Britney bombs

Sarah Silverman, who took the stage immediately after Spears, referred to her children as 8220;mistakes8221;.
With her first studio album in four years scheduled for release in November, the music industry is debating whether Spears8217;s career can recover. 8220;Is she going to be the next Michael Jackson?8221; wondered Jay Marose, a former publicist for the Backstreet Boys.

Spears all but suspended her career three years ago when she married a backup dancer, Kevin Federline, and fired her longtime manager. More recently, she devoted time to a messy divorce and a child-custody battle.

To prepare for the MTV show, Spears began a programme of fitness training and choreography sessions. Members of Spears8217;s camp say that although she expressed jitters about performing on television again, she showed a semblance of sticking to her regimen. But once Spears arrived in Las Vegas for the awards show weekend, everything ran off the rails. For starters, she was photographed partying with celebrities like rap moghul Diddy until the wee hours.

Roughly an hour before showtime, Spears insisted on a series of changes. She decided not to wear the custom-fitted corset designed for the performance, opting for a black bikini-style costume that revealed more of her body. Her physical appearance faced a barrage of criticism.

For all the buzz about her televised missteps, Spears appears to be on solid footing in one sense: she has a hot song. Since Gimme More was released a fortnight ago, it has quickly earned a spot on the playlists of pop stations nationwide. Her last album, In the Zone, sold more than 2.9 million copies.

8220;The train wreck can8217;t be her shtick,8221; said publicist Marose, 8220;So many people are pulling for her; they want to love her and she8217;s making it tough.8221;
-JEFF LEEDS NYT