By now, the “revelation” of Britney’s lip-synching on her current Circus tour is about as newsy as Jon Gosselin picking himself up a new lil’ silk-screened something at the Ed Hardy mega-mart.
So why has it grabbed so many headlines this past week? The story came to a head in Australia, where Circus’s 14-date Down Under leg has been met with widespread media derision, calls by politicians for laws forcing prominently placed disclaimers in the case of a lip-synched performance, and even fan walkouts. Word spread that dozens of disgruntled concert-goers—most of whom paid from $97 to $1500 AUS per ticket—left the pop superstar’s Friday-night show in Perth, spurred by Spears’ “crap” performance and repeated miming of lyrics. Watch a clip, below:
“We were led to believe the lip-syncing was necessary because her dancing was so good, so rigorous, she couldn’t possibly sing,” writes entertainment journalist Rebekah Devlin, who gathered the testimonials of disappointed fans. “But her moves were sloppy and stiff, as well as out of time.”
Spears’ Australian promoter vehemently denied the claims, saying,”Britney is aware of all this and she’s extremely upset by it. She’s a human being. I’m embarrassed, with such a big international entourage here with Britney, to be part of the Australian media when I see that kind of totally inaccurate reporting.” And her manager Adam Leber likewise responded with a post on Spears’ Twitter page: “Its unfortunate that one journalist in Perth didn’t enjoy the show last night. Fortunately the other 18,272 fans in attendance did. – Adam.”
Even John Mayer, in Australia to promote his new album, joined the fray, tweeting, “If you’re shocked that Britney was lip-syncing at her concert and want your money back, life may continue to be hard for you.”
What do you think, Music Mixers—is the expectation of live performance what you pay to see with Britney, or is it the spectacle? Having attended a tour date in New York earlier this year—and watched the clip from the Perth show above—the saddest thing to me is how little Spears herself seems to enjoy being up there; she often looks distracted, overwhelmed, and frankly, like she’d rather be somewhere else. If she doesn’t want to be there, should we?
More from EW.com’s Music Mix:
Sunday CMA rehearsal Not-Quite-Liveblog: Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, and more!
Rihanna’s Diane Sawyer interview, part 1
Rihanna’s Diane Sawyer interview, part 2: The night she was assaulted
Danny Gokey debuts new single ‘It’s Only’: What do you think?
Kris Allen’s ‘Live Like We’re Dying’ video: You digging it?
Comments (1-30) of 244 Add your comment
They thought she had to lipsync because she couldn’t dance and sing at the same time? I say this as a big Britney fan – she lipsyncs because she doesn’t have a voice that does well without studio help.
You don’t go to a Britney concert for the voice, you go for the performance. If they thought the performance sucked, they ought to just say so instead of this strange outrage over lipsyncing. What year is this, 1999?
The problem is this is billed as a CONCERT – not a ‘performance’. A concert implies a LIVE performance – not a lipsynch. A performance can be whatever you want it to be, Britney’s drag show included.
She is a scam artist. These ‘productions’ or ‘performances’ are indeed, what they are, but they are NOT concerts. Don’t call them/label them as such and problems will cease.
Again, anyone that goes to a Britney show knows what they are getting for their money. If they don’t by now, they are idiots.
Totally agree, apparently this isn’t an “everybody knows” situation since their were so many people walking out. Obviously people have lost a grip on reality if they think this is acceptable. Why would you pay so much money just to see a mock concert??
jenna your right. brit know a little bit of dancing singing and preforming you can tell me that you went to the concert for her to be like celine dion… . listen to her cd its made with computers. she does enough to have talent. she’s like maddona, but maddona does dance better. she just needs to step it up a notch.
She’s practically a drooling chimp. She can do nothing. She can hardly speak a coherent sentence. And America celebrates this. And gives her money. Which makes her smarter than your average American. Does anyone else find this terrifying?
Agreed. I’m not sure Britney ever sang on stage
You pay because you’re gullible and not really interested in music. There’s better ways to spend money on real dance as poopsed to feeding the tabloid kitty.
Anybody who paid for a ticket and didn’t know she lip synched has never heard of Britney Spears, what is that about a fool and his money are soon parted? There u go.
What’s poopsed? Sounds really nasty.
Soory, II wad tryinf t typ reelly faast. AA housannd hardons.
