Madonna's new video expresses love and admiration for Spears amid fallout from the Framing Britney Spears documentary.
By Joey Nolfi
Madame X is a dancer, a professor, a head of state, a housekeeper, an equestrian, and a Britney Spears fan.
The fallout from the New York Times' groundbreaking Framing Britney Spears documentary continues to reverberate through Hollywood, as Madonna — Spears' collaborator on the 2003 hit "Me Against the Music" — shared a short lip-sync video Thursday evening in support of the pop star.
"Love This Song........,Love The Girl who sings it," Madonna tweeted alongside the video, which seemingly employs a face-warping app to animate the cover art from her 2019 album Madame X for a lip-sync performance of Spears' debut single "...Baby One More Time."
Love This Song........,Love The Girl who sings it. ♥️ #hitmebabyonemoretime#madamex @britneyspears pic.twitter.com/TJ2z2zwjEI
— Madonna (@Madonna) April 8, 2021
Britney Spears said she continues to be “judged” and “insulted” by the media in a candid post that also revealed if she watched The New York Times’ “Framing Britney Spears” documentary.
Britney Spears is addressing The New York Times documentary "Framing Britney Spears" in her latest Instagram post.
On Tuesday, March 30, the pop star took to social media to speak about the impact the FX documentary had on her life, writing, "My life has always been very speculated ... watched ... and judged really my whole life !!!"
She added that this is why she dances, particularly to the work of rocker Steven Tyler, explaining that moving to his songs make her "feel wild and human and alive."
"I have been exposed my whole life performing in front of people!!!" the 39 year old continued. "It takes a lot of strength to TRUST the universe with your real vulnerability cause I've always been so judged... insulted... and embarrassed by the media... and I still am till this day!!!! As the world keeps on turning and life goes on we still remain so fragile and sensitive as people !!!"
Additionally, Britney said she has not watched the entire documentary, adding, "but from what I did see of it I was embarrassed by the light they put me in ... I cried for two weeks and well .... I still cry sometimes !!!!"
"I do what I can in my own spirituality with myself to try and keep my own joy ... love ... and happiness!!!! Every day dancing brings me joy !!!" the mother of two said. "I'm not here to be perfect ... perfect is boring ... I'm here to pass on kindness !!!!"
This is the first time the singer has explicitly addressed the documentary and continued speculation about her conservatorship.
In February, Britney hinted that she's aware of the public's interest in her life, but carefully reminded fans that "no matter what we think we know about a person's life it is nothing compared to the actual person living behind the lens."
Then, on March 1, the "Lucky" singer shared some insight into how she's feeling lately, writing, "This year I devote myself to lots of tea and healing !!!! I'm working on allowing myself to not be so strong all the time and to know it's ok to cry !!!!"
While Britney's comments are often vague, her father Jamie Spears' attorney Vivian Lee Thoreen statements on the matter are anything but. Thoreen recently stated that everything Jamie's done as conservator has been in Britney's "best interest."
"Jamie is not suggesting that he is the perfect dad or that he would receive any 'Father of the Year' award," Thoreen explained to CNN. "Like any parent, he doesn't always see eye-to-eye on what Britney may want. But Jamie believes every single decision he has made has been in her best interest."
Moreover, Thoreen explained that the conservatorship can end at any time, but it all "depends on Britney" filing the petition.
Since then, Britney's legal team has requested Jodi Montgomery be appointed permanent conservator of her person.
E! News reached out to Britney's reps for comment at the time, but never heard back.
This article is for the SOME!! Fans think Spears' Instagram hints that she was secretly involved in the documentary.
On TikTok and Twitter, conspiracy theorists pointed out that Spears had previously used the phrase "Project Rose" to refer to a "personal photo project" she had in the works. When they observed that the documentary prominently featured floral, rose-covered backdrops, the connection was posited: Could the documentary itself actually be Project Rose? Is Framing Britney a covert way for Spears to speak out without directly doing so?
According to director Samantha Stark and senior editor Liz Day, the rosy scenery was actually just a stylistic choice based on Spears' penchant for flowers on Instagram and the rose-shaped soap bath video that the doc concludes with. "I’ll tell you what happened. We filmed this entire thing during COVID; in order to be COVID safe, we had to film outside," Stark explained to Glamour. She continued:
"If these interviews are going to be outside, I wanted that to be a motivated, stylistic decision. I didn’t want people randomly outside. I had been looking at Britney’s Instagram a lot, and I noticed Britney loves roses. There are so many posts with pictures of roses and also so many posts of her holding flowers. There’s also this greenery, backyard feel to a lot of her posts. I really wanted the documentary to live in the world of that. I had this rose wall built for the fans, because I was trying to make the amount of roses reflect their relationship to Britney. We did some interviews, and then Britney posted about Project Rose. That is the order of events. That’s what happened."
Day echoed the idea that the documentary had nothing to do with Project Rose. "I don’t know that we know much more about Project Rose, but are excited to see what Britney wants to reveal about it," she said.
However, when asked by the interviewer if the pair could conclusively say they "had no support from Britney Spears" and "there was not some underground communication that she was giving you her support," Stark didn't offer a completely outright answer. "We are not saying anything. I just told you the sequence of the events. Yes," she said.
CROSSROADS DRIVE-IN
SATURDAY, MARCH 6TH
the event...
Directed by Tamra Davis (2002, 94 minutes)Cinespia at The Greek Theatre / $45
doors at 5:30pm/ movie at 6:30pm
Britney Spears finds freedom on the open road in the piece of pop perfection that defined the new millennium: Britney Spears, Zoe Saldana and Taryn Manning discover that despite the detours, friends are forever. With endless joys (Brit Brit covering Joan Jett?), you’ll want to see this film Drive-In style with bubble-gum pop DJ sets and snacks delivered right to your car window.
Tickets and more details
http://cinespia.org/event/crossroads-drive-in/