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BRITNEY SPEARS’S GLORIOUS RETURN? and Industry

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Intro

Yes Britney is back! And guess what, the new ’s title is “Glory.” Does this signal her glorious return? Wait, did you grow up listening to Britney’s music? How did you first discover her? Do you have a favorite song of hers? She sure is an icon but do you think her music has feminist message too?

First, watch her new for “Make Me” in slide 6 and share your impression with your Ringle tutor.

Then read the article in slide 9-11 and learn how she is maintaining relevant.

Finally, read one more article in slide 14-17 to think about her relationship with feminism and what feminism means in the pop music industry.

Have fun! 3

BRITNEY & YOU

Did/do you like ? What is your favorite song of hers? 4

Do you have a favorite Britney Spears song? How did you first get to know her and when? 5

Introducing “Make Me” 6

“Make Me” by Britney Spears

Watch it on Youtube 7 Food for Thought Exchange your ideas with the tutor.

THREE ADJECTIVES If you are to describe this song with three adjectives, which ones would you choose and why?

COMPARISON WITH HER OTHER SONGS Aesthetically speaking, how would you compare this song with her other songs?

INTERACTION BETWEEN WOMEN AND MEN How are women and men interacting in the music video? Does anything stand out to you?

THUMBS UP OR DOWN? To sum up, how do you like the song? 8

How Britney Spears Stays Relevant 9 How Britney Spears Stays Relevant

There were two kinds of pop stars in the ’80s: Those who scratched out hits as fast as possible until their batteries gave out, and those who moved with surgical precision, working through new looks and sounds, before vanishing for years to restructure. There were stars who shone bright and fast, like freestyle music luminary , who logged two platinum and a string of memorable singles including “I Wonder If I Take You ” and “” in the space of three years, then tumbled down the charts for good. On the other end of the spectrum, there were the Janet Jacksons and who, every three or four years, checked in with a vibrant, personal, political album armed with enough singles to keep them on the charts and terrestrial radio while they toured, recorded more, or just plain took time off.

The most successful acts this century — , Beyoncé, etc. — have followed the latter path to sustained renown. But the freedom of a radically changed music industry has afforded new avenues to continued relevance that weren’t available 30 years ago. New releases yesterday from Britney Spears illustrates ways to hold court outside of the pomp and circumstance that pop regency demands.

Britney Spears is not spoken of with the hushed respect reserved for pop royalty, but she’s had a No. 1 single in the ’90s, ’00s, and ’10s, giving the lie to the notion of a short shelf life for stars of late ’90s bubblegum pop. Her only peers in that respect are and , fellow Mickey Mouse Club alumni whose singing careers outlived the death of TRL and the birth of digital piracy. 10 How Britney Spears Stays Relevant

Now, Spears lacks both Timberlake’s rep as a capable and a powerhouse voice like Aguilera’s. What keeps her afloat is tenacity, a network of diehards, and a keen sense of what’s new and hot. Her albums don’t always hit the mark, but they always notch a hit. But even amid the success of 2013’s goofy, charming “,” Spears’s last album, , garnered negative reviews and floundering sales. A two-year Vegas residency following its release gave rise to suspicion that the was ready to embrace a future as a nostalgia revue.

This summer, Spears’s return was hinted at over a tantalizing network of teaser trailers and surprise late- night appearances. In July, she sneakily used an ad for a new Kohl’s exclusive fragrance as a ruse to release the new single “Private Show.” Weeks later, she snuck into Jimmy Kimmel’s bedroom with a troupe of male dancers to wake him up by performing the woozy new G-Eazy “Make Me…” for a prank segment on his show. The hijinx helped: The song peaked at No. 17. Her new album, Glory, is out now, and its team of collaborators is savvy: ’s Artpop cohort , Norwegian electronic beatsmith , rising Swedish writer-producer duo Mattman & Robin, and T-Pain associate Young Fyre all provide sounds that match the triumph of the album title. “Just Luv Me” is a tropical house bop that’ll crush at radio when it’s ready. Spears tiptoes around her upper register for “Private Show” and comes away with a confident, soulful performance. The reward for the singer’s care in slipping out of her comfort zone while keeping her sights trained on radio is that Glory is one of her best outings in nearly a decade. 11 How Britney Spears Stays Relevant

Britney Spears’s gravity-defying hit parade is anomaly unique to the current state of the music industry. Glory made clever use of viral marketing to rekindle excitement in and outside of Spears’s fan base in the wake of worries she’d run out of steam.

Very little of this was possible even ten years ago, when festivals like Coachella were just finding their footing, and YouTube was in its infancy. In 2016, with artists maneuvering through a music industry that spills out out over TV, film, the internet, and (perhaps too many) festival stages worldwide, we shouldn’t speak of pop stardom as a game of queens, kings, and peasants, but also of lords and ladies, and dukes and duchesses.

Source: Vulture 12 Food for Thought Exchange your ideas with the tutor.

TWO CATEGORIES OF POP STARS The author of the article categorizes pop stars into two groups. How are their career trajectory different?

COMPARISON WITH HER PEERS How is Britney Spears compared with other bubble gum pop stars or the alumni of Mickey Mouse Club (Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera?

HER STRATEGY What is Britney Spears’ strategy to remain relevant in the pop music industry?

