Can a pop star really, truly be a role model?
By: Gabby Carrion
Everyone knows the song “Toxic” by Britney Spears. It’s catchy, sexy, and so different than anything that was released by the music industry at the time. Britney has been seen as a sex symbol since her first single came out, but when Toxic came out, it just amplified her even more.
To me, she was almost like a role model. Everything that I wanted to be in life, or look like, Britney was it. Britney was perfect in every way, she could do anything she wanted and be anything. When she performed at the VMA’s with the big snake in lingerie, my parents would switch the channel until she was done.
My parents aren’t very strict with my sister and I, but they wanted to shield me from the provocative world for a little while. I was still their little girl in their eyes. When my parents finally would let me watch the Disney channel they would switch the channel when the main characters would kiss. I knew what was going on but they still would switch the channel for a good minute just in case.
When we would be in the car we would listen to 94.7, clean pop music but my friends were all listening to HOT99.5. So one day I asked my father to put on 99.5 and it was fine for a while, but once a bad word was said or even an innuendo about sex was said, it was back to 94.7.
Britney was my escape from reality, I would perform music videos in my room trying to be like her and dancing like she does. When I was younger I wanted to be a singer. Britney, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez were all my inspirations for this goal. I would try to memorize their videos and sing to the best of my ability in my bedroom.
It was kind of like being the infamous Katy Perry. The reason she is so outrageous with her clothes when she performs is that she was raised in a Catholic household. She was never able to dress how she wanted or even eat froot loops. Her becoming famous and wearing a whipped cream bra was her “teenage rebellion.”
But unlike her, I had my rebellion behind my bedroom doors with no one to see me.
This dream of mine was short-lived once I realized how rare it is to get a record deal and my shyness came into play, but their drive and passion are what led me to pursue it in the first place.
Then this past year Britney’s conservatorship came to light. If you don’t know, a conservatorship is when a parent/guardian decides that their child is not able to be in control of their own life and takes over financials, decisions, and social media. Britney’s father decided that she was not able to control her own life, and since then she has been under a conservatorship.
Everyone on her TikTok and Instagram was commenting “FREE BRITNEY!” And this past month she was free from her father. One of her attorneys is now in charge of her but this is only temporary and hopefully, she will officially be free in November.
When all of this was coming to light I was honestly shocked. I was a fan of Britney but I never kept up with news articles about her or anything like that. Like the rest of us, I knew about her mental breakdown and shaving her head but a conservatorship never crossed my mind.
After reading a couple of articles and looking up what a conservatorship was, I became a Britney stan once again. I listened to her music in the car, walking to class, at the gym, it was like being a teenager again. Screaming lyrics to Toxic, Circus, and Slave down Route 1. She was once again a music icon and my favorite artist.
But once I sat down and took it all in, I started feeling guilty. For all these years she has been a role model for me, an amazing singer, a sex symbol, and rebellion against my parents. But what if it was all a lie?
Britney has been in her conservatorship for many years now. She was never really in control of her decisions. The music she was making: was it because she wanted to, or did her father take away all the songs she wanted to put out? Her clothes: did she want to wear lingerie on stage, or was it just a publicity stunt by her father? Was she even proud of anything that she did?
The media can be the best thing or the worst. It can bring long-lost relatives together, find kidney donors, and bring two people together who become best friends. But it also has an evil side. Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention or just wasn’t a big enough fan but I never knew about Britney’s conservatorship. Something that changed her entire life. How can something so important be unknown to many?
My whole life was a lie. She was never a role model because she couldn’t be who she wanted to be. Is that a role model? And if she isn’t a role model then who is?
She walks up to her picketed fence house in the suburbs. Just coming home from dropping the kids off at school. Walking into her house she makes a cup of coffee and sits on the porch throwing the ball with her dog.
This is the life of the average stay-at-home mother. Someone who has control of their own life and can do what they please.
This is a role model.
My mother, aunt, best friend, sister, are all role models. They do whatever they want and are normally proud of whatever they do.
My aunt came to the United States when she was nine years old. Her family was poor and lived in a one-bedroom apartment. Considering it was her parents, and three other siblings, the living situation was a little cramped. But she worked hard, became a nurse, and is now the owner of a hair salon in Northern Virginia.
She is a girl boss and is always there when I need to talk with her about anything and everything. She is my role model. I aspire to have her confidence and drive to do anything she puts her mind to.
Britney can be a role model for many girls out there. Her perseverance and never giving up until she got out of her conservatorship is a strength. She got through the rough patch in her life and is now on a better path to finding out who she is.
I wonder what she will be like once this whole thing is over. Will she be the normal stay-at-home mom with her kids and dog, or will she release more music? No matter what she does we will all be behind her supporting her in every way we can.