WAITING FOR BRITNEY SPEARS

The key moments of Britney’s story are scorched into the mind of a generation – from the schoolgirl skirt all the way up to the more recent alarming details of her conservatorship. But no serious biography of her has been written, and her story is an incredibly resonant one. The echoes of Marilyn Monroe and Princess Di are deafening -- a young woman, thrust into impossible spotlight, alternately adored and despised, beloved for her vulnerability, sanctioned for expressing her sexuality, eaten alive by the media. An incredibly talented young woman who deserves a new place of power in our popular understanding.

As Britney’s headlines went from “teen queen” to “dirty dancing” to umbrella bashing and eventual hospitalization, Starjournalist Jeff Weiss cashed in, his star rising with every scoop. But as her downward spiral reached its nadir, Jeff’s bubble popped, too. It was time to reckon with the price he had paid to “make it” as a magazine writer, and his own role in the toxic celebrity culture that had brought Britney crashing down. 

In the decades since, Jeff has devoted himself as a writer, record label owner, and documentary filmmaker to lifting up artists of all stripes, including a wildly popular piece for The Ringer on the 20th anniversary of Oops... I Did It Again that highlights how much control Britney actually exerted behind the scenes on key creative decisions that shaped her career.

The book will have a feminist appeal and grounding in personal narrative. It will also have the timeless appeal of Almost Famous or I’m With the Band– a narrator you can’t help but root for getting sucked into the glory and horror of fame-adjacency. It’s deeply fun (and maybe a little deranged), and who couldn’t use that right now?