Britney Spears is coming out with a new album, Femme Fatal! (set for a March 29th release date). The album has been long anticipated since her last album, Circus was released in 2008. I must admit fans, and myself, alike are excited to see what she will have up her sleeve with this album, which is the 7th   album of her career. Her previous albums include: …Baby One More Time, Ooopps! ...I Did It Again, Britney, In the Zone, Blackout, and Circus.

She has been creating a lot of promotional hype by releasing snapshots and snippets of her new music video on websites. She has also been keeping fans updated by “tweeting” about the most recent events regarding her new album release. The official video premier “Hold it Against Me”, (1st single release from Femme Fatal) will premier Feb. 17, 2011 at 9:55 pm on MTV. Fans around the world are ecstatic about this career comeback after a short hiatus from the pop star. It should be a success.

Britney Spears is an artist that has been up, down, and drug through this industry that we love. Since her launch as a solo artist in 1997 we have truly watched Britney Spears transform throughout her career. She has definitely had a few rough moments that many people have a hard time forgetting about. She came onto the scene as an innocent teenager that developed into a young woman who often times pushed boundaries. Boundaries that many people would argue were ahead of her years. She got caught up in the fame and distractions that can influence any young artist in this industry, and for a while she was the headline of many outrageous news and paparazzi reports. It seemed like the scandals were going to get the best of her and had eaten her career alive! But Ms. Spears seems to be taking everything in stride; with the release of her new album approaching very fast, she seems to be doing very well for herself. She has several fragrances and a clothing line partnership with Candies, her sons are growing up healthy and strong, and she will be joining the 30+ club at the end of this year. This should be a strong and successful year for Britney.


Best Wishes to Ms. Spears and her team! Congratulations on the upcoming album release! HUGS and LUVS!

Sincerely, Gracecmac



Sources: http://www.britneyspears.com/
               http://breatheheavy.com/

There is no surprise that the press and media are highly involved in the life of an entertainer. The media and press are the people that give these artists the attention that they do have. They are the immediate reason why our society is utterly saturated with celebrity publicity at all times. They are the reason we see pictures of celebrities everywhere that we turn, on T.V., Magazines, Movies, the internet, at times it can honestly be overwhelming in my opinion, and yet we still as a society and generation are consumed with the “hot topics” of Hollywood. It is realistically only because of the press that we, everyday citizens, even know who is either on the rise or fall in the wonderful world of Hollywood Stardom (which literally is a world all its own). The media can hinder one’s career, but in the same light, they can help ones career enormously. Press can make or break a star!
So what does that have to do with my blog? Well, since I usually like to focus on topics that will help or relate to a developing artist, like myself, I wanted to touch on the issue of, the importance of handling your image in the media as best as you can. I also wanted to highlight a few trends in the media today and how the stars are reacting to certain things.
The main thing that sparked this topic was an article from MTVnews via my RSS feed. The article was announcing the release of pop star singer, Rihanna’s, new music video S&M, from off of her latest album “Loud”. The report goes on to talk about the racy sort of scenes that the artist has shot in the video, which include a scene with a room full of reporters tantalizing her while she is strapped to the wall by saran wrap. Another scene shows the songstress walking the infamous “celebrity blogger” Perez Hilton, known for his wild antics, on a leash while he uses the fire hydrant? She takes a dominatrix type role through the video but also takes a submissive role a few scenes earlier. I honestly believe that she is speaking to the media in this video message, and showing her relationship with the media and how they use each other for their enjoyment. I believe she uses and needs the media just as much as they use and may need her back, and I believe she really wanted to portray that in this video. In all honesty I see it as very wild and overly sexed. But what else is new in our entertainment industry?
The Never forgotten
Lady Gaga Meat Dress!!
Ewww who does that!!
I have found that recently pop divas are having to do a lot of things that may have seemed outlandish a few years back, but are now becoming the norm and are trends, just to be noticed. We all know the queen of “weird” in today’s pop culture, is none other than Lady GaGa. But she has taken the music scene by storm because she dared to be different, and sort of, in essence, a little crazy! But Gaga has definitely started a trend of doing WILD stuff and being noticed for it. She uses the media and public attention to her ultimate advantage. Sure she may have worn a dress made of meat but she was certainly talked about. Yeah, you may think that Lady GaGa is really weird, but you know who she is, and are talking about her aren’t you? And she’s had numerous top selling albums within the last few years! How do you like them apples?! Just like the saying that I like to use, “Hate me, or Love me, I’m still on your mind!” Following in GaGa form we have seen some pretty outlandish things happening lately coming from some of our own, who used to be normal stars, at least so we thought. Christina Aguilera, Miley Cyrus, Rihanna and even Beyonce’ have all within the last few years started creating a more “wild & crazy” portrayals of themselves, while pushing the boundaries in their videos and photos.
I believe the obvious reason that this trend has come about is to keep things fresh and innovative. People have run out of ideas, so they try to find any, and everything that’s never been done before. They want to shoot videos that have maybe an awkward concept to keep things fun and new for the audience. It has been an interesting trend and I’m interested to see what may be next once this trend fades, where do they go from here? In closing as an artist on the rise, you must understand the complex relationship between you and the media that, weather u like it or not, do have a say in your career. As an artist be wise on how you handle your relationship with the media, so that you control how your want to be portrayed in the media. Happy Journeys see you at the top!
HUGS AND LUVS!
   
Sources: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1657066/rihanna-s-m-video.jhtml



Check out Rihanna's latest video "S&M" here from VEVO