When the video for “…Baby One More Time” hit MTV in November of 1998 I was 17 years old. Along with 12-year-old girls, I was pretty much in the target demographic for Britney Spears’ ascent in pop music. While I wouldn’t have readily admitted it back then, I was a huge fan of Britney’s music and still am to this day.
So if you had told me 17 years ago that I would see a Britney Spears show in Las Vegas with my wife, my head probably would have exploded.
Last week Alycia and I went to Las Vegas for a little vacation. People often ask why we always go to Vegas. Vegas is relatively cheap and we often get a lot of free stuff through the MyVegas game on Facebook. When we’re on vacation, more than anything else, we want to sit by a pool and read; Vegas definitely affords us that opportunity.
Vegas also gave us the opportunity to see Britney Spears.
Britney’s come a long way since dancing in the halls of a high school in her school uniform. Her path hasn’t always been the smoothest with some well-publicized meltdowns over the years. Recently, though, her life seems to have calmed down and she has taken up a residency at the Planet Hollywood.
Britney’s Vegas show, Piece of Me, is a sensory-overload celebration of her career and music. There are a bunch of bright lights and loud music. Supremely talented dancers joined Britney onstage while she “sang” some of her biggest hits. I was thoroughly entertained for 80 minutes and have been listening to Britney nonstop since then.
Nostalgia is a weird thing because it colors everything with a pleasant cloud. If Britney Spears broke through today, I don’t think I would listen to her music, much less even know she existed. However, since she rose to popularity in 1998 when I was spending a lot of time watching MTV, I’m now a 33-year-old man who sang along to her songs at a live show in Vegas.
I’m fine with liking something almost exclusively because of nostalgia – seriously I saw Britney Spears in Vegas. We can’t confuse warm nostalgic feelings, though, for actual quality. Just because I liked Britney when I was 17 and still like her 17 years later, doesn’t mean I think she’s the most talented musician ever. She makes good pop music but I’m not about to label her the best artist of all time.
We can’t get lost in the nostalgia of our past and long for the “good ol’ days.” Focusing on what we liked about the past will keep us from seeing the good that God is doing right now. I’d hate to have missed out on Muse or Katy Perry because I was too busy focusing on Britney.
What’s your favorite Britney Spears song?
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