I found this and thought it was a good read - not because it praises her, but because it's different to everything else written about her:
Shaky Spears
Peter Robinson makes a case for giving Britney growing space
Saturday January 10, 2004
The Guardian
A kiss is just a kiss... not: that infamous Britney-Madonna snog at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. Photo: AP
It's little wonder that the world's a confusing place for Britney Spears. She spent her formative years dressed in Mickey Mouse ears, only to discover that, at the point when she hit school-leaving age, people would begin dressing her in a school uniform.
"Pals" are currently "concerned for her sanity". Yet despite the relationships with Fred Durst and Colin Farrell, the Madonna snogging, the songs about masturbation and now a comedy wedding, rumours of Britney's commercial and mental demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Take the current album, In The Zone. Its poor sales in the UK would tie in nicely with theories of Britney's perceived downfall were it not for the fact that it is both her strongest LP yet and an international bestseller.
In The Zone made Britney the first female artist in US chart history to debut four consecutive albums at No 1, and scored the biggest first-week sales by any female artist in 2003. For a fortnight Britney Spears - the washed-up teen idol who so audaciously chose to promote her new work - was the biggest-selling albums artist on the planet.
The publicity-seeking reputation Britney unjustly earned herself for appearing with Madonna at the MTV VMAs highlights all too well the double standard at work in an industry where Jack White is the wildman of rock and Cheryl Tweedy is eligible for public execution. After all, when Justin grabbed Kylie's arse at the Brits he became Justin Trousersnake, the consummate player.
But Britney? She was demolished for kissing Madonna at the VMAs, in spite of the fact that the preposterousness of her own set-piece was infinitely more honest as an act of pure pop spectacle than Justin's contrived implication that his actions somehow extended beyond the backstage area.
Likewise, witness the abuse hurled at Spears when she broke down on ABC's Primetime Live in November. Here was someone being interrogated about how the love of her life had collapsed in front of her own eyes and the eyes of the entire world. Ridicule and derision after the show's first airing proved, rather unpleasantly, that, in the eyes of the media, this 22-year-old was not permitted to be human.
In fairness, Britney's mixed signals are slightly confusing. The Britney we see weeping on TV is the opposite of the strong, independent Britney depicted in her videos. But it says something about how accepting we've become of video iconography - and how suspiciously we regard stars' interview tactics - that it should be assumed that it is Weeping Britney which is the fake.
It might be tempting to cling to the Britney we fell in love with, but Baby One More Time was half a decade ago next month, and the "I'm not a girl, there is no need to protect me" pleading of Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman rings truer now than ever before.
If Britney is to become anything other than pop's answer to Jeanette Krankie, she must be allowed to grow into her own clothes and grow up on her own terms. Even if that does involve sleeping with Fred Durst.
If It Ain't An Issue, I'll Make It One
True, he's not exactly attractive is he?
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