Oh, my—Britney sure has a lot to be excited about． She has earned her title of pop princess． At the age of 19, she＇s won countless awards, sold millions of records, and has traveled around the world singing “Baby One More Time”,“Sometimes”, “Oops．．．I Did It Again” and “Stranger”． Not only does she have a successful singing career, she also dates a universal heartthrob1, Justin Timberlake, the lead singer of ＇N Sync, owns a brand－new2 ＄3 million home in Los Angeles． She has recently started filming her very first feature film, Crossroads, where she played a straight－A3 student who reunites with her lifelong best friends for a cross－country trip． Britney＇s life is about as charmed4 as a 19－year－old can get． She must be living in fantasy! However, from as many interviews as possible with her, we conclude that it＇s not easy being Britney． You don＇t believe us． Here is the evidence—
A. She has to speak up if she wants to do things differently.
You realize within minutes of meeting her that Britney has opinions on everything. And on her new CD, Britney, the star is definitely calling her shots5. “I just didn't want to do the same kind of music anymore,” Britney says, “I will probably always be a pop artist because I love to dance and sing, but when the label6 asked me what I wanted to do musically, I decided to go with some different producers—just to see what came out.” Perhaps the track7 that best sums up8 Britney's mind-set9 is the self-penned10 “Overprotected”, a ballad about her ascent11 to womanhood; on it she asserts12, “Say hello to the girl I am, I believe in taking chances...I'm fed up with the people telling me who to be.”
“It's very helpful for me to be able to write and say what I feel, but it's a little bit scary to put yourself out there like that,” says Britney, who wrote five of the new record's 12 tracks. And those who want to mold13 her into their vision of the top pop princess have found that Britney's no pushover14. “In this business, you have to speak up if you want things done right, so that's what I do.”
B. She's a prisoner of fame.
“I hardly ever go out,” says Britney. “Maybe every once in a while, like after the MTV Awards. I had people over to my hotel room and then we went dancing at a club until four or five in the morning. I'd love to go out more, with all the stuff I have to do, I've got to have my rest.”
C. Life is lonely at the top.
Britney's overwhelming15 work schedule also prevents her from spending as much time as she'd like with her family. “I told my mom that this year I really needed to be with my sister more,” Britney says. “I'm happy because Lynn is going to come on the road16 with me when I tour. We've got tutor for her, and the dancers are going to give her lessons three times a week.” So is there going to be another chart-topping17 star in the Spears family? “She has an amazing voice!” says Britney. “She's really talented—and she knows it. She probably has a better personality to be in this business than I do. I'll support her a hundred percent if she decides to do this.”
D. Everybody expects her to look perfect all the time.
It's a fact that Britney is crazily beautiful. She doesn't look all that different from the blond popular girl at every high school, except that Britney's teeth are blindingly white and her abs18 could practically qualify as19 the eighth wonder of the world. So life must be perfect for her, right? “I got insecure20 all the time. I really do. Really. Like a lot!” she insists. “As a celebrity21, people expect you to act and look a certain way. If I don't feel pretty one day and I'm out somewhere, I sometimes feel that people are looking at me disappointedly like, 'Oh, that's Britney.'” She's also quick to play down22 her natural beauty. “Anyone could look good with the amazing artists I work with,” she says.
E. Justin kisses other girls...and Britney has to watch.
Dating one of America's most wanted bachelors isn't always a cakewalk23.Truly! Britney's and Justin's schedules don't allow them much time together, which is tough enough. Even worse is watching your boy friend get busy on camera24 with another woman. “I just saw one of his new videos, and he's kissing another girl. My heart. I almost died. I can't watch it, even though I know it's just acting. It's too hard watching the person you love kisses someone else.” Britney says.
In her first movie, Crossroads, Britney, the budding25 actress—who plays Lucy, a good kid who discovers her wild side on a road trip with her girl friends—was so uneasy about doing the love scene that she firstly requested a stand-in26 before reluctantly27 going through with it. “I read somewhere that I'd need to take my shirt off for the scene. No! No!” she says disgustedly. “I didn't even want to kiss that guy. Seriously. It's just so awkward.”28
But does Britney ever worry that since she met Justin at such a young age, she won't get a chance to date other guys? “I think that mentality29 is really sad. I was brought up to think finding your love when you're young and being with that person forever is normal.” Says the old-fashioned romantic.“I do believe that once you find your true love, you're with that person forever.”
Another wish of Britney is that people butt out of30 her personal life. Can you blame her? The question of her virginity has practically become a national debate! These days she's wisely not talking. “It's not that big of a deal,” she says, “If reporters ask me something I don't want to talk about, I just say it's none of their business.”
