Today is the last day of 2004, and reflecting on the past year with Britney Spears in mind has its ups and downs. She has certainly been the biggest star of the year, whipping up more controversy and tabloid headlines than in the past five years. She has, however, lasted six years as a significant figure of popular culture, and will no doubt continue this into the foreseeable future. The people who dislike her and think that she will disappear in a few years are kidding themselves - they were saying the same thing in 1999, and things haven't changed.

So in 2004 Britney got married...twice...she released a Greatest Hits, performed a sold-out world tour, cancelled the second-leg of the US tour and injured her knee on the set of a music video. She also filmed music videos, did promotional stints on TV, made a Pepsi commercial with Pink and Beyonce and a whole lot more! In other words, 2004 has had good points and bad points for Britney. Musically, I think 2004 has been her best year to date. In February she gave us the now classic pop-anthem "Toxic," which was followed by the beautiful ballad "Everytime." Both secured her place as the songs both shot to No.1 all around the world.

She followed this up in November 2004 with "My Prerogative," a cover of the Bobby Brown original from the 1980's. I've never been familiar with the original and I don't really like Bobby, but I could appreciate this cover version. There was immense hype circulating the release of this single from as early as August, and rumours of a $7 million video were everywhere. The song itself, upon release, stormed straight into the UK charts at No.3 behind Destiny's Child and Eminem. It became a big chart topper in at least 14 countries and has so far sold around 800,000 copies worldwide. This pales in comparison to the world sales of Toxic (2,100,000) and Everytime (1,800,000) or even the mammoth classic that is Baby One More Time (8,500,000), but with more than 106 million singles and albums sold worldwide, who's gonna be too bothered.

My Prerogative opens with some funky Afro-Carribean drum beats that seem to bouncy into the song, whilst Britney speaks, "People can take everything away from you, but they can never take away your truth, but the question is: Can you handle mine?" She then sings the first verse, "They say I'm crazy; I really don't care. That's my prerogative. They say I'm nasty; but I don't give a damn. Getting boys is how I live. Some ask me questions, why am I so real? But they don't understand me, I really don't know the deal about my sister, trying hard to make it right. Not long ago, before I want this fight!" Britney then sings the chorus as the song explodes and she, if anything, snarls more than sings, "Everybody's talking all this stuff about me, why don't they just let me live? Tell me why. I don't need permission, make my own decisions, that's my prerogative. That's my prerogative!"

The Asian-influenced strings and beats then kick in and start the second verse, "Don't get me wrong, I'm really not soaped. Ego trips is not my thing. All these strange relationships, really gets me down. See nothing wrong, spread myself around!" The second chorus then starts and it's twice as long as the first (as is the case with most pop songs), then the Asian strings come in again. She sings, "It's the way that I wanna live, but you can't tell me what to do." Then there's a funky rhythm section followed by a dreamy section where she sings, "Why can't I live my life, without all the things that people say?" The chorus is then repeated over and over until the song ends.

The video to My Prerogative is probably more memorable than the song. Britney is a great visual entertainer and her videos are always top-notch quality. This is no exception. It starts off with Britney speeding in her car through the Hollywood hills, before crashing the car straight into the swimming pool of an exclusive home. She then climbs out, everyone watching her, and starts singing on top of the car as it sinks - it really is one of the best music video entrances in history! She then makes her way through the house, singing as she goes along, rolling around on a bed and then eventually making her way down the aisle with her husband Kevin Federline. It's a weird but very good video in my opinion. Overall, I think you'll either love or hate this song. I happen to like it, but don't think it's the best she's ever done. Cool video though.

Has it ever entered your mind as to why people listen to Britney Spears? I would expect a pervert to be too busy watching cheap porn, a redneck to listen to musical trash such as "Redneck Yacht Club" (get the corresponding titles?), and a lonely person to spend his or her time staring at the wall... being, well... you know LONELY... as you claim. Twelve year old girls? Aren't they still playing with Barbies? I guess you, my friend, are yet another person for whom there is no enlightening.

Spears cover sounds nothing like Bobby Browns original tune and that is not a bad thing since she is supposed to put her own stamp on a cover track and not just sound alike since then it would have been a copy and not a cover. It is rough, angry and filled with venom and she looks quite made on the cover as if she is about to have a fit of rage. I like it allot and it shows that Spears is not one dimensional.

This is actually such a funky song! Great start..stop...basal electronica riff that really reverberates the subwoofer...especially track 3!...Never been into Britney much but she is really starting to produce some good stuff!....Amand van helden knows how to be cheeky on the remix track 4...hear Britney (dubbed) sing "I rimm myself"!....always knew she was flexible!...in all this has been canned by critics only because they are sitting on their "comfort" box...lighten up guys...this is great music!

No other song from 2004 is more pretentious, calculated, and defiantly outrageous than "My Prerogative", in which Britney Spears becomes probably the first pop artist in history to consider Bobby Brown, a.k.a. Mr. Whitney Houston with a laundry list of legal offenses, worthy enough of covering. A year filled with an annulled marriage, a slight boost in her music career, tabloid coverage of barefoot gas station visits, a greatest hits CD with plans of retirement, and then another marriage just to get our knickers in a twist, and Britney exclaims over a snarling bass "everybody's talkin' all this stuff about me" as if she had done nothing but sit pretty on her famous ass all year. It`s difficult to take her woes of fame seriously, but after "Toxic" there's little room to deny that Ms. Spears/Federline is on a roll of producing some top-notch pieces of pop thrash. However brash and sleazy "My Prerogative" may appear, it's undoubtedly one of her catchiest efforts yet- further proof that all a pop star needs is a bit of laughable irony to erect a solid single.