Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Oops, I Did It Again

More tiresome Britney Spears puttering, see if it keeps the hits coming. Plus, the more management-wonk knowledge I accrue, the more certain aspects interest me.

Los Angeles-based The Firm said: "We have terminated our professional relationship with Britney Spears.

"We believe she is enormously talented, but current circumstances have prevented us from properly doing our job," the statement continued.

Spears hired the company for the run-up to her comeback album, which is due out in the US on 13 November.


The big topic of discussion now seems to be some variation of whether or not her career can be revived. This is silly. Of course it can; show business practically lives on the tropes of redemption and renewal for fallen idols. Who says Hollywood is run by gays and Jews? It's run by closet Catholics, apparently.

But seriously folks, the question should be, does she want to revive her career? She seems to have hit some strange rut where she wants the trappings and lifestyle of enormous success, without all the actual work involved, to the extent that singing and dancing are "work". Not to denigrate either of those things, but the fact is that if you actually have a talent and passion for something, then it's not work -- it's a blessing to make a shitload of money to do something you would do for free, which is where 99% of the planet's actual musicians are at.

Even when we know better, these sordid little tales of celebrity downfall can be interesting, but not because of what we think they "reveal" about people (since we often don't know all or even most of the story). It's that it's strange and somewhat irritating to watch someone essentially take a winning Powerball ticket and wipe their ass with it.

But it must be disorienting to have literally everyone in your life -- and millions of strangers -- wanting a piece of you, acting like it's their right to live vicariously through you. Or in the case of that fucking freak on YouTube (or was it a parody? I honestly can't tell, but I really don't think it was), to use you as some sort of weird cathartic totem for their own demons. The tabulæ don't come much more rasa (rasæ?) than Miss Britney, but she has failed to equip herself with the knowledge and temperament to sustain her career, and has apparently rejected or alienated everyone in her life who can help her in those areas.

It's bad enough when fuckin' K-Fed looks like the better parent, but show bidness has a much deeper bottom, one that could involve porn and robbing liquor stores by the time she's 30 if she doesn't get her remaining shit together. And we'll all see it on YouTube.

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