Britney Spears, Mariah Carey and Lady Gaga similar career struggles.

[Alien Tulip 12,428]

These three pop phenomenons are all very different from each other but they have faced similar struggles when it came to their career. Some might find this thread to be shallow and maybe a bit rude to discuss but I'm just talking about the details and similarities about their career struggles and how it's crazy the media tackled them with every chance they got. All three of these women are talented and generally have amazing personalities even though Mariah could be a little...you know..Mariah sometimes. This is a VERY long read but it is VERY engaging and you'll be shocked on the similarities each woman has had with their careers. 

Britney Spears

Everyone is fully aware of Britney's infamous breakdown in 2007 and 2008 but many aren't aware of the struggles she was already facing in 2005. Starting in 2004 after the success of her 4th LP "In The Zone", her knee injury from filming the music video for the last In The Zone single "Outrageous" and having to cancel The Onyx Hotel tour, Britney started writing (yes writing) her 5th LP Album which was soon to be canceled "Original Doll". Original Doll was supposed to be a much darker album and something very fresh from Britney. Mona Lisa was supposed to be on Original Doll and you can hear the song on youtube, it is probably one of her most different and diverse tracks. Jive records ended up shelving the album because it was too different and it's a shame because Britney wrote this album and obviously felt very passionate about it and to be honest it would have made people look at Britney at a different light and maybe even prevented her public meltdown and other obstacles. Britney already started dating Kevin Federline in 2004 and on December 30th 2004 she showed up to KISS FM studios uninvited and told KISS FM to play her new single "Mona Lisa" on the radio which they did. After that day, the song was yanked off the radio as an order from her label Jive. Jive records said Britney was working on the new album but not ready to promote even though she was. Jive shelved the album and til this day not much else is known about the album except that it is lost, only Britney and maybe her family have the album on their laptops and that it was very personal. "Mona Lisa" like "Lucky" was a prophetic song towards the downfall and future meltdown of Britney with the lyrics "They want her to breakdown, be a legend of her fall" which three years later Brit would have her public meltdown which probably would be the most iconic meltdown in pop history which is quite depressing. It's also creepy that Lucky music video pretty much explained Britney's emotions years later. Mona Lisa was also an alter ego Britney developed in 2005 and sort of explained her strange behavior from 2006 - Beginning of 2008. You really hear the struggle of her pain in the song and it's sad that we will never hear the other personal songs that came from Britney's heart. Britney wanted to be taken seriously as an artist but her label pretty much treated her like a puppet. Even though Blackout is such an amazing pop album, I would have preferred Original Doll because it was most likely a cohesive album that displays where Britney was at her life and things might have been different now. Thankfully Britney had a big comeback with Circus and people were happy since Womanizer is one of Britney's biggest hits. The album also sold well. Britney unfortunately wasn't ready to promote Circus and she needed a longer break and she still struggled with depression and anxiety from 2008 - 2014. Britney has always been insecure about her looks and sadly the media have tarnished her weight gains or loss and have constantly brought up the head shaving or umbrella incident. Britney eventually got a nose job sometime in 2013 and it just proves how vile the media can be because when they loved Britney, she was very confident with herself. Thankfully, ever since 2015, Britney has been more confident with herself and has been enjoying herself with the Piece Of Me Vegas Residency shows. 2015 has been the happiest and healthiest we've seen Britney for practically TEN years. She is currently working on her next album which is predicted to be released next year. She is co writing with Justin Tranter from Semi Precious Weapons and Britney seems to be very excited about this new album but most importantly she is very happy, she still struggles with anxiety but it's very mild now compared to 2006 to 2013. 

