It’s been one hell of a toxic, crazy driven ride for the legendary Mrs. Britney Spears (Asghari). As soon as she exploded onto the pop music scene in 1999 with her debut, mega hit song, “Baby One More Time,” she immediately became the most famous person in the world. A phenomenal debut like Britney’s, coinciding with her bold, controversial and provocative music videos, placed Brit into Hollywood’s lifestyles of the rich and famous, before she could have a drink legally.

This does not happen like that anymore. If you truly think about it, no female artist has ever achieved that level of success, fame and instant recognition so quickly, especially at such a young age. On top of that, Britney was breaking records left and right. Madonna, Britney’s idol and mentor, is the only exception, as the “queen of pop” paved the way for Britney, our “princess of pop”, during Madge’s heyday in the late 80’s and 90’s. Brit’s “competition,” pop artists like P!NK, Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan and Willa Ford, trailed behind. You either have it or not, which Britney did, as she took her X factor charisma and lovable personality to an entirely elevated playing field, that blew rival pop entertainers out the water.

I remember when I first watched the video for “Baby One More Time,” in our TV room in the Plano, Texas house I grew up in. The shot where Britney is in the gym holding the basketball and looking directly into the camera, completely fascinated me. Her beauty, talent and her bad-ass signature choreography had me falling in love that night. She was 100% my first crush and true love that never fizzled out for me throughout her entire rollercoaster career; I’ve been in Britney’s corner since day one and have been a loyal fan, supporter and still had complete admiration for her throughout the entire circus, and still do today.

While most of the boys were fantasizing about her as a sexual object in the early 2000’s, I was over here like, can I be her? Britney was and probably still is many young boys’ first, um, explosion of their own. She had this innocent, sexy and confident vibe to her and people everywhere were losing their minds to the fabulousness that was the one and only, overprotected, Britney Spears.

She quickly became one of the best-selling female artists of all time and was included in an elite, exclusive group of talented women that amounted to the unbelievable overnight success, wealth, album sales and fame she accomplished so quickly, which I’m sure she surpassed her peers by a landslide. From her “not that innocent” relationship with douchebag Justin Timberlake in the early 2000’s and selling out stadiums across the world, Britney Spears was the most followed woman in the industry and the media had her under an intense microscope 24/7, obsessed and following her every breath. At first, she loved the attention; who wouldn’t? Most of the stories and publicity portrayed in the media were positive during the first five years of her career, focusing mostly on her performances, producing hit after hit albums and showcasing her southern girl charm that stole the hearts of men and women across the globe.

In 2003, Britney released her fourth studio album, “In The Zone,” which really set her apart from the bubblegum pop artists like the Spice Girls, Mandy Moore and Hilary Duff. “In The Zone” presented to the world a grown-up, more comfortable, confident and racy Spears. She sings about masturbation, one-night stands and receiving oral sex in the sleazy, yet sexy banger, “Breathe on Me.” I even got an in the zone tattoo, in the exact font and color as it’s illustrated on the album cover, on my left bicep. This was the album that we all partied to during our first year of college.

Did Britney have enhanced vocals and not sing live 100% of the time? Well duh, but who hasn’t, especially these wannabe, vapid TikTok singers today. Aubrey O’ day, from the multi-platinum, Diddy founded group Danity Kane, recently said in an interview that artists in the era before all the social media and instant stardom that takes place today, have a tad chip on their shoulders. They had to work their asses off to make it, not just mediocrely perform on a three-minute video and press upload. I agree with Aubrey 110%. Some of these characters from social media, automatically achieving instant fame, are an absolute embarrassment to the entertainment industry and a joke to the OG’s that paid their dues in the 90’s | 2000’s.

Britney ignored the criticism from haters regarding her voice and stardom. She even admitted to Diane Sawyer in a television interview, promoting “In The Zone,” that she wished she had a voice like Christina Aguilera. Britney is an extremely smart woman and knew exactly what she was doing. Sure, Aguilera has the better voice, but look at who is more successful, entertaining and was | is the most relevant pop public figure to this day. Britney Spears will go down in history as one of the most iconic people ever to exist. I mean most people with a mental illness are brilliant | creative, so if she was actually experiencing manic | depressive episodes as the most famous person in the world, of course she’d have a meltdown. It was just a matter of time that her and the entire world’s lives would implode and change forever.

It was 2007 and Britney released her most critically acclaimed fifth studio album to date, “Blackout,” on October 30th. Critics and experts in the music industry praised the game changing album, calling it one of the best pop albums of the last decade. Rolling Stone called it a must listen to masterpiece that revolutionized the way pop music sounded. The magazine has always supported Britney, which pisses off the old school rockers that think rock music is the only good music to exist. I still see comments on posts from Rolling Stone where idiots degrade the writers when they write a fantastic review or article about her. God forbid Rolling Stone evolved and has great music taste in all genres. Her talent is undeniable; it takes a resilient, strong woman, passionate artist and thick skin to be in that exclusive level of the game.

Britney Spears has sold over 100 million records worldwide, including 70 million records in United States, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. “Baby One More Time,” and “Oops!… I Did It Again,” are two of the best-selling albums of all time.

In 2021, Britney Jean Spears was finally set free from the conservatorship her family trapped her in before Instagram was even a thing. She’s now happily married to actor | model, Sam Asghari and at peace; healing from the past fifteen years of bullshit and traumatic experiences she endured. So, on Britney’s birthday today, let’s not dissect her challenging past and critique her energetic dances on her Instagram. Instead, we should wish her an amazing birthday, recognizing how brave, strong, resilient, healthy and happy Our Miss (Mrs.) American Dream is today. Happy Birthday Brit!

Britney at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards | Photo cred: Billboard

In The Zone, Britney’s fourth studio album, November 2003 | Photo cred: Amazon music

Blackout, Britney’s fifth studio album, October 2007 | Photo cred: last.fm, collector’s edition