Bad girl Britney Oops, she's naked again!
By MELENA Z. RYZIK
October 5, 2003
Seen much of Britney Spears lately? Like maybe, a little too much?
In a series of racy photo spreads, the erstwhile virgin has traded in her schoolgirl kilts for - well, nothing. She appeared topless on the cover of Rolling Stone, posed naked (save for a strategically-placed boa) in the fashion issue of the New York Times Magazine and doffs her panties for an upcoming issue of Esquire.
Add to that her infamous lip lock with Madonna at the MTV Video Music Awards, and it's all-but-official: Britney Spears has become a bad girl.
Spears, 21, is keeping pace - and then some - with raunchy singers like Christina Aguilera and Lil' Kim. In fact, the pop tart's scantily-clad appearances (and fashion faux pas) have garnered her more press than her once-lucrative music career. So why the change from schoolgirl to naughty girl?
Executives at Spears' record company, Jive Records, would not comment on the image switch, but with two years between the release of her last album, "Britney," and the forthcoming "In the Zone," Spears' camp may have been concerned that the transitioning teen star would suffer from a lack of attention.
"I think what she's doing is patterning herself after her hero, Madonna," says Paul Wilmot, managing partner of Paul Wilmot Communications, a top Manhattan-based PR firm. "Britney wants to lay claim to that notoriety."
Like former serial dater Madonna, Spears is said to have engaged in a succession of well-publicized romps with musicians and actors ranging from Fred Durst to Colin Farrell. The onetime Mickey Mouse Club star may have even turned homewrecker; the latest speculation is that she's to blame for breaking up the marriage of her backup dancer Columbus Short.
But is baring your all really a good career move?
Wilmot thinks so. "I can't believe that all this stuff would be doing her career any real harm," he says. "She's gorgeous, and it's just getting her a lot of free media exposure."
"When in doubt, get undressed," he adds. "She's having fun with it."
Wilmot also brushes off concerns that Spears' titillating image may be alienating her younger fans. "If you want to get kids loving something, get their parents upset about it," he says. "Strategically, that's what you want to do."
Celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch agrees that Spears may be taking a page from Madonna's playbook, but unlike Wilmot, he's not so sure it's a good idea. Put Madonna to the side, he says, and look at Mariah, Janet, and Christina.
"They think they have to be sexy to sell," he says. But "if everybody just looked at the history of it, it really doesn't help any of their careers. The record sales go down."
Even the Material Girl fell victim to this: after releasing her S&M tome "Sex" in 1992, she saw her record sales plummet from 10 million (for 1990's "Immaculate Collection," a compilation of her greatest hits) to just 2 million for 1992's "Erotica."
As for Spears, Bloch thinks she may be confusing shock value with positive publicity. "It's like the kid who can't tell the difference between bad attention and good attention," he says. "She's a bad girl now so she feels cool, but the people we find most interesting aren't overexposed; they're the ones we don't know much about."
"Less is best," he adds. "But not necessarily in clothes."