Britney Spears on Madonna Mentoring Her in Private

[hugo020 61]

On 10/23/2023 at 1:22 PM, StrawberryBlond said:

1. That was my point, Britney was the start of her associating with young stars for clout. It started slow at first and got more obvious as time went on. Madonna probably realised how much she benefitted from associating with Britney and tried to do it again.

2. But it's still a bit odd, don't you think, to collab with a friend's ex, regardless of how amicable it is? Madonna's choice to work with him at the time was obvious - it was at the peak of his career, as was Timbaland. Any personal stigma connected with these people didn't matter to her.

3. Anyone can send someone a trunk of books. It doesn't take much effort. From what Britney's described, I'm not seeing anything truly deep or involved true 'mentorship.' It's not like Britney's output changed or talent increased or she got more control over her career since Madonna started mentoring her. I'm just struggling to see how Britney's changed since this supposed mentorship. Being a friend is different from mentoring.

4. I never heard it said that she was at her wedding. I got that wrong, I'll admit. Sometimes, you don't research something because you don't think it needs to be.

You've written just as much an essay as I have and are known for it like I am. I think it's plain to see that I'll never be truly convinced of Madonna's intentions. The more I look into her and all the things she's said about people and the way she conducts herself in interviews tells me a lot about her character and it's not positive. 

Britney literally says in her book Madonna mentor her…why the essay…

[NCgaga 4,324]

On 10/23/2023 at 11:32 AM, StrawberryBlond said:

As nice as this all sounds, I hate to burst the bubble but I sometimes think Madonna's fascination with Britney over all the other young females that were big at the time was very telling. Britney was being called the princess of pop, so that suggested she was a direct successor to Madonna's queen of pop title. But Madonna realised that Britney was no threat to her as she was clearly so heavily controlled and wasn't super involved in her own career. Therefore, she was a very safe choice to mentor, there's a lot she could be taught. You'll notice that even though she also did the VMAs performance with Christina, she never attempted to mentor her. Because Christina was too much of a rebel and knew her own mind, therefore, too similar to Madonna and not as easy to mentor. And I think Madonna just jumped at the chance to be in Me Against The Music because it was a collab with one of the biggest names of the moment and this was the point in her career where she became focused on associating with current names to be considered cool by association. If she was so close to Britney and understood her, then why did she collab with her ex, Justin, on 4 Minutes? She was also on Letterman and referenced how she gave him her underwear years ago and said "maybe you could send them to Britney." And I can't remember where she said it or why, but she once said that Britney was "built like a brick sh*thouse." It was in that moment that I questioned Madonna's involvement in Britney's life. It just screamed "PR relationship" but sadly, I don't think Britney was so vulnerable and in need of a support network that she couldn't see that. When was the last time she was involved in Britney's life? Years ago. She certainly wasn't at her wedding. I think when Britney's social standing fell, Madonna no longer had interest in her as she couldn't give her anything. 

I know, it's super cynical and I don't want to think this is the case but Madonna has a reputation for using young singers for their cool name and star power in order to get some success and positive association for herself for too long now. I think Britney was just one of the first ones.

And it definitely explains why she never showed love to Gaga. Far too similar, far too talented, far too in control and knew her own mind. I also think she was someone she genuinely saw as a threat and feared she could get on her level one day. I think Gaga realised that too and that's why she gave her a wide berth early on. I'm glad she had the pride not to bow down to the woman who made fun of her on her tour by singing a Express Yourself/BTW mash-up followed by She's Not Me. 

Madonna started it and her alone. I really don't think Gaga was getting any fun out of it. I certainly wouldn't have wanted the stress of a legend getting on my case so early in my career when it was already stressful enough. The fact Madonna couldn't respect that or draw parallels to when she was breaking out says a lot. You'll notice Madonna has never been particularly supportive of other females in the industry. She prefers to collab with men and she's said nasty things about other females over the years (and not all of them singers either). She's clearly felt very threatened by other women before, always fearing they'll be as big as her or bigger one day and overthrow her queen of pop title. I know a lot of Gaga fans have moved on from those days but I just can't. Same for M.I.A, Joanna Newsom, Grace Jones and all those other females singers who were clearly jealous of Gaga and couldn't support the sisterhood. 

Madonna hasn’t really said anything nasty about other female celebrities. The only thing that she said that I can think of, is that “Born this way is Reductive”- and I think why this stings so much, is that it’s true. 
 

