The salient points

• One of the defining popstars of the modern pop era.


• First of all Britney was a schoolgirl. She had some hits.


• Then Britney was a 'sex siren'. She had some more hits.


• Then some other things happened which we won't dwell on but there was shaving involved and everyone came out of it quite badly.


• Then 'Blackout' happened. It was clever and exciting and full of very good songs and Britney was not just back on track but arguably better than she had ever been before.


• Mind you another 'Stronger' wouldn't have hurt.


• And then 'Circus' happened and it was a bit of a mess although 'Womanizer' was a 'total jam'.


• 2011's 'Femme Fatale' established that Britney was still quite the pop star, even if she did just want to dance until the world ends, which frankly wouldn't really help anyone in the event of imminent apocalypse except perhaps in a situation where the only machine capable of preventing the end of the planet was in some way powered by the energy produced by Britney dancing, like a sort of cross between Dance Dance Revolution and the film Armageddon, but that all seems fairly unlikely 'to be honest'.


• In 2012 Simon Cowell paid Britney Spears about $1m a week (plus regular breaks) to fill an Abdul-sized vacuum on the panel of The US X Factor.


• She left a year later after one 'season' (series).

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