The Late Late Show has been hyping their exclusive with Britney Spears all week. And it is legitimately a big “get” for James Corden – Britney agreed to do Carpool Karaoke, and there are no handlers, fathers, publicists or managers in sight. It’s just Britney in a car with James, half-singing, half-interview. And you know what? Britney seems to be in a really good place right now. She’s seemed that way pretty consistently over the past year especially, and some have theorized that she’s probably gotten on the right medication and she’s taking the right dosage and everything. She seems almost like old-old Britney, like Britney when she was 18-19. Here’s the full episode of Carpool Karaoke:
They start out singing “Oops… I Did It Again,” with Britney saying she never knew what the song was about, and she thinks it’s “just a song.” True story: Britney’s voice isn’t particular strong, but she sounds so much better here than Selena Gomez did during her episode. They talk for a bit about their kids, and Brit says she wants three more kids, and that her sons are getting big (they’re 9 & 10 years old) so they’re not her babies anymore. She also says that she’s sort of “done with men” and that she’s not looking to get married again and “I don’t believe in marriage.”
The music continues… she’s so cute. She talks about how she heard of a new “bondage thing” which is just men fetishizing being tickled for hours. That’s so weird, but it’s an interesting little aside for her. Around the 8:30 mark is when they finally do “Hit Me Baby One More Time.” Complete with costume change. This was a good episode! Britney seems to be doing really well.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
Her mouth barely moves. Too much work, Brit. On a positive note, that’s probably more than she has actually sung in years.
Noticed that. Her top lip looks like it is glued on.
That baby voice is so weird. She seems stuck in her teens maturity wise. She was game on the video tho.
Yep; all I kept thinking was: what is happening with her lips. And hair is just horrible. She needs a new hair person. But she’s cute and seems nice
She definitely had her nose thinned too. I thought maybe it was airbrushed for latest cover, but nope.
That smile doesn’t scream good place though.
It doesn’t even whisper good place.
It looks like trained to smile whilst utterly at sea and now no idea of what a real smile looks or feels like + botox
Brit Brit! I’m so so happy for her.
Edit to add: she is adorable in the “Carpool” video, she seems happy. Her voice, the tone, the accent, seems modified.
Still talentless
and you are still salty <3
It just seemed like she was lip-synching whenever she was supposedly singing.
I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Britney Spears
It did seem like she was mouthing the words and not singing for a lot of it. I wonder if that is just habit from her performances.
I felt kind of bad for her when he was asking what her kids thought of her being in racy costumes. Her body language read to me like she was hurt and uncomfortable.
I was thinking the same thing. It looked like she just lip-synched everything.
Also, the fake lips are very distracting.
Man, talk about lifting someone up and supporting them. What a bunch of jerks you all are. We finally get to see a little bit of her and you all tear her up. She’s at 35+ woman, She seems to be in a good place and I think she looks like she’s doing well (which is really all that matters) keep up the support ladies.
That Mouth situation … why!??! and she seems self conscious about it too! Ugh
But For reals Credit To James Corden for the enjoyableness of the situation, it was inoffensive enough for Britney to do, and his voice brought a nice deep tone to Britney’s music ( which I’ve always found her voice incredibly squeaky and unpleasant)
I saw a comment either here or on YouTube that said that squeaky, teeny tone is not her real voice. Hence, all of her lip syncing. Her voice, at least when singing, is actually in a deeper register, but the higher pitch, is what producers want her to emulate. For image purposes, obviously. It was like an innocent, sex doll tone and they saw people responded to that, especially in Oops I Did it Again. Not sure, how true it is, but it made sense. Especially because I recall a couple performances back in the day where she was live and the huskiness of her voice caught me off guard.
Interesting. Did enjoy the carpool! Just love James Corbyn!
I read that when she was initially auditioning for record companies, she really could sing. Maybe not as good as Christina Aguilera but she did have a voice. I think the years of drinking, smoking, drugs, bad vocal technique or whatever all added up to what we see today.
I just read that! She auditioned with Whitney’s I Have Nothing, which apparently went well, then they decided they wanted that breathy baby doll stuff. She had to be voice trained into that garbage she’s now known for.
I wonder what it’s like for Corden to be singing with pop stars who often can’t sing at all. I’m recalling J-Lo. Does he tamp down his talent to not make them sound bad?
I love Britney but the faces she makes while trying to talk with that weird mouth she bought make me uncomfortable.
