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Recent Article From Elle Magazine
Britney’s Back And She Knows Five
Ways To Mend A Broken Heart
Things you can’t help noticing about
Britney Spears when you first meet her ….. She smells of peaches. Her skin
is tanned all over in an enticing shade of toffee. She chews emerald green
gum. Her nails are shockingly bitten. When she’s excited she talks so fast
and high that you have to imagine what you have missed. When she’s calm her
voice sounds like a slow deep river on a hot night in Louisiana. She says the
word “freakin” a lot. If she isn’t dragging a Marlboro light, she’ll
be sucking on an iced café latté, and if she’s listening to music she
prefers it be played at a level that’s louder than bombs.
“Turn that up,” she yells from behind the screen where’s she getting her
make-up done. Seconds later the sound of electro clash DJ monster hell is
blasting out of the three foot high amps in this New York studio where Britney
is about to be photographed for ELLE. It’s so loud that everyone else has to
communicate by lip-reading or mime. Hey, the girl knows what she likes. If
it’s not something she can sing along to, it has to be something she can
pump her body to. With her tan-set to gleaming and several feet of mermaid
like extensions attached to her neat blonde bob she was sporting when she
arrived, she skips across the studio in a caramel-towelling robe, one arm
waving in the air. And you realise that Britney Spears is the first and last
person you will ever see skipping to DJ Hell.
Until last year it seemed that everything in Britney’s world was a hop, skip
and a jump’s worth of fun. The three hit albums, the sugary, sexy, silly
singles, the dress up videos, the money and the mansions, the all-singing
all-dancing love story with EX-*NSYNC star Justin Timberlake. But then because
real life likes to show you there’s no escaping it’s evil grasp even when
you’re in a cute pop music bubble. Real life hit Britney a few cruel right
hooks. Her mum and dad split up, her debut movie crossroads, kinda bombed, the
audience in Mexico definitely booed , Kylie said she was highly unprofessional
(although that’s probably not so high on Britney’s list of blows) and the
Britney and Justin rom-com finally came to an end. Many, many bummers
So Britney said enough is enough, folks, Time out. I’m off home for a bit of
R&R, and instead of responding with a “good on you girl you deserve
it!” the crowd shouted “loser!” How mean. “You’re supposed to take a
break”, she’ll say later when we are sitting on a leather couch and
she’s tearing through a nail or two. “It’s normal. My mistake was
announcing I was taking a break. That made it an issue. I thought in my naïve
mind that when I’d stopped working that I’d be a normal person again”,
but no she smiles ruefully, “I was still famous!”
Even worse she was about to be famously betrayed. Last autumn, six months
after they had broken up, Justin Timberlake had released his debut album and
decided to trade tabloid tales of life with Britney Spears for pop mega
superstardom. Old trouser snake spilled the beans and even made a video –
starring a cheating Britney look-alike – to drive his point home. “Freakin
Horrible! You know what I mean?” says Britney screwing up her face. “It
was hard for me that he was so exploitative. Every interview he did he was
talking about us in such an open way and I just felt, “is nothing sacred
anymore?” it was weird. It was disappointing.”
Heartbreak happens even to 21-year old pop princesses of the world. But
Britney spears got over it here’s how.
1. FEEL THE PAIN THEN LET IT GO
“I’ll always have feelings for Justin. OK not feelings for him,” she
says quickly (having just foreseen the embarrassing headline “BRITNEY: I
STILL LOVE TROUSER SNAKE”) “but he’ll always have a special place in my
heart. He was my first love after all.” She’s sorry things didn’t work
out, but at the same time she deliriously happy that’s she’s not MRS J to
the T. “I think I got way to serious, way too young” she says. “It’s
very healthy to not be in that relationship now. There are some people,
especially where I’m from, and they marry really early. I’ll call up a
friend and say, “Hey! What’s going on? You’re pregnant? What?
Already?” But that’s where I come from and that’s the mindset I’ve had
all my life!” y’know?”
At that “Freakin” horrible time she tended to ignore the advice she was
given. “I don’t think anyone can give you advice when you’ve got a
broken heart,” she says “I’m very stubborn. If someone says, “I think
you should do this and this,” “I’m like “OK but that’s not how I
feel right now.” I think therapists are cool but say what you want to hear.