“Poopsed” made me giggle. It’s strangely appropriate.
Britney can’t sing live which is why she lip synchs. Why are we even having this conversation because it’s been known since 1999. You get what you pay for. She can’t possibly be expected to sing live for 2 hours. Even Michael Jackson lip synchs one or two songs to save his voice and since she doesn’t have one, she lip synchs just about the entire show. I’m still a fan though.
Didn’t realize Michael Jackson is still doing concerts. Way to go, MJ!
And what do you mean she can’t be expected to sign for two hours? Then don’t tour. Or play a small venue with lower prices. Artists used to really, really play for more than two hours. Is this shocking to you idiot?
Yeah you can just delete the word “live” from your post and it would be more accurate.
You are a freakin idiot? Getting upset about lip synching went out of vogue in 1999. I remember when all shows were live and I am only in my 30’s. Idiots like you are why “performers” can get away with this stuff.
I’m from Perth and have a fair few friends who went – not one of them complained about the lipsyncing (that seems to be more a media thing), but every one of them complained about either the quality of the performance and her dance moves, the sound quality of the venue or the fact they couldn’t see anything but a dot on the stage despite having paid US$190 for the concert. Judging from the clip, I can see the point about the dance moves. Perth does get a lot of decent concerts and festivals moving through due to it being a very isolated city (we are 1650 mi./2700km from the nearest) and some bands don’t cope with the pressure – REM and the Cranberries come to mind. However Pink’s concert earlier this year was fantastic as was Kylie Minogue last(?) year.
I wonder why she can’t dance anymore, is it because of her meds? She looks sloppy and like she’s just going through the motions.
I’ve wondered that too. She used to at least put on a fantastic “performance.” But since getting straight after the Britney meltdown–her dancing has suffered.
Did she really have enough time to “get straight”? She went from public meltdown to concert mega star.
her ‘dancing’ is just sad.
she lacks so much talent…people should not be surprised if she lip syncs.
yea what happened to her… Janet lipsynchs cause she endlessly gets her fat a** on the floor so its excused. Madonna lipsynchs when she is gyrating like a 15 year old having a seizure otherwise when its downtime or she “plays” a guitar she is actually singing up there… Brit has been lipsynching for years even when she’s just sitting there… I wouldnt pay to see her live and anybody who does and is pissed that she doesnt sing is an idiot.
I have been to Madonna’s las 4 tours and I have never seen her lip-sync.
Hi Sam, I love Madonna… always have and always will but I gotta tell ya, she does lip synch from time to time – you didn’t really believe that her Vogue performance from Re-Invention was ‘live’ did you? or “Sorry” from Confessions… what I do like about Madonna is that she doesn’t flat out lip it… she has backing tracks that she lets take over if she runs out of breath during her more energetic performances, otherwise she actually sings live (sometimes, horrendously but I love her all the more for it) Britney is just straight up milli vanilli’ing it
i agree that dancing wasn’t good i have been to lot of conserts and that is dancing was not very good
Honestly, if people are dumb enough to pay that much for a lack of singing and some crappy dance moves, they deserve to be disappointed. Everybody with half a brain knows that Brit can’t sing and that she’s lost her ability to dance as well.
Agreed!
Didnt someone from Entertainment Weekly go to her Madison Square Garden show and love it?
The show is great, when you’re there she DOES look like she’s enjoying herself. ANYONE who goes to her show expecting some amazing live vocals is an idiot. She’s been doing this for a decade – it is not news. I’m sure this article will be filled with negative comments about her miming, but really- she’s the biggest selling female artists of the decade. The lip synching seems to be working out for her.
actually… she isn’t… that would go to Norah Jones… shocking i know!
Nope. Sorry dude. Do your research again. Britney is the biggest selling female artist of the decade. 5th Artist overall.
actually, no, it really is Norah Jones. her debut album sold a lot (and won a slew of grammys).
NOO….Norah Jones may have the biggest selling ALBUM by a female. Britney is the biggest overall. That means all her albums combined, Britney is the biggest selling female of the decade. I’m sorry you may not want it to be true, doesnt change the fact that it is.