Yikes. Whatever it is stop it!!!!
I must be incredibly unobservant because I just don’t see the problem with her mouth, and many people here commented on it. Same thing with Renee Zellweger’s plastic surgery. I never had any trouble recognising her and she looked the same to me, just a bit older. Anyway, fun video!
Well… James was singing loud enough to drown out her voice at some (a lot) of parts, but I could definitely hear her voice coming through and she hit the notes. Britney seems to be in a much better place when doing interviews, however, when performing, she’s just decent. She’s not anywhere near her peak or her worst, which is good I guess. But, when someone isn’t actually singing (and makes it abundantly clear) you expect the rest to be amazing. That being said, huge props to Brit for being able to make a massive career out of not singing live, everyone knows it, and no one cares.
ETA: Also, can we stop calling each of her successive albums a comeback? I don’t think Britney even wants her career to go back to what it was at its peak. Maybe most don’t remember, but it was Britney’s career that launched the paparazzi movement we today. Although today it’s MUCH more warped, where celebs are in cahoots with the paps. However, Britney was the first major star that the paps were OBSESSED with. It looked debilitating.
Britney was in cahoots with the paps back in the day as well. Very much so, which made it hard to remove them and the access once she needed/wanted more privacy.
She’s still charming, but it was hard to hear her actually singing.
I also really need the choker she’s wearing.
It was fun! 🙂
I have soft spot for Britney this carpool was fun to watch.
The costume change was hilarious! Britney seems pretty coherent and cute here. I’m glad to see her doing better.
Yes, good for her.
She looks like she’s really doing good, like she’s in a happy place in her life so that’s good. Does she sing all of those songs they played in the car to her Vegas shows? She looks like she can’t remember some of the lyrics to her own songs. Lol. She’s so cute though!
That’s a delightful video. She looks great, and the conversation is really funny.
She’s never really seemed ok though. Even when she was just starting out, even when she was at her peak, there would be weird moments in interviews where she’d say something to someone who wasn’t there or go off on a really odd tangent, or talk to herself like she was talking to someone else. I remember years before anyone even started suggesting anything was up she did one interview where the reporter described her laughing hysterically for no reason for the entire thing, taking long breaks (as in just standing up and walking out mid-sentence) and basically just not being able to say more than a sentence before losing it. This was during a hours long interview, not a 5 minute junket type thing, and for all that time she just couldn’t get herself together at all. The TV show she did with her ex-husband showed someone who really wasn’t capable of taking care of herself at all, and whose mind was all over the place all the time. She was barely coherent, and not in a drugged out way.
People act like she just had a breakdown with the shaving of her head and the umbrella and everything, and like the conservatorship was some big overreaction. In reality she showed signs of quite severe mental illness for a long, long time, and at one point was actually a physical danger to her kids.
She seems slightly more active in this interview, but Corden still has to kind of coach her in a way I’ve never seen him do with other guests, and she goes off on some odd tangents and seems confused at times when there’s nothing to be confused about. The fact that the bar is this low for ‘Britney’s doing great’ type stories is evidence she’s still terribly unwell. For just about anyone else this would be a really poor showing.
pretty much, i don’t see her doing well either.
I agree, Pepper. She’s always seemed emotionally/mentally fragile to me.
Me too.
her new album is actually fire. Like, FUEGO!!!
I’ve been listening to it on Spotify, and it’s legitimately good. Fun and catchy.
haha, singing into her water bottle. this is me every day. GO BRITNEY!
Love Britney, and this is the best she’s seemed in years.
I do wish she’d leave her face alone, though. She’s so pretty–she doesn’t need the work.
Now I really want to see this! Hopefully James made her feel at ease.
Her mouth! I think she has new teeth that are too big and make her upperlip look weird. She seems insecure about it. She seems very insecure in general. It seems like this proefession doesn’t truly make her happy or comfortable. The dancing yes, but the singing and the fame no.
It seems like the only time she was actually singing was on Hit Me Baby One More Time. The rest of the time she was just mouthing the words, and some times it looked like she couldn’t remember the correct words to mime them.
It’s great to see her out and communicating in front a camera. I take this as a good step for her. I think she looks great, too. I think she is more comfortable around folks with a sense of humor. Serious people probably make her feel uneasy. She’s had many prying eyes on her for so long.
This was one of my favorite episodes. She seemed nervous at first but after a bit seemed to get more comfortable. She looked like she was enjoying herself.