K-POP STARS? Are there K-pop stars who have been maintaining their career for nearly two decades or more? What can other pop stars learn from her career? 13

Britney Spears is Absolutely a Feminist Issue 14 Britney Spears Is Absolutely a Feminist Issue

Now that we’ve heard the leaked version of Britney Spears’s new album, Glory— officially out on Friday — fans know it lives up to its name: Britney’s back, b*tches. But being a pop star, particularly a female one, has changed dramatically since Spears' last true glory days, the early aughts. Namely, the job description has somehow added one major bullet point: Be a feminist leader. With Beyoncé leading the charge, , Lorde, , and , among others, have fallen into formation to pick up some of Gloria Steinem’s slack.

Spears has neither discussed nor demonstrated any feminist tendencies, beyond a few girl-power lyrics that were as controversial as being pro-puppy. (“Stronger than yesterday, now it’s nothing but my way!”) Her first video from Glory, for the single “Make Me,” takes a cutesy, weak stab at something vaguely feminist by, as we’d say in the women’s studies department, pandering to the female gaze — i.e. parading a lot of shirtless men around in addition to, as usual, objectifying Britney’s sick-as-ever bod. So how does she fit into the 2016 pop landscape full of aspiring Friedans and de Beauvoirs? By reminding us that sometimes pop music can be a simple respite from complicated lives — three minutes of ear candy extolling the pleasures of good sex or mourning mundane heartbreak. That said, Spears as a cultural phenomenon has plenty of feminist food for thought. 15 Britney Spears Is Absolutely a Feminist Issue

In the early 2010s, it became the thing for interviewers to ask female pop stars: “Are you a feminist?” Whatever the answer, it made headlines; feminist sites railed against stars who didn’t embrace the label, and anti-feminists rolled their eyes at those who did. (Meanwhile, no one asked Justins Bieber and Timberlake where they stood on gender equality.) Spears was giving few interviews at the time, and media seemed to have decided to go easy on her after her 2007 breakdown — more on that in a bit — so she never faced this particular question.

Then Beyoncé’s self titled 2013 album delivered the Big Bang of pop star feminism. First Bey extensively sampled Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk defining feminism in the song “***Flawless,” then she performed at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards with the word "FEMINIST" in lights behind her, and thus it was ordained: All female pop stars must now be feminist.

As a feminist, I still get choked up thinking about those moments. It continues to cheer me when I find myself in my Beyoncé dance class with a room full of women as Adichie urges each of us to be “a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.” But I don’t need every pop star to serve as my go-to feminist theorist. I’m fine with procuring those services from, say, Jessica Valenti or Andi Zeisler or Gloria Steinem — who's still out there doing her thing. Beyoncé’s Lemonade is a masterpiece of intersectional feminism as well as a great record, but lord knows we can’t all be Beyoncé. 16 Britney Spears Is Absolutely a Feminist Issue

Of course, the fact that Brit hasn't branded herself as a feminist doesn’t mean that appreciating Spears is anti-feminist. I’ve been a fan (and a feminist) from the beginning, and I see Britney not as a feminist leader, but as a feminist issue. Everything that has ever happened to her, since stepping into the public eye at age 17, has feminist implications. Since her breakthrough moment —the “… Baby One More Time” video — her sexuality has been exploited by any major corporation that could get a piece of it. Magazines have been particularly on top of this task, starting with that infamous 1999 cover featuring a teen Britney in her childhood bedroom in her underwear holding a Teletubby. She famously claimed to be a virgin, which inspired years of speculation as to her sexual status courtesy of a creepy, leering media. Later, mom revealed in her book that Spears had lost it at 14, well before becoming famous, proof that the pop star had been cajoled into playing the virgin-whore dichotomy for dollars… and also proof that literally everyone in her life was willing to sell her out.

The singer was subsequently criticized for being too sexual, a bad mother, a party girl, and pantyless in public. (Never mind that it was the sticking a camera where it didn't belong that captured the shot — and the tabloids who deemed the infamous image publishable.) All this shaming climaxed during her epically public 2007 meltdown, which was defined by a blatantly symbolic act: Britney shaving her own head, and thus shedding the femininity and beauty that made her famous. 17 Britney Spears Is Absolutely a Feminist Issue

Since then, her body has become a barometer for her career status, forevermore scrutinized as to where it ranks on the Britney career spectrum: Is it closer to its 2001 “I’m a Slave 4 U” heights or its 2007 “” lows? Every major moment of her career has provided enough fodder for dozens of women’s studies papers.

In fact, it’s easy, even imperative, to root for Britney Spears if you’re a feminist. Britney may never be a feminist leader, but watching her career — and hoping for her triumph — is a feminist act.

Source: Bustle 18 New Expressions Did you understand these expressions?

AS CONTROVERSIAL AS BEING PRO-PUPPY What does the author mean by Britney Spears’ girl-power lyrics being “as controversial as being pro-puppy”?

FEMALE GAZE “Male gaze” is a term that is often used by art historians and critics. What do you think “female gaze” means in this context?

ASPIRING FRIEDANS AND DE BEAUVOIRS? Do you recognize these last names: Friedan and de Beauvoir? What do you think this expression means? 19 Food for Thought Exchange your ideas with the tutor.

BRITNEY’S MUSIC AND FEMINISM What does the author say about Britney Spears’ feminism in her music?

INTERVIEWERS’ LOADED QUESTION Why do you think the interviewers ask female pop stars if they are feminist? Do you think male stars are also asked the same question, if they stand by gender equality?

FEMALE POP STAR = FEMINIST THEORIST? The author says that she doesn’t need all female pop stars to be feminist theorist. Why do you think she says that?

BRITNEY SPEARS AS A FEMINIST ISSUE What makes the author consider Britney Spears a feminist issue?

K-POP AND FEMINISM? What implication or significance does feminism have over K-pop? Is there any star that is branded as a feminist star or “” star?