How Britney captivates the world in 2022: the most influential pop star

The steady liberation of Britney Spears has been one of this year's key pop culture moments, and the artist is still generating headlines. She is a celebrity who encourages a special kind of passion and her followers are so dedicated that they created a social campaign - #FreeBritney - to concentrate global awareness on the conservatorship that refused the singer agency over her private and business matters for more than 13 years. The restrictive legal agreement defined by Britney as abusive was removed in November 2021, permitting her to handle her own life and profession again. In June 2022, she married her partner of six years and in August she was back in the charts with a collaboration with Elton John for the song Hold Me Closer. The song peaked at number six in the US and three on the UK charts evolving into a record for the singer for the last decade.

If Hold Me Closer senses like a metric comeback, it's a high-profile duet with an immediately familiar chorus but it's also a moving one. Even if it doesn't mean a long-term recovery from registering and touring, Britney owes nothing to anyone but herself. The song comes with the opportunity to reassess her musical heritage. You might remember a particularly harsh review of her famous second album Oops!... I Did It Again, that was overlooked and considered her just a dress-up doll. More than 20 years later, she still is one of the most influential pop artists of her generation.

Lady Gaga said in 2009 that Britney is an inspiration and Lana del Rey speaks about her fondly. Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama said Britney was the first artist she fell in love with after watching her music videos. Moreover, Swedish singer Tove Styrke is equally emotive when asked how the pop star influenced her as a performer and she declares that she had a great impact regarding the voice, dancing, and everything Britney did.

The pop star is an LGBTQ ally and icon, influencing also the contemporary drag scene and many performers such as Jonbers Blonde, an Irish drag performer. The artist was a finalist on the newest edition of RuPaul's Drag Race UK - and was fascinated by Britney's performances at the MTV Video Music Awards. In 2000, Spears gave a creative medley of Satisfaction and Oops!... I Did It Again which actually demonstrated her empowering stage presence and her dance performance. The next year, she performed with a live python over her shoulders, showing off her fearlessness and fierceness. Britney's popularity came with disdain, as back in 1999, she was a young artist who didn't write any of the songs on her debut album. However, the delivery, the timbre, and the performance of Britney show that she is in control of the performance. Even the media tried to dismiss her through misogynistic comments and sexist views. But as her career progressed, she also took more power over her art from the very start of the creative process, collaborating with other artists that disrupt the status quo. The ballad “Everytime” had remorseful lyrics and the video was portraying the dark side of her fame.

Over all, her rollercoaster-like experience shouldn't diminish the power and value of her heritage. The stunning performances she gave at the start of her career, on tour, and in music videos are still influencing other artists. What's more, if the #FreeBritney campaign has guided us to uncover anything about Britney, it's that she keeps an unspoken quality that makes individuals really love her and support her. A lot of people have felt that she is special and they also said that Spears changed their lives. She has something that is highly relatable and people can empathize with her like they really know her. Plus, the public's overwhelmingly compassionate response to her conservatorship is additional proof of her lasting impact. Britney means pop culture, encapsulating every element of what it means to be a nowadays celebrity. Some consider her the American Dream, a symbol of freedom. So, she could never go unnoticed or step back into the darkness. She is and has always been in the spotlight, and even if her 2022 comeback is more a one-off than a permanent thing for the future, Britney Spears still has a place in people's hearts and at the top of the pop universe.