- I am so grateful for everything,
and I just feel so incredibly blessed,
but, I mean, the realization of when you're famous
and you can't go back, that's really weird for me, you know?
I had that realization three or four months ago
and it's just like wow, and I mean
I don't want you to pity me or anything,
because I wouldn't change my life for anything.
I just remember, about the Mickey Mouse Club, let me see,
well, we had it made.
I mean, we'd get up at like nine o'clock,
and then we worked 'til six,
and you're in Florida, and you had your little apartment,
everyone lived in the same apartment complex,
and there was a bunch of kids on the show,
there's like 20 kids on the show,
so were just on the set, and we'd have so much fun,
and goof off, and they'd cater to us so much,
and I was the youngest, so everyone was like,
ah, you know, pampered me and everything,
so it was so much fun, it was a lot of fun,
and you got to sing, dance,
and act on the show, so it was great.
- Do you remember, was there any point at which you,
was it a gradual thing, that you decided,
this is what I wanna do for a career?
- It was probably when I was on the Mickey Mouse Club
that I realized that I had such a major love for music,
because we had concerts, and we got to be
in the recording studio,
and I was just in love with music,
and that's when I realized I wanna go for this,
but when the show was canceled, mmm, sad,
I went home and I was just like a normal kid, you know?
Went to the prom and the whole homecoming deal,
and then I was like
"You know, I want to perform again,
"and I wanna get out there."
And I had an entertainment lawyer,
Larry Rudolph, in New York, and I came up there,
and Pop music was coming back,
and it just really made sense,
so I went to Drive records and they signed me.
- [Interviewer] Tell me, where were you
when your album went number one, what did you think of that?
- Where was I, when my album,
actually, I was in West Palm Beach,
and I had a show to do that night,
and I was sleeping, and I was resting,
and Barry Weiss, the guy from,
he's the president of the record label,
he called me on the same line, with my manager,
and they called, and they were like
"Well guess what?"
They said
"Your album debuted at number one."
And I thought, for some reason, cause I was sleeping,
I thought that the single went to number one,
and this was before we even knew about the single,
and I was like
"Oh, yay, the single went to number one."
I was so excited, and they're like
"No, the album"
I just totally flipped out, I was like,
"What?
"Oh my gosh."
I was, I didn't expect that at all, so I was so excited,
I was really really excited,
and the next day, we found out about the single.
So I was like
"Yeah yeah yeah."
I was callin' everybody, I was callin' my mom,
and my granny, my little sister, just everybody.
- [Interviewer] Does the way that "Baby, One More Time"
has just exploded in the last few months
surprise you at all,
or did you have a good feeling about it?
- Well, I hoped and I dreamed it would, and, oh yeah.
- [Interviewer] Did you think that was the one, though,
that would break through for you?
- Yeah, I totally did, the first time
they brought it to the record label,
and they played the song, I was just like
"This song is gonna be it."
I was so excited, and I was really worried,
cause you, I'd worked for a year, for so long,
and I was really hoping and wanting it to do well,
but then, when it debuted at so, really high,
I was just like, ah, I was so excited,
I was really overwhelmed, so.
- How you been, I wanna ask you about Best New Artist,
this is such a category that's been
discussed over the years,
you're up against Kid Rock, and Macy Gray,
and Christine and Susan Tedeschi,
how do you feel about this category?
- It's such an honor, just to be nominated, seriously,
I'm actually more concerned with my performance, though,
once that's over with, I'll be able to relax,
I'm really kinda stressed out about that.
I've kind of just established my sound,
and the way I like sing in the studio,
and that's a big priority, making a song, I think,
cause when you hear a song,
even if you really don't like the demo,
if you can go into the studio and make it yours,
and like you own the song,
that's what's really really important when I do a song.
- [Interviewer] What kind of change
do you think this new record tells about you?
A lot of strength on this record.
- Yeah, I'm really excited about this record,
just that I've had a lot more involvement with it,
and it's just really special to me,
every song, I can almost totally relate to,
and I think it's definitely more mature,
it's edgier, it's funkier, and it's fun,
and it's very diverse.
It has songs like "Satisfaction" that have
so much attitude, and then songs like "Dear Diary,"
and it just captures all those moods,
especially as being a teenager,
we have all those moods that we go through,
and it's cool to have an album like that.
This album is definitely a little bit
more mature than the first album,
I was 16 when I recorded the first album,
and I think I have more input,
and it's more me, I'm more confident in the studio,
and I think that's definitely gonna come across.
Pop is definitely music that makes you wanna stand up,
makes you happy, and it's fun, you know?
And that's what it's all about, you know,
being happy and fun, and I love Pop songs
that also tell stories, too.
- How on earth are you going to top
what you did on stage last year?
- You know what, my main concern for this performance
is that I just don't fall (laughs).
Seriously I just, you know,
I wanna go out there and do the best I can do,
and hopefully people will like that, so.
- Now, this is a new song that you're performing?