I think you should deal with things yourself. So that’s what I did.”
Plus there are good things that come out of a painful break-up. Like you can
sing better. “It makes you a better artist, honey,” she says touching my
knee, “I know that for a fact. Me going through what I went through…”
she stops. “Oh I bet that sound so stupid. There are a lot of people worse
of than me. ME! What I went I through…” she repeats like the worst kind of
Drama Queen and shakes her head. “But because of what happened, when I went
in the studio to make my new album, I sang better. It’s because you’re
feeling. It’s all-real. It’s you.”
The week Elle’s in NYC taking these pictures, Justin has been splashed all
over the papers having a fun date at the bowling alley with Cameron Diaz. Just
what you want to see your ex doing right? But Britney doesn’t seem bothered.
I ask her if she ever thinks she and J will ever get back together. “I’ve
said goodbye. Seriously,” she nods “You can love someone so much, but then
there are times when too much has been said. You can forgive… but you
can’t forget.”
2. GO DANCE WITH NEW BOYS
So here she is, single and just finding out how much
fun it can be. “I used to be so into having a boyfriend and being a one-man
girl, but being single you do what you want to do. There are no phone calls.
At first it was weird, but I don’t know if I could be in a relationship
right now. And it’s more exciting when you don’t have a boyfriend.” The
other night she went dancing with her friend Melissa to a club called Suede,
where MTV where hosting a party. “I was dancing and one of my old friends
came up and started really dancing with me,” she says eyes wide. “I was
like “oh my god I’m going to have a boyfriend!” you get so excited about
the stupidest things. “Oh my go he touched my back!” So who’s the guy? I
ask. She aint telling. She’s learned from experience. “C’mon I went to a
premiere with Colin Farrell and it was on the cover of freakin’ US
Weekly!” Anyway she’s not really after a relationship. “I read in some
magazine that I said [adopting a hokey down home accent], “I’m, just a
girl who wants somebody to love me.” I never said that, that’s so
cheesy.” That piece was all about guy’s being too scared to approach her,
but tell that to the man with the dancing hands. And anyway Britney spears can
manoeuvre her way around a shy guy. “I think if some guy thinks you’re
cute he might be intimidated and not come up.” She says “But I know when I
meet people if I like them, and I hit it off with them then I’ll start
flirting.” Then she backtracks. “Actually I’m a really bad flirt.” I
just tell her I’ve seen her steaming up the camera and there is no way that
is true. “Noooo, really,” she insists “I get shy, it’s weird because I
think people think because of what I do I’m like “Da-Na” but at heart
I’m very shy. When I’m in front of the camera I know what to do, but I get
in a room stuck with four guys, and I’m like the shyest girl in there.
3. DITCH YOGA START FIGHTING
Although Britney was supposed to have six months off last year, in the end she
could only cope with four weeks of lounging around the house. “I could sit
at home and thumb my nails,” she says “and all my friends have their lives
back home. They go to school.” She did have a little fun though - remember
when the tabloids were trying to convince us she was an alcoholic because
she’d had a few beers. “I’m not a drinker but in those four weeks I did
go out a lot. And it got rilly, rilly old.” She laughs.
Still doing that normal stuff was important. “You’ve that gotta have that
time for yourself.” She says, getting serious. “There are times when I
have to check myself and I’m like “Britney! Go outside, look at the stars!
Go freakin’ take a walk down the park.” You have to do it for your
wellbeing. I’m a Baptist I grew up going to church, but I think you can have
spiritual experiences without going to church.”
Once Britney had been spotted with a book on Zen, some gossipmongers were
practically pronouncing her the next Dalai Lama, but in truth Britney didn’t
quite get the whole meditation thing. “I tried that but I wasn’t very good
at it. Even Yoga. I tried that but I’m a very hyperactive person I’m like
“Can we leave now?” I couldn’t just sit there and go “ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmm”,
it’s not me.”
She likes something a little fiercer “I love to box” she says
enthusiastically. “I can’t even work out by myself anymore because I have
all this aggression. So I go and box and I bring my girlfriend Felicia with me
and we get off on each other [guys, I don’t think she means it like that].
She’ll say something and I’ll hit her then she’ll hit me back. It’s
like a competitive thing.” “Hit me, baby?” I suggest hilariously.
