main page Britney Spears refers to herself as the “Mother Mary”!

[News]

Godney is here everyone….

Britney Spears spoke with Flaunt magazine about her upcoming album glory, what she likes to do in her spare time and also her religious beliefs. Check out her interview below:

“Is it safe?”— Laurence Olivier, Marathon Man (1976)

It is a day without shadows, it is hot, and Los Angeles is ugly.

An elderly woman emerges into the bright light cautiously, hunched beneath a cheap umbrella. In her wake, she drags a handcart filled with groceries and clothing. Oblivious to the discarded chewing gum made soft again by the sun, her orthopedic shoes airlift sugary pink strings from the curb’s surface. As she shuffles past the marquee of the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, it’s not that difficult to pretend she is just an upside-down puppet reporting for work.

Up the block, inside an air-conditioned trailer, Britney Spears leans her face into a flame. With a Marlboro Menthol dangling from her pursed lips, she moves the cigarette into the fire until the tip of it turns orange. She leans back and exhales a minty, snow-white cloud that drifts over to the miniature kitchen and vanishes somewhere behind the unused microwave.

And her hand is shaking.

“Oh, I’m so weird,” she says. “I get nervous in a lot of situations. Parties, clubs. When there are a lot of people around, I’m a weird, anxiety-ridden person.”

I make her nervous. I am a stranger. I know next to nothing about her ninth studio album, Glory. To date, every inquiry sent to her management about album details is left unanswered, or rejected outright. It is recommended I reach out to her label’s president for a comment. Three questions are sent; a single response arrives via email. It manages to be both polite and meaningless.

“Britney spent time crafting and perfecting the music for this album to create something special for her fans,” writes RCA President and Chief Operating Officer Tom Corson. “Glory is truly a special album and reflects where she is in her career and her life right now. The reception has been very strong for the music and we expect that enthusiasm to increase when the album drops.”

The struggle to breach the micromanaged insulation of one of the world’s best-known pop stars is not to be mistaken for a list of petty gripes, or even complaints. It is entirely understandable why Spears would be cautious, especially now, when cameras hide snugly in every pocket and purse. The paparazzi is everyone. Every question I am not allowed to ask hovers somewhere, invisibly, in the space between us. In this fragment of time, I begin to realize Spears is not playing defense. She’s on offense. And it’s working.

“I don’t understand your question.”

Dumbly, I have asked her something risky. I think I’ve asked her why, after everything she has been through, she still chooses to put herself back out there, exposing herself to so much scrutiny and all of the predictable and unpredictable ways in which we—the public—decide to lift up or tear down our most famous fellow humans. It’s a risk she can avoid simply by quitting.

“What is your question?” she asks, leaning forward from the couch we’re sharing.

I attempt to restructure what I’ve put forward, leading it along. “You’re going to keep performing despite what comes?” I propose, suggesting there may have been some hurdles teed up before. She runs with it.

“Oh, well, yeah, I have a great security team with me now,” Spears says, her eyelids still coal black, smeared with makeup from the photoshoot. “I think with a lot of things in the past, I didn’t have security. I didn’t have the guidelines that I have now, which are brilliant. I’m very close to my security team. I have kids now too, so everything is on a way lower scale. I’m actually a very boring person. I don’t go out. I don’t really do anything. I should be Mother Mary, seriously. I think my life has done a complete 360. Things are just different now. It’s a different time. It’s a different era.”

Referring to the biblical Mary isn’t entirely off topic. For today’s cover shoot, she posed in front of a specially constructed altar containing—among other famous figures from history and popular culture—the Virgin Mary. After the shoot, she politely, if a bit skeptically, describes the altar as “an interesting set, with Mother Mary, who I bow down to.”

Of course, this remark leads us directly into holy land.

“I believe in an afterlife, of course. I’m a very spiritual person,” she says. “I believe in heaven. I believe we’re all here for a reason. I think we’re here just as people to pass it on and pass our information on to others, to inspire as much as we can. Inspire every day. And just to be good people, you know? And give back and help others.”

It’s a worthy sentiment and more revealing than maybe anything she will say this afternoon. However, the question posed was not about her religious convictions, which, after all, are none of my business. I had asked her about her own legacy, that in a year when we’ve lost so many notable icons—from David Bowie to Prince—if their passing has made her think about the mark she will leave behind, if she has any hope that her work will endure as theirs most surely will.

