cyberspace junkyard

The long awaited Britney post

You know, I have a feeling this is going to be a bit anti-climactic, really. Kinda like a much-anticipated sequel that turns out to be a dud. Or those scooter thingies that people merrily ride on while being overtaken by other people walking. Or the first Young Talent Time video.

Well, Britney, Britney, Britney... where do I start?
Do I call myself a die-hard fan? I have to say no... after all, I don't even have any of her CDs. Then again, I don't have many CDs full stop... I don't seem to have much time to listen to them so I prefer to have ones that I would actually listen to more than once (soundtracks, musicals etc). I know some people who have an astonishing range of CDs. Hundreds. Thousands of 'em. Amazing. Have you ever thought about how long it would take you to listen to all those CDs? Each one goes for an hour, times that by a thousand and there you have 42 straight days. Assuming you do need to sleep, then that pushes it out to 63 days. 63 days of non-stop CD listening. Two whole months of your life. It's quite picturesque out here on this tangent.

And you know, the bit about me not having any of her 3 CDs is kinda a moot point when you realise that I have 2 of her DVDs. but I can't help it! I love DVDs! (see below post... ) Oops. still on this tangent...

Out of all the "teenage pop-starlets" out there (and by this I mean the Mandy Moores, the Jessica Simpsons and the Christina Aguileras), I've always admired Britney the most. Have you seen her "Baby One More Time" video clip? Very cool stuff. She has a very firm jazz ballet foundation - evident in her turns, sharp head movements and general core body posture. She's also athletic - quite a few gymnastics moves there, like the back walkover. Her style reminds me of Janet Jackson (one of the best singing dancers around) except her overall style is a little softer - not so many quick, sharp moves. She also has shorter arms so her finishing positions aren't as aesthetically pleasing but add an element of funk to most of her movements. In any case, she seemed young, talented and she could sing adequately and dance up a storm. She got da moves!

I must admit that some of her live performances have been a little lacking in freedom - she seems very stiff in a few of the early ones and just didn't really relax into her songs, but she's grown into quite an exuberant performer!! Her voice is getting stronger and more flexible in her middle range. She's losing that back-of-her-throat squeakiness that you can hear in a song like "Lucky" and makes her sound like a little girl. The thing is, Britney has staying power. She's used some genuine talent and a lot of smarts to keep on top of the music scene where others have burst in and then faded. She doesn't pick songs that are too challenging vocally or lyrically but make you get up and groove along cos they have a strong rock 4-beat behind most of them. She's made wise choices in interspersing dance hits (Oops I did it again, Stronger) with ballads (Sometimes, I'm not a girl; not yet a woman). She hasn't provided too much fodder for the media other than her "drinking a bottle of Coke while signed on to promote Pepsi" moment and her changing (and sometimes bizarre) fashion choices. You can pick up a mic and sing her songs without choking on the syrupy lyrics and without getting halfway through a verse and wondering what the melody actually is.

At the end of the day though, the bop-queen in me affirms that I can happily bop to Britney.

So there you have it.