- Yeah, yeah, no one's ever heard it before,
so we'll see, I'm kinda nervous about that.
- Can you tell me a little bit more about the song itself?
- Really, it's talking about me
just wantin' to go to a club, and do my own thing,
and just, the chorus of the song is
I'm a slave for you, and it's talking about
just being a slave for music,
and a slave for love, and so.
I wanted to do a movie that
I was just really proud to be a part of,
I was thrown so many different scripts in my direction,
but this movie, just what it was saying,
was just really beautiful.
- [Interviewer] Where was the idea behind that,
where did the idea come from in this particular film?
- Well really, when I was younger,
I'd had my three best friends, to this day,
I still have my Courtney, Jansen, and Lora Lynn,
and I just, I don't know,
the whole concept came up of me being with my girlfriends,
and us growin' up with each other,
and I just, I wanted to do a teen movie,
but I wanted to do somethin' that
teenagers could watch and be touched by, you know?
And all of them have their own little issues,
but at the same time, they have each other,
and at the end of the day, that's what matters.
Actually, I saw it for the first time yesterday.
- [Interviewer] Ooh.
- So, I was really really excited,
it was just bizarre seein' yourself on the big screen,
you know what I mean?
I was watching it, and I was like,
"Oh my gosh."
You know?
But it's very sweet, it's very sweet,
and it's very heartfelt, and I cried in it,
it was so, when I first was watching it,
I was, you know, I'm not me, I'm not Britney Spears,
I'm this dorky girl named Lucy, you know?
And I'm watching it, and I don't have that much makeup on,
I'm not really glamorous, so it was just bizarre,
me playing someone else, you know?
But then I got so lost into the character,
that I was just so involved in the movie,
it was really cool, you know?
But I was crying and laughing, and it was very cool.
- [Interviewer] So what's it feel like now,
just as things are building up
towards the release to the album?
Are you excited, are you nervous, are you?
- I'm everything, I don't know what I am.
I'm excited, I'm nervous,
when you're in the studio, all you can do
is not think about that stuff,
is just to really go inside yourself,
and just, trust me, I've had time to do that,
and just to really go there,
and just do what feels right for me.
And if anything, it's not about, for me,
selling 50,000,000 records, or anything like that,
it's just really about, you know, doin' what feels right,
and expressing myself the way I wanna express myself,
and as long as you do that, and you're happy with it,
that's all that matters.
- [Interviewer] There are no extremes on the album,
I really feel like it's tight, it's right,
it keeps you, and I can't believe how cheesy this is,
in the zone, in that zone, it keeps you in that space,
wherever you need to be.
- Exactly, yeah, well thank you.
- [Interviewer] It's, that's where it is,
is that why you called it "In The Zone"?
I mean, what is that zone for you?
- Well, I think the reason, the whole meaning behind that
is just really, I think when,
even when you're dancing, or you're on stage,
or you're at a club and you're letting yourself go,
I think mentally, you go through this mental state
where nothing really exists, you're just in your own world,
and you've kind of just, you're on the meditative state,
where nothing can touch you,
and I think that's a cool state to be in.
That's when most of the creative process comes to you,
and I think that's where the song comes from.
I think some people choose to put on their record
stuff that's very very personal to them,
and I think that's just making it,
my personal opinion, just,
it's exposing yourself a little bit too much,
and I don't feel comfortable doing that.
So my personal life, I've learned my lesson,
it's just to kinda keep it to yourself, you know?
Because they kind of just,
I just don't think it's cool to do that
into other people's expense, I don't think that's very cool.
- [Interviewer] Okay.
- If you understand what I'm trying to say.
- [Interviewer] I'm trying to read between the lines.
(Britney laughing)
Is is possible to actually have a private life, though,
when you're a star of your stature?
- You know what, there is,
just to think of it as your art,
and do it, and when you continuously do it about the music,
and when you always have the right intentions,
I think it's cool, but once you start
bringing other things into it, then it's not,
that's not what it's about for me personally.
And that's the way I like to keep it,
some people, they like to bring other things into it,
that's fine, they've gotta go to bed with that at night.
My greatest experience, wow, probably being with Madonna,
the kiss with Madonna was amazing,
it was just being on stage with someone of that caliber,
it's just iconic, and just wonderful to be able to do.
I hope people listen to my music,
and it just makes them feel good,
and it makes them feel something, you know what I mean?
Like, when they hear it, they turn the radio on,
and it puts them in a good mood, it brightens their day,
you know what I mean?
Or when they see me perform, or whatever,
it makes them wanna, you know,
there's a feeling as a performer,
you go on stage, you're just like,
you just come into this being and you're just like,
you feel so much, and you're just goin' full out,
and it's just expressing yourself, you know?
Like, when I was younger, and I'd watch Madonna and Michael,
it's like they didn't care about anybody bein' around,
it was like, they just went there,
they went to the zone, where they're just like
performing and puttin' their heart out there, you know?
And that's what I hope to do for people,
I see, I hope they see that and that inspires them.