Talk about animal magnetism.
At least it's not Bear Rocknroll
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Spears prefers not to care about what people think anymore. It appears age has helped Spears see things a lot more clearly. "When I first started out, I didn't care what anybody thought of me. I was happy to be there. I was like, 'This is great!' But then 10 years later, I realize there's a lot of mean things on the Internet," she said. "But before the naivete in the whole thing was just brilliant because it was like you can't really control what they think so you can't really worry about what they think. That attitude is the one to have."
Spears felt "alienated from the public." Though she didn't pinpoint an exact time period, one could probably guess what she was referring to. In the doc, Spears said she felt "alienated from the public" when she couldn't go out without having 20 paparazzi following her. "But as time passed, they lightened up and they went away, after I wouldn't come out of the house for two years," Spears said. "It was a trying time. It was kind of confusing for me. Personally, I'm a shy person and I'm particularly not really made for this industry because I am so shy. It's not something I deal with so well."
Spears still struggles with speaking her mind."I'm not saying it's good to be a bitch, but a lot of times in this industry it's better to speak up and say what's on your mind, which I have a problem with," she said.
Spears on dealing with pressure. "Pressure is a funny thing. Sometimes I tend to go inward when I'm under pressure," she said. "I tend to keep it all in. I don't express myself too much. If I'm really nervous, I'm really quiet. But I think I thrive under pressure."
Spears shares her motto on love."Love is just an unexplainable thing and there's a saying that I have in my bathroom in Louisiana. It says 'Go beyond reason to love, for it's the only safety there is.' And it's true you should always go beyond reason to love and to be with the person you want to be with and to be cherished and to be treasured. I think it's why we're here as people," she said.
Spears calls "Piece of Me" her biography. The way she told it, the song off the 2007 album Blackout is popular because it detailed her journey in the music business and the often grueling life in front of and behind the cameras. "I'm relating to it with how I started at 17 years old and how the paparazzi is with me and what I go through when I go out sometimes and me being a mother," she said. But for Spears, her perspective on the song has changed as the years passed. "Now I look at it more like a superstar, like super-confident 'You want a piece of me?' "
Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/britney-spears-12-memorable-britney-667449
Best quote of the night: Jamie Spears "You're gonna need a case of duck tape for this shit!"
(Note though that the promo's aspect ratio seems like it could be off too, and in the opposite, widened way. So that's really fucking confusing.)
As far as the content goes, I Am Britney Jean was not particularly raw and candid, but it was well made since it was a World of Wonder (RuPaul's Drag Race, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Dark Roots: The Unauthorized Anna Nicole) production. The weirdest thing that Britney said was that her onstage persona/alter ego is a different person and that it's "seriously bipolar disorder." (Ever since her 2008 meltdown, it's been widely speculated that Britney is bipolar, and here she is kind of joking about it.)
It was refreshingly honest of Brit to admit, "Personally, I'm really a shy person and I'm particularly not really made for this industry because I am so shy." But at the same time it's like, why are you still doing this then? It would be one thing if she were a singer's singer or a dancer's dancer or if there were some virtuosic, honed craft that her inner artistry compelled her to express despite the unfortunate byproduct of fame. But no, her craft is being an all-around entertainer, a star, and that's how her career was engineered. It's how her life was engineered, and from a very young age, at that. If she is "not really made for this industry," is it any wonder that she freaked out five years ago and hit an SUV with an umbrella, or that she routinely shows up in public and music videos with dead eyes, looking like she wants to crawl out of her skin? Was happiness ever a possibility for Britney Spears? Did anyone ever actually think about that?
She at least seemed more alive and spirited in I Am Britney Jean than she has in years. She was often endearingly goofy. She used big-ish words like "intangibles" and "naiveté," and she also used "fart" as an expletive. She lamented, "Being a perfectionist sucks," and discussed her love of watermelon bubblegum and sex. She seemed kind to her employees and she seems to work very hard to keep the industry that has been organized around her propped up. The artist was present on I Am Britney Jean, but given her comments, you can't help but wonder if she really wanted to be.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The battle for AP entertainer of the year came down to the Girl on Fire and the Queen of Twerk.
Jennifer Lawrence edged out Miley Cyrus by one vote in The Associated Press' annual survey of its newspaper and broadcast members and subscribers for Entertainer of the Year.
There were 70 ballots submitted by U.S. editors and news directors. Voters were asked to consider who had the most influence on entertainment and culture in 2013.
Lawrence won 15 votes. Cyrus had 14. Netflix was a close third, earning 13 votes for altering the TV landscape with its on-demand format and hit original series.
But Lawrence — who started the year with an Academy Award for best actress, fueled a box-office franchise as "The Hunger Games" heroine Katniss Everdeen, and wrapped 2013 with a critically acclaimed performance in "American Hustle" that just earned Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations — charmed fans everywhere with her candid sincerity.
She was also a fashion darling — a muse for Dior — who made headlines with her pixie haircut. ("That was the weirdest thing that ever happened to me," she recently told Jon Stewart.)
Lawrence declined comment for this story.
The 23-year-old actress "is not only talented and beautiful, but comes off as incredibly intelligent, genuine, funny and well-spoken in her public appearances and interviews," writes Kristi Runyan of The Derrick and The News-Herald Newspapers in Oil City, Pa. "It's refreshing to see a young woman not squandering her talent and success by succumbing to the temptations many do in Hollywood and who actively speaks about the ridiculous behavior of some of her peers."