Britney is doing great.
She once did have a strong voice. It’s deeper in reality than her breathy pop vocals. Google Btitney on Star Search belting out songs when a young girl. The clips are on YouTube.
I wish she hadn’t messed with her mouth, but otherwise she seemed good and she and James were definitely having fun–loved it!
Edited to add: the bit with the pen was awesome
I still see a shell of what she used to be. She seems strained and forced allll of the time now. She always seems tired and overexposed alll the time.
To say shes ‘doing great’ compared to her breakdown would be accurate, i guess. But is she well, is she her old self? I don’t see it. and it makes me kind of sad.
Also, Cordon sings lounder and more often in this video than she does…and why does a grown woman still have that awful baby voice. I can’t stand women who do that. I worked with a woman in her 60’s who retired last year and she even used that baby voice.
ick.
Definitely not one of the best. Not even in the top 5 for me. I do love seeing her happy though so that’s good. But yea she lip synced her way through most of it. I wish they had done non-Britney songs though too
My favorites still include the Tonys ep, Adele, 1D.
Mine too!! This was cute enough, but I think everyone just has to tip toe around her. She strikes me as very fragile.
so does anybody notice she doesn’t know the words to her own songs???
Yes! Especially weird since she’s doing that Vegas show where you’d think she’d sing them all? Though maybe he chose a few she doesn’t sing in the show.
Dear Brits: Please stop shipping us your comedians who are too puerile and stale to make it in the UK. We don’t want them. We have enough of our own.
Only relevant cause it’s the same show, but I just noticed that someone edited Selena Gomez’s vocals from her carpool karaoke session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNcdlLIOdNw
I mean, it was necessary cause her vocals were atrocious, but what fake bulls***.
Reminder that almost nothing is real in that industry.
Getting very stale, like Lip Sync Battle
With the voice and new lips I get Pam Anderson vibes. But then again doesn’t Reese Whitherspoon put on the soft southern talk?
Cordon did well to put her at ease – i think the key to why I think watching Carpool Karaoke is that he uses humour to get people to relax.
Mental illnesses don’t happen in a vacuum and trauma is cumulative. I have often wondered what happened to her when she was a child in the industry. Something tells me it was not good.
History is full of artists who have mental health issues and what is happening with her is very positive. She is really working hard and it is paying off. Maybe one day she will write a book about her life and how she really feels about things. In the meantime, I just hope that she is protected and lives her life well.
The whole time I wanted to wash her hair, but it was enjoyable. Her eyes are amazing – she should have taken those shades off! I’m glad she is doing ok now!
She looked panicked when he asked her what “oops I did it again” was about. Like she truly does not know. But understands on some level she probably should know. Yikes.
Anyone who battles mental illness has a daily battle. Yay for her for bouncing back. I have no doubt she has her fragile days but she seemed in a good place here.
First thing I noticed was when she was just chatting with James her sunglasses were off. But when they were singing, she had them on the entire time. She may be doing better but I think she is still very insecure about herself. I think all the attention she has paid in doing yoga, getting fit has helped her immensely. I’ve noticed since she has been working out so much, she seems to be much calmer and more willing to put herself out there and engage. When she was on X Factor or whatever show it was, it was uncomfortable watching her. She was so uncomfortable and just didn’t seem like she was ‘there’ if that makes sense.
I have tremendous sympathy for Britney. That said, what I hear is she does NOT sing her own songs. SHe always lip synchs. There is a female singer out there who has sung for Britney for years and years and years.
So it makes total sense to me that she does not know the words, barely sings, no belting out at all.
Brit looks amazing!!!! SO happy to see her so happy, so joyful, so confident and so sassy!!! I would LOVE to see her vegas show.
She just seems happier, more real, even if she seemed to forget some words.
Let her live!
I am!sure she could not have pulled this off a few years ago. She may never be the same, but she seems to be in a better place.
Enjoyed this one.
I think it was one of the worst ones to be honest. She didn’t know the meaning to a simple song, she lip sync-ed or sang softly to the rest, and her lips were distracting. The best part was Baby One More Time because she actually sang along and seemed to enjoy herself. I thought she was doing better, and she probably is, but overall, she doesn’t seem cut out for fame anymore.
I’m 58 years old and sadly have a baby voice, i don’t “use” it. It’s just the way I talk, unless I remember to make an effort.