Britney Spears - Game Over?

Gimmie More vodka, gin & tonic, 7&7 and anything else you got

Last night, Britney Spears made her extremely hyped "comeback" at the VMAs in Las Vegas. At this point, I think anyone who has access to any entertainment news outlet knows it was a disaster. Spears seemed to sleepwalk through her performance, barely bothering to lip synch or even move around the stage. Her army of background dancers twirled their little hearts out to pick up the noticeable slack in Spear's performance. Best of all, noted music stars like Puff Daddy / Diddy / Whatever looked noticeably shocked as if they had witnessed a horrific accident. In short, it was the funniest four minutes I had seen on TV in months. Even Justin Timberlake's "D*ck in a Box" wasn't quite as funny.

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In a way the Vegas setting was suitable in that Spears reminded me a lot of Elvis. The later years Elvis, the one who looked jumbled and disconnected because of drugs and rambled through performances while throwing randomly bizarre Karate moves. Spears had the same look in her eyes: numb and lost.

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But, unlike some of the media I don't think Spear's career is over. At least not yet. The key will be if Spears can get into physical shape in both physique and performance. I'm not saying Spears is overweight or unattractive, it's that when you get down to it what Spear's sold was an exaggerated perception of sex. At her peak, Spears was the ultimate tease that men wanted to see and a large section of preteen girls wanted to be. It wasn't her nondescript voice, mediocre song choices, personal interpretation of music or even her personality. Britney was successful because she (or more likely her handlers) knew how to sensationalize her sexuality, whether it was being jailbait, showing skin in tight outfits or kissing Madonna. Without that perfectly toned body doing outlandishly sharp choreography, there's nothing of interest to see.

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Spears can make a comeback if she leaves long enough for people to forget her and uses the time to build back what made her a star (for career strategy see Carey, Mariah). Some would say it is unfair to ask Britney Spears to meet an impossible measure of physical perfection but the problem is she built her career on it. If she wants a comeback, she'll have to do it again. Despite the epic disaster that is her life, the door is still open to her. She just has to walk through.