“With a taste of your lips, I’m on a ride”! Twenty years ago, Britney Spears released her banger single “Toxic,” and I’ve yet to recover from its accompanying music video. Sampling the Indian Hindi song “Tere Mere Beech Mein” by Lata Mangeshkar and S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, the earworm-y track is a catchy piece of pop genius, and the action-packed music video is just as magical. Directed by Joseph Kahn, “Toxic” reimagines Spears as some sort of spy-slash-assassin who’s on a mission to poison her cheating ex. The concept, dreamed up by Spears, sees her in an array of stylish disguises, ranging from a sexy flight attendant to a leather-clad vixen.

The video has it all. Action! Fashion! A random steamy shower scene! But nothing tops the range of iconic costumes. Let’s start with the princess of pop’s first outfit: Up high in the sky, we meet Spears as a flight attendant. Her azure blue getup—a futuristic, sharp-shoulder minidress with a keyhole cutout—comes complete with a little cap and chandelier earrings. The look, which has since become an iconic Halloween costume, was created custom for Spears by designer Jeremy Scott. Spears then follows it up with her most famous “Toxic” look—which is not an ensemble at all but rather just her bare body covered entirely in glued-on diamonds. (No, it’s not a catsuit, contrary to popular belief.)

Source: https://www.vogue.com/article/britney-spears-toxic-music-video-anniversary

Britney Spears is celebrating another milestone in her publishing journey and she's positively thrilled.

According to a press release from publisher Gallery Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Spears’ bombshell memoir, The Woman in Me, has sold over two million copies in the United States. The combined sales figures include hardcover, audiobook and ebook formats.

“My book has officially sold over 2 million copies in the US!!! Thank you to all the fans who have supported me and my story. Love you All!!!” Spears says in the statement.

The pop superstar's long-awaited memoir, which was published in the U.S. on Oct. 24, 2023, broke records within its first week of sales, selling over 1 million copies. In the bombshell book, the “Toxic” singer gets honest about her life as a ground-breaking performer, from her days as a Mouseketeer on the Mickey Mouse Club to her success as a teenage pop sensation and its impact on her life.

Spears also speaks out on some of the difficulties she faced, including the 13-year conservatorship placed upon her in 2008, which was terminated in November 2021. Spears’ father Jamie, along with a lawyer, controlled Spears’ finances and personal assets through the conservatorship.

Spears also details her reaction to the viral #FreeBritney movement, her mental health challenges and her relationship with Justin Timberlake, in which she revealed that she had an abortion during that time.

“It is finally time for me to raise my voice and speak out, and my fans deserve to hear it directly from me,” Spears told PEOPLE of the memoir via email for our cover story. “No more conspiracy, no more lies — just me owning my past, present and future.”

Upon its release, The Woman in Me was an instant No. 1 New York Times bestseller, as well as a No. 1 bestseller in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. The book, according to the press release, is currently in its fifth printing, with 1.65 million copies. An estimated 3 million copies of the book are in print worldwide.

Gallery Books also states that the audiobook, narrated by Michelle Williams, and including a spoken introduction by Spears, is the fastest-selling audiobook in the publisher’s history.

The Woman in Me is now available where books are sold.

Source:People

Michelle Williams‘ work as the audiobook narrator of Britney Spears‘ best-selling memoir, The Woman in Me, is one of her top performances. The Oscar-nominated actress hasn’t discussed the project, but her BFF Busy Philipps has confirmed that Williams “felt a connection” when approached about the project.

“We lost it,” Philipps recounted during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live. “She was like, ‘I have to do this, right?’ I was like, ‘Yes! Obviously!’ And she’s like, ‘I really do, Biz.’ She really felt a connection.”

Philips, who released her own memoir This Will Only Hurt a Little in 2018 continued, “We all — and Michelle, even younger than me — we all came up in a very particular time in this industry, that was what the majority of my memoir is about, as young women, and we were subjected to a lot. I think that there was a lot that was, sadly, very relatable to all women in Britney’s book. But I thought that Michelle doing it was just incredible and really beautiful. Britney deserves our respect.”

Williams was announced as the narrator of The Woman in Me in October. At the time, the actress released only a short statement: “I stand with Britney.” The audiobook features Spears reading the introduction, but Williams reads the rest of the chapters, including one where she mimics Justin Timberlake talking to Ginuwine.

In the now-viral moment, Williams reads the line “Oh yeah, fo’ shiz, fo’ shiz. Ginuwine! What’s up, homie?” in Timberlake’s voice and it is truly incredible.

Philipps and Williams have been longtime friends since meeting on the set of Dawson’s Creek. Philipps often accompanies Williams to awards shows, including to the 2017 Oscars when the pair were memorably photographed reacting to the wrong Best Picture being announced from the front row. Philipps previously discussed Williams working on The Woman in Me on her podcast, Busy Philipps is Doing Her Best.

“Grease” was the word — and the movie — that inspired the iconic video for Britney Spears’ debut single, “…Baby One More Time.”

Indeed, the same California high school where John Travolta’s Danny and Olivia Newton-John’s Sandy were “Born to Hand Jive” in the 1978 movie classic set the scene for Spears’ graduation to the top of the pop world.

“It was filmed at Venice Beach High School — the same place they filmed ‘Grease,’” Felicia Culotta — who was the then 16-year-old Spears’ assistant/chaperone — told The Post.

“And we were just like, ‘Oh my gosh — nothing’s gonna get any better than this!’”

The classic clip that premiered on MTV in November 1998 — two months after the single’s release — was the brainchild of

“The video was 100 percent her idea,” said Barry Weiss, who was then president of Spears’ label, Jive Records.

“That was a huge, huge vehicle that broke her on a global basis.”

Indeed, the timing couldn’t have been better: MTV’s “TRL” premiered just two months before Spears would deliver the video for her army of new fans.

“The time that it was on during the day meant that kids would rush home from school and vote for their favorite video,” said Lori Majewski, host of SiriusXM’s “Fierce: Women in Music,” who was Entertainment Editor at Teen People magazine when Spears launched her recording career.

And those young fans would become instantly acquainted with Culotta, who made a last-minute appearance in the video at Spears’ request.

“They said, ‘Oh, we don’t have a teacher,’” said Culotta. “And they’re all kind of looking around, and they’re like, ‘We don’t have a budget.’

“And so Britney said, ‘Fe will do it!’ I’m like, ‘OK.’ I literally went to the Salvation Army, which wasn’t far, and got this polyester suit and these old-lady brown shoes and a pair of glasses with no lens and just simply stood at the desk.”

But the ensuing hilarity required extra takes when Spears and Culotta couldn’t “stop ourselves from laughing,” she said.”I got reprimanded quite frequently … We were so excited.”

Now Culotta and Weiss are both producers of “& Juliet,” the Broadway musical featuring some of Spears’ classic hits.

And the “…Baby One More Time” video — with Spears in all of her schoolgirl-garbed glory — will forever be what connected the young singer to a generation of girls 25 years after her same-named debut album dropped on Jan. 12. 1999.

“People made a big deal out of the fact that she was wearing a short skirt, that she tied up her shirt,” said Majewski.

“She was just behaving as any other teenage girl would.”