Britney+Spears

=Article=

__Table of Contents__
 * 1) Childhood and Early Career
 * 2) Baby One More Time and …Oops! I Did it Again
 * 3) Britney, Crossroads and In the Zone
 * 4) Helping Others

=Childhood and Early Career= Britney Spears was born on December 2, 1981 to Jamie and Lynn Spears. The also have an older son, Bryan and a younger daughter, Jamie Lynn. Starting at a very young age, Britney was always singing and dancing. When her family had company over she would perform for the quests in front of the television and practice routines that she herself has created. Also as a young girl, she was involved in gymnastics and won many awards for that. At age 7, she auditioned for a new show of the time, “The All New Mickey Mouse Club”, but was turned down because of her young age. Shortly after that, Britney sang on the show “Star Search” competition in 1982.

=Baby One More Time and…Oops! I Did it Again= In 1997, Britney’s demo tape landed in the hands of producers, Max Martin and Erin Foster White. They loved the sound of her voice and really believed that Britney could go somewhere and be successful with her singing and performing. They quickly signed a deal with her and began work on her debute album. On October 23, 1998, she released her first hit single //“Baby One More Time”.// It was an instant hit in the United States and later became a hit around the globe. It was number the number one song in 15 countries and sold more than 22 million singles worldwide. The video for the song was just as popular, and caused a lot of controversy. Although some people did not approve of it, baring her stomach became somewhat of her trademark in her videos and performances to come. January 12, 1999, Britney’s first album debuted which was titled, “//Baby One More Time”//. It was an instant success. Throughout time, the album went platinum 14 times in the U.S and has sold more than 26 million albums to date, making it one of the most successful albums of all time. Later that year in 1998, Britney joined the tour with the then extremely popular boy band *NSYNC. She opened for the group at 22 shows across the United States, which lasted about two months. Because of the success she earned from touring with *NSYNC for such a short period of time, when she returned, she quickly launched her own tour for her album //“… Baby One More Time”//. The tour began in June of 1998 and lasted until April 2000. When the tour had ended, Britney began work on her second album called, “//Oops!… I did it Again”.// The album was released in May of 2000 and has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, two million of which were sold in the first week alone. There were four hit singles on the album, //“Oops!...I Did it Again”, “Lucky”, “Stronger”, and “Don’t Let Me Be the Last to Know”,// all of which reached number one on the charts in multiple countries. She launched her first world tour in June of 2000 and lasted until January 2001. The tour grossed over $40.5 million and became the second highest-grossing tour of the year by a solo artist. That year she was nominated for numerous awards. She won Billboard awards for World Record Breaker of the 2000 and Album Artist of 2000.

Britney, Crossroads and In the Zone
Britney’s third studio album was released on November 5, 2001 worldwide. On this album she wanted a more upbeat, hip-hop/ R&B feel instead of the ‘bubblegum pop’ sound of her first two albums. She also wanted to be more involved in this album, so she co-wrote five of the songs on it. Three of the songs were featured in the film, //“Crossroads//”, which Britney herself starred in, in 2002. The movie was about a girl who was confused on what she wanted to do with her future. She goes a road trip with two of her high school friends in search of her true self. The film was nominated for several awards and won American Choice Awards for Best Movie, Best Breakthrough Performance and Best Movie Song for //“I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet a Women”.// The self-titled album became 2001’s most successful debut album by a female artist and made Britney the first female artist in music history to have her first three albums to debut at the number one spot. She later broke that record with her fourth album, //“In the Zone”.// Britney began writing music for this album at the end of her “Dream Within A Dream” tour in 2002. After the tour, she announced that she would take a six-month break from all of her work. When she returned to work, she began searching for new producers to help with the album because she wanted it to go in yet another direction from all of her previous albums. When the record was finished and released on November 16, 2003, listeners discovered that the album was much different than all of her other music. The music on this album was much more diverse with the kinds of instruments used and the topics for many of the songs were much more sexual than any of her songs had been before. This caused some negative response from listeners. Some said that it was not appropriate for their kids to listen to and watch the music videos. Even though the album received many harsh reviews, it still had four hit singles and had a sold out world tour that grossed over $34 million. =Helping Others= Britney has also spent much of her spare time helping the people that are in less fortunate and in need around the country. She herself has created a charity, The Britney Spears Foundation. It helps children that are in the hospital for long term care get a chance to learn music and other arts. She believes that music and art is a beautiful thing for children and people of all ages and that it can really have an impact on ones life. She also supports many other foundations that help people in need. She has been recognized for doing these good things throughout the years and continues to do all she can to help others.

=Analysis=

It is clear from all of this information, that Britney Spears is a true superstar. It is incredible how a girl so young can be so successful. Starting at such a young age, she had the drive and the confidence in herself to strive to do the things that she had always dreamed of. After being turned down at the Mickey Mouse show when she was young, she still kept auditioning for different shows and gigs just so she could get her one big break. And even after being turned down, she still went back to the show to audition another time. When she was sending out her demo tapes to all the different record labels, being turned down time and time again, she still didn’t give up. These are all qualities of what a true superstar and role model are. After she was signed to Jive records, she released four of the most successful albums for a female artist of all time. She has earned millions and millions of dollars through album sales, touring the world, writing books, designing clothing, starring in movies and producing music for others. She came in to the music game when pop music was staring to fade away and die down, and brought it back. And through all of her work, personal problems and she has found time to help others. She has created multiple successful charities that help millions of people across the world. She has made it so the ones that are sick and in the hospital, especially the young are able to have a musical experience while getting the treatment they need in the hospital. She has put smiles on the faces of millions of people not only through the work of the charities that she has created and the ones that she supports, but also through the sound and performing of her music. Through the years she has worked hard on creating tours where she would not just sing her music to the people that go to her show, but has created a performance, and experience and a concert that the people will remember forever. She has changed pop music and the way it is today. She went from young,” teeny girl” or “bubblegum pop” music that appealed to mostly the young high school girl, to pop music that is fun and easy to dance to, has a story behind it and that is more mature. She has phenomenal achievements like being the 33rd top selling artist in the world, being the only female artist to have five albums debut at number one on the charts, be the 7th top selling female artist in the United States and have five platinum records. Whether you are a fan of Britney Spears or not one thing is clear, she is an outstanding superstar and achiever. To this day, whether you are old or young, male or female, most people are able to sing along to one of Britney songs or at least recognize the tune when heard on the radio. She can sing, dance, act and entertain. She helps others and is a great role model for people of all ages across the country and the world and will continue to succeed for many years to come.