Teen People -- February 2001
Power Player
BY JEREMY HELLIGAR
She's all over MTV, on countless magazine pages and probably playing on a radio near you. No wonder so many people think they know Britney Spears. But who's that girl? Is she the saucy siren who launched into a quasi-striptease midperformance at last September's MTV Video Music Awards? Or is she the freshly scrubbed teen who arrives promptly -- make that early -- to a TEEN PEOPLE photo shoot and proceeds to greet strangers and casual acquaintances alike as if they were all close friends? The answer is simple: Britney is whoever she wants to be. "I guess it's the Sagittarius in me," says the 19-year-old as she sips a Starbucks latte. "The moment I feel like I'm getting held down or someone is telling me what to wear -- not that I'll wear anything crazy, just hot pants and a bra -- I'm like, 'No!' I have to do my own thing."
Naughty or nice, Britney is arguably pop's biggest international female attraction since her idol Madonna. Voted Pop Princess in TEEN PEOPLE's latest Readers' Choice Poll, she watched her second album, Oops! ...I Did It Again, sell 1.3 million copies its first week out last spring. Days before its May 16 release, she became one of a handful of performers to double as host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live. And on January 8, she'll host and perform at the American Music Awards, where she's up for two prizes.
bolder and wiser"I'm impressed by how well she's negotiating the very tricky twists and turns of growing up," says Joe Levy, music editor of Rolling Stone, which has featured Britney on its cover twice. "It's really hard to be 16, 17 and 18 years old, and it's way harder to do it with everybody watching. She is doing it gracefully, and she's holding the public's attention."
Britney clearly enjoys being at the top of the pop heap: Her 1999 debut album, ...Baby One More Time, has sold 12 million copies; its follow-up, 7 million and counting. But even she has her moments of self-doubt. "I try not to think about it," she says. "I'm just doing this because I'm having fun. [But] when people start telling me how big I am, I don't want to talk about it. It's something that scares me for some reason. I don't know why."
Don't get her wrong. She's far from complacent about her career. After a year and a half spent learning the ropes of the music biz, Britney has assumed a more active business role.
"That has been the most rewarding part -- seeing her grow internally and how she has taken more control of decisions," says Felicia Culotta, 35, Britney's personal assistant and a longtime friend of Britney's mother, Lynne. "She used to so depend on other people. I love to see that she is coming into her own."
That means never having to say you're sorry for a borderline-risqué stage show or for performing her hit single "Oops! ...I Did It Again" at the VMAs in the most eye-popping ensemble this side of Jennifer Lopez's barely there Grammy frock.
"I'm being a girl, and I'm celebrating it," Britney explains. "It's funny to me how they'll talk about me showing cleavage and my belly, but they don't say anything about the artists who accept an award and can't even talk because they're so drugged out. After the award show I go home, drink my tea and go to bed. It's the people who are staying up until the wee hours of the morning that you need to worry about."
Britney has taken charge of her personal life too. It was her idea to come clean about her longtime relationship with 'Nsync's Justin Timberlake. At the VMAs -- days before the love connection became public knowledge -- she put her foot down when someone in her circle suggested that she park herself anywhere in the audience but beside Justin.
"I was, like, 'I want to sit by him,'" Britney says firmly. "He's fun to be around. I love his company. With him and my brother [Bryan] sitting by me, it made me feel so much more at ease and at peace."
Having her hair and makeup done at a TEEN PEOPLE shoot in Pittsburgh a week after the awards, Britney seems remarkably at ease discussing what she and Justin have long kept under wraps. "It's just cool to have someone who understands what you go through -- and he totally understands my schedule -- and to have someone to talk to like a really good friend," says Britney of the guy she affectionately refers to as J. "He is such a sweetheart. He is everything, and what more could you want in a person? He's funny. He's cute. He's great. He just understands. I get him and he gets me, and that's cool."
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