If you were living out your dreams in the mid to late aughts, you probably got your celebrity gossip from trash rags like _Star Magazine_ or their digital competitors like _TMZ_. Interest in celebrities had reached a fever pitch as the stars had never seemed so close. Alas, “They’re just like us,” dictated the _US Weekly_ column. The period between 2005 and 2009 was the zeitgeist of an era that venerated and maligned pop culture seemingly at the same time. As consumers, we ate it up. With gossip rag circulations in the millions, Perez Hilton becoming a household name, and the rise of reality shows devoted to celebrities’ private lives—we were addicted.
Sure, it wasn’t all bad. Defining moments of this time in- cluded some great highs: the iPhone debuted, Barack Obama was elected president, and _Gossip Girl_ gave us the looks, I mean likes, of Chace Crawford. But the era also gave us some very low lows: Michael Jackson’s death, “I Gotta Feeling”
by the Black Eyed Peas, and the failed comeback of Britney Spears in 2008.
Let’s talk about that failed comeback. Britney Spears, reigning pop princess, was nearing the bottom of a long slide that would eventually culminate in her being 5150’d and with financial conservatorship given over to her father in early 2008. Just before the end, though, there was a glimmer of hope. A bright spot in a year of troubles: a highly-anticipated perfor- mance at the 2007 MTV VMAs that was to be her chance torehabilitate her image.
For months we’d seen the head-shaving incident, the up- the-skirt shots, daily photos of her smoking and slurping down frappuccinos. For fans, it was disheartening. Since _The Mickey Mouse Club_ for some, and “Hit Me Baby One More Time” for others — she had been our generation’s superstar. But even as her success soared, we loved to watch her fail just as much as we loved to blare each song she churned out.
If you witnessed the 2007 MTV VMAs, you know that her performance was a disaster. Critics said she wasn’t looking her best (during an era that still outwardly body-shamed), there was bad lip syncing, bad dancing, and soulless eyes. Gossip news heavyweight The Daily Mail claimed a source that said, “She flipped out. She came running off the stage, yelling ‘Oh, my God, I looked like a fat pig! I looked like a fat pig!’ She was in- consolable.” Many of us watching felt the same sense of dread. To quote the famous rant by Tyra Banks on _America’s Next Top Model_, “ We were all rooting for you!” Even with “ Womanizer” and the rest of her _Circus_ album being released the following year, her image was, by that point, shattered. She was expected to die at one point, with all of us just waiting for the news to break. _Rolling Stone_ infamously entitled a February 2008 cover article, “Britney Spears: Inside an American Tragedy.”
It took until her 2011 album, _Femme Fatale,_ with singles like “Hold It Against Me,” to bring her truly back to the top of her game. _Femme Fatale_ was a reinvention for Britney. Collaborations with industry veterans like Max Martin (who also produced her ... _Hit Me Baby One More Time_ album in 1999) as well as now-disgraced Dr. Luke, and artists like will.i.am and Kesha gave her serious backing for a successful album. She fully leaned into being a dance/club performer and it gave hernew fans as well as positive press. But even with this continued success, she seemed to have less control over her image than ever. Back in those days (shockingly less than ten years ago), there weren’t as many ways to reinvent yourself as there are today and, more importantly, have significant control in crafting your own image. A comeback or reinvention was particularly difficult if it needed to start with a public apology.
Fast-forward to 2020, and here we are in a totally different world. Who needs an awards show performance or to release an autobiography to change public opinion? Now all you need is your iPhone. Yes, you can be taken down and “cancelled” with one wrong move, but you can also come back from the ashes like a rising phoenix. A world of extremes that fits per- fectly in today’s world of constant extremism. With that ability to make or break, we have seen the reinvention of a slew of celebrities who only now seem to be represented as they truly are. Held back from being themselves in part because of their own doing, but also because of the society that put them on the pedestal in the first place; stars such as Kylie Jenner, Justin Bieber, and of course Britney Spears, are now divulging more of themselves than ever—to great success and acclaim.
Britney’s back. She may still be a bit wacky (maybe wackier than ever), but that’s always been part of her appeal in a way. Truly the girl next door. The girl from Kentwood, Louisiana who became a megastar. She’s relatable and friendly. We hear about her personal life, her love life, her kids, what she’s eating, and what songs she likes. Having weathered the storm, she now posts Instagram stories that show her doing yoga, dancing, smiling, and doing that signa- ture goofy laugh.
