These Were Britney Spears’s Best Performances of All Time
On this day today, 37 years ago, pop music was invented—okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but it was the day Britney Spears was born in McComb, Mississippi. Since then, the Queen of Pop has graced the world with music gold: She’s brought us iconic music videos, stellar live performances, and record-breaking albums that have shaped and changed the pop scene today, not to mention influenced all of the artists who have followed in her shoes. These days, she’s also prepping a new residency, opening in Vegas come 2019.
In honor of her birthday, why not allow yourself to get lost in some of her most magic moments? Below, a deep dive into six of her stellar performances.
6. “Work Bitch” — 2018
Let’s be real: 2018 was just not a fabulous year. With Trump’s escapades, a global environmental crisis looming, and the loss of icons such as Aretha Franklin, I imagine many of us are ready to “Thank U, Next” this whole year. But it did start out on the right note: Spears performed her hit “Work Bitch” on the New Year’s Rockin’ Eve special, where she ushered us into 2018 on a more uplifting, upbeat note. Her hair and makeup? Snatched. The choreo? Even more snatched. Perhaps she was even warning us about the year ahead: She was telling us, through song, that we’d really have to put the effort in to stay emotionally afloat in these trying times. We love a considerate pop star.
5. “Gimme More” — 2007
Okay, hear me out. What is now Spears’s most controversial performance ever—her “Gimme More” performance at the 2007 VMAs—is undeniably iconic. (Remember: The critical consensus was largely that it would end her career.) Yet, consider this: What other pop star can give 10 percent on stage, only to return the following year to collect three major awards? Yeah, not many. And furthermore, do you even remember anyone else who performed at the show that year? Exactly. She created a memorable moment—what good pop stars should do, good or bad. (Bonus points: Please watch her rehearsing for this performance, in which she refuses to remove her sunglasses and large-brimmed panama hat.) Also: This single is from Blackout, which is her best album ever.
4. “Breathe on Me” — 2003
Spears is best known for her sex appeal, and “Breathe on Me” pretty much plays to her strengths full-throttle. Filmed as part of her ABC Special for her album In the Zone, this performance is uncharacteristically slowed down and intimate, and it proved she’s not a one-trick pony. She strips into a bejeweled bra, she straddles a chaise along with her female backup dancers; She gives us elegant raunch. A wind machine even blows a light breeze into her hair. Her squeaky-clean schoolgirl-sexy “Baby One More Time” days? Officially dead.
3. “Like a Virgin/Hollywood” — 2003
It was the kiss seen around the world. Performing alongside Madonna and Christina Aguilera, Spears emerged in a wedding dress and veil for a wedding-theme take on “Like a Virgin”—where she eventually shared a kiss with Madonna. This is an iconic moment for many reasons: One, it was a global scandal. Two: Even though Aguilera also kissed Madonna, it was as though she wasn’t even there. And three: The cameraman shadily panned to Spears’s then recent ex, Justin Timberlake, immediately after—and he wasn’t thrilled.
2. “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction/Oops I Did It Again” — 2000
What’s that we hear? Spears singing live? The queen of playback graced us with her real chops with a take on The Rolling Stones’s “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.” Afterwards, she shed her suit and fedora to reveal a flesh-color pant and bra underneath. (A moment.) Then, the lip-synching was back—but the world didn’t mind, as she proceeded to kill her performance of the smash hit “Oops I Did It Again,” against an elaborate spinning set.
1. “I’m a Slave 4 U” — 2001
The yellow python. The live tigers. The world was not ready for Spears’s jungle-theme performance of “Slave 4 U” at the 2001 VMAs. This is by far her best performance ever—Britney fans, fight me. The choreography was flawless, as were her insane, impossible rock-hard abs. The costume was so 2000s, in the best way possible: body stickers, sequined barely-there shorts with a weird, torn wrap skirt. Viewers couldn’t take their eyes off her as she slunk around the stage, executing the choreo so fluidly and sexily. It’s what most people think of when they think of Britney performing.
Honorable mention: “The Way You Make Me Feel” — 2001
Spears performed “The Way You Make Me Feel” with Michael Jackson, and it can’t not make the list, you know? It didn’t make the top 6 because there’s virtually no dancing involved, but Spears didn’t need to—the Queen of Pop walking back and forth across the stage as the King of Pop follows her around? What more could you possibly want?
