Blackout Coming For Britney?
October 30th May Mark The End For A Former Pop Phenomenon
Daily photo ops, desperate cries for attention, and consistent acts of humiliation. Has the world said enough is enough?
Stumbling out of a night club at 3:00 a.m. with the assistance of her newest enabler, visibly intoxicated and haggard from an endless weekend of partying away from her children; Britney Spears makes her way to her awaiting car.
Hundreds of camera flashes capture every little detail as she clumsily flops into the passenger seat while wearing a way too short mini-dress. Tomorrow, the daily gossip blogs post photos of something we have seen way to many times before. This has become the day to day existence of a once stellar pop star.
The attention, the adoration, the validation of her existence has become a daily quest for Britney Spears. But why does it appear that she is ready and willing to sacrifice her self respect for 15 more minutes of fame? According to Britney’s former bodyguard Tony Barretto, Britney was once quoted as saying, “If people don’t see you, they forget you. I’m not going to let that happen.”
But what she fails to realize is that by trying to make herself unforgettable, she is making herself remarkably forgettable. Five years from now in a proverbial water cooler moment, one person will say, “Do you remember Britney Spears?” The other person will say, “Oh yeah, I remember her panty-less escapades, all night partying and child custody hearings.” They won’t be saying, “Oh yeah, what’s she been up to? I used to be a big fan.”
These days, most of Britney’s fans seem to be the paparazzi that hound her on a 24/7 basis. Certain members of her perpetual paparazzi entourage have even gone so far as to “support” their meal ticket by altering the reality of her record sales.
Websites such as Britney Experts.com and (paparazzi editorial) x17 have organized an event called “Worldwide Download Day” in which they have encouraged all of their readers to download Britney’s latest song “Gimme More” as many times as they can. They have even told their readers to download the song from several different sources such as iTunes, Yahoo! Music Store, Napster, and Rhapsody so that each download will count as an individual unit toward Britney’s total sales.
In light of these facts, it’s no surprise that “Gimme More” has managed to achieve a #1 spot on iTunes despite Britney’s never ending attempts at killing what’s left of her career. It all makes you wonder if Britney’s recent success at No.3 on the Billboard music downloading charts is all that it appears to be.
But has the world grown tired of Britney’s antics?
Omg.com reports that even though Britney has graced the cover of 18 popular magazines within a 6-month period, her face has been proven to repel a large amount of potential magazine sales. These days, people seem to be less likely to buy a magazine featuring the next dramatic chapter of the saga of Britney Spears. According to Omg.com, one of the potential reasons for the decline in sales could be that In Touch Weekly’s Editor Richard Spencer has described Britney’s appeal as being only slightly higher than that of Paris Hilton.
Another potential reason Britney fails to generate sales could be the fact that almost everything you hear about her is bad news. Whether it be a very public divorce, a bitter custody battle, or yet another cause and effect scenario created solely by her, she hasn’t been giving her fans a valid enough reason to root for her.
The truth is, even while Britney was successful, she was only as good as her last hit. With each new song, and each new video she had to find a way for making up for the fact that she isn’t the best singer. She had to earn each and every one of her fans at every available opportunity. Today, she has completely stopped trying and instead is relying on exposure (no pun intended) to keep herself in the spotlight. It makes you wonder how much disappointment her remaining fans can take.
Sadly Britney doesn’t even seem to want to acknowledge the people who initially made her famous. On several occasions Britney has been video taped nonchalantly ignoring the fans she encounters during her daily ritual of…whatever she does. It seems she is rather content with performing for her new best friends the paparazzi (who are now the ones who make her famous.) Her fans have been left behind.
It remains to be seen if the world is tired of Britney Spears. On Britney’s October 30th album release date, the world will see if her remaining fans decide to cling to a broken dream and spend 2 months allowance on a “Worldwide Album Download Day.” The world will see if the constant publicity Britney has drummed up over the past few years ends up working in her favor and she returns to the music scene more popular than ever.
According to MTV UK, her new album "Blackout" is predicted to sell approximately 150,000 units in its opening week. That number isn’t anywhere close to her “Oops…I Did It Again” days but it is still twice the amount of Paris Hilton’s debut album sales. That should count for something, shouldn’t it?
But in reality, Britney’s remaining fans may only be left with 5 copies of a mediocre-at-best album while urging others to follow suit by saying things like, “Come on guys; keep buying the album. Britney needs our support. She’ll thank us for it…right?"
For related tidbits on your favorite celebrites, visit this link.
