Do You Want To Go Faster?
By Juan Morales

Beauty, talent, wealth and fame must be nice. Still, it can't be easy being Britney Spears. Imagine having a 24/7 paparazzi shadow, not to mention stories about yourself in the tabloids every week.

But even a whisper of pity for Spears brings to mind the title of her former boyfriend Justin Timberlake's hit: "Cry Me a River." After all, it's tough to muster sympathy for someone who has been chasing stardom since she was a little girl with big dreams in sleepy Kentwood, Louisiana. Indeed, Spears may be the poster child for the cautionary aphorism: Be careful what you wish for.

In her defence, Spears, 21, has never asked for our sympathy. But words are redundant when your every public act is a metaphorical grab of the lapels shouting, "Notice me, damn it!" In this respect, Spears shares a kinship with her most obvious pop progenitor, Madonna.

Although Madonna, 45, is old enough to be her mother, their relationship over the past several months has been that of a cool older sister, replete with incestuous overtones courtesy of their headline-grabbing kiss at August's MTV Video Music Awards. Spears, who remembers singing "Like a Virgin" at age 4, has said that the fact that she and Madonna-with whom she duets on the first In the Zone single, "Me Against the Music"-are friends is a dream come true.

But while Madonna is a triumph of self-invention, Spears is largely a manufactured entity. She began entering talent contests at 6, won on Star Search at 8, and at 11 joined the cast of the Disney Channel's the New Mickey Mouse Club. A year later, Spears was in New York, her sights set on a big-time singing career. Snapped up by Jive Records, she hit it big with her 1999 debut, ...Baby One More Time, which sold 20 million copies. An instant star, she was adored by legions of adolescent girls and lusted after by their fathers and brothers thanks to her combination of schoolgirl wholesomeness and jailbait sexiness.

Her second album, 2000's Oops!...I Did It Again, sold more than nine million. But as anyone who has chomped on a wad of Bazooka for more than 10 minutes will tell you, even the sweetest bubble gum quickly loses its flavour. Thus, on her third album, the 2001 collection Britney, the sexual component of her music was ramped up considerably, and onstage and in videos, skin was in. At that year's MTV Video Music Awards, to the delight of armchair Freudians everywhere, Spears, dressed in short shorts and a bikini top, performed the song "I'm a Slave 4U" with an enormous snake draping her shoulders.

Soon she was on magazine covers clad in scantier outfits than ever. But if photographs revealed a confident, more mature Spears, her interviews revealed a surprising naďveté. Extolling the perks of fame, she once said, "I get to go to a lot of overseas places, like Canada."
Then again, she literally grew up in show business, was sheltered in the cocoons of Disney and Jive, and spent most of her time in airports, hotels and recording studios. With such a narrow frame of reference, is it any wonder that her conversations with journalists aren't known for their depth?

Case in point: the "interview" for this story. Having originally promised a face-to-face meeting, her label later informed us that Spears would do the interview over the phone, next that it would be done via e-mail. Not a proud moment for journalism, but a fascinating symptom of the controlling mania of Spears' publicity apparatus.

Granted, she's endured a tough couple of years. Britney sold a career-low four million copies; her 2002 film debut, Crossroads, fizzled; she and Timberlake split amid murmurs that she'd cheated on him; her parents' marriage ended; and her short-lived New York restaurant, Nyla, closed its doors. Meanwhile, Timberlake featured her doppelgänger in his "Cry Me a River" video and, after a brief collaboration with Fred Durst, the Limp Bizkit front man claimed their partnership had extended, ahem, beyond the recording studio. To repeat: It can't be easy being Britney. How many young women haven't endured the occasional lapse in judgment? And how many have to listen to their ex dish about them on Barbara Walters, as Timberlake did while promoting his solo album.

Embarking on her own campaign for In the Zone, Spears shed the teen mantle with a vengeance, appearing semi-nude on numerous magazine covers and stressing the sexual vibe of the album. Questioned about her post-Timberlake perspective on dating-she refused to discuss relationships, period. Which negated any chance of clearing the air about Columbus Short, the 21-year-old backup dancer she was photographed kissing in L.A., and who later accompanied her to Rome and New York. Although Spears' reps have stated that she and Short are just friends, he and his wife, who was eight months pregnant with their baby at the time, reportedly separated over their "friendship."

What did we learn? Spears loves the new Black Eyed Peas, Erykah Badu and Pink. She's a huge Elvis fan. From Madonna, who has been "a total inspiration" throughout her life, she's learned "just to be yourself and not to pay attention to people who try to drag you down." She's also mad for fashion and adores D-Squared, Roberto Cavalli, Dolce & Gabbana, Alexander McQueen and Patricia Field.

Naturally, she had lots to say about In the Zone, a strong and, yes, sexy collection guided by a variety of producers, including prolific trio the Matrix (of Avril Lavigne fame), Swedish collaborators Bloodshy and Avant, Moby and R. Kelly (an intriguing choice given Spears' youthful audience and his penchant for underage flesh-except that the two are repped by affiliated labels). Standouts include the gentle, pulsing beats of the terrific "Breathe on Me," the frankly erotic "Touch of My Hand" and the fizzy joyride of "Me Against the Music," in which she gives as good as she gets alongside Madonna.

The big difference between In the Zone and her previous releases, Spears says, comes down to this: "The songs are more mature and more 'me'-whatever that is!"

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