the public eye. Watching her videos, watching interviews when she was younger… I see the scramble for words.”

Brown added, “I don’t know her, but when I look at pictures of her, I feel like I could tell her story in the right way and hers only.”

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Becca Longmire

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November 9, 2022
Britney Spears Dances On Despite Suffering Nerve Damage at Mental Health Facility During Conservatorship

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It’s been a year since Britney Spears’ conservatorship was terminated and now she’s free! But when Britney hits a speed bump she turns to dancing. Whether on stage or posting joyful dance videos to Instagram, Britney’s constantly in motion…and for a very good reason.

During a stay at a mental health facility back in 2019, Spears suffered nerve damage. This stint at the facility was against Spears’ will thanks to her father, Jamie Spears, cruel control over her entire life. She attributes this time in treatment to hurting both her physical and mental health.

In a video dancing to “Pumped Up Kicks,” Spears alludes to the reason for her nerve damage being the stay at the mental health facility. Although she doesn’t name the institution outright, she acknowledges that nerve damage can occur due to lack-of-oxygen to the brain.

Because of this irreversible damage to her nerves, Spears experiences numbness on the right side of her body. Although terrifying, she finds healing and joy in dancing. While her videos may strike you as odd and a bit crazy, they’re an outlet for Spears to feel alive again. She admits,

“although my instagram has been not up to par to most … hey hey hey it gave me existence and got me here … it’s funny though when I dance I don’t feel the pain 💃”

Sure, we all haven’t agreed with some of the things Britney has said…but we can all agree she has been through far too much at the expense of her career. And honestly, we love a confident queen who dances through life despite what everyone is saying about her.

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Jai Phillips

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November 7, 2022
Singer-rapper Aaron Carter dies in California at age 34

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LOS ANGELES — Aaron Carter, the singer-rapper who began performing as a child and had hit albums starting in his teen years, was found dead Saturday at his home in Southern California. He was 34.

Representatives for Carter’s family confirmed the singer’s death. His fiance, Melanie Martin, asked for privacy as the family grieves.

“We are still in the process of accepting this unfortunate reality,” Martin said in a statement Saturday. “Your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated.”

Carter, the younger brother of Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys, performed as an opening act for Britney Spears as well as his brother’s boy band, and recorded several hits including “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It)” and “I Want Candy.”

Deputies responded around 11 a.m. following reports of a medical emergency at the home in Lancaster, a desert city about 70 miles (112 kilometers) north of downtown Los Angeles, said Deputy Alejandra Parra with the LA County Sheriff’s Department.

Parra said the deputies found a deceased person at the residence, but she could not immediately confirm it was Carter. Authorities later said a house sitter found a man in the bathtub in the home and resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful.

Carter opened for the Backstreet Boys tour in 1997 — the same year his gold-selling debut self-titled album released. He reached triple-platinum status with his sophomore album, 2000’s “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It),” which produced hit singles including the title song and “I Want Candy.” His videos received regular airplay on Disney and Nickelodeon.

The singer earned acting credits through his appearance on television shows including “Lizzie McGuire.” He starred alongside his brother, Nick, and their siblings B.J., Leslie and Angel Carter on the E! unscripted series “House of Carters” in 2006.

Carter made his Broadway debut in 2001 as JoJo in the musical “Seussical.” In 2009, he appeared on the ABC competition show “Dancing with the Stars,” finishing in fifth place with partner Karina Smirnoff. He was featured on the Food Network cooking show “Rachel vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off” in 2012.

In 2017, Carter opened up about his substance abuse on an episode of “The Doctors.” He was in rehab that same year after he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and marijuana charges. He checked himself in for treatment on a few occasions in an effort to regain custody of his son Prince.

Carter’s fifth and final studio album, “LOVE,” was released in 2018.

———

Rancilio reported from Detroit. Entertainment Writer Jonathan Landrum Jr. contributed to this report.

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November 7, 2022
Singer-rapper Aaron Carter dies in California at age 34

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Aaron Carter, the singer-rapper who began performing as a child and had hit albums starting in his teen years, was found dead at his home in Southern California

LANCASTER, Calif. — Aaron Carter, the singer-rapper who began performing as a child and had hit albums starting in his teen years, was found dead Saturday at his home in Southern California. He was 34.

Representatives for Carter’s family confirmed the singer’s death. They did not provide any immediate further comment.

Carter, the younger brother of Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys, performed as an opening act for Britney Spears as well as his brother’s boy band, and appeared on the family’s reality series “House of Carters” that aired on E! Entertainment Television.

Deputies responded around 11 a.m. following reports of a medical emergency at the home in Lancaster, said Deputy Alejandra Parra with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Parra said the deputies found a deceased person at the residence, but she could not immediately confirm it was Carter.

