Britney: I'd Love a Voice Like Christina's
N E W Y O R K, Nov. 13, 2003 -- Who wouldn't want to be Britney Spears? At 21 years old, she has three multi-platinum albums and her own movie under her belt, and legions of adoring fans around the world.
But in an exclusive interview with ABCNEWS Primetime's Diane Sawyer, Spears admitted that even she has things about herself that she's not enthusiastic about.
"Do I like my voice? Um — I think my voice is — oh, I'll be completely honest: I think my voice is OK," she said.
She went on to mention a couple of her rivals, Christina Aguilera and Whitney Houston. "I would love to have a voice like Christina. I would love to have a voice like Whitney Houston," she said.
After a trying year for Spears — with a much-publicized breakup from former 'N Sync member Justin Timberlake — she is releasing a new CD, In the Zone, this week.
With a more mature sound than the young singer's previous work, the new album is considered a make-or-break step. It could possibly provide a bridge from her teenybopper fan base to an older audience. "I think I'm a little nervous about my album coming out," she said.
A Tough Year
This has been a tough year for Spears, and the thought of it all brought her to tears in her interview.
In Mexico City this July, she made an obscene gesture to the paparazzi, and then, on the last night of her world tour — five songs into her concert — she walked off stage in front of 50,000 fans.
She says she left because it was raining — and dangerous to be on stage. A documentary even shows her and her tour manager agonizing over what to do backstage. But out front, the crowd turned and started yelling: "Fraud, fraud."
Just four months earlier, in London, she insulted fans by showing up late to her movie premiere, refusing autographs — and barely saying hello.
And on top of it all, she broke up with Timberlake, her longtime boyfriend from back in their Mouseketeers days.
"It was pretty rough," she said. "Yeah. Yeah, it was kind of weird. Weird. Hello. Um, oh my goodness.
"I'm embarrassed. Can we stop?" she asked.
Not That Innocent
The breakup with Timberlake led Spears to revise her well-known views about the lasting power of a young first love.
Spears, who was once famous for her virgin status, says she now believes that waiting until marriage could be an unrealistic goal for longtime couples, but casual sex is still a no-no.
"I think in reality, if you really know in your heart of heart that you are gonna be with that person, forever, and you really think that, with all of your heart, and you're in four, or five years, you know, into the relationship, I mean, stuff can happen," Spears said.
Timberlake revealed Spears' sex status in an interview on ABCNEWS' 20/20 earlier this year.
The pop princess says she believed she and Timberlake had a relationship that would last a lifetime. She and the 22-year-old 'N Sync singer were together for three years before a high profile breakup in the spring of 2002.
"You know, I mean, I, you don't go around sleeping around with people," Spears said. "I mean, I really thought that I was gonna be with him or the rest of my life. I did."
Spears has said she's not currently involved in any serious romance, but still leaves room for schoolgirl crushes.
In fact, she's a little embarrassed about one.
When Sawyer asked about a framed picture of Spears and Brad Pitt, who is very taken by Friends star Jennifer Aniston, the mega star cringes.
"We shouldn't share that. I'm embarrassed," Spears said. "That's my little thing."
The First Time
Spears took command of the pop music world when she was just a teenager. Her first CD Baby One More Time (1999) sold a staggering 10 million copies. Since then, she's left girlhood innocence far behind, reinventing herself as a steamy sex symbol.
Spears says her latest album is an expression of her love of living in the moment — or In the Zone.
Despite her steamy videos and sexy song titles, like "Breathe on Me," Spears says Zone isn't all about sex.
"It says it, that's what it says, it says breathe on me. That's it."
Spears says the high-stakes album, which follows her yearlong vacation, is close to her heart since she worked on many of the songs herself, including one she wrote by herself at the piano. In the song, "Everytime," Spears apologizes for letting someone down.
"My weakness caused you pain," she sings and the chorus rings out, "I feel so small. I guess I need you baby."
As raw as "Everytime" gets, Spears says it's the title song from the album that really reveals who she is right now.
"In the Zone is probably the one song that really states where I'm at … doing what I love to do, and dancing, and being in the zone."
Too Comfortable in Her Own Skin?
While Spears admits her too-sexy-for-some performances — the scantily clad appearance at the NFL's kickoff concert and the infamous Madonna kiss 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.
"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."
When Sawyer asked Spears if she could 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, adding this explanation: "At the end of the shoot, I wanted to hurry up and go and of course they're like, put this on. And I was like, all right let's go ahead and do it and then let's jet. I didn't have approval over the thing."
Spears said it's one quick moment she wishes she could reconsider.
"So that's one picture, I must say, that I felt kind of weird about," Spears said. "But hey, it's done. And I learned from it."
Spears' In the Zone tour will kick off March 3. The album's first single, "Me Against the Music," featuring Madonna, is currently No. 38 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart.