The verdict is in for Britney’s VMA performance, with many outlets saying she was decent but not memorable at all. The more I think about it, the more I agree. Britney is a headliner in Vegas, where she should be getting plenty of practice dancing and lipsyncing, and yet this was the show she put on. Britney’s job is to entertain and there should be more going on in a major performance at the VMAs. That said, I just rewatched her Billboard Music Awards performance from a few months ago and that was much better. I also saw fan-recorded videos of her Vegas show and they were much better than the VMAs. Maybe part of the problem is that her new songs aren’t as catchy or recognizable as we’re used to. “Make Me” isn’t as fun or upbeat as say, “Work Bitch.” (I’m not even into pop much and I love that song. The single “Do You Wanna Come Over” might be the hit off her new album, Glory, we’ll have to see.)
Britney did a Q&A with Most Requested Live which was recorded for YouTube (that video is here). She answered questions, most of which were pretty trivial like her favorite sushi and whether she’d want to be a lion or a tiger, and came across very well. She was chatty and friendly and she said a few things which are getting headlines, particularly about how she would like to collaborate with Justin Timberlake again.
Was you family affected by the floods in Louisiana?
Yes, my house is up on a hill and it drops off so it was completely flooded and they couldn’t get out for two days. My sister’s husband had to be boat rescued.Any plans on future movies [after Crossroads]?
Considering I’m a horrible actress – no.What music producer and music video director haven’t you worked with yet and want to work with?
Aerosmith seems really good and bright. He’s a genius, I think. And whose very rock n’ roll. He sings from his soul. Gwen Stefani. I think she’s great. Justin Timberlake is very good.
[From YouTube via ET Online]
Britney says she’s also working with the Red Cross on Louisiana flood relief, which is nice. It sounds like her family is ok now and like they went through a lot but luckily did not lose their home.
Then later, on the Elvis Duran and The Morning Show, she talked about her first VMAs performance in 1999, which she remembered many details about but claims to ” have no recollection” of. That doesn’t make sense to me. She said:
“I think I was with *NSYNC when I performed for the first time. I think the whole setup was a classroom, and my four main dancers were in the front at their desk and I came out of my locker… But you know what, I don’t remember at all. I have no recollection. I couldn’t tell you anything about it.”
So Britney is back to giving interviews and she’s coming across well, if a little ditsy. (I mean how can she not remember that 1999 performance and yet recall details? Is she just going on reports and she has no memory from that night? Plus she was asked about producers and she named artists, although Timberlake does produce too.) She’s also back to performing and she’s doing well, if a bit underwhelming at times. Judging clips from her Vegas show, she has the ability to bring better performances than we saw on Sunday, she just needs to take the risk.
photos credit: WENN.com
Maybe she just doesn’t want to remember Justin Timberlake.
Or maybe she just doesn’t remember any of her past performances because all she does is move awkwardly and mime to prerecorded tracks. I’m sure that, once you’ve done one thing badly a million times, it’s just a matter of perpetrating it in autopilot.
I don’t know whether Britney should retire, but I am surprised that she has lasted this long, and that so many people are such loyal fans of hers, taking into account that she doesn’t have an ounce of talent and doesn’t appear to be the most engaging, charismatic or interesting person there is.
Britney was a good dancer. She has always been a lackluster singer, and she knows it.
I have a pretty intense dislike of most pop music, so I was never a fan, but people who like it seem to really enjoy her songs. I think her dedicated fan base comes from her charisma she had as a young performer. And, she’s nice. A lot of her staying power, I think, has come from her older fans’ nostalgia and empathy for her after her breakdown. I have no current or former emotional attachment to Britney outside of that, and I’m still cheering for her. I hope she’s having fun and getting some emotional stability from working instead of being forced into it. :/
@als probably right?! Funny!
This woman has lived a “million lifetimes” at this point, especially after dealing with a breakdown, so I’m giving her a pass on this. I think with all the thousands of performances she has given, she just doesn’t remember it as clearly or as well as other memories she may have. Plus Remembering some details of an event, isn’t the same as really having a vision of days past, you know? She could YouTube it and watch it and it’s still not the same thing. She has just been through so much, and is still out there doing her thing. So she gets props from me. Most people would have crumbled especially with the world watching yet here she is.
