It's no secret around the Zap2it offices and among just about every one of my Facebook friends who will listen since I barely shut up about it, that I absolutely think Justin Bieber is the male version of Britney Spears for this generation. So what better way for our favorite U.S. pop queen Britney Spears to stage a major 2011 comeback then with a Madonna and Justin Timberlake "4 Minutes to Save the World"-esque track collaboration with Bieb. To call a Britney and Bieber pop pairing "epic" would be an understatement. Hey "Brains Behind B-Squared" -- Scooter Braun and Adam Leber -- are you listening, please?
Over the last couple years, fans have thrown down the virtual gauntlets around the blogosphere in heated debates over which female in the music industry is the heir apparent to Britney these days: Is it Miley Cyrus or Taylor Swift?
Well actually it's none of the above. Our "new Britney" arrived on the music scene by way of Canada via YouTube and Usher Raymond and genetically bears the opposite chromosome. Girls and guys, we do have our Brit "replacement" and his name is Justin Bieber, reigning pop prince.
Don't just take my word for it because as we all know: "Opinions are just like [insert 8 letter word not permitted on Pop2it], everyone has one." Interestingly enough, the endless parallels between Britney Spears and Justin Bieber completely support my theory.
As we ruminate over who the dream choices for music producer, song writer and music video director on a Bieb-Britney track should be, please pause for a moment to examine the B and B evidentiary support below which corroborates my case.
Preemptively, we would also like to prevent stirring up any unfavorable memories from my girl Britney's romantic past so we hereby will never refer to them as "Justin and Britney" or "Britney and Justin." From this point on, B-Squared shall only be called "Bieber and Britney." Capisce?
6 random fun (and frivolous) facts illustrating Justin Bieber and Britney Spears' career commonality that you may or may not know already:
1) Both Bieber and Britney gave birth to breakout, career-defining teenage "babies"
During their formative teenage years, Justin Bieber's "Baby" and Britney Spears' "Hit Me Baby One More Time" landed them both at the top of the Billboard charts and into the music and pop culture consciousness of well, the world. Coincidentally, both tracks share a penchant for using the word "baby" extremely liberally.
2) Both Bieb and Brit have bum luck with knees.
It's hard to believe it was six years ago that Britney injured her knee while filming the video for "Outrageous," a track off of 2004's "In the Zone." The pop queen sustained the knee injury years and years earlier while a dancer, but the video shoot setback led to Spears canceling shows from her "Onyx Hotel Tour." Just recently, Justin Bieber injured his knee while performing during a concert in Cleveland.
3) Both Bieber and Britney want you to smell like them.
Britney's made bank from sales of her Elizabeth Arden fragrance line which includes Britney Spears' Curious and Fantasy. Once again following in BS' bare footsteps, Bieber announced in October 2010 he'd be launching his own brand of "Eau de Bieber." The fragrance is set to hit Wal-Mart shelves across the country soon. As Zap2it previously reported, though Bieb is aiming to create a gender neutral fragrance like a Calvin Klein's CK One per se, he does like a particular scent on his ladies."I actually like the Britney Spears perfume on girls. It smells good," says Bieb.
4) Both Bieber and Bzap-mtvvmas-2002-britney-mj.jpgritney have suffered sufficiently awkward Michael Jackson award show moments
Now personally we consider JB's comments about King of Pop Michael Jackson during one of his American Music Awards' acceptance speeches a misinterpretation, not a flub. Obviously when Bieb said "none of us would be here if it wasn't for Michael Jackson" he didn't mean it literally. Clearly, anyone with a brain understands Bieb meant that Jackson paved the way for all artists. However, the comment didn't stop the Twitterverse from blowing up with mad haterade towards the pop star. Tweeps were going insane, trying to one-up each other with the funniest and/or most cutting 140 character criticism. Similarly, Britney Spears experienced her own cringe-inducing moment during the 2002 MTV VMAs when she presented Michael Jackson a birthday cake on stage. Spears referred to MJ as the "artist of the millennium" during her bday wish introduction. Things quickly turned awkward when MJ arrived on stage and started giving an acceptance speech for the "Artist of the Millennium" award that he thought he was receiving. #FAIL for MTV broadcast at the time, but luckily Jackson is the undisputed artist of the millennium so no harm, no foul.
4) Both Bieber and Britney's fans and haters are BANANAS extremely passionate
Justin Bieber is the first artist since Britney Spears' music debut in 1999 that seems to be as equally pop culturally divisive. Twitter, Facebook and the rest of the social network are so clearly divided over either their undying love or bitter hatred for these artists. And am I the only one who thinks that some of the fiercest Bieber arguments and debates are oddly reminiscent of the fights over Miss Britney Jean Spears. Trust, one has to look no further than old digital deets -- i.e. emails, texts, Tweets, FB threads -- to discover that their names are practically interchangeable in 90 percent of the war of words over the pop stars. "[Blank] is soooooo overrated and can't sing. [Blank] is just a performer and a brand but not an artist. [Blank] will not have longevity they won't last." [Insert cash register ringtones here as the two of them laugh all the way to the B of A.]
5) Bieber and Britney both belong to Twitter's exclusive "6 Million Followers Strong Club"
At time of this posting, Britney has 6,304,646 followers and Bieber has 6,146,003 followers.
6) Bieber and Britney both share mutual affection for Mickey Mouse and Disneyland. (OK, admittedly I totally just made this one up. I really just wanted a reason to include these photos below).
What do you think, are you with us on Team Bieber and Britney 2011? Spill it.
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