Backstage Pass

In a news story that's been breaking and unbreaking almost entirely via cell phone text-messages, hip-hop producer JR Rotem is denying reports that he and Britney Spears are about to have a child.

But the celebrity magazine In Touch Weekly, which plastered the news on its latest cover, is sticking by its story, based primarily on several text messages Rotem supposedly sent directly to the magazine. In an email blast today, the magazine recounted the "conversation" and provided pictures of the cell phone that "recorded" it:

"They are saying Britneys pregnant and you're the father," a staffer typed, and later received the response "Its true." Supposedly, Rotem went on to write that he wasn't sure whether Spears would keep the four-week-old baby: "She is unpredictable."

But yesterday, a member of Spears's camp, Sam Lufti, denied the story, though he couldn't be bothered to, like, call -- he texted E! Online correspondent Ryan Seacrest to say, "Don't know who made it up. J.R. doesn't even know what's up. It's fake. Completely fake. We just wrapped her video. Going home to sleep."

Meantime, Rotem also told People magazine -- whether in person, via text-message or through carrier pigeon is unclear -- that the report is untrue.

PHOTO: In Touch Weekly 

So Britney Spears' "Blackout" album is on pace to sell between 330,000 and 350,000 copies this week, which should put her safely ahead of Carrie Underwood's second-week sales and in the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 next week. However, it seems The Eagles ' new album "Long Road Out of Eden" will actually sell more copies.

Since The Eagles album is only available at Wal-Marts, it is ineligible for Billboard's main album chart. However, if Wal-Mart decides to release the album's sales figures, it would be eligible for Billboard's Comprehensive Albums Chart -- putting an asterisk next to Spears' potential chart win. Wal-Mart has until tomorrow to decide whether or not to release the figures, according to Billboard.com.

"If the Eagles were SoundScanning this week, even though it's only available at one retailer, Britney wouldn't be No. 1," Eagles manager Irving Azoff told Billboard.

"Blackout" will be Spears' fifth chart-topper. Her last album "In the Zone" sold 609,000 copies in its first sales week in 2003.

The debate over my review of Britney Spears' "Blackout" is turning out to be more entertaining than the review (or the album, for that matter). Feel like jumping in? Well, the album is still streaming at MTV and the comments continue to roll in.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I did want to clear up a few things. My bosses never tell me what to write or whether to like something or not. I have nothing to do with comments getting posted or deleted at Newsday.com -- it's a totally separate part of the company. And yes, I did listen to the album, more than a dozen times.

Comment away!

Britney Spears -- "Blackout" Album Stream [MTV]

Britney Spears new CD? Save your money [Newsday]

Comments [Topix]

Due to Internet leaks and, perhaps, a desire to capitalize on the current swirl of publicity around her, Britney Spears is rushing out her new album two weeks earlier than previously planned.

"Blackout," Spears's first album in four years, will be released on Jive Records Oct 30.  The original release date was Nov. 13.

"Recently, songs from Britney Spears' [sic] forthcoming album, along with unfinished material and demos represented as completed legitimate songs, were leaked on-line," according to a Jive Records press release.

The release also quoted "a label spokesperson" as stating, "due to these numerous unauthorized on-line leaks, the label is doing everything possible to prevent and avoid any further illegal distribution of songs including moving up the release date of the album to October 30th."

Previous titles that had been considered -- perhaps not seriously -- were posted on Spears's Website. They were, in order:

1. Omg is Like Lindsay Lohan Like Okay Like
2. What if the Joke is on You
3. Down boy
4. Integrity
5. Dignity

"Blackout" may not seem like a well-considered choice from a mother who recently lost custody of her two children thanks to unacceptable alcohol and drug use. Then again, listeners appear to approve of Spears's new incompetent-mom image. Her new song, "Gimme More," recently shot to No. 3 on the Billboard singles chart, up from No. 63 last week.

The trainwreck continues.

In her new video "Gimme More," Britney Spears plays a stripper and a woman mesmerized by/laughing at a stripper. I'm sure psychologists, especially Dr. Phil, will go to town on the meaning of the two Britneys and how "Good Britney" has disassociated herself from "Bad Britney." But you don't need to be a psychologist to see what a sad video this is.

Never mind that Spears still looks unprepared and a few steps slow on her dance moves. Or that the director needs to bring in other dancers to liven things up and do the more difficult moves. Or that the whole thing doesn't have a gritty, amateur look, but actually looks amateurish, like it was actually shot with a $5 budget.

It just looks desperate, watching Spears blankly sing "Gimme More" as she takes off her top (but remains covered -- it's not that kind of amateur video), while people only pay half-attention to her. Did this video get approved by her because she thought it made her look good?

I've wondered for years what it would take for Spears to fall from grace into anonymity. Revelations of her lip-synching and her dancing missteps weren't enough. Neither was her beating a car with an umbrella or shaving off all her hair. What will it take for people to stop being interested in her?

As she continues in her artistic and personal downward spiral, it seems like she must be asking herself that same question.

"Gimme More" is set to debut on MTV on Monday. It's currently available for purchase at iTunes.

UPDATE: Britney's record company just announced that her album will be called "Blackout." Uh huh.

MORE: Britney "Sex tape" the least of her problems / Britney Spears bombs on MTV awards

Marrying Kevin Federline didn't do it, shaving her head didn't do it, botching her VMA performance didn't do it. Is there anything Britney Spears can do to destroy her career?