Mariah Carey

Mariah is unarguably a legend and one of the greatest vocalists of our time. Mariah married her ex husband Tommy Motola (who is responsible for her debut and prime success) in 1993. Mariah lived with Tommy in his mansion but things became shaky and eventually they got divorced. Sadly after the divorce, Tommy was still in control of her career since he was the former head of Sony even though she was under other labels and businesses. Shortly after Mariah's 7th album Rainbow released in 1999, Mariah immediately started writing her next album. Mariah at this point was a workaholic. She barely had any break during the 90s and keep in mind Mariah writes and composes ALL of her songs. Mariah barely had sleep from Mid 1999 to Mid 2001. Mariah wrote a complete new album which til this day is untitled but since Tommy had control and was immature and bitter, he stoled and sampled some of the songs of the untitled album and gave them to Jennifer Lopez. Mariah was not only angry but very depressed at the time because she never imagined the man she loved with all of her heart, betray her and let her album collect dust and decay. The album was shelved aside and Mariah was slowly losing it. She eventually got a gig for her movie Glitter in which she complied a soundtrack for to fit the theme of the movie. Mariah needed to take a break but this was her way of making up for the unreleased album she never got to give to her fans. Glitter received negative reviews globally which had caused Mariah to become more depressed and anxious. Eventually Mariah had a public meltdown. She was behaving very strangely and didn't seem herself. She had lack of rest and was just overall slowly losing it. Sometime in 2001 Mariah was seen at a restaurant in NYC talking to herself with no security. Some people at the restaurant were obviously starstruck but some were creeped out. The restaurant only accepted reservations but she went there anyway with just a white t shirt and ripped off, sweats and flip flops which mariah would never have has a combination. There are candids of her leaving this restaurant and an article about that strange random pop up. Mariah eventually went on TRL uninvited with an ice cream truck and eventually started stripping to her bikini. Many of the TRL audience were starstruck but Carson Daly looked worried. People think this was planned but it wasn't since Carson Daly himself said her random appearance disturbed him mostly because she was acting weird and it was disheartening. Mariah eventually was sent to the ER when she collapsed in her mother's house. Reports stated she was actually held on 51/50 hold which is where Britney Spears and Amanda Bynes were evaluated too. Mariah stated she never had a meltdown on Oprah in 2002 but her mother said herself Mariah needed help especially since she was put on 51/50 hold. Eventually in 2002 Mariah wrote and released her 9th album Charmbracelet which received mixed to mostly negative reviews and at this point the general public saw Mariah as a joke and were so sure her time was up. Thankfully Mariah proved them wrong and had her comeback in 2005 with her 10th album Emancipation Of Mimi which is the album that has Mariah's most successful song/single We Belong Together and it was labeled as SONG OF THE DECADE. Mariah has released three albums since then all of which have received positive reviews. Mariah says she still struggled with the labels telling her what they want to hear from her sonically on her albums for E=M2 and Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel. Mariah has confessed to her labels that she doesn't want to release an electronic club album because that is not MARIAH and she wants to stick to what she does best while still experimenting a little bit and Mariah released her most personal album to date Me I Am Mariah The Elusive Chanteuse last year (2014) and even though many aren't fond of it, Mariah is still very proud of it and that's all that matters because she believes in that body of work and she stuck to her guns while evolving lyrically. She is working on her next album already even though she's going on tour for her greatest hits next year so we may not see this album until 2017. The downside is even with her tremendous success the past few years, Mariah has got fat shamed by the media before and after her pregnancy and Mariah already has insecurities and anxiety issues which is why she sometimes gets very nervous in interviews and sometimes has to have the camera man only film on her left side which has caused her to get botox from time to time (even during the early 2000s) but overall I'm happy for Mariah and she seems full of joy with her new boyfriend. 

Lady Gaga

I always felt that Lady Gaga's career happened so quickly that I'm surprised she hasn't had as worse of a meltdown as Britney or Mariah's. People have started to turn their backs on Gaga in 2011 when she released her third album "Born This Way". Gaga really believed in that album and even though it had tremendous success, somehow the negative impact it also had sort of brought her down but she stuck to her guns and promoted the hell out of it because she wanted to get the message worldwide sort of on a crusade as she says. Gaga originally had her singles planned  as "Born This Way" as the first single, Marry The Night as second, Scheiße as third and The Edge Of Glory as the final single off Born This Way but her label wanted to release Judas as the 2nd single instead of Marry The Night and that's what started the controversy and people jumping on the gaga hate bandwagon. Gaga has said on lm.com chat she wanted to promote born this way with the singles she wanted but the label wanted judas and you and i in their order. I imagine Gaga became really sad and overwhelmed. During all of this, Gaga already started writing her 4th album ARTPOP and had an original different concept than what we have today. Theories flew everywhere that the original ARTPOP was more experimental but Interscope wanted a more radio friendly album. Gaga overworked herself out but in a way where she loves her fans so much she didn't want to disappoint. The hip injury took a toll on her depression to the point where she had to put out an album and promote it at a time where she wasn't fully recovered. Keep in mind during 2013, a lot of fans forget that Gaga's maternal grandfather died, her Godfather died and her childhood died as well. I won't get too  much into detail about the ARTPOP era but we all know it didn't go as she originally planned especially with the split of her ex manager Troy Carter. The media started criticizing her weight from 2012 to 2014 and it's bad enough Gaga is insecure and suffers from depression. Ever since Cheek to cheek in 2014 Gaga has sort of hit the reset button of her music career and started brand new. The media aren't hateful towards her anymore and 2014 and 2015 has done amazing wonders towards her career with headlining grabbing performances and she won her 6th Grammy all thanks to Tony Bennett. Even though 2015 has been great, I know Gaga still suffers from depression. The poor girl has been through so much, the media has bashed her weight from 2012 to 2014 and it's bad enough she's already insecure and depressed. Sometimes I think the criticism somehow warrants her to get these lip injections and cheek fillers. I wish she would stop and let them fade away because she's too beautiful to mess it up but at the same time she has trillions of eyes constantly looking at her so the pressure is unbearable but hopefully she feels more confident with her natural beauty and stops injecting that stuff into her precious face. On the bright side with all the tremendous success she had this year, I feel very confident about her next album and I think she will see more success and deliver more amazing performances. 

