It’s no secret that Britney Spears has influenced a great many of the pop stars who arrived onto the scene after her. From Miley Cyrus to Selena Gomez to, most recently, Addison Rae, the “Britney essence” is undeniable. And, talking of Addison Rae, a Charli XCX “bestie” that’s been a key part of the Brat era, Charli XCX herself has been majorly influenced by Spears. Which is why it would have been a dream (within a dream) to work with her. And she got fairly close around 2012/2013, when she had the chance to garner some songwriting credits for the Britney Jean album.
Alas, her songs didn’t end up being selected (which is probably for the best, since that record isn’t exactly a highlight of Spears’ discography). Even this year, the rumor that XCX was writing songs for a new Britney album circulated—with Spears herself responding to such “lore” by shutting it down entirely with an Instagram caption: “Just so we’re clear most of the news is trash!!! They keep saying I’m turning to random people to do a new album … I will never return to the music industry!!!” Which is a shame for Charli’s songwriting-for-Britney goals.
Nonetheless, XCX is happy to reiterate that “influenced by” point again and again (no “Everything is romantic” reference intended). As she did for a recent “job interview” segment for the Wall Street Journal. Toward the end of it she gets asked, “Was there one pop star you wanted to emulate when you were younger?” Charli replied, “I really thought that I wanted to emulate Britney Spears just because I grew up listening to her, watching her and she was so, like, opposite of the girl I was… She was blonde and bubbly and sort of fun and pretty in this way that I just didn’t see myself as and I think when I was younger I, like, desperately wanted to be blonde… And I loved her music, you know. It’s funny that when I actually got into the music industry, I was like, ‘Whoa I could never be like that.’”
And yet, here she is during the Brat Tour (not to be confused with the freshly concluded Sweat Tour) being exactly “like that.” At least during a particular performance: “Track 10.” Among the only songs on the setlist not from the Brat album (this one hails from Pop 2), “Track 10” further stands out on this tour as it finds Charli standing a.k.a. dancing about indiscriminately in the artificial rain descending from above her in a display that is more than just “slightly” reminiscent of one of Spears’ signature performances from 2001-2002’s Dream Within a Dream Tour. That signature being her grand encore finale of “…Baby One More Time” in stage rain that was, let’s just say, a little more bombastic than Charli’s. If for no other reason than the fact that Spears chose to expose more flesh than Charli, thereby giving her that “glistening effect” designed to further eroticize the performance—complete with a reworked, more sensual version of the song.
Materializing on the stage from a trap door the elevates her up, Spears famously reemerges wearing, jeans, a jeweled bra and a see-through clear cowboy hat. Like Charli does during “Track 10,” she eases the audience into what’s about to happen by walking down the stage slowly like it’s her catwalk. Granted, Charli is much quicker about getting right into her disjointed dance moves than Britney, who takes her time, waiting for sprigs of fire to alight throughout the stage before the rhythm picks up and she proceeds to engage in some less choreographed movements. Movements, in fact, that look similar to the “out of control” (but in a deliberate way) manner that XCX dances on stage—during “Track 10” and in general.
While Spears takes a bit of a break from the water during this part of the performance, XCX opts to remain drenched underneath her stage rain the entire time. Though, to be fair, this rendition of “Track 10” clocks in at a lot less than the Dream Within a Dream Tour version of “…Baby One More Time.” When Spears makes her grand return back to the “rain circle,” she climbs a moveable platform where her backup dancers are already waiting to writhe around with her (in a moment that itself borrows elements from some of the orgiastic moments Madonna had with her own backup dancers during 1993’s The Girlie Show—and we all know Madonna was Spears’ big influence). Finally removing the cowboy hat, Spears continues to gyrate as the platform moves forward while the porn-y, “Theme from Shaft”-esque backing track continues to play to really intensify the motif: sex!
The platform then starts to ascend higher and higher as Spears and her dancers jump about in a carefree, “club dancing” sort of way. And then, just when you think the performance can’t get any more “production value-y,” Spears harnesses herself up so that she can suspend herself in midair before finally coming back down to the main stage and concluding the song with a seductive glance and smile at the audience (sort of like the oft-memed one she flashes during the [You Drive Me] Crazy Tour a.k.a. Crazy 2k Tour).
So yes, it turns out maybe Charli was right when she said she could never be like Spears. But she can certainly deliver an homage that features her own riff on that iconic few minutes from the Dream Within a Tour.
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