12

Although Britney Spears has revealed that it is going to be hard for her to return to the music industry, as she was massively popular amongst the millennials, you can’t deny her influence in pop music, culture, and fashion. Heck, even Lady Gaga who has her own style in lyrics and fashion, cites her as an influence. It’s no wonder she’s called the Pop Princess. And it’s even harder not to listen to I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman over and over whilst reading this book because its subtitle is indeed a reference to the song, co-written by English singer-songwriter Dido.

The first nine chapters were quite an easy read. You could also feel her energy – regardless whether Spears used a ghostwriter for this work of nonfiction. From these pages, you and I will gather that the Spears family is not exactly perfect – and it’s not like fans expect the pop princess to be prim and proper at all times. It’s just that… unfortunately, Britney turned out the way she is partly because of the incidents she had been through and the support system that she had.

From Chapter 10 onwards, she details her relationship with Justin Timberlake – before also giving the reader what she was feeling within, when Justin broke up with her over text message – especially because she was filming something related to Overprotected. The only reason my reading speed slowed was because some of the things described were too much for me to take in. Remember that moment at the Video Music Awards 2001, when Britney Spears appeared with a snake for her performance on I’m A Slave 4U? Based on what’s in the book, she was terrified and disgusted she had to do that.

In the other chapters, you’ll find jottings on her tours and those she had the pleasure and sometimes displeasure of working with on tour and some on fashion-related deals. Chapter 17 is perhaps one of the highlights of her career – working with the Queen of Pop for Me Against the Music – because of how close and inspiring they are to each other. Of course, you’ll also learn that the Queen of Pop became her mentor in some aspects of her life.

In the later part, you get some on her personal life, including that marriage that was later annulled because she was drunk and wanted to have fun.

Now, you would think that Kevin Federline was really her dream man – Spears and Federline had a MTV series linked to their lives and names. However, as much as Spears sacrificed to make the relationship work, especially with two sons related to them, Federline just had other things in mind. Post-divorce, it seems Federline just wanted nothing more to do with Spears (except for her child support ka-ching) and even declined Spears' several requests to gain access to her sons.

One of her albums, Glory, was named as such as per her son’s suggestion.

What follows are the heartbreaking story of her conservatorship, as dictated by Spears’ own father. Spears decided to rebel by shaving her head bald – to indicate that she was fed up of conforming to societal norms – since most are familiar with her blonde locks, midriff, sexy and glittery image.

When you’re famous, perhaps these are the consequences – and unfortunately, Spears is one of many victims who had suffered in the hands of the industry and even what’s supposed to be a stable support system.

It’s also brave of her to point out the difference in treatment whenever a male artiste gets into trouble for something he did versus if and when a female artiste lands in hot water for something she did.

Of course, Britney later confesses that she was young, innocent, was not good at the game, but not manipulative. Just stupid. And like many of us, we make mistakes. Sometimes, we have to make really stupid mistakes.

In 2022, Spears had worked with Elton John on a remake of Tiny Dancer – a modernised version titled Hold Me Closer – a combination of Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, Tiny Dancer and another hit was used to repopularise the song. While the official music video is creative, I found the acoustic version much more in sync with the feel of the song.

The book ends with Spears being free from her conservatorship and calls Ashgari her husband… although I don’t think I should go into what happened to this relationship.

Overall, the writing sat with me quite well the first 9 chapters. Beyond that, some parts felt abrupt and disjointed. Of course, this shouldn’t deter any true fan of Britney Spears from reading the 200+-page book.

There are four versions of this book – hardcover, paperback, Kindle as well as audiobook, with narration by American actress Michelle Williams.

Oh yes, as announced, there is going to be a sequel to this book. As of today, there’s no update on the exact date it will be released though.