 

[Evil R 1,084]

On 10/23/2023 at 10:32 AM, StrawberryBlond said:

As nice as this all sounds, I hate to burst the bubble but

This is one of the most delusional post ever on this forum. It's pure storytelling and it's all happening in your head.

[StrawberryBlond 14,880]

16 hours ago, NCgaga said:

Madonna hasn’t really said anything nasty about other female celebrities. The only thing that she said that I can think of, is that “Born this way is Reductive”- and I think why this stings so much, is that it’s true. 

Just off the top of my head, there's footage of her saying nasty comments about Mariah Carey, Courtney Love, Oprah Winfrey, Joan Collins, Gaga of course...and she blatantly flirted with Antonio Banderas while his wife was right in front of her and even documented the moment in Truth or Dare. It's clear she likes to be the #1 female in any room and doesn't like comparisons. I don't think Express Yourself was like BTW. Madonna didn't even speak on it until the public started pointing it out and she jumped at the chance. Yeah, she moved on over time and publicly supported Gaga during her Oscar win and all but I think it's because she realised the whole feud wasn't a good look for her and having rivalries with other females isn't seen as such an alpha move in an age where women are expected to support each other, particularly if they're in the same industry. 

[Future Lovers 6,926]

14 hours ago, StrawberryBlond said:

Just off the top of my head, there's footage of her saying nasty comments about Mariah Carey, Courtney Love, Oprah Winfrey, Joan Collins, Gaga of course...and she blatantly flirted with Antonio Banderas's wife right in front of her and even documented the moment in Truth or Dare. It's clear she likes to be the #1 female in any room and doesn't like comparisons. I don't think Express Yourself was like BTW. Madonna didn't even speak on it until the public started pointing it out and she jumped at the chance. Yeah, she moved on over time and publicly supported Gaga during her Oscar win and all but I think it's because she realised the whole feud wasn't a good look for her and having rivalries with other females isn't seen as such an alpha move in an age where women are expected to support each other, particularly if they're in the same industry. 

Not the fanfiction. 

Madonna has never cared what was or wasn’t a good look on her. The fact that stans can’t seem to wrap their head around is the “feud” with Gaga was never that deep and most of the drama came from fans rather than two women themselves. 

But even if none of that were true…why do you think you know better about Britney and her’s personal relationship than Britney herself? Were you in the room with them? Were you present for their encounters with each other? Do you know them personally? 

Wild that we’ve spent all this time fighting for Britney to be able to use her voice only to insinuate she isn’t telling the truth when she does. 

[4th Time Around 4,525]

15 hours ago, StrawberryBlond said:

Just off the top of my head, there's footage of her saying nasty comments about Mariah Carey, Courtney Love, Oprah Winfrey, Joan Collins, Gaga of course...and she blatantly flirted with Antonio Banderas's wife right in front of her and even documented the moment in Truth or Dare. It's clear she likes to be the #1 female in any room and doesn't like comparisons. I don't think Express Yourself was like BTW. Madonna didn't even speak on it until the public started pointing it out and she jumped at the chance. Yeah, she moved on over time and publicly supported Gaga during her Oscar win and all but I think it's because she realised the whole feud wasn't a good look for her and having rivalries with other females isn't seen as such an alpha move in an age where women are expected to support each other, particularly if they're in the same industry. 

 There is no footage of her saying anything "nasty" things about Mariah Carey, the media misrepresented what was said to try and stir up a drama nor did she say anything "nasty" to Courtney Love, Courtney obnoxiously crashed one of Madonna's interviews and Madonna jokingly said, oh she wants attention. Madonna and Oprah have been friends for years. It seems to me that you are cherry picking things that are irrelevant in order to justify your essays. how about all the times that Madonna has praised other female artists as well? Madonna has never given a **** what is or is not a good look for her. All I know is that she and Gaga buried the hatchet long ago and it is not relevant when discussing the fact Britney Says Madonna has always supported her.

[StrawberryBlond 14,880]

1 hour ago, Future Lovers said:

Not the fanfiction. 

Madonna has never cared what was or wasn’t a good look on her. The fact that stans can’t seem to wrap their head around is the “feud” with Gaga was never that deep and most of the drama came from fans rather than two women themselves. 

But even if none of that were true…why do you think you know better about Britney and her’s personal relationship than Britney herself? Were you in the room with them? Were you present for their encounters with each other? Do you know them personally? 

Wild that we’ve spent all this time fighting for Britney to be able to use her voice only to insinuate she isn’t telling the truth when she does. 

