Britney Spears Opens Up To ABCNEWS

N E W   Y O R K, Nov. 12 -- Britney Spears began shedding her candy shell some years ago, but her new album, In the Zone, makes it very clear that the once sugary sweet girl is now a woman who is comfortable with expressing her sexuality in music, on stage and on the covers of magazines.

In an exclusive Primetime interview with ABCNEWS' Diane Sawyer, Spears is very candid about the tremendous pressure she is under to see In the Zone succeed, and how far she is willing to go to prove she's now the hottest woman in music.

While Spears, 21, admits her highly publicized too-sexy-for-some September performances — the scantily clad performance at the National Football League's kickoff concert and the famous Madonna kiss performance at the MTV Music Awards — raised at least a few eyebrows, she's happy with them.

Then, oops she did it again on Monday, when she stopped traffic in New York City's Times Square during a live performance outside MTV's studio. The young performer donned a half shirt and very low-cut trousers that showed off her shiny purple underwear.

Spears says the outfits she wears during performances simply reveal how comfortable she is with herself.

"I feel comfortable in my skin," Spears said. "I think it's an OK thing to express yourself, and be the way you want to be," Spears said. "I mean, I wouldn't walk into a club or a party like that. But I think, you know, I think it's fine."

"You know what, when I was younger, … I used to run around my house, naked, when I was 13," Spears said. "And people, my dad would be like, I was just very like, free."

No Regrets?

When Sawyer asks the freedom-loving pop star if she can think of an instance when she's gone further than she wished she had, Spears said "No. I don't think so."

But when she looked at a photo from a recent Esquire magazine photo shoot — where she took everything off but her pearls, underwear and shoes —her reaction changed a little.

"Now, those are a little much," Spears said.

The star explained that she allowed the pictures to be taken as she was heading out the door, following a shoot.