The amount of performances she’s done, I don’t doubt she doesn’t remember it. After thousands, they would all blend together.
Yes, thousands.
Also-and this is not intended to be catty at all-the drugs that treat her bipolar disorder can also affect her memory, depending on what her regimen is.
I don’t take meds for bipolar, but I do take meds for a lung transplant and I can’t remember anything anymore. I don’t doubt she doesn’t remember. Some medications will do a number on you
I hope she is ok, this coupled with her carpool karaoke appearance…
The 19 yr old fan girl in me just yelped and had a minor convulsion at the thought of Justney collaborating. Lance Bass apparently had the same reaction and was into it. Lol
she also performed at the superbowl with aerosmith…
Well, I’m sure she knows the setup of the performance, but doesn’t recall it in a “first-person” way. Have you ever been able to know that you were somewhere, but don’t actually recall your own feelings/emotions/actions of that event? Hope I’m making sense here. While this seems odd because it was a big show, she’s done A LOT of shows. Also, in regards to her performing and dancing, I read that she’s had a total of 3 knee surgeries. Major ones in 2004 and 2011; and, a non-evasive surgery in 1999. I get why she seems more hesitant now. Although, this doesn’t explain why she doesn’t even try to mime when it comes to lip syncing.
ETA: Also, I think she should just retire. Over the years, it seems like she has real yearning to be ‘normal’, and I’m not talking simply wanting anonymity. She seems to want the white picket fence, barefeet running after children, simple life kind of normal. I think performing has just been her autopilot/default routine for so long, it’s been equated to normal for her. I think if she had full custody of her kids and/or was married with kids she would like that more. People always say the Vegas show gives her a routine, but in reality, I think it’s probably it’s a routine that’s only good because it distracts her from thinking about her not having full custody of her children and wanting that life. When you’re performing in Vegas as much as she is, motherhood is incredibly difficult. I know J.LO is doing it, but she wants to also still perform/be in the industry. I don’t think Britney has that same yearning.
That’s what I get out of this as well: she remembers the set up but not doing the show. It could be that she was so nervous (first time performing on a huge show at the time with one of the biggest boy bands) she danced and lip-synced on auto-pilot.
She can’t get custody when she doesn’t even have custody of herself.
There is definitely something to be said for sticking to the life you know when you are hanging on as best you can. Work is important in our culture for self-edification, and this is a way she can make a lot of money with a lot more stability than she had earlier in her life (significantly less travel, a consistent lifestyle, a home to stay at every night, less pressure to learn new routines for her show). I just hope she is enjoying it. She is so vulnerable, I worry about her family using her to keep the cash rolling in and hope they have her best interest at heart.
Well I think the bi polar and addiction hasn’t helped with her memory. She’s obviously on a lot of meds right now which is also bound to affect her memory. Sadly, because of her mental illness, her performances will never be what they were.
That no memory of the performance actually makes sense to me. I am a performer and I am the same way. I can tell you what the set up was. But when I actually do it, I am on so much adrenaline and endorphins that I can’t tell you what just happened. I can’t tell you if I sung the words right. I can’t tell you if I hit all the moves. I can’t tell you if a dancer did something silly. Which is why I make sure everything gets recorded so I can give myself notes about what needs fixing, what could be cleaner and so on.
Yeah, I’ve completely forgotten presentations I’ve given because public speaking terrifies me. I don’t remember them just from the anxiety and adrenaline. I can’t even imagine the adrenaline those performances inspire. I’d have to completely emotionally disengage just to keep my sanity.
A lot of the newer Vegas videos show her having her fire back and I suspect her one off performances are never as good because she doesn’t feel as comfortable or practiced as she does in Vegas.
I present at alot of conferences and while I know details of some from ten years ago i don’t really remember them. Same for last year, hell even this year.
Her performance, one of thousands, was 18 years ago!!
Yeah, I have bipolar disorder and PTSD and don’t remember probably 95% of my life. My family can tell me about something that happened, and if I don’t remember it, I just sit there, clueless. But then if someone asks me about that incident, I would be able to say what happened. It’s frustrating.
There are some medications for bipolar disorder which mess with the memory, and the electric shock therapy for severe depression takes away memory, too. I wish her the best.
I think that being the VMAs, after such a terrible performance in 2007 added a lot of pressure on her, who is so fragile at this point. She was probably very distracted and nervous.