This is actual footage you can find, not fanfiction. Look up "Madonna diva moments" and you'll find compilations of all these instances. I'm only stating my theory (which I don't claim in fact) because it's just an observation that I wanted to get out there. I'm not saying Britney's being untruthful but I am saying that a vulnerable person such as herself can easily misread what certain relationships mean. Many vulnerable people have had to be informed of users in their life by concerned friends and family because in an attempt to find a support system, they latch on to anyone who appears nice to them, unaware that their naivety and kind nature is being taken advantage of. I would understand that perhaps Britney would think some people in the industry were genuinely friends to her but they were just using her for PR. Maybe I've got it all wrong but I just shared it because that's what you do on a discussion forum. Disagree with me all you like but do so respectfully.

38 minutes ago, 4th Street said:

 There is no footage of her saying anything "nasty" things about Mariah Carey, the media misrepresented what was said to try and stir up a drama nor did she say anything "nasty" to Courtney Love, Courtney obnoxiously crashed one of Madonna's interviews and Madonna jokingly said, oh she wants attention. Madonna and Oprah have been friends for years. It seems to me that you are cherry picking things that are irrelevant in order to justify your essays. how about all the times that Madonna has praised other female artists as well? Madonna has never given a **** what is or is not a good look for her. All I know is that she and Gaga buried the hatchet long ago and it is not relevant when discussing the fact Britney Says Madonna has always supported her.

Well, I don't think her saying in Truth Or Dare "we're in a conservative city and that is another reason not to live in Chicago, other than the fact that Oprah Winfrey lives here" was particularly nice regardless on if they became friends afterwards. I remembered a moment that I really missed out where Madonna full-on hated on another female singer - when Sinead O'Connor tore up that picture of the Pope on SNL in 1992 (the same year Madonna was the resident controversial female for her album and book), she mockingly copied what Sinead did on the same show later in the season and blasted in her in the media for disrespecting Catholics and said it was better to express her displeasure through dialogue rather than performance art (which is a bit rich coming from Madonna). Sinead later said that Madonna had said awful things about her regarding the incident "saying I look like I had a run-in with a lawn mower and that I was about as sexy as a venetian blind." There's an entire section on Wikipedia devoted to it. A journalised accurately said that Madonna was likely jealous that Sinead took the spotlight off her for one moment and did so without using sexuality. And also, she was asked about the whole Superbowl Janet/Justin thing at the time and she just said "I have nothing to say about that. I don't know what was going through her mind." She put the blame on Janet, which is what the media was doing and didn't offer any public support to her in that time, which seems to go against how Madonna would react to such a situation. Again, she doesn't like it when the attention is off her and thinks she's the only woman who can be controversial or the only one who can do controversy 'right.' 

You can see why I don't think very highly of her and doubt her intentions in associating with Britney. I find it very odd that she's not been interested in mentoring any other young girl in the industry before or since. It's like she preferred Britney because she wasn't as strong-willed as other female singers and could therefore be someone easy to mentor and be a positive association. But whatever, you can take all this with a grain of salt if you want, just my two cents.

[Bratney 82]

On 10/23/2023 at 8:32 AM, StrawberryBlond said:

Madonna realised that Britney was no threat to her as she was clearly so heavily controlled and wasn't super involved in her own career.

bubble bursting - Britney had a lot of control in her early career, despite what people may think. Britney was a threat, she was hotter, danced better, and sold more than Madonna. 

[StrawberryBlond 14,880]

29 minutes ago, Bratney said:

bubble bursting - Britney had a lot of control in her early career, despite what people may think. Britney was a threat, she was hotter, danced better, and sold more than Madonna. 

She wasn't writing the majority of her songs and she says herself how little input she had. She didn't even make her piano playing abilities known as she was marketed as singing and dancing pop act. Her team even made her change her voice to an unnatural tone that's nothing like her real voice. So of course she was heavily controlled, just like lots of other similar pop acts were at the time. Madonna wanting to mentor the up and coming star who was younger, hotter, danced better and sold more was perfectly understandable, it's like the whole "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" idea. Like when the popular girl befriends the new girl who's prettier so she can be controlled within the popular girl's group and the threat to leadership is neutralised. It wouldn't take Madonna long to realise that Britney was never going to be given full artistic control and was likely going to remain this way for the rest of her career, so she was a safe choice to be friends with and it gave her coolness by association and even a collab. Let's not pretend that singers 'befriend' other popular names in the hopes of being offered collabs which will result in a hit single for them. The celebrity industry is a place built on who you know and it gets you places, makes you popular, keeps you relevant. When Madonna was asked in 2013 who she wanted to collab with, she said Adele, Lorde and Daft Punk, all artists who were having massive success at the time and she's never talked about wanting to collab with them after that peak. So, when she collabed with Britney and Xtina back in 2003 for a big performance that ended in controversy, it's not hard to draw parallels. Keep in with young, hot names and it'll benefit you.

