Many people are pointing to manager Larry Rudolph as the source of Miley Cyrus’s bizarre barely-dressed, lizard tongue, ass in the air image. As much as Miley seems into it, it’s a big departure for her and suggests that someone is pulling the strings. Rudolph is of course Britney Spears’s long term manager, which begs the question: what is Britney expected to do for her image? Is Britney under as much pressure as Miley to bring it up a notch, and how does she feel about that? Up until now I’ve kind-of assumed that Britney needed a lot of guidance. She doesn’t seem to have the drive and motivation that Miley does. Maybe Britney doesn’t want to play along with everything though. Maybe she’s been pushed into a an image that she’s uncomfortable with, which would explain a lot actually.
That was me thinking out loud after listening to a surprising new radio interview with Britney. Britney was more candid than we’ve heard in the past. She said that, as a mom, she’s not comfortable being so sexy in videos and has pushed back a little. Britney even said that she cut out a bunch of scenes in her new, already pretty explicit video, Work Bitch. Here’s more:
She took a few minutes out of her whirlwind life on Thursday morning to talk with TJ and Loren on The TJ Show.
“I’m such a cozy person, I love being in my house, but I feel like I’m going to go a little crazy if I stay in my house too much if I just hang out and do nothing,” says Britney. “I kinda like to perform – well not kinda – I really like to perform and I like to do shows. It’s exciting and it’s great to express yourself so I think it’s fun…
The video for Britney’s latest single, “Work Bitch,” just officially dropped on October 1st. Much anticipated, the music video is described as steamy, adult, and sexy. TJ asked Britney if she’s less comfortable showing that much skin in a video given that she is a mom now.
“Oh my god, we showed way more skin and did way more stuff for the video then what is actually there. Like, I cut out half the video because I am a mother and because, you know, I have children, and it’s just hard to play sexy mom while you’re being a pop star as well,” said Britney. “I just have to be true to myself and you know, feel it out when I do stuff.”
TJ wondered if in some sense Britney’s people are pushing her further than she wants to go sometimes, with some of the more risque footage ending up on the cutting room floor, a fact that she confirmed this morning.
What would a video look like if Britney Spears had total creative control?
“A lot of sex goes into what I do. But sometimes I would like to bring it back to the old days when there was like one outfit through the whole video, and you’re dancing the whole video, and there’s like not that much sex stuff going on, said Britney. “It’s about the dance and it’s about being old school, it’s like keeping it real and just making it about the dance. I’d love to do a video like that.”
Britney Spears’ yet-untitled eighth studio album will be released on December 3rd. Her residency at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas kicks off on December 27th.
So do you think Britney is angling for more creative input in her videos? I get the feeling that she wants more control in general, and that she’s ready for it.. We’ve heard that there are strict rules about what journalists can ask Britney, and that most of her interviews are scripted. Is that because Britney doesn’t know what to say, or because her people don’t want her to say something she’s not supposed to? I’m seeing her in a different light now.
Here’s Britney’s “Work, Bitch” video. “I am The Govenah”
Britney is shown after working out on 9-4-13 and with her boys on 7-28-13. Credit: WENN.com
Right. ‘Cause now Miley is the “sexy bimbo” cash-cow to milk, isn’t it right, Larry?
No, but seriously, it would make little sense to have two major pop stars under the same manager working the “sexy young thing” angle (and Britney cannot keep playing young-ish and wild much longer). Britney does need a new way to approach the public.
So what does old Larry have planned for Brit Brit? If it’s a more sophisticated and low-key appearance I’m on board.
Poor Brit. I feek like she has been through so much and she probably feels pretty far removed from the 16 year old sexpot who didn’t question that image. She has every right to grow into a more mature image.
Yep, I feel for her, too. They should leave her alone and let her do what she wants do to.
It’s a funny situation on the other hand. I mean it’s her job to talk to the press. She could tell them whatever she wants and then get what she wants. Be smart, girl!!
She has sold sex from day one in her little plaid school girl outfit tied up high. That sexy image is what made her millions and millions. Let’s face it, she lip sychs and can’t just stand on stage to give an amazing vocal performance.
Yes, her image is built on sex. But she was little more than a child herself when she entered the business. I’m not sure we can hold a 15 year old responsible for her own exploitation. In fact, I don’t think it’s healthy not right or fair
It makes plenty of sense that as a 31 year old mother of two she is now re-evaluating some choices she made or were made for her that led her to this place.
I think she was 17 when the video came put.
@Andrea: Exactly.
