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It's A Britney Book, Baby
The pop star is celebrated in a new book by Professor Jennifer Otter Bickerdike
Words: Conor Sharkey Glackin
Britney Spears has been in the news a lot recently due to the ongoing court case against her now-ceased conservatorship – a controversial, controlling guardianship by her father Jamie – which she was under for 13 years. A major popstar since the 90s, it’s been a long time since her music was the focus of attention; usually her personal life is being documented in the tabloids or the ongoing situation involving her dad, and the rest of her family.
Professor Jennifer Otter Bickerdike’s latest book centres on Spears after recently releasing ‘You Are Beautiful, And You Are Alone: The Biography of Nico’, proving to be a stark contrast between the two artists. Speaking about the enigmatic vocalist, actress and model Nico, Otter Bickerdike explains that “she was someone that was not talked about very much when she was alive”, which sparked the idea of writing about somebody who has been in the spotlight for the last 20 years.
Calling ‘Being Britney: Pieces of a Modern Icon’ “a new way of doing narrative biography,” the book is broken into forty chapters, each one being a self-contained short essay, ergo a separate piece of the superstar we all know as Britney Spears. A large number of topics are covered from fame, misogyny, women’s rights, and plenty more with Spears being at the heart of all of it.
Given the recent media coverage, the book release comes at a perfect time. Most books about Spears are at least 10 years old and outdated given her longevity and continuing illustrious career. “With everything that Britney’s done, I could not believe there was not more out there,” Otter Bickerdike says. This book gives people a chance to explore Britney Spears on a deeper level, beyond the tabloids or TMZ coverage, and to get an understanding of her as a person.
‘Being Britney: Pieces of a Modern Icon’ is out now via Bonnier.
COP26 - WHAT HAPPENED?
Climate summit decisions leave us cold
After two weeks of COP26 climate “negotiations’’ in Glasgow, 197 countries have finally came to a consensus about their responsibilities for climate action. Climate activist Greta Thunberg put it best when she said, “This is no longer a climate conference, this is now a Global North greenwash festival and a two-week long celebration of business as usual and blah blah blah.”
But what exactly does she mean? The media has been portraying COP26 as a historically significant event that will pave the way to an environmentally sustainable society that has converted to renewable energy sources. This optimistic vision is far from the truth as a recent analysis done by the Climate Action Tracker (CAT) spelled that the agreements being made at COP26 still aren’t nearly enough to keep earth below a 1.5 temperature increase. If every short term pledge was implemented and executed seamlessly, by the end of the century there would still be warming of 2.4 degrees C with a high likelihood of exceeding 3C.
Some of this is because countries like China, the US, Saudi Arabia, India and Australia are hesitant to give up their economic reliance on fossil fuels and natural gases, notably opting out of signing the Glasgow Coal Pact. This behaviour is common for wealthier countries that don’t face the same perilous threats as the Global South; G20 countries account for 80% of total global emissions whereas the poorest, 50% only contribute a tenth.
Even after many imploring speeches from indigneous tribes and countries most affected by climate change, paying reparations through loss and damages still remained a huge point of contention that had to be compromised on throughout different drafts of the agreement. As it’s already too late, wealthy nations have an obligation to band together, redistribute billions in climate reparations, and drastically adapt and build green societies that revolve around sustainable energy sources.
Madeline Montisano
And in other news...
Along with the rest of the world, LDN learned, in horror, of the tragic events at Astroworld festival in Texas in early November. As we’re just getting back on our feet with live shows and gatherings during this pandemic, being around one another should bring joy, not sorrow. LDN sends condolences to all those affected and stands with the families of those who lost their lives; this should never have happened. After being in the world’s biggest heavy rock band for over 50 years and creating timeless crushing riffs such as ‘Iron Man’ and ‘Electric Funeral’, what else could guitarist Tony Iommi possibly do? Launching his own perfume, that’s what! Scent Of Dark is a in collaboration with luxury Italian perfume house Xerjoff and Sergio Momo, and arrives with a track of the same name, a stringladen gothic metal march with Momo also featuring on guitar.
UK Festivals are starting to reveal line-ups and Cheltenham’s 2000Trees is one of the best we’ve seen so far. Turnstile have been announced as the latest headliners and will play alongside IDLES, Dinosaur Pile-Up, PUP, Jimmy Eat World, Pigs x 7 and Higher Power next July 7-9. Celebrities such as Goldie, Rihanna and Drake have paid tribute to Louis Vuitton artistic director Virgil Abloh, who has died, aged just 41, from a rare form of cancer. The fashion house called Abloh a “genius” a “visionary” and a “beautiful soul”. “He was BEYOND” wrote Frank Ocean on Instagram.
