Page 215 - Flaunt 170 - The Phoenix Issue - Kiernan Shipka

DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK, CELEBRITY When public meltdowns are cultural cache Written by Charlie Ryan If you were living out your dreams in the mid to late aughts, you probably got your celebrity gossip from trash rags like Star Magazine or their digital competitors like TMZ. Interest in celebrities had reached a fever pitch as the stars had never seemed so close. Alas, “They’re just like us,” dictated the US Weekly column. The period between 2005 and 2009 was the zeitgeist of an era that venerated and maligned pop culture seemingly at the same time. As consumers, we ate it up. With gossip rag circulations in the millions, Perez Hilton becoming a household name, and the rise of reality shows devoted to celebrities’ private lives—we were addicted. Sure, it wasn’t all bad. Defining moments of this time in- cluded some great highs: the iPhone debuted, Barack Obama was elected president, and Gossip Girl gave us the looks, I mean likes, of Chace Crawford. But the era also gave us some very low lows: Michael Jackson’s death, “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas, and the failed comeback of Britney Spears in 2008. Let’s talk about that failed comeback. Britney Spears, reigning pop princess, was nearing the bottom of a long slide that would eventually culminate in her being 5150’d and with financial conservatorship given over to her father in early 2008. Just before the end, though, there was a glimmer of hope. A bright spot in a year of troubles: a highly-anticipated perfor- mance at the 2007 MTV VMAs that was to be her chance to rehabilitate her image. For months we’d seen the head-shaving incident, the up- the-skirt shots, daily photos of her smoking and slurping down frappuccinos. For fans, it was disheartening. Since The Mickey Mouse Club for some, and “Hit Me Baby One More Time” for others — she had been our generation’s superstar. But even as her success soared, we loved to watch her fail just as much as we loved to blare each song she churned out. If you witnessed the 2007 MTV VMAs, you know that her performance was a disaster. Critics said she wasn’t looking her best (during an era that still outwardly body-shamed), there was bad lip syncing, bad dancing, and soulless eyes. Gossip news heavyweight The Daily Mail claimed a source that said, “She flipped out. She came running off the stage, yelling ‘Oh, my God, I looked like a fat pig! I looked like a fat pig!’ She was in- consolable.” Many of us watching felt the same sense of dread. To quote the famous rant by Tyra Banks on America’s Next Top Model, “ We were all rooting for you!” Even with “ Womanizer” and the rest of her Circus album being released the following year, her image was, by that point, shattered. She was expected to die at one point, with all of us just waiting for the news to break. Rolling Stone infamously entitled a February 2008 cover article, “Britney Spears: Inside an American Tragedy.” It took until her 2011 album, Femme Fatale, with singles like “Hold It Against Me,” to bring her truly back to the top of her game. Femme Fatale was a reinvention for Britney. Col- laborations with industry veterans like Max Martin (who also produced her ... Hit Me Baby One More Time album in 1999) as well as now-disgraced Dr. Luke, and artists like will.i.am and Kesha gave her serious backing for a successful album. She fully leaned into being a dance/club performer and it gave her 209