Britney Spears & Michael Jackson: Victims of Superstardom
Known the world over as pop hitmakers, iconic stage performers, and their prolonged victimisation of the tabloid press; Michael Jackson’s and Britney Spears’s rocky road through stardom has many parallels.
Although their own personal interactions were fleeting, they were still uniquely significant as these two pop-powerhouses’ celebrity intercepted each other on several occasions, and their deeper understanding of each other’s unique struggles endured for many years to come.
Growing up during Jackson’s thriller mega stardom, Britney Spears revealed that the King of Pop has been a life-long idol for her, recounting that as a young child she was so mesmerised by Jackson’s performance of ‘Billie Jean’, she would repeat the song over and over again. Later Britney expanded on her musical influences, citing the likes of Madonna, Janet Jackson, and Whitney Houston as major influences and to whom she would ‘sing along to day and night in her living room’.
Bought up as part of the MTV generation, the impressionable young Britney Spears was able to internalise performance styles from the era’s most celebrated artists and create her own unique star appeal as reflected in her most celebrated early award show appearances. Spears drew frequent comparisons to Madonna and Jackson in particular, in terms of vocals, choreography and performance. However, unlike the larger-than-life music icons that came before her, the teenager’s girl-next-door image in combination with a phenomenal bombshell stage presence proved a winning combination and skyrocketed Spears to an international superstardom like no other.
By 2001, Britney had released three top-selling no. 1 albums in as many years and undergone three international tours. She broke records, including the best-selling album by a teenage artist as well as the most no. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 for a teenage female artist. Spears even surpassed records previously set by her idols, with the biggest one-week sales of an album by any female artist ever. By the age of 19, Britney Spears was firmly at the centre of the burgeoning teen pop music scene and set the standard for all other female performers that grew to prominence after her.
It was at this time that Michael Jackson was preparing for a much-anticipated comeback with his latest musical endeavour, ‘Invincible’. However, the pop music landscape had changed significantly in the six years since the release of his last album of original work, and unlike previous promotion, which positioned Michael Jackson as the centre of the pop universe as a formidable music icon, Jackson’s management decided to take advantage of his significance as an originator and a major influence for a new wave of artists that were now at the forefront. Therefore, Jackson aligned himself with popular acts like NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys, Aaron Carter, Usher, 98 Degrees and Destiny’s Child, who all paid tribute to ‘30th Anniversary celebration’ at Madison Square Garden, to mark such a high-profile televised special, would attract an untapped legion of impressionable young fans, who may have not yet been familiar with Jackson’s catalog in the same way previous generations were. As part of this plan, it was natural for the established King of Pop to appear together with the newly Jackson’s 30th year as a solo artist. Sony music hoped crowned Princess of Pop during such an event, who was undeniably at the height of her commercial pop powers and influence.
According to Wade Robson, long-time friend and more recently accuser of Michael Jackson as well as former choreographer for Britney Spears, Jackson grew ‘obsessed’ with Britney Spears. He said, “Michael had some obsession with Britney, and he would call me, and he would want to know what she was like and he would say ‘Isn’t she sexy? ‘Isn’t she beautiful?’ Wondering if I could set up a way for them to meet”.
In no time a call was arranged, and Michael Jackson personally contacted the pop princess out of the blue. Britney Spears has on several occasions recounted this awestruck conversation, expressing her initial disbelief and enduring admiration for the artist. As part of the interaction, Spears agreed to perform with Jackson and on September 7th, 2001, Spears appeared on stage with Jackson as part of a duet of one of her favourite songs ever, ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’. Britney’s confident struts across the stage and sultry rendition, had fans of both musical icons in rapture. As the performance ended, both thanked each other and expressed their mutual admiration.
However, the televised airing of the performance was delayed and marred by contractual complications. Spears reportedly, dropped out of the Jackson performance because of her exclusive deal with HBO that prohibited her from appearing anywhere else on television within a month of her live HBO concert special. However, she rejoined the star-studded line-up just days before the event after reaching an agreement that her performance would not be included in the CBS televised Jackson special. The performance was later incorporated into a re-airing of the special, once Spears’s contract with HBO had expired. The legal brawl was indicative of the increasingly tough exclusivity agreements that networks were placing on top music acts at the time and foreshadowed ongoing disputes Michael Jackson would experience with his own record label, Sony Music, during the release and promotion of his ‘Invincible’ album.
The next time the two pop powerhouses would come into contact again was the following year, when Britney Spears was invited to introduce Michael Jackson onstage at the 2002 Video Music Awards. Overwhelmed and honoured to come in contact with her childhood idol onstage once again, Britney gifted Jackson a multi-tiered cake as the event actually took place on his birthday. In her speech, she defined him as a ‘true innovator’, breaking barriers and naming him as her ‘Artist of The Millennium’. Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding, Michael Jackson accepted a statue on the birthday cake, believing it to be an “Artist of the Millennium Award”, an accolade that didn’t actually exist. The singer then continued to give a speech thanking God, his parents and the magician David Blaine, before Britney Spears stepped in to introduce the nominees for Best Pop Video.