Carter’s fiancé, Melanie Martin, asked for privacy as the family grieves.

“We are still in the process of accepting this unfortunate reality,” Martin said in a statement Saturday. “Your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated.”

Carter’s 2000 album, “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It),” sold three million copies and produced hit singles including the title song and “I Want Candy. His videos received regular airplay on Disney and Nickelodeon.

In 2009, Carter appeared on the ABC competition show “Dancing with the Stars,” finishing in fifth place with partner Karina Smirnoff.

Carter’s fifth and final studio album, “LOVE,” was released in 2018.

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November 5, 2022
The Video for Joel Corry’s Remix of “Hold Me Closer” Pointedly Only Includes Nods to Brit’s Pre-Conservatorship Looks

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As Britney Spears continues to show us that she has something of a fetish for repetition (as evidenced by her constantly twirling around to the same French song—Indila’s “S.O.S.”—in that elusive Hawaiian dance studio), she’s sanctioned, along with Elton John, another remix of “Hold Me Closer.” On the heels of the Purple Disco Machine Remix that provided, what else, a purple-ified version of the original “Hold Me Closer” video filmed in Mexico City, Elton and Brit have also provided fans with an entirely new visual for the Joel Corry remix of the single.

Alas, Brit still doesn’t opt to appear in this one either, skittish as she rightly is about the public eye and its according scrutiny. Though she does concede to “appearing” in a roundabout way by sanctioning the use of three of her most iconic looks from previous music videos and a tour. Tellingly, none of these looks are from the “era” in which she was forced to live her life in a conservatorship. So it is that we go “back to the start,” as it were, by opening on a dancer, Iara Raiane, wearing a riff on the “…Baby One More Time” schoolgirl uniform.

Directed by Rebekah Creative, the video was shot in London on a sound stage with an all-white backdrop. Because, with sartorial looks like these, the focus is drawn to said callbacks to the past anyway. One of which also includes a still-too-underrated look from Britney’s first tour, named after her hit album and single as well. It was on that tour that Brit’s “millennium” style was solidified with her white track pants (rounded out by adidas sneakers) featuring metallic pink “knee pads” that were complemented by a, in true Britney fashion, ultra-short metallic pink crop top. Dancer Gemma Nicholas is the one with the privilege to sport this ensemble, “updating” it with pink hair to color coordinate with the top and knee patches.

Then there’s Lia Hammond-Williams, who gets to wear the, at this point, all-too-played “Oops!…I Did It Again” catsuit, which has been shilled by Urban Outfitters for many a Halloween. And yes, there are three coordinating Elton “impersonators” as well, but they simply don’t stand out as much as the Britneys, who seek to remind viewers that, long ago, before she was shackled by her own family, she was just a carefree youth enjoying the frivolity that came with suddenly having a mound of disposable income.

As one of the few “relatable queen” celebrities (apart from her constantly taking a private jet, yet not being called out for it), she’s someone who would rather spend hundreds—nay, thousands—of dollars at Target on clothes and home goods than bother with haute couture (unless, of course, it’s for her custom-made Versace wedding dress). That’s why she resonated with so many tweens and teens at the height of her stardom; she was someone they could see themselves in (paving the way, ultimately, for the current queens of the teens, Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo). Before she was mutated into this “thing” to be dissected and pulled apart by tabloid media outlets, including the then-new phenomenon of internet gossip rags like Perez Hilton and TMZ.

Perhaps not able to forget what that feels like, Brit has no intention of “serving” herself up anymore, preferring that other people emulate her instead as a substitute. The least Elton-looking dancer (and not just because he’s a Black man), wearing head-to-toe white with angel wings, is also perhaps how Elton wants to see himself. With Britney still being far closer to the age she was when she first started than Mr. John. And, as Taylor Swift once reminded in Miss Americana, one tends to get stuck in the age they were when they initially became famous. It’s clear that Britney exhibits more than just flickers of that in her frequently-displayed state of arrested development. At the same time, who wouldn’t want to stay ensconced in a period before everything got so tainted by greed and betrayal? A.k.a. her own parents colluding to entrap her in what amounted to slavery.

As Joel Corry and his DJ booth show up in the center of it all, the jubilance of the song crescendos as the dancers do Britney proud with their choreo behind him. The two sets of three then go head-to-head in what comes across like one of those illustrious dance-offs that always seemed to be happening in 00s movies. And, according to tabloid myth, between Britney and Justin themselves at a club in Hollywood just after their breakup in 2002. The stuff of lore that managed to end up in the Lifetime movie, Britney Ever After.

