From The Vault: Britney Spears Performs ‘Boys (Live At Dream Within A Dream Tour)’

Looking at her today, it’s hard believe that people once hailed Britney Spears as the 2nd coming of Janet Jackson. Indeed, although her PR team forged a convient likeness to fellow blonde Madonna, it was clear that Britney’s creative team was reading and applying pages of “Miss Janet” book. And by we mean no shade, rather a nod to her. Ms. Spears used to be one hell of a performer.

Case, point, example: this 2002 performance of ‘Boys’ from her Dream Within A Dream Tour, featuring the mighty Pharrell Williams, also masterminded the track.

Here you’ll see vintage Britney commanding the stage in a way only she could at the start of last decade. The downright ridiculous lip-syncing is offset by some intricate choreography – including a made-for-MTV breakdown – that she manages to execute effortlessly. She oozed a sexiness and a confidence even when simply  walking across stage. And of course it doesn’t hurt that the song is a definite winner.

Aged 20 at the time, the ‘Circus’ singer was only 5 years into her recording career and was already performing like a seasoned world class act.

Unfortunately, fast forward 10 years later, Britney is merely a shadow of a shadow of a shadow of her former self, resorting to “armology”, “chairology”, and “wheel-me-around-the-stage-ology”. A sad reality, as her musical efforts continue to qualitatively stay on trend, garnering “hit” status in the process. Had she kept performing with such intensity, she would still have been THE biggest popstar on the planet – by way of undeniable fact and not PR fiction.

Give us more, Britney!

Your thoughts?

 

Comments 28

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  1. RJIO December 11, 2011

    She was such a great performer, but still love her! First haha

  2. JohnVidal December 11, 2011

    Still how can anybody feel entertained by this?
    Of course now she has nothing and in 2002 she had the dancing skills (at least). But nothing more. Absolutely nothing. Biggest marketing product ever. Second one is Rihanna (I put Britney first cos she had way more succes, which means they marketed her better)

  3. ASAP (As Sincere As Possible) December 11, 2011

    One of her best dance breakdowns!Britney was indeed a seasoned perfomer and a very good dancer who posessed both the technique and the much-needed attitude to pull off even the most demanding choreographies!

    However, people talk about Britney as if she’s retired.Yes, her choreographies as of late have been mere nightmares, but the ‘Femme Fatale’ tour and the ‘Criminal’ video showed undeniable promise for the future.In the FF tour, despite the antics, theatrics and the numerous dancers, Britney herself looked more capable and lively compared to circa 2007, let alone the ‘Circus’ tour 😳 She’s far from being as good as she was, but it’s not like she’s completely given up.She keeps evolving, slowly but surely 😉

  4. Boopi December 11, 2011

    And at 45 Janet Jackson can STILL out-dance EVERYONE! **QUEEN STATUS**. That’s how ICON’s get down Werk Janet! 😀

  5. TWITTER.COM/ESSENCE_OF_SEAN December 11, 2011

    ^^^ JANET WAS 40 YEARS OLD IN THAT PERFORMANCE AND KILLED IT!

    But Britney Spears in 1998-2003 was very Janet Jackson around that time. She was like the white Janet!

    Of course Madonna was a big influence as well on her. But the media made it seem like she was more like Madonna than Janet! which is a lie. Maybe the stuff she does now is more of madonna. But when Britney slayed the stage in real dancing and stage presence & knew how to dominate the stage! It was very Janet.

  6. AndySaysSmile December 11, 2011

    She killed itttt! And although she hasn’t performed like that for quite a while, call it what you may, her medication, heels, nerves, she still masters the sultry walk, the piercing eyes, and her moves have clarity. That is more than the likes of Rihanna and Katy Perry who make their money off visuals. Take away the make-up, the bright lights, the auto tune, and you have two girls that make catchy songs and have so-so vocals. Britney is no Beyonce, but it’s clear she has that performance element that both KP and Rihanna lack. If I had to go see either of three, I’d see Brit, hands down. Although Brit’s moves aren’t as good as they were, they’re still there, which is more than what most Pop Stars do now.

  7. VFB December 11, 2011

    BRITTANY CAN’T GIVE YOU MORE BECAUSE SHE GOT MIMIC JANET JACKSON. BUT MS. JACKSON ON THE OTHER HAND IS STILL GIVING IT TO YOU IN 2011/2012, KNOW THIS AND LEARN TO RESPECT HER FLOW, JANET WILL ALWAYS BE THE QUEEN OF POP/A WORLD CLASS ICON/IN A LANE ALL BY HERSELF:)……PERIOD

  8. bey’knight December 11, 2011

    i agree with essence of sean, performance-wise Brit was more like Janet, Madge cant dance in fact i think Madge only influenced Brit with her height of fame. their songs arent anything alike either, Gaga would take credit for that one lol

  9. Katy+GaGa=Queens December 11, 2011

    @AndySaysSmile
    Who dare you put down Katy Perry as a performer and praise Britney?! Britney was a dancer, but that was it. Katy may not be able to dance, but she can take alway all the visuals and put on an accustic performance of Thinking of You, which she does every night. She is a true artist. Britney is just a manufactured pop tart who can learn dance routines. That is it. Theres for to a performance than flashy dance moves

  10. Katy+GaGa=Queens December 11, 2011

    @Bey’Knight
    Madonna cant dance?!! Um she can out dance Britney any given day.

