Britney Spears Fashion: 2008

(You Drive Me) Crazy

In late 1999, Spears appeared on the sitcom Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and performed the song "(You Drive Me) Crazy"; this cameo was a cross-promotion for the film Drive Me Crazy, which starred Sabrina's Melissa Joan Hart and was named after the song.

In December 1999, she won four Billboard Music Awards, including Female Artist of the Year. A month later, she took home the Favorite Pop/Rock New Artist award at the American Music Awards. At the 2000 Grammy Awards, Spears received two nominations in the categories of Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for ...Baby One More Time, but lost to American singer Christina Aguilera and Canadian musician-singer Sarah McLachlan, respectively.

Following the success of her previous album, Spears released the album Oops!... I Did It Again. It debuted at number one in the U.S. by selling 1,319,193 units during its first week of sales, breaking the SoundScan record for the highest album sales in its debut week by any solo artist. The RIAA awarded the album with a diamond certification with 10 million copies sold in the U.S. Concerning both musical content and sales, the album was very similar to Spears's debut, although it fared better with critics. Allmusic once again gave it 4 out of 5 stars, saying that the album "has the same combination of sweetly sentimental ballads and endearingly gaudy dance-pop that made One More Time." Rolling Stone gave the album 3.5 stars out of 5 by noting the album as "fantastic pop cheese" and "Britney's demand for satisfaction is complex, fierce and downright scary."

The album's lead single of the same name broke the record for most radio station additions in a single day, and quickly became a top ten hit in the U.S. and other countries. The same year, Spears launched her first world tour, the "Oops!... I Did It Again World Tour". During the tour, she made a stop in New York for the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. As part of her performance, she ripped off a black suit to reveal a provocative nude-colored and crystal-adorned outfit that generated much controversy. She finished the year with two more Billboard Music Awards, and two Grammy nominations for Oops!... I Did It Again in the categories of Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

1998–2000: ...Baby One More Time and Oops... I Did It Again

1998–2000: ...Baby One More Time and Oops!... I Did It Again

Spears's debut single "...Baby One More Time", released at the end of 1998, became an instant international success; it peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and sold nine million copies worldwide. The song was also ranked 25th on Rolling Stone and MTV's "100 Greatest Pop Songs of all time". The music video of the song features Spears dressed in a midriff-baring schoolgirl uniform.

The album of the same title was released in January 1999, reaching number one on the Billboard 200. ...Baby One More Time was certified diamond in the U.S. and subsequently achieving worldwide sales of 28 million copies, making it the biggest-selling album by a teenager to date. Spears broke the record in U.S for the youngest artist to have their debut single at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. She also broke the record for the youngest artist to have their debut single and debut album simultaneously at number one on the Billboard charts. Spears still holds this record to date. The album received mixed reviews. Allmusic gave it 4 out of 5 stars, stating that the album "has the same blend of infectious, rap-inflected dance-pop and smooth balladry that propelled the New Kids and Debbie Gibson." While Rolling Stone gave it 2 out of 5, noting that "while several Cherion-crafted kiddie-funk jams serve up beefy hooks, shameless schlock slowies, like 'E-Mail My Heart', are pure spam". The success of Spears's music coupled with her controversial image made her one of the year's biggest stars.

Early life and Career

Britney Spears was born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana as a Southern Baptist. Her parents are Lynne Irene (née Bridges), a former elementary school teacher, and Jamie Parnell Spears, a building contractor. Spears's brother Bryan works as a manager for the Spears family interests and her sister Jamie Lynn is an actress and singer. Her maternal grandmother Lillian Woolmore was an English war-bride, born in Tottenham, London who met Spears's grandfather Barnett O'Field Bridges in England during World War II. Her paternal grandparents were June Austin Spears and Emma Jean Forbes.

Spears was an accomplished gymnast, attending gymnastics classes until age nine and competing in state-level competitions. She performed in local dance revues and sang in her local Baptist church choir. Spears entered New York City's Professional Performing Arts School when she was eight. She was an understudy in the 1991 play Ruthless! and appeared in several other off-Broadway productions. At age eight she auditioned for the Disney Channel series The New Mickey Mouse Club. Although she was considered too young to join the series at the time, a producer on the show introduced her to a New York City agent. Spears subsequently spent three summers at NYC's Professional Performing Arts School and also appeared in a number of off-Broadway productions, including 1991's Ruthless!. In 1992, she landed a spot on the popular television show Star Search. She won the first round of competition, but ultimately lost. At age eleven, Spears returned to the Disney Channel for a spot on the The New Mickey Mouse Club in Lakeland, Florida. She was featured on the show from 1993 to 1994, until she was 13. After the show ended, Spears returned to Kentwood and attended high school for a year.

In 1997, Spears briefly joined the all-female pop group Innosense. Later that same year, she recorded a demo solo and was signed by Jive Records. She began a U.S. concert tour sponsored by American teen magazines, and eventually became an opening act for 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys.

Rolling Stone

In April 1999, Spears posed for the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, shot by photographer David LaChapelle. Spears commented, "It was so much fun!...I loved the idea of me holding Tinky Winky and talking on the phone!" Geoff Boucher of The Los Angeles Times reported: "Though the singer says her image is "wholesome, a role model," her hit song and video have a lusty undercurrent, and there was no mistaking the titillation factor in the recent Spears cover story and accompanying photos in the April 15 issue of Rolling Stone, which sent eyebrows arching throughout the music industry, where several executives half-jokingly called it "child pornography." The bedroom poses, the dewy come-hither looks, the prose dedicated to Spears' "honeyed thigh"--by the end, the Norman Rockwell neighborhood kid suddenly seemed more like a Vargas girl".The National Review commented, "[a] recent issue of Rolling Stone featured a heavy-breathing profile of 17-year-old pop star Britney Spears. "Is Spears bubblegum jailbait, jaded crossover diva or malleable Stepford teen? Who knows?" Everybody knows: all of the above". Similarly, an editorial review from Iowa State Daily commented, "a distinction should be drawn between the cute teeny-boppers in cool outfits who make the boys and girls buy records by the truckload and the exploitation of a minor by her parents, her record company and the media. Spears undoubtedly has no problem with these displays; teenagers rarely do. That's why they have parents to draw the line for them. Show biz parents are remarkably different, it seems. Pictures like these are only barely legal when taken by private citizens. But when Rolling Stone does it, it's just good business". More controversy arose when Spears declared that she would "remain a virgin until marriage". This pledge has been questioned due to her apparently sexual relationship with fellow pop singer Justin Timberlake.