After five episodes The HBO series ‘The Idol’ put an end (for now) to the story of Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp). One that although many of us do not quite understand, it was quite controversial for different reasons. One of them is because of her relationship with Britney Spears.
From the beginning of the series co-created by Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd), who also plays the character of Teos on screen, It seemed to be a nod to the life of Britney Spears: a vulnerable pop star exploited by the music industry and those closest to him.
The winks of the series ‘The Idol’ to Britney Spears
Since the premiere of ‘The Idol’ at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, the writer of the series, Sam Levinson (who they surely come across for creating the ‘Euphoria’ series) said that although Jocelyn’s character had similarities to the ‘Princess of Pop’, in reality it was not inspired by her.
“We are not trying to tell the story of one particular pop star.. We are looking at how the world perceives pop stars and the pressure it puts on individuals,” Sam Levinston said at a press conference at the time.
Jocelyn’s character is considered by many to be a lot like Britney Spears
According to its creators, ‘The Idol’ actually shows the lonely life that pop stars enter under the pressure to please everyone. In the case of Jocelyn’s character, many consider that she had several nods to the career and life of Britney Spears.
A ‘The Idol’, Jocelyn is a super pop star dealing with emotional issues, which leads her promoters/managers to do everything possible as long as she can continue working and generating money without caring about her emotional well-being.
In fact, in the first episode of ‘The Idol’ we see how Jocelyn goes through a nervous breakdown after her mother’s death. Something that reminded many of what happened with Britney Spears, who was also harassed for years by the press when she was at the lowest point in her life.
In addition, The biggest wink or connection that ‘The Idol’ made towards Britney Spears was using the song from “Gimme More” in the promotional trailer from the series. Something that could sound like a simple coincidence if we do not consider the context of real life.
‘The Idol’ Even Included a Remix of Britney Spears’ “Gimme More”
The song “Gimme More” was the first single from the album ‘Blackout’ that Britney Spears released in August 2007. and after four years of musical absence, since at that time his last studio album had been ‘In The Zone’ from 2003.
Although this album meant the return of the ‘Princess of Pop’, Spears could not publicize it as she would have wanted since in 2007 he began his divorce with Kevin Federline and the harassment of the press as a result of the famous ‘breakdown’ which started when Britney shaved her head.
“Gimme More” was also the soundtrack of the worst stage of Britney Spears in her career, because no one forgets the presentation at the VMA’s that same year where Britney appeared doing lipsyncnot wanting to dance and quite confused.
That “The Idol” put it for the promotion of the series was perhaps a well-executed move to cause more morbidity to people. Although people have noted that Those were not the only nods that the HBO production made in its connection to Britney Spears.
And did choreographies similar to those of Britney Spears in real life
On social networks many fans have made videos where compare various choreographies by Britney Spears, both from live performances and from her video for the song “Make Me” (2016)which they surely did not see because it was an unofficial version that was canceled and later leaked.
Here we leave you a video that we came across on TikTok where we can see how Jocelyn imitates various steps of Britney Spears. Something that was not a kind of mystery in ‘The Idol’ either, because they just said that the dance was inspired by the singer:
Evidently the image of Britney Spears weighs heavily on ‘The Idol’ and it could be because she is one of the biggest pop stars of recent times, although she is also others claim that The Weeknd was inspired by Selena Gomez, his ex-girlfriend, for the creation of Jocelyn.
The truth is that what it does portray is the demand on female artists in an industry where they are more objects of consumption than anything else. Something I might as well investigate the series if HBO renews it for a second season. What do you think?
