Great Debate: Can Britney Spears Make A Comeback?

By Brendan Butler and Lexi Feinberg: 2007-04-17 20:15:01

Can Britney Spears Make A Comeback?

Yay!

-- Brendan Butler

OK, so maybe I’ve never paid sufficient mind to the Britney Spears saga over the last eight years. Since the bubbly 16-year-old debuted on TRL with “…Baby One More Time,” leading guest Mark McGrath to exclaim, “Man, I can’t wait until she’s 18!,” it appeared this was a girl who could fall prey to others’ whims.

If mommy says you’re going to be a pop star everyday from the age of 2, then by God, that is what you are and that’s all you will identify yourself as. Britney was cute, Britney was light, Britney was fun and she had to keep it up, until she couldn’t. (Who’s to say we all could, either?) Somewhere between being a pop superstar and a young mother of two, Britney forgot, or was prohibited, to grow up.

I forget whether it was Mahatma Ghandi or Chuck Palahniuk who said something to the effect of, “Only through complete self-destruction can you be resurrected.” Britney never found who she was before the world decided for her; now it’s time for her to do just that. But performing is what she knows--and remember, the girl can seriously bust a move, which I don’t think fans are done witnessing yet.

No rush, though. Britney’s in a place where she knows who her friends are, and while that’s a painful place to get to, it’s surely kind of beautiful in a way. Now we should give her the time to find Jesus, Buddha, Allah, or whatever it takes to bring her comfort through the night. So if and when she decides to resume her performing career, I’ll tune into the event see the pop princess reclaim her throne or rip it to shreds entirely. It’s Britney’s life; she’ll be who she wants to be.

Nay!

-- Lexi Feinberg

The only thing people love more than a success story is a good old-fashioned fall-from-grace story. As much as people obsessed about Britney Spears, from her titillating "…Baby One More Time" Catholic schoolgirl tease at age 17 up to 2003's "Toxic," it's nothing like how it is now. Everyone and their grandmas are gabbing about the fallen pop princess, and generally getting off on her misery just a tad too much.

Still, we all know the stories and have likely relayed a few ourselves. But now Britney wants to take her name out of the tabloids and put it back into accredited music magazines. Namely, she wants to make a comeback.

Can such a task be accomplished? She has recruited the help of hotshot producer Sean Garrett (who has worked with Beyoncé) and is planning to release an album sometime this year. Timbaland and ex beau/fellow former Mousketeer Justin Timberlake have also offered to lend a hand.

But with fans rapidly turning their backs on her--let's not forget that one of her top fansites shut down--does anyone really want to see her catapult back into the music stratosphere?

My guess is no. Although some people will buy her new album, if only for the curiosity factor, she'll never attain the success she had before. Part of Britney's appeal--since, let's face it, she's always been more of a performer than a singer (just like her idol Madonna)--is that people found her cool/erotic/inspiring/relatable. Now her prime is a faded thing of the past. Goodbye arousing performer who sold over 76 million albums worldwide; hello washed up mother of two.

Lately, like Paris Hilton, she is more or less famous for nothing. And I suspect that is exactly how the masses will want to keep it.

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