I think a lot of the problems that former child starts (particularly those involved with Disney and Nickelodeon for some reason) have as they grow older stems from the exploitation that occurred when they were younger. I would not be the least bit surprised if Brit’s mental health issues are the result of what transpired in the past. The same can be said for Amanda Bynes. I think there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that we don’t often hear about. I am happy to hear that she is standing up for herself. What she did in the past and the person she was back then are most likely not the same person that exists today. How many of us can say that we are exactly the same person and have the same values today that we did as a teen/young adult? The fact that she has created boundaries for herself shows that she is in a much better place and more mentally stable.
I don’t have a problem with Brit but she’s longing for the old days of doing videos. Someone needs to remind her she wasn’t wearing much clothes during those days either.
She wasn’t wearing much, but as stated above, she was a kid then. Her father was an alcoholic who became jealous of his daughter when she was the bread winner. He was said to have taken that out on the whole family is a passive aggressive, drunken manner. Sex sold and her mother was more than willing to help her daughter leave the dressing room in those outfits.
This info has been out for some time now. Britney’s past and current behavior resembles somebody who was belittled and controlled from a very young age. Forced into a roll to take care of her family financially. She’s always seemed more quiet. Someone is always around her to control her or drug her.
Maybe she remembers those early days of doing videos is an edited manner. Glorifying the memory and forgetting about how little she was wearing.
Last bit… She wore less clothes in toxic and womanizer than she did in Hit me one more time or Oops I Did It Again. She was fairly covered in those.
“her mother was more than willing to help her daughter leave the dressing room in those outfits.”
I think your a bit wrong. David La Chappell said that when he shot her first rolling stone cover, she was supposed to have her top buttoned up. Her mom told her not to let them pressure her, to speak up if she felt uncomfortable. Britney had her mom leave the room, then unbuttoned her shirt and told La Chappell she was ready.
@Florc I didn’t name drop any song from her periods of uncomfortabilty but look what you did by doing so. Womanizer and Toxic came out when Brit was a bit older. This means she was growing into her own and maturing. Therefore she was shedding her clothes as she matured and knew what kind of image she was portraying. Look at the Gimmie More Video, she was even older and playing the dual role of a stripper as well as a patron of the strip club. The older she got it seems the more she was comfortable with her sexuality. Also didn’t she already have her kids when she released that song and video?
Tiffany
I think DaveC should be taken with a grain of salt. He’s proven to be have been off the deep end for some time.
And I think both of you are forgetting what burden was placed on britney from a young age. You don’t age past the age you become famous at. -Channing Tatum(?)
V4
What did I do by name dropping music videos? She was damaged from the jump. If she started to think she needed to reveal more maybe we can say it was free will or maybe it was because she only knew that pattern of behavior via handlers/parents. I also think her mother and faher have tap danced around stories of how they raised Britney. Interviews varied. With her mental health, father, fiance and how Kevin F have more control over her life and kids than she does I wouldn’t call it a stretch to say she’s lived through some traumatizing stuff and isn’t all there. With how she’s acting now and has been acting this whole time a deaf man could hear this cry for help.
Read interviews from that time. She did some with her mom and her mom was telling her to slow down while Britney was like, ‘Omg, whatever mom!!’.
Actually, a lot like Farrah Abraham.
I guess she wants to start singing ballads now
Does anyone remember that South Park episode where Britney shot herself and they kept trying to get her to do interviews etc and then at the end they talked about the next ‘harvest?’ Wasn’t it a pic of Miley Cyrus? am I remembering it wrong? Anybody?
No, you are correct, they photographed her to death and then they started fixating on the talking Chipmunk
You’re remembering it right. 😉
Yup, you’re right! It was Miley for the next harvest!!
Profound episode. Made me so sad for her. And yeah, you’re remembering it right. Miley was the next chosen crop to be exploited and destroyed.
Nope. You are nail on the head correct. And it’s happening. I always thought Stone and Parker were brilliant, maybe they’re a bit psychic too!!!
Miley said Britney really understands her and what she’s dealing with, I wonder if Britney deigned to offer intelligent advice a la Sinead, what Miley would say then? More mental health jokes/attacks?
Yes I do remeber and yes it totally was Miley OMG! I totally forgot this episode and now I find it very sharp!
Nope. You are nail on the head correct. And it’s happening. I always thought Stone and Parker were brilliant, maybe they’re a bit psychic too!!!
Miley said Britney really understands her and what she’s dealing with, I wonder if Britney deigned to offer intelligent advice a la Sinead, what Miley would say then? More mental health jokes or juvenile attacks?
Wow +1
Britney has the light back in her eyes these days. That interview with Mario a few weeks back she was so funny and cute and I could see the old Britney in the interview as far as her personality back. She was at ease joking around with him and discussing her gig coming up in Vegas and laughing about the helicopter stunt gone wrong in announcing it. I’m glad to see her doing so much better.
