Is it fair to compare Britney Spears to Madonna?

[Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 103
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Now that Britney has more than a decade in the music industry, can you compare Britney to Madonna and say she's a better artist?
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  • AdzPowerAdzPower Posts: 4,861
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    If you prefer Britney then of course you could say that.
    And the same goes for vice versa.
  • TH14TH14 Posts: 11,719
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    Anybody can be compared to anyone and it's subjective but if you look at records and statistics then Madonna is far ahead
  • Hit Em Up StyleHit Em Up Style Posts: 12,141
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    Britney has always been a mini Madonna and probably the only one, aside from Kylie, who comes close to Madonna in the grand scheme of things.

    Is Britney a better artist though? No! come on. Madonna has a massive legacy played out over several different pop genres. Britney has never really evolved her style. The closest she came was Blackout but that era went tits up because of her breakdown.
  • AneechikAneechik Posts: 20,208
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    For her faults, Madonna does have a level of artistic credibility that Britney (and Kylie for that matter) both lack.
  • Hav_mor91Hav_mor91 Posts: 17,183
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    Aneechik wrote: »
    For her faults, Madonna does have a level of artistic credibility that Britney (and Kylie for that matter) both lack.

    But in equal measure Kylie has a level of artistry that Britney is missing. It's subjective but including Madonna herself people/she saw Britney as a mini Madonna in terms of impact and the scale of her early career but thats about it.
  • cnbcwatchercnbcwatcher Posts: 56,681
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    I personally don't think so. They're both different artists with different music. And it's ok to like both ;) It's all a matter of personal opinion though.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 316
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    You wouldn't compare chocolate cake with chocolate pie, would you?

    Anyway, as with a lot of thing, I don't think they can be compared, as they're very different from each other, they're both pop yes, but besides that, I don't see many similarities. Also, personally, I would categorize Britney as a recording artist, and Madonna as an entertainer. Two different things.

    Yes. :)
  • Littlegreen42Littlegreen42 Posts: 19,963
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    Madonna can't be compared, she is above them all...

    Britney is an icon, but she has become more famous for her meltdown and other troubles than her 'art'.
  • Big Boy BarryBig Boy Barry Posts: 35,290
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    Stardom wrote: »
    Now that Britney has more than a decade in the music industry, can you compare Britney to Madonna and say she's a better artist?

    No

    No one seriously believes that Britney is better than Madonna, then, now, or ever.

    Madonna was in a class of two, along with Michael Jackson. With his death, no one else is in her league.
  • chrisqcchrisqc Posts: 1,286
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    In the US Britney was in the lead for a long time

    Britney Spears

    Baby one more time 12M
    Oops 10M
    Britney 5M
    In the zone 3M
    Blackout 1M
    Circus 1M
    32M

    Madonna


    Madonna 5M
    Virgin 10M
    true blue 7M
    Prayer 5M
    erotica 2M
    bedtime stories 2M
    31M
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,240
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    no
    when you see that god awful video with will.i.am you realise how far britney has fallen
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,452
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    Can U compare the moon to an apple?
  • ItsTimmyTimeItsTimmyTime Posts: 1,018
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    Didn't Madonna essentially give her seal of approval to Britney?
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 296
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    There is no comparison anymore, Britney has no personal input into her music and at the least has a lot of personal issues to deal with whilst Madonna has maintained her iconic and artistic status.

    Madonna is almost 55 and MDMA opened with 360 thousand in its first week... which was far more than recent openings by Beyonce, Britney, Rihanna, Katy and Nicki
    Also the tour is the highest grossing by a long stretch! Its crazy when you think this is someone that started out in 1979!!!

    Lastly, ive always seen Britney as a southern-girl next door version of Janet Jackson so i never really got the Madonna comparison as Britneys biggest asset was her dancing much like Janet...
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 24,080
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    I love Britney but by a landslide...NO!

    Britney Spears very much can be compared to her fellow princesses/icons Janet Jackson and Kylie....they are Pop stars/entertainers that really performed ON the surface, they initialy did as their labels told them, had a chance to rebel against it and then worked out their niche...Britney has yet to fully reinvent herslef like Kylie and Janet managed to however, but i presume she will....but as a trio they are the archetype Popstars.