The next day, the mishap was splashed across tabloid headlines and contributed to a series of public blunders Michael Jackson endured during 2002, only adding to his increasingly bizarre public image. Britney Spears also wasn’t left without criticism, as her leather clad outfit was roasted in the press and as a presumed ‘role model’ for her many young fans, she was condemned for her provocative public image.
During a 2003 interview on ABC’s Primetime, Diane Sawyer held up photographs in an attempt to shame Britney Spears for her outfit choices. But when her look from the previous year’s VMAs was mentioned, Britney couldn’t help but exclaim her excitement over meeting Michael Jackson. Sawyer proceeded to ask her questions about the King of Pop and whether she stands by the Michael Jackson of today. Britney Spears was uncharacteristic of many public figures at the time and chose to demonstrate compassion for a star that has experienced a level of celebrity she in many ways could relate to. Having been a child star herself, Britney had a personal understanding of the pressure and public criticism that level of superstardom brought with it, relating first-hand how lonely one might feel and how destructive that could be for a star’s own internal well-being.
Although Britney Spears continuously expressed admiration and compassion for Michael Jackson, it was later revealed that Jackson didn’t always feel the same for Spears. As he expressed privately as part of the Rabbi Shmuley tapes when the then-meteoric Britney Spears was mentioned, “I don’t believe that she’ll have any great longevity in the public eye because she doesn’t understand the power of mystery.”
Although on the surface this could be seen as a clear diss directed towards Spears, some may argue that it was more of a criticism towards those who were managing her career rather than the artist herself. Unlike Jackson, who took several years between album and tour cycles, Britney Spears’s initial pursuit to pop prominence consisted of a continual stream of recording, touring and promoting in order to fully capitalise on her immense popularity. One could argue that such an intense level of musical output doesn’t enable the performer to evolve artistically or allow time away from public life to recoup, and therefore artist burnout is inevitable. Not only for the artist’s own personal development, but too much time in the public eye runs the risk of overexposure that can be a real threat for an artist’s career longevity. As Michael Jackson experienced himself, no matter how popular you are as an artist, the public can easily grow tired of you and intensifying criticism Is therefore inescapable.
Like Michael Jackson did concerning rumours of his sexuality and plastic surgery for example, Britney Spears was encouraged to counteract slanderous press about her provocative image by proclaiming her virginity and desires to abstain from intimate relations before marriage. However, this decision ultimately backfired on the star as it encouraged a slurry of tabloid intrusion that as a result felt it was fair game to speculate over the intimate details of her personal life.
In 2007, during the dark days of Britney Spears’s very public meltdown, Michael Jackson’s own spiritual adviser, Rabbi Shmuley, expressed how Britney’s downfall was becoming tragically reminiscent of the King of Pop himself. “Michael came very close to death, and I fear for Britney in the same way. Both of them seem to be spitting in the face of the talent they are blessed with and are showing us that they don’t really want to be helped… what concerns me is that it took Jackson a good 20 years to deteriorate, but Britney has done it in just three or four”.
Unlike Michael Jackson predicted, Britney Spears proved her longevity as she continued to stay in the headlines throughout the 2000s, but more for her court case appearances and rehab admissions rather than any musical break throughs. In both 2007 and 2008, Britney topped the chart for the world’s most searched celebrity and was only bumped off the no. 1 spot by Michael Jackson himself after his death in 2009. Upon hearing the singer’s passing, Spears paid tribute to her musical muse with the statement, “He has been an inspiration throughout my entire life and I’m devastated he’s gone!”.
Since Michael Jackson’s death, Britney Spears has consistently honoured the life of the late pop music legend, like on Twitter when marking the four-year anniversary of his death. “My thoughts are with the Jackson family today. Honoured to have shared a stage with him. Miss u Michael!”. During Britney Spears’s much celebrated Las Vegas show, she also paid tribute to the King of Pop while performing the track ‘Me Against the Music’, as the singer donned a fedora hat and struck poses resembling MJ’s signature moves.
In recent years, as Britney Spears has chosen to remain outside the public spotlight amid mental health struggles and a messy legal battle regarding her conservatorship, Britney shared with her fans on Instagram some energetic freestyle moves to Michael and Janet Jackson’s 1995 hit ‘Scream’. Captioning the clip ‘Me and Michael’, the post may have offered some insight into Britney’s state of mind as the song was written by Jackson about his frustration at the media coverage during the 1993 child sexual abuse allegations, and features the lyrics ‘with such confusions don’t it make you wanna scream? Stop pressurin’ me, I can’t take it much longer, I think I might go insane’.
Some fans speculated the video was a clapback to her long-time manager Larry Rudolph telling TMZ the day before that Britney was not fit to return to her Vegas show following mental health troubles, stating that the singer may never perform again. The lesser-known Michael Jackson track may have been a way for Spears to express her ongoing frustration over her current circumstance, and also expresses a deeper affinity she now feels with her musical idol, who, like Michael, struggles to regain her personal freedom and continues feeling victimised and misrepresented by the tabloid press.