HEADER BY YOSEF PHELAN

Not a single living soul was surprised when Britney Spears announced that her memoir, The Woman In Me, has (reportedly) become the best-selling memoir in history. Not one! Tackling the gendered double standards of the music industry to her public breakdown and thirteen-year conservatorship, as well as her toxic romance with former popular singer Justin Timberlake, the 275-page tell-all has received universal critical acclaim whilst permeating the minds of every queer (and tabloid journalist) across the globe.

Read ahead for thirteen crucial revelations from The Woman In Me, from fun details of Britney’s generation-defining pop career to her father’s despicable and inhuman treatment of her during the conservatorship, in addition to the first time she met ‘The Elusive Chanteuse’ and her reverence for the LGBTQIA+ community.

The video concept for ‘…Baby One More Time’ was her idea

In chapter nine, Britney reveals that her label originally wanted the music video for ‘…Baby One More Time’ to have a futuristic theme, with her embodying a “Power Rangers”-like astronaut. However, Britney knows a flop when she sees one! “That image didn’t resonate with me, and I had a feeling my audience wouldn’t relate to it either,” she says. “I told the executives at the label that I thought people would want to see my friends and me sitting at school, bored, and then as soon as the bell rang, boom – we’d start dancing.” Thanks to the schoolgirl ensemble and dance routines, as well as the aforementioned bell, the visual for ‘…Baby One More Time’ is now widely hailed as one of the most iconic in history, so this little detail continues to cement Britney’s status as a creative pop genius.

Mariah Carey: inventor of ring lights confirmed

The Woman In Me sees Britney reflect on the first time she met Mariah Carey at “one awards show”, where she knocked on her dressing room door and was met with “the most beautiful, otherworldly light” (camp). “You know we all have ring lights now? Well, more than twenty years ago, only Mariah Carey knew about ring lights,” she jokes, before revealing that she tried to get the elusive chanteuse to take a photo on her bad side. “She said, “No! Come stand here, darling. This is my light. This is my side. I want you to stand here so I can get my good side, girl.” She kept saying that in her deep, beautiful voice: “My good side, girl. My good side, girl.” I did everything Mariah Carey told me to do and we took the photo. Of course she was completely right about everything – the photo looked incredible.” Britney then admits that she can’t remember what award she won that night because getting the “perfect photo with Mariah was “the real prize”. We get it.