    Whereas Madonna has never truly been a "popstar" she has always been a phenomenon from her early years and across 4 decades she has sustained her name, her credibility and proven herself many times over....plus she has masterpiece albums that really take centre stage.....man no one can be compared to Madonna...i think time has proven that one.

    Not to mention the fact that now at 54 years she is still ahead of the pack, still selling/charting well, still respected by millions of fans across the globe and adored and critics are still in favour and infatuated with her as ever for both negative and acclaim in the press.

    Britney Spears however most definitely has not, while she has a name and a reputation to sell anything off of, she has yet to totally prove herself.

    But as i say...Britney Spears is a Pop artist that forever plays to the mainstream ON the Earths surface....Madonna always ventures and digs BENEATH to provide a plethora of stuff for people to analyse, dissect, react to and alter perceptions...its fascinating.

    Honestly though why on earth is this even a topic?
  • glyn9799glyn9799 Posts: 7,391
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    No. Britney has been going 14 years, and hasn't done anything of note really since 2007, and hasn't really set the world alight musically since 2004.

    At the same stage of Madonnas career it would be 1997 by which point she had achieved absolutely tonnes, and was just about to release one of the her most critically acclaimed album and jump start her career to the next level.

    Had Britney have kept going like she was in the early 00's she could have been more on par with Madonna, but unfortunately not. I don't think Britney will ever reach those heights again to be honest.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 966
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    I love Britney but by a landslide...NO!

    Britney Spears very much can be compared to her fellow princesses/icons Janet Jackson and Kylie....they are Pop stars/entertainers that really performed ON the surface, they initialy did as their labels told them, had a chance to rebel against it and then worked out their niche...Britney has yet to fully reinvent herslef like Kylie and Janet managed to however, but i presume she will....but as a trio they are the archetype Popstars.

    Whereas Madonna has never truly been a "popstar" she has always been a phenomenon from her early years and across 4 decades she has sustained her name, her credibility and proven herself many times over....plus she has masterpiece albums that really take centre stage.....man no one can be compared to Madonna...i think time has proven that one.

    Not to mention the fact that now at 54 years she is still ahead of the pack, still selling/charting well, still respected by millions of fans across the globe and adored and critics are still in favour and infatuated with her as ever for both negative and acclaim in the press.

    Britney Spears however most definitely has not, while she has a name and a reputation to sell anything off of, she has yet to totally prove herself.

    But as i say...Britney Spears is a Pop artist that forever plays to the mainstream ON the Earths surface....Madonna always ventures and digs BENEATH to provide a plethora of stuff for people to analyse, dissect, react to and alter perceptions...its fascinating.

    Honestly though why on earth is this even a topic?

    Someone's been on the happy juice again :o
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 24,080
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    glyn9799 wrote: »
    No. Britney has been going 14 years, and hasn't done anything of note really since 2007, and hasn't really set the world alight musically since 2004.

    At the same stage of Madonnas career it would be 1997 by which point she had achieved absolutely tonnes, and was just about to release one of the her most critically acclaimed album and jump start her career to the next level.

    Had Britney have kept going like she was in the early 00's she could have been more on par with Madonna, but unfortunately not. I don't think Britney will ever reach those heights again to be honest.

    That is also it in a nutshell.

    That and really Britney has more in commo with MJ also in the sense that she has been in the spotlight since she was a tiddler...it is all she has known and when she did finally "break out" it wasnt the music that garnered the attention either :( Which is a shame....And also her heart is most definitely not 110% in the music, artistry, concepts.

    Whereas since day one Madonna has been her own creation, her own experiment...and now look at her legacy...she is on her own level which is why it is always exciting guessing where she will head next....whereas with Britney i think (me being a fan and all) that album 8 will be another album Electropop influenced and catered to the masses without Britney being fully "in it" and her label not doing massive promo for her....but i would honestly love to be surprised...but i feel we will have to wait until she has new management/label etc. But we still have a while to go yet for Spears.
  • AneechikAneechik Posts: 20,208
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    Whereas Madonna has never truly been a "popstar" she has always been a phenomenon from her early years and across 4 decades she has sustained her name, her credibility and proven herself many times over....plus she has masterpiece albums that really take centre stage.....man no one can be compared to Madonna...i think time has proven that one.

    On the contrary, I think Madonna, Britney and Kylie all started out the same as relatively disposable pop princesses supported by a decent production team. What changed Madonna was Like A Prayer and what would have changed Kylie was Impossible Princess - the trouble with that album was that it just wasn't chart music in the way Like A Prayer was, so Kylie eventually went back to disposable stardom.

