Jennifer Otter Bickerdike – Being Britney: Pieces of a Modern Icon (Literature Review)

Dr Jennifer Otter Bickerdike’s newest release, Being Britney: Pieces of a Modern Icon is an intriguing introspective into a cultural icon and pop music in general that will appeal to the vast majority of music fans.

Britney Spears is a name most of the world is more than familiar with. Since her sudden rise to fame in early 90s as a pre-teen and teenager, she fast became the darling of pop music, with number one albums including her smash hit debut  Baby … One More Time to Oops I Did it Again to self-titled Britney, In the Zone and much, much more, Britney Spears’ success seemed endless.

On a trajectory to never ending fame and success, the Britney Spears brand – from music, to endorsements and beauty lines – was everywhere in the 90s and early 2000s. But while it might have looked glamorous from the outside, Spears’ life wasn’t quite as shiny and perfect as one may initially think.

After a very public mental breakdown and the instalment of a conservatorship – the latter of which we have heard much about in recent times, Spears’ life – it would appear – became something of a money-making scheme as she was forced into deals she did not agree to and one-sided custodial battles she had almost no chance of winning.

In her most recent release, Being Britney: Pieces of a Modern Icon, Dr Jennifer Otter Bickmore goes behind the lens of fame and fortune to examine the inner workings of what has made Britney Spears such an intriguing figure, both in terms of her music career and the more personal issues she has had to manage over the years.

I grew up listening to Britney Spears and, like many my age, became obsessed with the star when I was younger. But as my music taste changed and I grew up, I gradually steered away from Spears’ music, but, like many others, was well aware of her influence on the music industry. Or so I thought.

Being Britney was an eye-opening read, coming at a time when things are in something of an evolutionary state for Spears.

Otter Bickmore’s account of Spears’ life is considered and sensitive, but does not shy away from more the more pressing concerns of the star’s experiences under the control of her father Jamie Spears, and all that she endured while under the conservatorship that has so greatly impacted her life, both personally and privately.

Her writing is matter-of-fact, but easy to understand and you can definitely tell that the book has been well-researched.

While it is difficult to say that I enjoyed reading Being Britney ­given the content of the book and what the singer has been through over the years, I can say that it was one of the better written non-fiction works I have read.

Part social commentary on the music industry and pop culture, and part biography, Being Britney is a compelling read, and a book that will appeal to not only current and past fans of the singer herself, but anyone who is interested in pop culture.

While Spears life outside of the conservatorship is up in the air right now, there’s no doubt that Dr Jennifer Otter Bickerdike’s Being Britney: Pieces of a Modern Icon is a worthwhile read and an intriguing introduction to the canon of non-fiction covering both Britney Spears and pop culture as a whole.

Being Britney: Pieces of a Modern Icon is out now through Allen & Unwin/Bonnier Books (Nine Eight Books). To find out more about the author and her work, visit her website.