While pop sensation Britney’s Spears has sold 150 million records worldwide, one could argue the last time Spears was super culturally relevant was circa 2011 and the release of Femme Fatale. But even that record, selling 1.5 million copies worldwide, was way down from 2008’s Circus, which sold 4 million copies worldwide. She released two subsequent records after that, but they both sold a paltry fraction of those numbers. She seemed just to be enjoying life. But as the 2021 “Framing Britney Spears” Lifetime documentary, Spears’ efforts to get out of a court-sanctioned conservatorship has been a 13-year struggle and has launched the #FreeBritney movement.
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With her conservatorship coming to an end, Netflix is striking while the iron is hot with their own documentary, “Britney Vs. Spears” from director Erin Lee Carr (“How To Fix A Drug Scandal,” “Dirty Money”). Produced by: Erin Lee Carr, Sarah Gibson, Kate Barry, along with executive producers Dan Cogan, Liz Garbus, Jon Bardin, Julie Gaither, and Amy Herdy, “Britney Vs. Spears” is all about this conservatorship battle and the fight for her autonomy. A major figure in the doc and another executive producer is music journalist Jenny Eliscu, known for her work in Rolling Stone. She’s covered the pop icon for years and is a knowledgeable figure to dive into the complicated history of her conservatorship.
Here’s the official synopsis:
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The world knows Britney Spears: performer, artist, icon. But in the last few years, her name has been publicly tied to another, more mysterious term: conservatorship. Britney vs. Spears tells the explosive story of Britney’s life and her public and private search for freedom. Featuring years-long investigative work, exclusive interviews, and new documents, this Netflix feature film paints a thorough portrait of the pop star’s trajectory from girl next door to a woman trapped by fame and family and her own legal status. It shows Britney’s life without utilizing the traumatic images that have previously defined her. Director Erin Lee Carr (How To Fix a Drug Scandal, Dirty Money) and journalist Jenny Eliscu work to delve deep into the tangled history of the conservatorship that has been in place for over 13 years. The film weaves a shocking timeline of old and new players, secret rendezvous, and Britney’s behind-the-scenes fight for her own autonomy. Text messages and a voicemail, as well as new interviews with key players, make clear what Britney herself has attested: the full story has yet to be told.
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Britney is not only nearly free of her conservatorship (it seems), but she just seems to be having a cultural moment, a reconsideration of her place in the pop canon, and a reminder of how so many in the public and the media treated her (poorly), during her pop heyday and the way many of us need to acknowledge and grapple with the fact, we weren’t so kind to someone who is, at the end of the day, a human being. “Britney’s VS. Spears” sounds fascinating, and Netflix is launching the doc asap, on September 28, 2021. Watch the first trailer below.