Anyway, I don't want to argue anymore. I've said my piece, people are free to agree or disagree. My opinion is just that, an opinion, a theory, not to be taken too seriously. Britney obviously knows what happened more than I do, so it ultimately doesn't matter what I think. I'm over discussing this now and think I'll just leave it here.

[Future Lovers 6,926]

5 hours ago, StrawberryBlond said:

I find it very odd that she's not been interested in mentoring any other young girl in the industry before or since. It's like she preferred Britney because she wasn't as strong-willed as other female singers and could therefore be someone easy to mentor and be a positive association. But whatever, you can take all this with a grain of salt if you want, just my two cents.

Some other young female singers Madonna has spoken kindly of and/or given her time to: 

1. Xtina was also on that stage with her

2. Befriending Ariana Grande so deeply she lent her voice to Ariana’s God Is a Woman music video, brought Ariana up on stage with her, and then invited Ariana to wear one of her stage costumes for a Raising Malawai benefit 

3. A whole photoshoot with Katy Perry and later bringing Katy up on stage

4. Praising and collaborating with Beyonce and even attending her show with her kids

5. Complimenting Taylor Swift, then performing with her, then personally receiving Taylor backstage at the Madame X Tour

6. Defending Billie Eilish against the criticisms she faced for her aesthetic change

7. Praise for and collaboration with Dua Lipa to which Dua said she was a dream to work with

8. Praise for Kim Petras, presenting her with an award, and including snippets of her and Sam’s song in her new tour 

Once again, I implore you to look into things before stating false claims as fact. She has very vocally embraced young female artists and I don’t think one incident with Gaga that lasted all of a year that stans blew up to be way way way bigger than it actually was changes that. Especially when she and Gaga are quite good friends now. 

[Borisapillar 9,190]

On 10/21/2023 at 2:27 PM, Future Lovers said:

It's sad that people can't stans on from this when the two women in question did a long, long time ago. Besides, it's quite evident they both played into that feud for PR gain. I don't doubt there was some tension, but it's quite evident they both kept milking it for as much as they could get out of it. I mean making an entire SNL skit and then including quotable sound bites about it in Gaga's documentary? It's pretty obvious how much of that was for conversation piece fuel.

I don’t actually buy this take because Madonna coming so harshly for Gaga catapulted a whole swarm of hate towards Gaga and quite frankly almost destroyed her career. Back in late 2012-2014 it was extremely in vogue to hate on Gaga and I give a lot of the credit to Madonna for fueling that fire.

 

People forget that Cheek to Cheek, AHS, the Sound of Music tribute and then finally A Star Is Born were all building blocks of Gaga’s damage control and successful “rebrand” to get back in the general public’s good graces.

 

It was not a fun time to be a Gaga fan and Madonna was ruthless.

[proxy 851]

 

On 10/23/2023 at 5:32 PM, StrawberryBlond said:

You'll notice Madonna has never been particularly supportive of other females in the industry.

Madonna's Maverick give contract to Alanis Morissette, that started her career with one of the biggest & best music debuts lol No one was supportive towards Madonna, she did on her own, even more Cher, Janet Jackson was making rude comments about her, none of those womans stand with Madonna do defend her in Erotica era when she was harassed by media. Madonna made an SNL episode with Gaga, you don't remember this, stop living in 2012 lol 

 

[proxy 851]

On 10/26/2023 at 12:34 AM, Borisapillar said:

I don’t actually buy this take because Madonna coming so harshly for Gaga catapulted a whole swarm of hate towards Gaga and quite frankly almost destroyed her career. Back in late 2012-2014 it was extremely in vogue to hate on Gaga and I give a lot of the credit to Madonna for fueling that fire.

 

People forget that Cheek to Cheek, AHS, the Sound of Music tribute and then finally A Star Is Born were all building blocks of Gaga’s damage control and successful “rebrand” to get back in the general public’s good graces.

 

It was not a fun time to be a Gaga fan and Madonna was ruthless.

The whole hate campain towards Madonna made by LM was ruthless, you even compared her children to monkeys, that what you did & many of you are harassed Madonna even now with ageist remarks. In reality you all should be thankful for Madonna because she create how modern pop star looks like & breaks many barriers for female singers.