Same here.
I think she looks better than she has in a long time and this shows she is maturing. You can talk about how she started and hold that against her but at 18 your mind set is much different than later ages. Good for her for pushing back some. I really hope she is in a good place now.
Britney <3
She could go early Leann Rimes and bring out the good old head-to-toe power suit.
Britney’s a lot smarter than she lets on sometimes. I’ll never forget David LaChapelle, the photographer of her now-infamous first Rolling Stone cover back in 1999, talking about that shoot:
Spears and LaChapelle both say they knew the photo would cause a bit of commotion, but they figured it was worth it. “I said to her, ‘You don’t want to be buttoned up, like Debbie Gibson,’ ” LaChapelle recalls. “I said, ‘Let’s push it further and do this whole Lolita thing.’ She got it. She knew it would get people talking and excited.” Spears proved, even then, that she was going to take charge of crafting her own image. One night while they were shooting, LaChapelle says, Spears’ manager, Larry Rudolph, walked in at 2 a.m. to find her posing in her bra and panties. Rudolph demanded to know what was going on. “Britney said, ‘Yeah, I don’t feel comfortable,’ ” says the photographer. “At first I felt betrayed. But as soon as Larry walked out, Britney said, ‘Lock the door’ and unbuttoned her shirt wide open.”
Britney knows what she’s doing. She might not be as comfortable NOW, as she’s experienced a lot in her career. But she was as wide-eyed and motivated at 17 as Miley is at 20. These girls have visions of themselves that are a lot deeper than the men that HELP them attain them.
I wonder if she’s on board but just trying to back away a bit in the court of public opinion, given the criticism Miley is getting lately.
It’s too bad that vision is a focus on their bodies instead of their talents. Maybe folks think that’s “empowering,” I just find it depressing.
This is popular culture we’re talking about. Not Pulitzer Prize nominees or brain surgeons. The focus isn’t really on their bodies, though. The bigger picture here is provocation. Who can create the most uproar? The biggest “moments”. Nudity is a very small piece of the puzzle. This is a pop world post-Madonna.
Re matter of choice… There’s an old magazine article–published just as Brit was gravitating toward her Partying (what a pathetic euphemism) era with Paris & downhill-w/no-brakes Lindsay.
Britney’d sit between the two, learning to <3 white lines, & flashing paps w generous displays of commando upskirt'n'nip-slip shots.
When Brit finally made her appearance for one magazine's editorial shoot (poor puppy London in hand)—yes! Am getting toward the point!—the writer noted that between incessant visits to the toilet, Britney complained that the dresses chosen for the shoot weren't "sexy enough." She wanted tighter, shorter; no beautiful garbage unless it was trashy as well. The changes were made at Britney's insistence; eg, to use Sinead's phrase, Brit was "pimping herself out."
Sinead got it pretty right on most counts. From Madonnawannas to the present, female pop/trash icons have 12-year-olds clamoring to be "sexy." The singers are quickly convinced that successful ticket sales & airplay unless they appear almost naked & put on "sexually shocking" displays at VMA.
They are conditioned so early, that the only way to recognize many female singers' talent is to hear them on radio or CD. So who's calling the shots? The record label execs had this worked out so long ago, that the young performers WANT to be super "sexy."
And what pop fans have seen since they were kids IS sexual—but not sexy, seductive, or sensual. So we have crotch (or a$$)-grabbing; "wardrobe mishaps." I'd not be surprised if most 12-year old girls today are utterly confused as to any difference that might exist between sexy/sensuous & vulgarly seizing br3asts & genita1 regions.
Good for her. This gives me hope she wont travel the same skank trail that Miley is currently on. Saw the photo shoot, *cough*, that Miley did with the ever creepy Terry Richardson in response to Sinead O’Conner. Disgusting doesn’t begin to describe it.
She’s been selling sex since day one, who the f is she kidding?
I’m sorry to say this but I think Britney was never talented voice wise. She was a great dancer and had amazing dance routines but now i think she has lost it. She had the drive, the sparkle in the eyes, the very contagious smile and all of this seems far far away. Now it seems like another person, it seems like she can’t even dance anymore and i don’t think the Las Vegas residency will go well at all. She seems a nice person, a nice mother and all but she’s not the performer she was back in the day where everybody knew she couldn’t sing but still was amazing to watch and was able to fill all the arenas around the world.
Really? I think she got her old sparkle back. Maybe not 100% but at least 85.
I didn’t find the “sexiness” of the video troubling, but I didn’t like the images of women in garter belts and collars around their necks on leashes crawling on all fours while she holds a whip and tells them to get to work, b&@$#. The whole thing seemed porno/degrading to me. I’m not a Britney music fan, so is this toned down for her?