As the white backdrop remains stagnant while the camera moves the dancers past us in a sideways motion, another icon of the 90s comes to mind: the “Macarena” video. But then, “Macarena” didn’t have all the bells and whistles of bothering with alternating colored lights as the dancers do their breakdown (complete with bubbles floating in the air to emphasize to us that Corry is very much an “Ibiza DJ”). And it’s one that Britney, who has always treated dancing like something close to religion, surely appreciates from her safe perch in Thousand Oaks. Maybe she’ll even show us her own rendition of it on Instagram someday.

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Genna Rivieccio

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October 27, 2022
Britney Spears Issues Message Of Support For Iranian Women ‘Fighting For Freedom’

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Britney Spears has voiced her support for protesters in Iran fighting for women’s rights.

“Me & my husband stand with the people of Iran fighting for freedom,” she tweeted on Sunday.

The pop star’s husband, Iranian-American model Sam Asghari, has been speaking out about the deadly demonstrations since last month, when Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman, died in the custody of morality police in Tehran. Amini was arrested for improperly wearing her hijab. According to witnesses, she was beaten severely by police upon her arrest.

Her death sparked nationwide protests against the government and its authoritarian religious regime mandating strict dress codes for women. Human rights groups estimate more than 200 people have been killed in the demonstrations.

“Me & My Queen stand with the people of Iran. Keep fighting,” Asghari wrote on Sunday, sharing his wife’s post.

Last month, Asghari shared an impassioned message on Instagram about the protests, calling the Iranian government the “biggest terrorist for its own people.”

“The biggest protest for basic human rights in Iran is happening as we speak. We’ve seen videos of people getting murdered and slaughtered on the streets, innocent people,” he said, urging followers to share what’s happening in the country.

Widespread internet outages have made it difficult for protesters to communicate with the rest of the world, and Iranian authorities have detained dozens of journalists since the unrest began, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Many protesters have begged social media users to spread the word about what’s going on in Iran.

Spears married Asghari in June, around seven months after she was released from a conservatorship that put strict limits on her personal and financial freedoms for more than 13 years.

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October 16, 2022
After #FreeBritney, California to limit conservatorships

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed a bill limiting conservatorships that grant legal guardianship over individuals, a move that comes after Britney Spears’ conservatorship case garnered national attention amid her attempts to regain control over her finances and livelihood.

The new law, authored by Democratic Assemblymember Brian Maienschein, will require that judges document all alternatives to a conservatorship before granting one. It aligns with similar legislation adopted in other states, following a push from advocates. In a statement, Newsom, a Democrat, said the state is committed to protecting the rights of Californians with disabilities.

People deemed to be unable to make certain life decisions for themselves can be placed into legal conservatorships in which a court-appointed conservator is given control over their finances and other critical aspects of their life, sometimes without their consent. They most often involve people with developmental or intellectual disabilities or those with age-related issues like dementia.

Advocacy groups contend that people like Spears, who was under a conservatorship for nearly 14 years, can become trapped in a system that removes their civil rights and the ability to advocate for themselves.

“This measure is an important step to empower Californians with disabilities to get needed support in caring for themselves and their finances, while maintaining control over their lives to the greatest extent possible,” Newsom wrote in a signing statement, calling the new law a “transformative reform to protect self-determination for all Californians.”

Spears, the pop singer and Mississippi native who has publicly struggled with her mental health, ended up at the center of a widespread #FreeBritney campaign aimed at regranting the pop singer authority over her medical, personal and financial decisions. She alleged she became a victim of misconduct at the hands of her father, James Spears, who was her conservator.

Fans and advocates rallied online and in person to bring attention to Spears’ situation. Documentaries by The New York Times and Netflix on the effects of Spears’ conservatorship brought renewed spotlight to the case and the conservatorship process more broadly. She was a 26-year-old new mother who had several public mental health struggles during the height of her career in 2008, when her father sought the conservatorship, at first on a temporary basis.

A Los Angeles judge ended Spears’ conservatorship last year, a win followed by legislative proposals to protect the rights of conservatees and efforts to make it more difficult for people to end up in one.

Maienschein, who represents parts of San Diego, thanked the governor in a statement, noting the importance of ensuring the autonomy of people with disabilities.

The new law will give potential conservatees preference for selecting a conservator and make it easier to end probate conservatorships.

Disability rights organization Disability Voices United referred to news of Newsom’s decision as historic.

“This law affirms that conservatorships should be rare and the last resort,” the group wrote. “The default should be that people with disabilities retain their rights and get support when they need it. ”

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Sophie Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Sophie Austin on Twitter.

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September 30, 2022
Today in History: September 29, Pope John Paul I found dead

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Today in History

Today is Thursday, Sept. 29, the 272nd day of 2022. There are 93 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Sept. 29, 1938, British, French, German and Italian leaders concluded the Munich Agreement, which was aimed at appeasing Adolf Hitler by allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland.