“It’s funny, because I don’t really listen to my music,” she says. “My kids do and my nieces do. I’m about the creative process. I’m in the moment of being creative and then I put it out there. Of course, I sing my songs every night [at her ongoing residency at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas] and I have to listen to it that way, but I’m all about change. And new. And forthcoming. But, there is a part of me in my music and I hope, for my fans, that they can have that part of me when they hear me on the radio, or buy my CD, or whatever they do.”

Earlier, I had congratulated her on the strong showing of her newly released YouTube lyric video for Glory’s lead single, “Make Me.” In a few days, it had racked up millions of views, proving there is still a hungry audience eager to hear new Britney Spears music. Her reaction, in some ways, parallels her “whatever they do” obliviousness to how people consume music 17 years since she debuted with “…Baby One More Time.”

“Oh, really? How many views? For what?”

I explain.

“Oh, nice! That’s cool.”

When I attempt to gather more details about her new album from the source itself, she is equally unaware.

“It’s done, but I have no idea when anything’s coming out.”

Of course, the man seated behind me knows everything. He’s been monitoring the conversation closely and has likely checked multiple times today to see just how many views that video has tallied and could feed us the figure to the decimal, as well as the day and date of the album’s release, the entire track list, and in what order the songs will be released as singles. Shit, he probably has the entire album somewhere in his phone. We could all just listen to it now and absolve ourselves from this thorny mystery. So, whether Spears is just being coy, or really is so sweetly unaware of the plans being made on her behalf, the truth will not be found out on this hot day inside this cold trailer.

She reaches toward the clear, glass coffee table and slides the digital voice recorder closer, looks at the time elapsed, and asks, “Is that how long we’ve been talking?”

“Yes,” I say. “Eighteen minutes.”

“Oh, then we have two more minutes.”

She has summarily overruled her own publicist, who had promised us both a full half-hour of conversation. Giving a quick glance over my shoulder to gauge his reaction, he nods and gestures as if to say, “I can’t help you. It’s up to her.”

In this otherwise insignificant moment of simple logistics, Spears lets down her guard. The ace in her deck might not be showing, but there’s a queen hiding in there somewhere. This is not the fragile, micromanaged figurehead of a brand called “Britney Spears.” This is a 34-year-old woman ready to re-set the world on fire on her own terms. Glory indeed. How naïve to think I’ve had to tiptoe around this idea of her, while the woman herself has been maneuvering this brief encounter to meet her own specific needs. How arrogant, too, that for a single moment, I thought any of this was in my control. The puppet strings have been clenched firmly in her fist this entire time. I’ve been played.

Days later, I’ll receive an email with an attachment. It contains the full album notes for Glory, but not the album itself, of course. Among the credits listed is one for “Head of Security: Edan Yemini.” Among her long list of thanks, she singles out a company called Black Box Security.

After our remaining two minutes together elapse, I jokingly refer to this as the last interview she will ever be asked to do.

“No more interviews? That would be great!” She enthuses.

Outside of the trailer, I return to the table where my cell phone was labeled, registered, and put into a bin. I begin to realize I have no idea who Britney is any more than I had yesterday. Her goodbye grin tells me she knows that I don’t know. Her smile is saying to me, “I am safe. The plan is working. I am happy.”

Badass.

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[Domino]

I don't particularly like the author's tone... did they really expect her to just suddenly open up to a complete stranger after all these years? I will never, ever begrudge her the unwillingness to overshare. She did it back before a lot of famous people did and it bit her in the ass every. single. time. These days with social media and oversharing rampant it would maybe be not as bad, but even now it seems like the media takes every Britney story or tidbit and tries to lambaste her with it. It's like homegirl could never win- so I don't blame her for not playing anymore. Many artists just let their work speak for itself and if that's what she wants these days, how could anyone fault her...

[heather]

It doesn't seem that Britney was very comfortable with this person, and I don't blame her. Especially with that whole "oh I guess Britney isn't a puppet after all" paragraph This interviewer seemed to have preconceived notions about Britney and was unwillingly to let them go to allow Britney to feel comfortable. At least the pictures are stunning and we have so many other interviews where Britney was comfortable with the person interviewing her.

[Opulence]

Hmmm... While I LOVE the photos they shot for this shoot, I can't really say the same about this interview, Idk, it had an odd vibe and a negative tone, it felt like the interviewer was VERY subtly undermining Brit (especially the part where she checked how much time they had left) and any praise given towards her sounded restrained or half-hearted...  If he/she expected her to open up from the get-go and talk comfortably and openly about her past struggles, then they obviously have very little idea about her persona towards the media. Brit is a private person for a reason, she's learned from past experiences that being too open towards the media can potentially backfire on you. 

