ritney Spears has lost custody of her kids and of the radio.
Spears’ ongoing scandal over her children, drug use and other tabloid matters is serious enough. But it’s finally affecting her questionable career as well.
According to Radio and Records, the service that monitors radio play of current releases, Spears’ current hit, “Gimme More” is getting less play than it should.
For the week ending Friday, Radio and Records shows “Gimme More” stuck at No. 18 for the second week in a row on its Top 40 playlist.
The only other place “Gimme More” turns up is at what is euphemistically called Rhythmic Radio. That’s code for dance or disco stations. “Gimme More” is ranked at No. 39 out of 40.
I told you last week that I’d heard other tracks from Spears’s forthcoming album and that they were all quite catchy, ready-to-roll hits. Since then, “Gimme More” has remained the No. 1 downloaded hit on iTunes. The song is not listed at all on Amazon.com’s new download service, however.
But radio is where Spears has to be a presence, and it seems as though that is not happening. “Gimme More” may have just been made available for sale, but on radio it’s already four weeks old.
The record’s opening admonition: “It’s Britney, bitch,” sounded cocky and fun a month ago, but now that Spears’ entire life has fallen apart, the whole idea may be causing winces instead of knowing clucks.
And that poses the ever-bigger problem: What can Jive Records do about the album that’s supposed to hit stores on Nov. 13? Now that she’s lost custody of her toddler sons, the last thing Spears needs is a series of sexy or risqué videos to promote the album.
But without videos, the still-untitled album has no marketing tools. Without a doubt, Spears can’t go out and give interviews to support the album.
And every lyric — even though she doesn’t write her own lyrics — will be scrutinized. Fans and critics will pore over every word of every song to find meaning or references to her last few disastrous months.
One possibility for Jive is to hold back the album’s release until next spring, with the hope that Spears’ fortunes improve. But that would involve her having a manager or an entertainment lawyer who could guide her now, and for Spears to listen to those people.
But currently, Spears has no actual team to represent her with Jive, and the record company is determined to plow ahead with the Nov. 13 release.
That decision could cost Spears what’s left of her career, however. Jive, which is part of Sony BMG, faces an uphill battle on that release date when rival releases by Alicia Keys and Celine Dion — each also part of the Sony BMG family — will get huge promo pushes of their own.
