By Tisha (Entertainment editor)

Britney Spears this week starred in sitcom ‘How I Met Your Mother’, giving the show its highest ratings since its debut. This is little surprise, as avid tabloid watchers will vouch they have well been in withdrawal since the most recent lame tidbits of Britney news: daddy still has the estate, Heidi’s wholesome nuclear home is still Britney-free, Adnan has not proposed, and there have been no signs of another imminent mental collapse.

Britney’s portrayal of a flirty tattoo parlour receptionist on the show was described as bringing back the old Britney Spears. The Britney Spears that hadn’t had two marriages, two kids and two divorces. The pre-vag-flashing, Madonna-pashing Britney. Yes, cast your minds back to the 17-year old, blonde and provocative but virginal schoolgirl.

When tracing the transition from American sweetheart to white trash, it is clear that this is a girl who has had her life intertwined with her art for so long that the public that they each seem an appropriation of the other. ‘Piece of Me’ is Britney’s parody of the paparazzi’s portrayal of Britney’s paparazzi-created lifestyle, as she sings

“I’m Mrs. ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’
I’m Mrs. ‘Oh My God That Britney’s Shameless’”

Yet at the same time, the public is clearly not ready for certain realities: while performing ‘Gimme More’ at the 2007 MTV awards, a black bikini donning Britney was jeered and taunted for sporting a very real, post-pregnancy body after having recently given birth to her second child. The illusion of the highly sexualised star and the reality of motherhood could not comfortably be fused by the media, and so came Britney’s fall from grace into tabloid hell.

Britney Spears is a media-created mirage as fleeting as her songs, dressed up to catch a cynical public’s momentary interest before fading into oblivion down the charts. So Will Britney have a top ten single in 2008? I hope so.

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