“Oh god!” she says not laughing at all!
4. FIND YOUR INNER VIXEN
After her four weeks off Britney was itching to get back to work on her fourth
and new album. “I was going through so much I wanted to write again,” and
no before you ask she hasn’t written a response to Justin’s cry me a
river. “I’d never do that,” she says, shaking her head “Some people
write about exactly what they’re going through at the time, but I needed
really light stuff to make me feel good. I’m sure the world doesn’t want
to hear my personal baggage, anyway.”
“Erm they really do!” I remind her
“No but I think that’s so self serving. Anyway on the album there are
up-tempo songs that get you in the mood because I love to dance. But for the
most part it’s a vibe album.”
What she means by “Vibe” is all-out, grown up sexy. Working with everyone
from Moby to Cathy Dennis to P.Diddy. Britney’s gone and created one hot
little collection of jungle beats and sexy raps, heavy breaths and wittily
suggestive lyrics. “I don’t want to be a tease/will you do my zip up
please?” is a classic from the track touch of my hand. The record company
claims that the song breathe on me is Britney’s own Ray of light, but
clearly it’s her Erotica. Even now I can sense the collective parental
horror as little girls over the world whisper along to the lines,
“Monogamy’s the way to go/just put your lips together and blow.” Shucks,
isn’t it great to have Britney back?
5. MOVE TO NEW YORK CITY, BABY
Britney recorded her album in New
York having swapped her Hollywood mansion for a downtown apartment. “I love
LA but there’s something about the New York energy. It’s so creative”
she says, gazing out of the window to the blocks uptown. “When I’m a ready
to work and I have my feet on the ground, New York’s the place. I love the
people and everyone has a story when you look at them when you’re driving
down the street.”
The new chez Britney is a girlie affair. In fact it’s the most girlie
apartment you’ve ever seen in your life” She has white chairs for a start.
“And I have a piano and a beautiful couch. And I like the fact that’s
it’s not so big” For some reason I forget I’m talking to one of the
richest 21 year olds in the world and ask, like a fool if it’s just one
bedroom. She looks a little embarrassed when she says, “Actually it’s
four. But y’know I’m used to living in a huge house in LA. Now I like my
home to be a bit more quaint.”
To find out how quaint you just need to find out the story of her new bed.
It’s a four-poster, naturally. “But the person I bought it from said it
belonged to the English royal family 40 years ago,” she explains (can we get
Antiques Roadshow*to check this out? A Britney special?). Her mum didn’t
want her to get it because she thought it was too high to sleep in. According
to Britney she yelled “Britney you’re not getting that Freakin’ bed!”
But there was an authority more powerful than Lynne Spears at work. “One of
my psychics said that in another lifetime it used to be my bed. And they said
that it belonged to a princess!” she shrieks. “She could be totally wrong
but it’s a nice thought right? Anyway she said the princess used to travel
with the bed and they used to piece it together and ship it on boats to
wherever she was. Isn’t that cool? And what’s so weird,” she says, near
exhausted by her unstoppable enthusiasm, “is that my Grandmother is
British!” How do you respond to that? I don’t know. But God bless
Britney’s bed. And all who sail in it.
Britney’s new album is out on 28 October.
BRITNEY’S WICKED VICES!
ON BITING HER NAILS
“Am I a worrier? Look at my nails! Do you think I’m a worrier? I’m
horrible! It’s so bad. I think I get it from my mom she’s a huge worrier
to.”
ON SMOKING
“I want to give up I really do. But when I’m recording, I go into the
studio and everyone’s smoking. It’s like a zone you go in. But I’m
hoping that when I go on tour I won’t smoke anymore. With all the dancing I
won’t be able to.”
ON, LIKE, EPSOM SALTS
“Oh my god, I’m so into having a long bath in Epsom salts. That’s like
my meditation. Tonight I’m going to get a massage and take a bath in Epsom
salts. You see, I’m quite a boring person, man!”
ON HER LOVE AFFAIR WITH BLONDE
“I was having a huge brain fart when I did the dark hair. My hairdresser
persuaded me. And at was first it was cool but then I went on vacation and my
girlfriend got her hair highlighted and I was like “man I gotta go back, I
wanna be blonde again.
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