On car rides to school, Britney’s Greatest Hits CD served as backdrop:
A siren. A crooner. A cosmonaut’s worst nightmare. Think of Britney

In cherry catsuits, sexy flight attendant uniforms, pleated sheer miniskirts,
Sashaying with a python yellow as canary. In a cage with a tiger Britney

Didn’t bat an eyelash. The stage was ring-leadered, whip-lashed, Peter-Paul-
Mary-ed, womanizer-bulldozered, so after the show if you’re seeking Britney

She’ll be backstage with her beloved sons, elaborately planning their summer breaks.
I loved her softer songs: “Sometimes,” “Lucky,” “From the Bottom of My Broken Heart.” Britney

Delivered to me, a queer child in Dhaka city, visions of a future: how to be, you gotta be
Holding your head high, graceful and sweet. In the face of venomous hate Britney

Remained demure and collected, but in her art, she didn’t brush it off so easily. Kitten’s got
Your tongue tied in knots, she snapped, her eyes flashing large and knowing. Coyly Britney

Strutted onstage in olive green with MJ and belted out “The Way You Make Me Feel”
As if it had been written for her. At my high school graduation, I was Britney

Limned in a lime-green sari that my frenemy said made me look like a hijra.
In “Criminal” from her masterpiece (which album isn’t?) Femme Fatale, Britney

Played a socialite who leaves her abusive husband to run off with an outlaw, themes
From her first albums put into vociferous action—true love wins. Madonna

Often implied she was a better kisser than Aguilera, who took shots at her, like Avril.
At the 2024 MTV VMAs, the pop girlies paid homage to the things only Britney

could pull off: an extraterrestrial love affair, a lace thong dress, a python draped across her waist.
They weren’t quite there, but she paid them sweet compliments the very next day. Classic Britney.