  11. cocodior3069 December 11, 2011

    Interesting fact both “S**** for you” and Boys were submitted for Janet for her All for You record!

  12. aisha aguilera keys December 11, 2011

    She WAS good, though.

  13. SelenaGomezFan December 11, 2011

    I love this performance!!!! The Dream Within A Dream Tour is what inspired Selena Gomez’s We Own The Night Tour where Selena does a medley of Brits biggest hits. Britney is truely a legend

  14. Im The Original Doll !! December 11, 2011

    Britney is the biggest woman on the planet!! <3
    Katy Perry? Who the f*** is this b****? Can`t sing, can`t dance.. She`s a mess like GaGa. 🙂
    The Original Doll, right here!! : <3

  15. NT December 11, 2011

    At that point britney was one of the top 5 biggest women on the planet and had already sold well over 50million albums WW. But she’s not as good now , but her Femme Fatale concert showed that she does have some promise of being good again , when i went and saw her perform HIAM it was like old Britney popped back in her but shortly faded away later.

  16. AndySaysSmile December 11, 2011

    LOL @ this Katy Perry stan saying Britney is a manufactured ‘pop tart’. Really, b****? Sit.

  17. King of Cups December 11, 2011

    F***k me that was actually really good, I mean that rite there was sum1 on their A game. Kinda makes me think how s*** alot of the pop girls r just now considering how well sum o them r doing & arguably at their peak.

    Surely if Brit applied herself & got her passion bak she cud do that again?..

  18. Onyx December 11, 2011

    Madonna cant Dance is that a joke?, we all know Janet is a better dancer than Madge but The Queen can dance too, as for Britney i been in all her concert tours since 1999 and the last time was at the Staples Center in LA this year, i enjoi her, i don’t care if she makes playback or if her moves are not like in 2001, i love her since day one, she’s a lovely, tender and shy girl.
    LIP-SYNCHING IN MUSIC.
    The New York Times reported, “Artists like Madonna and Janet Jackson set new standards for showmanship, with concerts that included not only elaborate costumes and precision-timed pyrotechnics but also highly athletic dancing.

    Luciano Pavarotti at the 2006 winter olympics: the performance was prerecorded weeks earlier, “The orchestra pretended to play for the audience, I pretended to conduct and Luciano pretended to sing. The effect was wonderful.

    Was the big deal the only people who worry about that are the haters.

  19. Jamie December 11, 2011

    sorry but Britney at her worst still is better then rihanna and katy…

  20. Alexis Carrington December 12, 2011

    Love mama Spears. Exactly what happened to Britney I honestly don’t think will be answered anytime soon, she may not even fully know herself or maybe she does. Whatever the case, she still has that “watch me” quality about her even if what one watches isn’t her best. Hell, that is half of the game right there something many ladies of today don’t have. Arm-ology? Didn’t you mean arm-ography?…get your suffixes together please. She was always more in a Janet lane, but her look (white blonde) pushed her (by her own will, her team’s, the media) into a madonna lane and then madonna co-signing her sealed the deal. In actuality she isn’t a madonna or even really a janet in terms of overall artistry…she is, at best, a hybrid of the 2 iconic divas.

  21. Misfit December 12, 2011

    So obvious this song was written for queen Janet with the words “nasty” and “control” on repeat. Lmao!

    Brit did a good job on this performance.

    Funny the hipocracy of you @ Andy, where are your negative remarks on Britany’s lip-synching!
    Nothing but love for her huh?

    Funny that you had so much s*** to talk about Janet in a previous post, about that issue.

    I wonder why that is?

    Yeah…

  22. Misfit December 12, 2011

    It’s funny how Janet gets s*** on for lipping, when we all know Madonna, brit, rih, even bey(to a lesser extent), all the pop girls lip and/or use backing track heavily, when they do energetic routines like this, so let’s not give a pass to some, and s*** on others without reason.

  23. Cold as Fire December 12, 2011

    Someone has already pointed out your mess-ology of a mistake, so don’t take as shade miss thing. Simply put you’re an idiot and this whole article is ridiculous.

  24. lola December 12, 2011

    That’s a damn shame. She went from being this great dancer with wonderful stage presence to this fat, washed up, lazy, stank b**** onstage! She’s pathetic now. I mean, that break down was on point. What I used to love about Britney’s moves is that they were so sharp, flirty, but classy, and athletic. She was about to become the next Janet Jackson, but then she had a breakdown, got married too fast, and had babies too soon. She screwed up her life. The only flaw in this video is that she lip-synced! I mean, she had the moves, but she hardly ever sung live.

  25. KELIS December 13, 2011

    LIVIN LEGEND
    <3 brit

  26. hot ice December 14, 2011

    THE ONLY QUEEN

  27. Josh December 14, 2011

    @Im The Original Doll !!

    Britney is the biggest woman on the planet!! <3
    Katy Perry? Who the f*** is this b****? Can`t sing, can`t dance.. She`s a mess like GaGa.
    The Original Doll, right here!! : <3
    —————————————————————-

    are you kidding me, im no katy perry fan but at least katy can sing live.
    unlike britney.

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