There is one thing: Lose custody of her children.

Thanks to a Los Angeles court, Britney did just that on Monday, and the judge's gavel may have sounded the death-knell for Spears's turbulent career. After that news, nothing seemed shocking, not even a report the next day (from In Touch Weekly magazine) of an alleged Spears sex-tape.

According to a panting press release, Spears met some 28-year-old dude in a bar while vacationing in Hawaii and brought him back to her bungalow for a romp -- on video, unbeknownst to her. Said dude isn't releasing this video morsel because he's “disappointed by his own performance,” according to the mag.

Yawn! It wouldn't matter now if Spears threw a telephone at a hotel clerk, passed out in her SUV or went on an anti-Semitic tirade after being busted for drunk driving. We encourage our celebrities to behave badly; it's fun and funny, a way to live out our own renegade fantasies. And Spears could have bounced back from just about anything.

But losing custody of your kids? There's nothing funny about that.

There must be some sort of epidemic of confusion among pop divas. How else can we explain the latest trend of singers announcing themselves? The Britney Spears single "Gimme More" (Jive) is more of a marketing distraction than actual music, requiring not just an intro naming her, but an outro as well. But what's Nicole Scherzinger's excuse for using her first name as the chorus of her debut solo single "Whatever U Like" (RCA)? It's a pretty decent song, with a spacey beat and distinctive, punchy vocals, to muck it up with the line: "She's hot as a stove/Her name is Nicole." Name recognition must be pretty tough for Scherzinger. She even named her debut album "Her Name Is Nicole."

Hear "Gimme More" here

Kanye West performs "Stronger." Wouldn't it have been nice to see the whole thing? Photo: MTV.

Last night’s MTV Video Music Awards were so poorly run (even after the Britney Spears debacle) that it couldn’t have been an accident, could it? Cutting off performances by superstars in mid-song, trying to pass off taped performances as live, and otherwise making music seem like nothing more than a commodity (available for purchase at Rhapsody.com, natch) to the one-time “Music Television” – it had to be a concerted effort.

With her appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards last night, Britney Spears has accomplished what I thought was impossible. She made me feel sorry for her. [Watch video here.]

Ill-prepared and out-of-step, she stumbled her way through a lip-synched performance of her already-average single “Gimme More” looking so dazed and confused that it was almost too painful to watch.

You know the stock dream where you’re naked and everyone’s laughing and pointing at you? Well, Brit lived it out for everyone to see, except she was wearing a spangled bikini that was too small for her.

It starts out bad, with Spears moving so slowly that you can almost hear her counting out choreographer instructions in her head: “One, two, breast jiggle, walk, walk, grab the guy’s crotch. Oh wait! I messed up, y’all!”

And it only gets worse. By the end, she had even stopped lip-synching and turned her back to the camera, like an “American Idol” wannabe who forgot their words. When you’re this unprepared, it’s time to call in sick or as Sarah Silverman suggested in her own awkward performance to claim, “I have diarrhea.”

Not only did Spears torpedo her “comeback” chances, she turned herself into an international laughingstock – something all her previous no-underwear-wearing, umbrella-wielding, car-crashing actions had not yet fully done. Her fans were rooting for her to succeed last night, but that will become increasingly harder to do when she looks like she didn’t even try. Or care.

PHOTO: Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press.

Britney Spears will open MTV's Video Music Awards on Sunday night, performing her new single "Gimme More," MTV confirmed today.

And because people, er, someone, wanted it, her new catch phrase from the song "It's Britney, (expletive)" will be available as a ringtone through MTV immediately after her performance.  Never too early to shop for Grandma's Christmas present, right?

It's not clear if her new maybe-boyfriend, maybe-fiance Criss Angel is performing with her or if ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake will her out as he reportedly offered. Maybe they'll cut to him again as she uncomfortably kisses someone this year. We can only hope.

The comeback has begun.

Britney Spears released her new single "Gimme More" (Jive) to radio last night and now her ginormous promotion machine is thundering into action. (Will their main strategy be to keep her under wraps? And perhaps hire her a driver?)

"Gimme More," which she is almost guaranteed to perform as a "surprise" at next week's MTV Video Music Awards, is a dance number in the "Toxic" style. It's got a hot beat, but the breathy vocals and childish lyrics are pretty bland, even by Britney musical standards.

Written and produced by Nate "Danja" Hills, a Timbaland protege, who has shown more promise than he has delivered on albums from Katharine McPhee and others, "Gimme More," will succeed or fail, like most of Spears' recent work, based on whatever video treatment and surrounding concept she and her team dream up.

"Bet you didn't see this coming," Danja says to close the song. Actually, the whole thing is entirely predictable -- right down to the victory lap for "the legendary Miss Britney Spears and the unstoppable Danja" at the end. Memo to Danja: If you have to call her a legend, she probably isn't one, especially if she has to announce herself at the beginning.

Spears' full album is expected on Nov. 13.

Z100 had the song's world premiere last night and is streaming it on the station website here.

PHOTO: Jive Records

Britney Spears nude for Harper's Bazaar cover. (Story)

What will she do for attention next?
Sing a sexually provocative song?
Get married again?
Cry on TV?
So much for wanting to be left alone...

Photo by Alexi Lubomirski/Harper's Bazaar.