[coupureelectrique]

1 minute ago, Opulence said:

 If he/she expected her to open up from the get-go and talk comfortably and openly about her past struggles, then they obviously have very little idea about her persona towards the media.

You're 100% right. She never talked about her 2007 struggles. Never. In "For The Record" she was very vague about it and after that documentary she never talked about it again. Nowadays I feel like everyone tries to use their public struggles to play the "super-victim" and keep people interested. Britney never did that, she never played the victim (and she actually could) and I respect her so much for that...

[It's Armin B!tch]

Wow i really LOVE the pictures and I think they are absolutely stunning! We haven't gotten this type of photoshoot since the Britney Era! They are so 2001 teas! 

 

As for the interview it wasn't that good... It felt a little uncomfortable to read and britney didn't seem to like the interviewer.. Idk I got really cold vibes from this interview.. 

[Ricki Lake]

I didn't think the interview was awkward like everyone is saying. He talked about how she was anxious and nervous, but she also said she's like that in a lot of situations.

 

It was a good interview and it was nice that she was actually interviewed in person instead of Larry filling in the answers and sending them back. I'm glad she's happy and she seems like she's in a good place right now.

[btmyhbrit99]

I'm not mad at the interviewer. I kinda actually laughed at him or her because like he said Britney was basically in control the entire time. When she said she didn't understand the question, she completely did but she was giving this person another chance to stick to the script. It was like haha i see what you're doing, let me politely tell you I'm not an idiot without calling your bluff. And she knew full well she had 30 mins with this person but she had nothing else she wanted to say and she cut it short. Very smart. 

[Opulence]

21 minutes ago, coupureelectrique said:

You're 100% right. She never talked about her 2007 struggles. Never. In "For The Record" she was very vague about it and after that documentary she never talked about it again. Nowadays I feel like everyone tries to use their public struggles to play the "super-victim" and keep people interested. Britney never did that, she never played the victim (and she actually could) and I respect her so much for that...

 

Exactly!!  It feels like some interviewers, (including this one) are expecting her to reveal uber-detailed responses about her current and past personal life and whatnot, which is never going to happen.   I'm happy she's a much more private person, in terms of her presence in and towards the media, and besides, why would she want to revisit such a dark place in her life when she's clearly MUCH happier and in such a positive place right now?    

[Mr.Photographer]

2 hours ago, coupureelectrique said:

You're 100% right. She never talked about her 2007 struggles. Never. In "For The Record" she was very vague about it and after that documentary she never talked about it again. Nowadays I feel like everyone tries to use their public struggles to play the "super-victim" and keep people interested. Britney never did that, she never played the victim (and she actually could) and I respect her so much for that...

Very much and i also think that just adds to the mystique of her and adds to her story.

[toxicxxkat]

The photos are gorgeous but the interview seemed... cold.
They talked for 20 minutes and that's all they wrote? Surely he asked more questions in that time. I wonder why they wrote it like this.

[tonyfan]

"How naïve to think I’ve had to tiptoe around this idea of her, while the woman herself has been maneuvering this brief encounter to meet her own specific needs. How arrogant, too, that for a single moment, I thought any of this was in my control. The puppet strings have been clenched firmly in her fist this entire time. I’ve been played. "

 

" Outside of the trailer, I return to the table where my cell phone was labeled, registered, and put into a bin. I begin to realize I have no idea who Britney is any more than I had yesterday. Her goodbye grin tells me she knows that I don’t know. Her smile is saying to me, “I am safe. The plan is working. I am happy.” "

 

This is not an interview that was completed via a fax machine.  This interview is so different from the previous ones where questions were filtered and she gave short canned answers.  She is not described as a woman is medicated into oblivion.  She is mentally present at the interview.  He is describing a woman in control doing things on her own terms.   This is huge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

 

[Vegasney88]

If you look past the seemingly coldness of the writing, this is a great interview.

 

It's a real look into what it's like to interact with present day Britney (all be it on a professional level).

It really feels like you are there in the room with them.

 

I wouldve liked a few more quotes from Britney, but I enjoyed this article for the glimpse it gives into the world of team Britney. 

 

 

 

 

[Mrs Jared Leto]