F. She has to prove she's no Mariah
Let's face it: Many musicians have tried to cross over into films, and not always with the best results (think Mariah Carey in Glitter ). But Britney embraced31 the challenge. “I know I may not have played the part perfectly. It's my first movie—I didn't know what I was doing! It was learning an experience,” she says. If Britney gets her way (as she usually does) this will not be the last time we see her on the big screen. “I want to challenge myself. I want to do a role that's totally different from me.”
Perhaps if we could change places with Britney for a week, we'd want to return to our so-called normal lives when Sunday rolled around. But what a ride it would be!
A.她想与众不同还必须大胆地说出来
和布兰妮呆上几分钟，你就会发现她对任何事都有自己的主见。谈到她新出的专辑《布兰妮》，这位明星直截了当地说：“我根本不想再做同一类的音乐了，”布兰妮说，“我可能永远是一个流行歌手，因为我喜爱跳舞、唱歌，但是当唱片公司问我，想做什么样的音乐时，我决定和不同的音乐制作人合作——就是想看看能弄出点什么名堂出来。”也许在这张唱片里，最能体现布兰妮这种心态的一支单曲，是她本人作词的《溺爱》，这是一支描述其长大成人的歌谣。歌中她唱道：“问候一声现在的我，我这个女孩相信冒险……我厌倦了对我指手划脚的人。”
“我能写我所想，说我所想，这对我帮助很大，但是像那样把自己推出来，还是有点诚惶诚恐的。”布兰妮说。她在这张有12首曲子的新专辑中自己写了5首歌。那些试图把布兰妮打造成他们所希翼的超级流行天后的人，发现布兰妮根本不是那种容易就范的人。“在这个圈子里，你要是想做得顺当，必须大胆地说出来，我就是这么做的。”
B.她为声名所累
“我很少外出，”布兰妮说，“也许偶尔一次吧，像MTV大奖颁奖完毕之后，我就邀请一些人到我宾馆的房间里来，然后，我们一起去俱乐部跳舞，跳到凌晨四、五点。我很想有更多机会出去，每天要做这么多的事，我也得歇歇呀。”
C.高处不胜寒
布兰妮每天的日程安排压得她喘不过气来，她想与家人多呆会儿都没有时间。“我跟妈妈说，今年无论如何我要和妹妹多呆一些时间。”布兰妮说，“我很高兴，因为我作巡回演唱时，妹妹琳恩要随我一起去。我们已经为她请了辅导老师，舞蹈老师答应每周给她上三次课。”如此看来，布兰妮家族是不是又要出一位畅销曲打榜歌星了？“她有一幅了不起的嗓子！”布兰妮说，“她确实多才多艺——她自己也知道。在音乐圈里，她的个性可能比我更合适。如果她决意做这一行，我会支持她百分百。
D.人人都期望她完美无瑕到永远
布兰妮美丽无敌，这是个事实。她看上去与每所中学里的金发靓女没有什么两样，只不过布兰妮的皓齿洁白得让人目眩，独一无二的腹肌简直堪称世界第8大奇迹！她的生活应该是完美无缺了吧？“我一直觉得没有安全感，我的确这样感觉，的的确确。跟很多人一样！”布兰妮强调说，“你是名人，别人就期望你按一定的模式行事，按固定的样式打扮。我要是有一天显得不好看，到一个地方去的时候，我觉得别人会失望地看着我，他们会说：“噢，布兰妮就这个样子呀。”她从来不愿炫耀自己的天生丽质，“和我共事的化妆师手艺酷得令人咋舌，有他们打扮，人人都能成美人儿。”
E贾斯汀吻别的女孩……布兰妮只有干瞪眼
和美国最受欢迎的单身汉之一拍拖并不总是件轻松的事。千真万确！布兰妮和布兰妮还有一个愿望——别人不要干涉她的私生活！这能怪她吗？她的贞操问题实际上已扩展为国民大讨论！这些日子里，她觉得还是缄口不语的好。“这也不是什么了不起的事，”她说，“记者要是问我一些我不想谈的问题，我就说少管闲事。”
F.她必须证明自己不会蹈玛丽亚之覆辙
事实归事实：许多音乐人想方设法去触“电”（拍电影），但结果并非总能如愿以偿（想想玛丽亚·凯利拍的烂片《星泪梦痕》）。但是，布兰妮欣然接受这一挑战。“我知道那个角色我也许演得不太完美。这毕竟是我拍的第一部片子——我都不知道我在做什么！这是在学经验。”她说道。如果布兰妮找对了门路（她做什么事都会找对的），这绝对不会是我们最后一次在大银幕上看到她。“我想挑战自己。我想扮演一个与我本人完全不同的角色。”
如果我们可以与布兰妮换一个星期的活法，也许当周日悠然而至的时候，我们又想回到我们自己所谓的“正常生活”中去。可是，这容易吗？