Saturday, October 11, 2008
It's Britney, Bitch
Well, it seems that Britney is back. I know that many of us here at the Situation have been hoping for this for quite a while, and it's good to see Ms. B back in her element: pretty boys, nudity, sexy disguises--remember the video for "Toxic"? Fun stuff.
Maybe if Britney can make a successful comeback, so can the rest of us... ;)
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This song is just terrible. Awful really.
It makes listening to President Bush speak a pleasant experience.
Even Sweet Toddler J. started to freak out when she heard the music and wanted Megs to shut it off...
Solon, that Bush line is pretty unfair. Harrogate submits that Bush never said (on camera anyway) anything remotely so poetic as:
"You say I'm crazy/ I got your crazy."
That line makes Harrogate smile. Verily he has seen far less interesting anthologized couplets in his day.
FWIW, Harrogate, like Butters, "thought is was pretty good" (that one's for you, Roof, in case you're scrying the thread. But forget the merits, or lack thereof, regarding the song itself.
Because here's the important thing, perhaps the only thing worth mentioning about this Video:
Look at how many places the main characters DO IT!!!!
Penthouse apartment, in the back of his limousine, corner cafe dining room, restaurant kitchen, his private office, in the office lobby, on the copier machine.
Etc. Etc. Etc. Man. She really does "got his crazy."
Priceless look on the dude's face at the very end of the video, BTW. He's quite literally saying with his countenance: "What the fuck????? Look at all this awesome exotic sex that I'm getting caught up in?? Will this madness never end????"
Oh, the humanity!!!!
Yes, "Womanizer" really fails to live up to the standard set by songs like "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" and "I'm a Slave 4 U."
Not to mention "Hit Me Baby, One More Time."
Right.
Britney's talent as a singer or a songwriter has never been the thing that made her so successful. She's a performer. An entertainer. And she's good at it (when she's not melting down). She's also good at selling herself (or at being sold, but I hope that she's not a total puppet).
I'm still glad to see her back in business and looking like her old self.
So the video displays a wonderful sex ethic.... Cinemax does as well... Tickle Wars accomplished the same, though there are no calls to protest this video.
It is still a pretty crappy song and posts about it perpetuate crap....If you perpetuate crap here, it will be perpetuated on the radio and on Mtv. And, if Brittney finds exposure there, she might develop an undeserved career. When "musicians" make money though they have a serious lack of talent, it hurts the music industry.
Next thing you know, Brittney will be on stage during an Mtv awards show, half-drunk and obviously lip-sinking. Consequently, she will be laughed at ad nauseum and will shave off her hair.
Then, at this point, Megs will write another post in which she apologizes for being complicit in Brittney's insanity. And most everyone will agree.
Instead, let's just end the conversation here. We can agree to ignore her and, through the power of our blog, the rest of the world will allow her a chance to find sanity, be a good mom (yes I went there in light of the other post), and rehabilitate herself as a citizen, all which will be done by ignoring her.
Creating false prophets, or poets, helps no one...
No matter the "success" of her video, the play is still a tragedy... It is a tragedy for her and certainly for the American people.
I want to clarify my comment: I was being sarcastic. I'm not impressed by this video or any of Britney's work. Although I am certainly happy that she seems to be getting her act together again.
Just to clarify: by no means am I attacking the integrity of any blogger at the Rhetorical Situation. I am only attacking the integrity of Britney Spears. My argument is that she clearly lacks the ability to survive in the music industry as she lacks the necessary talent. Since she lacks the ability to make this determination for herself, it should be our responsibility to help her make that decision.
I'm hearing this: "blah, blah, blah." When I clearly should be hearing this: "Britney's purty."
Seriously, she's smokin' in the video and isn't that the point?
I, too, was being sarcastic, but I also enjoy Britney as a performer of pop music. A few of her songs live on my iPod, along with those of Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake. Scoff if you will, but I think that only reveals your own snobbery. Pop music is fun.
If I'm recalling correctly, the apology to Britney was in regards to supporting the tabloid reports of her meltdown. Supporting her successes is not the same thing. Maybe, Solon, Britney *wants* to continue her career as an entertainer. And maybe doing so makes her happy. And being happy will no doubt benefit her sanity and her ability to be a good mother to her children.
I find it ironic, though, that you were such an outspoken supporter of the stupid "Tickle Wars" video, yet you call posting a Britney Spears video "perpetuating crap." Britney's stylized representation of female sexuality is hardly the same as some poorly-shot amateur video of girls tickling each other.
I hope that this video and its accompanying album is the beginning of Britney's return. Just because none of her songs appeared on the "Garden State" soundtrack doesn't mean that they don't have value as part of music and popular cultures. She is participating in a long, long history of American pop music. What she should do, perhaps, is take a page from Janet Jackson's playbook and seize "control" of her professional and personal life away from parents, producers, etc.
I'm going to go listen to some Britney now.
"Britney's stylized representation of female sexuality is hardly the same as some poorly-shot amateur video of girls tickling each other."
My response is actually yours: "Scoff if you will, but I think that only reveals your own snobbery."
Perhaps.
First, let's face it: we're all snobs about something.
Second, even you, Solon, will have to concede to Supa's latest argument if only for this reason: some of your favorite artists, namely The Beatles, started their careers as purveyors of pop music. Say what you will, but we wouldn't have had "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" or "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" if we hadn't had "I Want to Hold Your Hand" or "Love Me Do." Perhaps Britney has this sort of transformation in her. Her career path (not her personal life) has been quite similar to Madonna's, and I doubt there are any among us would argue against Madonna's talent and business acumen.
Well, there is a difference between my thoughts on pop music and my thoughts on Britney.
There are many talented pop musicians, e.g. Christina, Justin, Beyoncé. Britney is not talented; she is just a prop by a record company. Supa points this out and I agree with her.
Britney has not done too much of evolving as a musician. I think that here level of "participation" in music reflects the darker side of music, the songwriter/ performer distinction. Britney may be a performer, more like a dancer when performing, but she does not seem to be a songwriter. She is no Madonna.
A lot of people make money off of Britney. Hopefully she is smart enough to protect herself or to hire someone who does. But she seems to be nothing but a pawn and, if that is what she wants, good for her. We can all wait for her to shave her head again. A scheduled implosion is set to occur next week.
Not to wax Pollyana here, but this is a fascinating discussion from which Harrogate has learned much.
Now, where Harrogate himself stands hath, of course, already been established, and despite all tghat he has learned, his final position remains pretty much the same as it was before the debate set in.
But in response to Megs' last comment. Megs, your point was built in to Harrogate's explication of the video. Were it not manifestly true that she looks 'purty,' after all, then there would be little or no reason to enumerate all the places where she and her target womanizer are, as it were, doing it.
Et tu, Roof? ;-)
Note to self and other Board 'Members': "dick-kryptonite" needs to become a label for this blog.
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