By JANE STEVENSON -- Toronto Sun
In the past two months, teen pop queen Britney Spears has been engaged to NSYNC heartthrob Justin Timberlake and ordered to stay away from Prince William by Buckingham Palace officials.
That's just for starters.
As the sexy, 18-year-old singer, who performs a sold-out show at the Molson Amphitheatre tonight, has risen up the ranks over the past two years with two chart-topping, multi-platinum albums, she has become a favourite target of the tabloids.
Despite her denials, rumours linger about Spears having had breast implants and lip synching at concerts.
"Unfortunately, there are always negative forces -- people want to knock down those that get up there, that become popular," says Don Simpson, executive vice-president and managing director of House Of Blues' Concerts Canada. "There seems to be this, I'll call it a bit of an infatuation, to pick on the kid-pop music right now."
Let's also not forget that nasty $17-million offer for sex by a U.S. businessman that Spears claims she never even knew about.
"I can't control what people say," said the singer-dancer during a rare one-on-one interview back in June when she visited Toronto on a promotional trip for her new album, Oops! ... I Did It Again.
"Otherwise, if you worry like that, you'll go insane. There's so much that people say, and so much that goes on, it's like I would lose my mind. And I was there for a while."
Just before Oops! was released, there was personal unhappiness despite the success of her first album, 1999's ... Baby One More Time.
"I was going crazy," Spears said. "I got so used to listening to my mind and not making time for me and my soul, and I always wanted to have everything work out right. I forgot how to listen to my soul and my heart, and I felt so lost. And then I started making time for me and putting my foot down and just doing things I wanted to do."
Still, her celebrity has brought the magnifying glass to Spears' sexy image.
Eighties pop star Cyndi Lauper recently blasted the young singer, saying, "You don't have to be some little tart."
House Of Blues' Simpson, whose nine-year-old daughter will be at the show tonight, admits the image issue is "a difficult thing," but he thinks that Spears' underlying message is a positive one.
"The female empowerment thing: I think that Britney (is saying) that, look, females are just as good as males, you don't have to take a second seat to them, and that I like.
"So she's sexy. She's a cute-looking girl. She's wearing the fashions -- I was at Summersault and I'd say three-quarters of the girls that were at the show had those little tops on that stopped above the belly button. So am I worried about it? No.
"Fortunately, my daughter is only nine. She's not really reading papers about whether Britney had implants or not, or whether she is a virgin or not a virgin. She's listening to the music."
Spears, for one, maintains she doesn't feel as if she's growing up too fast.
"No, I like where I'm at in my life right now," she said. "Whenever it gets too much for me, like when people start talking about business way too much, I'm just like, 'Let me be. Just leave me alone for a second. Let me just look at the wall.' Seriously. I mean I know what goes on in my life, but don't overwhelm me."
About 16,000 people are expected tonight at the Amphitheatre. Simpson says reserved seats sold out in an hour and the lawn seating took a few days to sell.
Pollstar ranked Spears No. 12 among the mid-year live grosses, raking in $14.7 million US so far.
While USA Today didn't write a very flattering review of the new show -- "Spears doesn't have the personality, charisma or physical grace to compensate for her lack of vocal chops" -- her fans will probably eat it up.
"It has levels to it," said Spears. "Sometimes I just sit down and sing with the guitar player and just totally talk to the audience. And there are times where it's elaborate, it's fun. It's like a Broadway play or something."
