Womanizer

I heard previews of the song a week or so ago, but just saw the video tonight. It’s crap. BUT! …and I’ll get to it.

The song is undoubtedly stupid. It’s unoriginal in content and sound, the lyrics are as facile as most of her other songs, the chorus isn’t even catchy, etc. The video, while marginally better, doesn’t do much to redeem it. Britney is sweaty and not wearing a bra! Britney wears wigs! Britney seduces a skeezy dude! Feh. Give her an umbrella and a Frappucino and it’s B. Spears ‘07. BUT!

And here’s my big but (hee). How amazing is it when she stares into the camera and says, “You say I’m crazy? I got your crazy.” On one level, it’s typical scorned-woman “he’ll never even see it coming” threat you hear in songs that don’t sound like real women. Below that, it’s a lame attempt to be all meta about her behavior the past two years; it’s fine to be naked and wear wigs and admit you’re crazy when it’s being filmed in HD. Seriously, though, that can’t continue; there’s no way to class up the shit that went down, so quit while you’re at least breaking even.

There’s a level underneath it, though, that’s far more interesting, and it’s encapsulated in the line I quoted above and the image at the end, when the doors open and she’s a whirlwind of women. It’s not until then that he recognizes who they all are, and isn’t that just perfect? How much of herself did she leave behind when she followed him out of love or lust or misguided hope? There’s a message in our society, constantly broadcast, that tells us how unloved we will be if anyone gets to know us, so cover it up with clothes and make-up and technology and self-help books. This applies moreso to women, and it’s partly from the outside, but partly from the inside, too. So bury all the things that make you a bad girlfriend, a bad wife, less than the ideal woman – strike a balance between being a best friend, a stripper, his mother, a psychiatrist, whatever you are being told is perfect until the second that it’s not.

And he doesn’t get you, because he doesn’t know you, because you’re hidden somewhere, so the problem is on both of your ends but he’s giving it all to you. So why not give it back? Why not be crazy, if you can? Why not dig up all the parts of yourself that you pitched in a deep, dark grave, and why not claim them again? The best thing about this video is that it has joy. This is not a woman destroying cities with lightning and high heels, though there’s a time for her, too. This is a woman swinging her hair and jumping on the bed and rising, rising, rising till she’s engulfed in flames and it makes her laugh and say, “Since I’m here, why not burn the motherfucker down?”