Britney Spears’s V Magazine Profile Is a Masterclass in What People Love About Her
Britney Spears (Photo: Mario Testino for V magazine)
A funny thing has happened to Britney Spears since the mid-aughts. She’s staged one hell of a comeback, disappearing for a minute and coming back not more polished or better than ever. Britney Spears, right now, is more real than ever.
Now, to celebrate its 100th issue, V magazine features Spears on its cover as only she can be. It’s a sort of aspirational sexiness: here she is draped across a bodybuilder’s lap, now he’s holding her. Britney’s star power is such that she can make a male model in his underwear vanish into the background. But it’s how she describes the shoot that’s truly Britney.
“It was really simple and sexy,” Spears says. “So much of it depends on the photographer you work with. And [Mario Testino]’s one of the best in the world. He was great, very quick, and we just had fun all day.”
Britney Spears is the only person in the world who would describe a day surrounded by all those muscles as “great, very quick.”
Britney Spears (Photo: Mario Testino for V magazine)
A 20-year veteran of the entertainment industry, Spears is, at once, everything you’ll never be and everything you already are.
Her most exciting revelation in the pages of V is about her work. Yes, there’s an album, but don’t bother to ask when.
“We really can’t talk about it,” Spears says. “Honestly, I’m just particular with this record. It’s my baby, and so I really want it done right. … I would much rather have it be completely how I want it to be, whether that takes another year for me to do, or two months. I have no idea at this point. But I just know that the direction I’m going in is so good. It’s the best thing I’ve done in a long time. I’m proud of the work, and it’s very different; it’s not what you would think at all. But I’m not rushing anything. I just want it to be done right, so that my fans will truly appreciate it.”
Britney Spears (Photo: Mario Testino for V magazine)
While Spears’s Instagram has transformed in the past year or so into a refreshingly unfiltered look into the mind of a superstar, that’s just about the only place she’s going online.
“Honestly, I still don’t use my computer,” Spears says. “My kids use the computer more than I do! I understand that a lot of people are into it, and I have days where I write and stuff, but it’s really not for me. It’s not my thing.”
But Spears, who is perhaps more familiar with online criticism and ridicule than pretty much any other living person, takes a surprisingly non-jaded stance the internet’s effect on human behavior.
“I don’t think that really has to do with computers and stuff,” she says. “Whoever is in the spotlight, people are really quick to judge. I mean, there are a lot of kids coming up who’ve experienced that. You know, Justin Bieber, he’s huge, and he experiences that. It’s just the way the world works, unfortunately.”
Britney Spears (Photo: Mario Testino for V magazine)
Spears has always had an effect on people; she’s had thousands of fans screaming her name every day since 1999, when …Baby One More Time came out and changed pop music forever. But she’s not like all the other superstars. There is no reinvention, because nothing is invented. She’s just some woman from Kentwood, Louisiana, who just happens to be a certified 10, once-in-a-generation talent.
There’s a soulfulness — and a sincerity — to her that can’t be taught.
“God, I don’t know,” Spears says, when asked what she’d tell her 1999 self. “Just have an open mind, be true to yourself, and always follow your heart.”