I’m really not a prude. I just don’t get what’s empowering about perpetuating the image of women as weak, controllable objects while you claim to be embracing your sexuality. If a man made this video, I think the response would be different.
The singer was a woman, but I doubt many women had much of a say in this video. I find the same images degrading, too.
If she did have a say in cutting scenes. Maybe that explains why the editing seems so erratic. Its all over the place
Britney is a talented girl and I am glad to see she is apparently doing well.
Her boys crack me up. Cuties!
Hopefully this means she will go back to wearing pants. She always looked so great in pants. I miss pants wearing britney.
I think your views on “sexy” change as you get older and become a mom. At 37 and now a mother to three girls (age seven then three ear old twins), I find myself looking for more modestly sexy clothing than I did when I was in my twenties. Not just because my body has changed (hello twin roll that won’t go away), but because I’m setting an example for these blue eyed girls. Brittany may want her sons to see her work. She sees the world through a parent’s eyes now.
I must say I worry about her a bit, she has taken on a big job with the Vegas run. I’m not so sure she’s ready for such a grueling schedule of live performances, but time will tell. She seems so harmless to me, I wish her well.
When I look at her now, I see someone on high doses of psychotropic meds who is being used as a puppet to earn loads of money. The type of illness she suffers doesn’t just go away and it requires really, really harsh medications to control the symptoms. She’s a shadow of what she used to be and I question the wisdom of her handlers putting her back in the spotlight in Las Vegas.
+1
I’ve always thought Brit would have had in many ways a much nicer life if shed just been a backing dancer. I mean, girlfriend could DANCE. And she clearly loves it.
Watching her writhe around in this autotuned piece of mediocrity is really sad. And, on a side note, her label clearly know she’s over too. This is as budget as miley’s bangerz covers – just in a different way.
I think it’s always been because they are worried about what she’ll say in interviews and not that she won’t have a response (to them scripting the journalists’ questions). When she did that big MTV documentary not long after her breakdown, when her team was pushing her big comeback, she gave quite candid answers and said her life felt like Groundhog Day (referencing the movie) every day, due to the conservatorship. Since then, it seems her interviews have been on lockdown.
Just business as usual for Britney. Do a sexy video or performance or photoshoot, then do an interview claiming you’re not trying to be sexy and you’re really not comfortable with how it turned out. All the late 90’s early 00’s pop stars did it that way. It’s why Christina Aguilera copped so much flack for Dirrty. She refused to back-track like the rest.
I thought it was just bc that video was tasteless.
Dirrty? What was tasteless about it? I think it was grittier then most. But Seriously. Nothing worse than Lady Marmalade, Womanizer or Wrecking Ball. Now Blurred Lines on the other hand…
There is a way to be sexy and not overt about it.
This is so weird. First, so obvious Britney is strictly controlled and then all this guff from managers and producers that actually Britney DOES have a great degree of control over her videos? I don’t know… If she does have that control, why even have gone the way they did in this latest one? I hate to think that her managers/she is just trying to avoid the inevitable backlash. I believe the reports that Britney was all over pushing her sexy image when she was younger though, because it’s consistent with documentaries and what her mother has said too…Britney wanted to do that. I mean that all also proves Sinead’s point too. You may want it, sure. And there are plenty of people willing to help you. But be careful about what that gets you because those same people will take advantage of that and you.
Anyway, just from her comments here alone, I’d tell her, go for it then. I think those were always her strength anyway: fun dance-y videos.
Brit looks great, her handlers are helping her keep everything under control, she has the clarity to say these things. She seems like she is doing well and we should prop that up, not hate. Mental health issues are scary, there is no reason to shade her.
Poor brit. I really just want her to retire and live the rest of her life in peace, and stop letting all these people manipulate her. I get the feeling that she hardly has a say in any of it and is just a puppet by her handlers.
If Brit want to take back old school…old school don’t lip sing in concerts
That would explain the church outfit,.right? Larry knows the paps shock photos get noticed
I seriously love me some Britney Spears & I think she looks gorgeous in her new video. . However, I don’t know why her handlers continue to push her to perform when she’s obviously not into it anymore. She’s busted her ass for 15 years and made all the people around her very rich. I think she would be happier being a full time stay at home mom rather than being pimped out in Vegas for the next two years.
there is something very special about britney’s blue sexy dress. She is always so cute!
She’s not what I’d call sexy, then or now.
Simple, vacuous, bland, and uninteresting, yes…sexy, no.
If we’re going to talk about the old says, then please remember that in the old days, singers could actually SING.