 

Thoughts? 

[Checkers 3,515]

Two Britneys tho

[JEWRJEWR 5,663]

Just now, Checkers said:

Two Britneys tho

screaming

[Alien Tulip 12,428]

1 minute ago, Checkers said:

Two Britneys tho

Some believe Mona Lisa took over her body whenever Britney spoke in a british accent but I think Britney was just being silly  

[Kermit 15,807]

Britney Spears, Mariah Carey and Britney Spears 

[Red 98,257]

I think pop culture functions in a way that it is impossible to have a long smooth career. If you are a popstar, you will inevitably face backlash from media, commercial failure and personal relationship problems at some point of your career cause it is impossible to effortlessly please everybody all the time and you can't split yourself in two to tour around the globe and live a busy live while keeping in touch with your family and friends the way you should to maintain healthy relationships.

[Mobster 14,604]

4 minutes ago, Alien Tulip said:

Some believe Mona Lisa took over her body whenever Britney spoke in a british accent but I think Britney was just being silly  

I think they are referring to the thread title "Britney Spears, Mariah Carey and Britney Spears similar career struggles." 

[Alien Tulip 12,428]

2 minutes ago, Red said:

I think pop culture functions in a way that it is impossible to have a long smooth career. If you are a popstar, you will inevitably face backlash from media, commercial failure and personal relationship problems at some point of your career cause it is impossible to effortlessly please everybody all the time and you can't split yourself in two to tour around the globe and live a busy live while keeping in touch with your family and friends the way you should to maintain healthy relationships.

Very sad but true but there are some pop stars that managed to not receive such harsh lashes like Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Rihanna although I do have a feeling Rihanna will have a meltdown in the future. I was going to include Michael Jackson and Whitney Houstin in this but I don't really know much about their struggle history that much other than drugs or controversies. 

[Alien Tulip 12,428]

1 minute ago, VampireMobster said:

I think they are referring to the thread title "Britney Spears, Mariah Carey and Britney Spears similar career struggles." 

Oh god I just noticed that now. I fixed it the title now. 

[Red 98,257]

Just now, Alien Tulip said:

Very sad but true but there are some pop stars that managed to not receive such harsh lashes like Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Rihanna although I do have a feeling Rihanna will have a meltdown in the future. I was going to include Michael Jackson and Whitney Houstin in this but I don't really know much about their struggle history that much other than drugs or controversies. 

Beyoncé is very very smart. She calculates every step she takes. The way 4 didn't slay that hard but no one paid attention to it cause she got pregnant soon enough, then she disappeared to take care of Blue and her marriage leaving everybody thirsty for her and then she comes back and owns 2013 with no effort at all making it look like she is a goddess imune to flop and decay. 

[VTV 12,880]

this thread is on fleek. 

no wonder Sia and other artists dont want to be famous 

[Kermit 15,807]

It took me half an hour to read this but i'm bookmarking this because you just broke the world.

[JustPokeHerFace 2,564]

Almost every pop star has had a point in their career when they were deemed over by the media and/or the public. Britney, Mariah, JB, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Elvis, and Cher all had commercial dips and personal troubles. It's sad how a bunch of artists are built up just to be torn down, but that's the cycle of fame. All of the stars listed were able to make an impressive comeback by rebranding their images, which is exactly what Gaga is working on right now. I think 2016 will be a good year for her.

But both the OP and other posts in this thread outlining examples of celebrity crashes highlights how hard it is to be famous. The media is always in your face, you have to think before you do literally anything, people you've never met in your life are saying horrible things about you, you never know who you can trust, and you're away from your loved ones so often when working. People think it's easy because of the money and glamor that come with it, but there is a dark side that a lot of people forget exists, and it takes a certain type of person to deal with it and overcome it. And it's not just one of those things that happens once and it's over. People can have multiple breakdowns, and that's a sad reality. 

A lot of the stars that have not gone through this are either not famous enough or keep out of the spotlight whenever they could. Take Celine Dion for instance, she's kept a pretty private life. As has P!nk. Then there's some artists like Taylor Swift that a massive commercial decline hasn't happened to yet. It may come next album, or it may come in three albums, but it will happen eventually because that's the nature of the business. But there are people waiting for her to fall, and she may either handle it very well or it could be a little worse.  

[Katsuki Bakugo 9,788]

1 hour ago, Alien Tulip said:

Some believe Mona Lisa took over her body whenever Britney spoke in a british accent but I think Britney was just being silly  

I SPAT MY COFFEE AT SCREEN "Just being Silly"  OMG THIS made my year!

[boyerased 2,886]

It's the cycle. People will build you up only to tear you down. If you do survive the downfall, you'll be a legend. Their lowest points in their careers are like their finals. If they pass it they'll "graduate" and forever be remembered no matter how many flops come next. Honestly I think it's Taylor's turn now. Signs are pointing to a major backlash but I think she is a smart bussines woman and can overturn it.