Speaking of ridiculous behavior, Cyrus raised eyebrows throughout 2013 with her embrace of twerking, nudity and public pot smoking. The 21-year-old "Wrecking Ball" singer also made news with her pixie chop, but her breakup with fiance Liam Hemsworth and highly sexualized (and scrutinized) performances made her water-cooler chatter all year.
"She made the biggest splash, without comment on whether I thought it was a good thing," said Jim Turpin of KMPH-TV in Fresno, Calif.
Women have dominated the Entertainer of the Year contest. Past titleholders include Adele, Lady Gaga, Tina Fey, Betty White and Taylor Swift. Stephen Colbert is the lone male winner in seven years of voting.
Netflix commanded votes for changing viewing habits (binge-watch "Breaking Bad," anyone?) and challenging the traditional TV-release concept with its original series. The outlet eschewed typical TV pilots and released a season's worth of episodes at once of its acclaimed series "House of Cards" and "Orange Is the New Black."
"In a divided entertainment landscape that includes the fans of pop princesses like Miley as well as high-minded devotees of cutting-edge filmmaking, Netflix is the one common denominator," said Sean Stangland of Paddock Publications in suburban Chicago.
The beloved, Emmy-winning series "Breaking Bad" was in fourth place with 10 votes. Justin Timberlake, whose year included a pair of albums and top-selling tours, seven Grammy nominations and two film roles, claimed fifth place.
Has hating the upper class ever been so cool in pop music? With America in post-"Occupy" mode, the middle class remains constantly suspicious of the wealthy. And for the most part, mainstream music fans didn't want to hear about the lifestyles of the rich and famous; the Rich Kids of Instagram were met with eye-rolls, and most envy was hidden instead of amplified. Instead of being told to throw some D's on a new Cadillac, listeners wanted to hear about the ridiculousness of spending 50 dollars on a t-shirt.
A pair of year-defining singles -- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Thrift Shop" and Lorde's "Royals" -- mostly made their hay by railing against consumerism in a manner that included everyone, except for the one percent. Both rallying cries came from previously unheard voices, granting them a shimmering aura of authenticity. All this fury wasn't coming from a bottle-poppin' rapper or a bankable pop star; the masses really could believe Macklemore rocked scuzzy Goodwill sweatshirts or that Lorde counted her dollar bills amidst the rust and decay of the "torn-up town" she sings about. Sure, there were a "Suit & Tie" or two on Top 40 this year, but even those songs didn't revel in over-indulgence as much as they nodded toward an era of music that is no longer at the forefront of pop culture. The most surprising part of Macklemore's pro-DIY lecture on "Thrift Shop" is how unwarranted it felt within the context of modern hip-hop: wealth is still a talking point, but between Drake's soul-searching, Kanye's race talk, Eminem's devotion to the game and Kendrick Lamar's search for street-life meaning, the shiny-suit era is clearly long gone.
The Internet scrutiny of "Thrift Shop" and "Royals" followed each of their respective successes, of course. Meme makers quibbled over the non-thrift store prices Macklemore charged for merch on tour. For Lorde, the singer's background came into question. The New Zealander was certainly born into a family of cultural capital, her hometown of Takapuna is one of Auckland's wealthiest suburbs and the school she attends is highly affluent. If Lorde isn't royal, some argued, then who is?
Both stars were called out for their alleged misunderstanding of the materialistic hip-hop culture they were criticizing -- but if a hip-hop musician comes from an underprivileged background and dreams of wealth, who can blame them? "Around the middle of last year I started listening to a lot of rap, like Nicki Minaj and Drake, as well as pop singers like Lana Del Rey," Lorde told Interview Magazine in a 2013 story. "They all sing about such opulence, stuff that just didn't relate to me—or anyone that I knew. I began thinking, 'How are we listening to this? It's completely irrelevant.'"
It's certainly disappointing if Lorde hears nothing but opulence when she listens to these artists, but failing to connect with American hip-hop might just make her a kid from the other side of the world. She's not just calling out hip-hop signifiers like gold teeth and Maybach -- she's mocking jet planes, islands, and the joys of "trippin' in the bathroom." One could find any of those things by flipping on the Bravo network or following a few celebrities on Twitter.
Even if this precocious millennial isn't so poor after all, Lorde's background story is nothing new. Why was everyone suddenly so upset? Once again, the culprit seems to be our Internet-fueled self-awareness and the post-"Occupy" times we live in.
2013 still had its "Bugatti" and "Versace" songs, but people were singing along more loudly to "Thrift Shop" and "Royals" this year. The No. 1 ascensions of "Thrift Shop" and "Royals" proved that Americans want to hear different sorts of narratives -- the pendulum has not completely swung away from luxurious pop, but it is moving. Now the question is how exactly those narratives will change for Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Lorde, since both artists have already transitioned from mocking superstar stylings to musical superstardom. Both artists, especially the former, have already followed up their breakout hits with further Hot 100 success. But as these 2013 poster kids accumulate not only new songs but new scrutiny into their personal lives, it will be interesting to see how much fans will hold them accountable to the manifestos that made them famous.
In 2010, M.I.A. munched on a gourmet truffle fry during a New York Times interview and the fallout from the resulting profile had many questioning her cultural validity. How could someone who can afford expensive food possibly identify as a left-wing ally of the third world? Surely one can be conscious and wealthy at the same time, but the masses that can build up (or take down) pop stars often don't think so reasonably. Macklemore and Lorde entered pop this year by connecting to fans by being convincing enough that they were just like one of them; now, they are newly minted members of the billion-dollar music industry. After all the sold-out shows and album sales, their next challenge is to maintain those connections to the masses, once it becomes increasingly obvious that being one of them is something they can no longer do.