She’s not the only one who has come out on top in an age where the stakes are so high. In the past ten years (he rose to stardom just as Britney hit rock bottom) Justin Bieber has gone from fresh-faced teeny bopper to
music’s bad boy to getting married to Hailey Baldwin and becoming a Christian. Gen Z’s version of Britney Spears, Bieber lived through a career implosion that looked impossible to return from. Never knowing a “normal” childhood and not equipped with the faculties to steer his own ship, his power was stripped, similarly to Brit’s, after a series of very public fumbles. You remember the headlines: the egg-throwing incident out in Calabasas, the arrest in Miami for suspicion of driving under the influence, the arrest in Canada for the car accident and following assault, and of course his heavi- ly-documented relationship with Selena Gomez.
Unlike Britney Spears though, Justin Bieber grew up in a generation that was just ever-so-slightly more adept at social media and understanding the benefits, negatives, and overall power of the medium. A significant presence on Instagram since its inception, equally so on the now passé Snapchat, and as of the beginning of 2020, taking to TikTok like a fish to water, he understands the language that we all communicate in these days. In conjunction with traditional crisis management, Justin Bieber used his social media prowess to turn his life around right in front of our eyes. The key to this career revival was to display the perfect mixture of real life, social media life, what we want him to be, what “they” tell him to be, and who he actually is.
The ability to hop seamlessly from each new social media trend to the next, as well as understanding that it is seen as
an extension of oneself, are concepts more easily understood by the youngest Millennials and Gen Z. But what may have slipped through the cracks in this trial by fire is understanding our overall trajectory as a society—to a place where everyone’s in total control of their image but also not at all somehow at the same time. The gap between fan and star has never been closer, the gap between star and publicity disaster/success has never been closer, and the line between what is real and what isn’t has become almost impossibly blurred.
In a classic case of not being able to have your cake and eat it too, we collectively as a culture have lost the ability to ever break away from the very thing that has given us so much pow- er. Even worse, we’re adapting to the situation as it happens so it’s hard to see just what an invasion of privacy social media has become. When it comes to the likes of Britney and Justin — the problem is only exacerbated by fame. Interacting with fans has always been part of the game but that used to happen only at
a premiere, a concert, or a chance run-in at The Ivy. Now, with every direct message, like, comment, swipe, and Cameo interac-
tion, a fan has the ability to be seen or heard by their idol. But however exciting that may be on the fan’s end, there is a resulting burden hoisted onto the star to engage appropriately and with some immediacy.
What is appropriate? That’s still subjective and decided on
a case-by-case basis. How can one decipher what’s appropriate when you can’t even tell what’s real or not about someone? Un- fortunately there is something lost when an entire person is boiled down to a series of words and emojis read on a small screen; a whole person literally in the palm of your hand. That closeness leads to an unfounded feeling of knowing someone and further results in the expectation that they must know you too. That someone you don’t actually know will know what you want to hear, what you want to see, be who you want them to be—like a mindreader.
The expectation created by quick and easy access means that celebrities have even less privacy than they had before. Getting a paparazzi up-the-skirt shot of Britney Spears was truly
invasive back then, but now a celebrity’s location, contact information, and private photos can be accessed from their social media and result in something like Kim Kardashian’s robbery in Paris (in which she very well could have been killed). Even Kim K’s reaction to the event, first by taking a social media break and then by changing her social media habits, led to people questioning whether she would lose some of her clout by staying silent too long. She was expected to tell us what happened immediately and to do it in a way that we all approved of.
Of course that desire for celebrities we admire to keep up with our own projected image of what they should be comes from a positive place. A place that is aspirational; what we want to be. We want to be truthful. Be honest. Be kind. Be ourselves. That’s what everyone’s expecting you to be, aren’t they? And
it’s true — you should be all of those things. And even if you’re none of those things today — there’s always tomorrow. What’s important to note is that it isn’t for me. And it isn’t for “them.” It’s for yourself. When it’s all said and done, only you can give yourself the comeback you deserve. Sure, someone can give you a second (or third) chance wrapped in a bow but the power is ultimately yours.
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