    In hindsight, Kylie should have found a sound that was popular at the time but still in keeping with what she had done before (as her label eventually did with Light Years) and then created her own music within that style(s), but it's done now. She could have got to the Madonna stage but she's always played safe and it was probably Impossible Princess that scared her away from it.

    Britney has never really had a Like A Prayer moment, and if we're honest, probably never will and probably isn't capable of it.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 24,080
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    Aneechik wrote: »
    On the contrary, I think Madonna, Britney and Kylie all started out the same as relatively disposable pop princesses supported by a decent production team. What changed Madonna was Like A Prayer and what would have changed Kylie was Impossible Princess - the trouble with that album was that it just wasn't chart music in the way Like A Prayer was, so Kylie eventually went back to disposable stardom.

    Britney has never really had a Like A Prayer moment, and probably never will if we're honest.

    I wouldnt say that as Madonna started out in clubs/ nYC underground with her (then) Emmy band...and it wasnt until her demo tapes which got her signed to Sire records and then Warner...which went on to become The First Album which was predominantly Dance influenced...but Post-Disco, Synthpop, Punk stylised...which then of course she grew into Pop cultural awareness...therefore the "Pop" tag was accustomed to Madonna whereas Kylie and Britney had their marketing companies/management/kinda puppeteered beginnings into fame almost instantly...which Madonna never had.

    But it is true Like A Prayer (my favourite album ever) really set Madonna aside...not as a "pop star" but as a true musician worthy of her status...and i guess Impossible Princess you could say was Kylie experimenting with adult contemporary sounds...but it was not predominantly "Kylie" however it has been unfortunately sidelined in her career to what was to come later....but as you say In The Zone and Blackout are the closest Britney will ever come....but still a andslide away from a true Like A Prayer moment.

    The Original Doll (had it been released in 2006 and finalised) may have cut it close however. But its still so very distant.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,116
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    Britney in her hey day was much better than Madonna. Britney has turned rather weird lately (those odd faces she makes - WTF is that all about?). Madonna and her stuck up attitude - always think she knows best about politics. Why can't she just shut up and sing?
  • WhisperingGhostWhisperingGhost Posts: 4,762
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    [QUOTE=Strict;63202604]Britney in her hey day was much better than Madonna. Britney has turned rather weird lately (those odd faces she makes - WTF is that all about?). Madonna and her stuck up attitude - always think she knows best about politics. Why can't she just shut up and sing?[/QUOTE]

    Completely disagree with this. Britney was never better than Madonna in any way. She had the hype, was (imo) better looking than Madonna, was a fantastic dancer and a capable singer. But Madonna's back catalogue alone contradicts the statement above (and she writes/co-writes all of her songs), and that's not including everything else.

    To answer the OP, It's easy to compare the two in the context that they're both very successful American female solo artists who reached the masses on a global scale, defined a generation, and stood the test of time in terms of success & popularity.

    But there is a world of difference in their artistry, performances, & imagery throughout their careers.

    Also, I loved the fact that Madonna seems to have had the true Hollywood rags to riches success story (arriving in New York with $25 to her name & becoming a multi million selling, worldwide icon & to some, legend.
    Even after all these years, she still seems to have lots of fight & ambition in her. Whereas, I can imagine Britney preferring to go and settle down in Louisiana with her family & lead a more domesticated life.
  • chrisqcchrisqc Posts: 1,286
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    glyn9799 wrote: »
    No. Britney has been going 14 years, and hasn't done anything of note really since 2007, and hasn't really set the world alight musically since 2004.

    .
    her last 2 album circus and femme fatale still easily outsold the last 2 madonna album hard candy and mdna

    1.7 circus
    0.76 femme fatale

    .74hard candy
    52 Mdna

    MDNA singles
    gimme all your lovin peaked at #10
    girl gone wild didnt crack top 100
    turn on the radio didnt crack top 100

    Femme fatale singles
    hold it againts me hit #1
    till world ends #3
    i wanna go #7
    criminal #55

    Must have been well over a decade since madonna got 3 top 10 singles from the same album
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,115
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    Britneys better x
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 199
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    Britneys better x

    I think madonna is an icon. Britney was an icon for a short time. Depends on what she will do in the future. I hope she will be happy.
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