On this date:

In 1789, the U.S. War Department established a regular army with a strength of several hundred men.

In 1829, London’s reorganized police force, which became known as Scotland Yard, went on duty.

In 1943, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio signed an armistice aboard the British ship HMS Nelson off Malta.

In 1962, Canada joined the space age as it launched the Alouette 1 satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The musical “My Fair Lady” closed on Broadway after 2,717 performances.

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965, creating the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.

In 1978, Pope John Paul I was found dead in his Vatican apartment just over a month after becoming head of the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1982, Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with deadly cyanide claimed the first of seven victims in the Chicago area. (To date, the case remains unsolved.)

In 1986, the Soviet Union released Nicholas Daniloff, an American journalist confined on spying charges.

In 1989, actor Zsa Zsa Gabor was convicted of battery for slapping Beverly Hills police officer Paul Kramer after he’d pulled over her Rolls-Royce for expired license plates. (As part of her sentence, Gabor ended up serving three days in jail.)

In 2000, Israeli riot police stormed a major Jerusalem shrine and opened fire on stone-throwing Muslim worshippers, killing four Palestinians and wounding 175.

In 2005, John G. Roberts Jr. was sworn in as the nation’s 17th chief justice after winning Senate confirmation.

In 2020, the first debate between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden deteriorated into bitter taunts and near chaos, as Trump repeatedly interrupted his opponent with angry and personal jabs and the two men talked over each other. Trump refused to condemn white supremacists who had supported him, telling one such group known as Proud Boys to “stand back, stand by.”

Ten years ago: Omar Khadr, the last Western detainee held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, returned to Canada after a decade in custody. Former New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger died at the age of 86.

Five years ago: Tom Price resigned as President Donald Trump’s secretary of Health and Human Services amid investigations into his use of costly charter flights for official travel at taxpayer expense. The United States warned Americans to stay away from Cuba, and ordered home more than half of the American diplomatic corps there; the administration began referring to the mysterious health ailments affecting Americans there as “attacks” rather than “incidents” but acknowledged that neither Cuban nor US investigators could figure out who or what was responsible. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz accused the Trump administration of “killing us with the inefficiency” after Hurricane Maria.

One year ago: In a major victory for pop star Britney Spears, a judge in Los Angeles suspended the singer’s father from the conservatorship that had controlled her life and money for 13 years, saying the arrangement reflected a “toxic environment.” (The judge would end the conservatorship weeks later.) Five-time Olympic swimming medalist Klete Keller pleaded guilty to a felony charge for storming the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot. Former Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida won Japan’s governing party’s leadership election, putting him in line to become the country’s next prime minister.

Today’s Birthdays: Conductor Richard Bonynge is 92. Writer-director Robert Benton is 90. Singer Jerry Lee Lewis is 87. Soul-blues-gospel singer Sherman Holmes is 83. NASA administrator and former Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., is 80. Actor Ian McShane is 80. Jazz musician Jean-Luc Ponty is 80. Nobel Peace laureate Lech Walesa (lehk vah-WEN’-sah) is 79. Television-film composer Mike Post is 78. Actor Patricia Hodge is 76. TV personality Bryant Gumbel is 74. Rock singer-musician Mark Farner is 74. Rock singer-musician Mike Pinera is 74. Country singer Alvin Crow is 72. Actor Drake Hogestyn is 69. Olympic gold medal runner Sebastian Coe is 66. Singer Suzzy Roche (The Roches) is 66. Comedian-actor Andrew “Dice” Clay is 65. Rock singer John Payne (Asia) is 64. Actor Roger Bart is 60. Singer-musician Les Claypool is 59. Actor Jill Whelan is 56. Actor Ben Miles is 56. Actor Luke Goss is 54. Actor Erika Eleniak is 53. R&B singer Devante Swing (Jodeci) is 53. Country singer Brad Cotter (TV: “Nashville Star”) is 52. Actor Emily Lloyd is 52. Actor Natasha Gregson Wagner is 52. Actor Rachel Cronin is 51. Country musician Danick Dupelle (Emerson Drive) is 49. Actor Alexis Cruz is 48. Actor Zachary Levi is 42. Actor Chrissy Metz (TV: “This Is Us”) is 42. Actor Kelly McCreary (TV: “Grey’s Anatomy”) is 41. Rock musician Josh Farro is 35. NBA All-Star Kevin Durant is 34. Actor Doug Brochu is 32. Singer Phillip Phillips is 32. Pop singer Halsey is 28. Actor Clara Mamet is 28.

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September 29, 2022