Sadly, this is true. Number one overall is Eminem and number two is the Beatles. Kind of sad when you think about it.
they all clearly said female…
I still don’t get what the issue is. we’ve known she lip-synced since her beginning days. her ticket prices have only gotten more expensive (though she still sales out stadiums) even though she has continued to lip-sync. i watched the clip, her dancing seemed as it always does. i guess i’m missing the problem. or maybe it’s just australia. i’ll have to go watch the really great movie now
She played one stadium on this tour, she sells out arenas, not stadiums.
Exactly. She sells out arenas. We are talking 16,000-18,000 people…pretty impressive. Her fans who have stuck with her for 10 years obviously don’t mind. You go to a Britney show for the spectacle, not live vocals.
I can’t imagine why anyone would go to her show. No singing and the only spectacle is the fact that she can remain in an upright position on the stage. Sorry, but her choreography is LAME and she seems completely disconnected to what she is doing. I can’t believe that people are surprised or upset about the lit synching – they should be upset they were stupid enough to A) support her career and B) give up not only their money but the time in their life that they can never get back to watch something so artistically lacking and listen to something so void of content.
To be fair, if she didn’t show up at all but you had the music and the backing dancers/artistes, you would actually have a pretty good show. Just maybe not one you’d pay as much for. Cirque du Soleil and that sort of thing manage pretty well.
So what you people are saying is that its ok to pay money to see someone move around and not sing at all? Wow, so brittney should not sell hersellf as a pop singer then..
exactly, Britney should not sell herself as a pop singer. She rather be a pop star.
The problem now is that she’s not the strong dancer she used to be. Watching old performances (pre-KFed-days) she was a powerful dancer able to keep up w/ the professionals, that’s why she stood out.. that along w/ the hot beats. Either you gotta sing well or dance well, she did neither and that is why its sad. I love Brit and hope she can really come back one day. She has a voice, she used to sing live all the time in her earlier days before the option of lip-syncing came into place. One day, we will see the star we saw rock the stage again!
She’s sung live on *maybe* 5 TV shows in her whole career, and on ONE song in the Onyx Hotel Tour.
She had a decent voice when she was a kid in talent contests, but when she hit puberty her voice disappeared. It happens to lots of kids.
Spot on Lindsey!!!!Way to take the words right out of my mouth!
she looks numb to me. it’s gotta be meds.
I’m pretty sure I’d be upset if this clip was any indication of the “show” put on by Britney. There wasn’t much dancing going on, mostly hair flipping and such. As for the lip-synching, I find it hard to believe that after this long that anyone is surprised by Britney lip-synching. I don’t think she’s ever had a show where she didn’t do it.
Madonna doesn’t sing live. You must be jocking. She lip-synchs all her shows.
actually if you ever have seen a Madonna show you would clearly know when she is lipsynching to when she is not…
That is absolutely not true – Madonna sings live.
hater
Are we surprised? She’s talentless.
And dancing isn’t an excuse to lip, Madonna manages dancing and singing live just fine.
Then go to a Madonna show and skip Britney’s. No big loss. She will still sell out arenas haha.
Britney doesn’t come within 1/4 of Madonna’s sales and sell outs… dumbass
Watching the Michael Jackson movie was a reminder of what real talent is. He can sing AND dance. I enjoy Britney’s albums, but when I listen, I am acutely aware that they have been electronically manipulated. As for singing during a show… in this clip, she’s not even dancing. She’s swaying her hips back and forth. That’s not even entertaining. I like Britney, but I am hoping the trend of stuido-made singers will end soon.
It’s symptomatic of the entire pop genre right now. I was amazed when I saw how they put together Westlife’s song “Flying Without Wings” on a documentary … it would be absolutely impossible to do live, as it is entirely dependent on massive overtracking and electronics (and in some cases, on dozens of people who aren’t even there.)
if you went to a britney spears show, that’s the first of your problems.
I think it’s more sad and pathetic that you took time out of your “busy” day to comment. haha Sad.
Ha ha like OMG Jenna. You are like so funny. Ha ha. Like OMG.
I think it’s sad that you’re trolling this board and replying to every comment that rightfully bashes the no-talent loser. Retard.
Anybody that would by that kind of money to watch a washed up narcissist deserves lip synching.
Why don’t we just use an IPOD over studio PA system and a nice video
Hail Madonna! 50 years old and she can out sing and dance women half her age. She can’t act and that eats her up inside, so she still has that fire in her belly. The only thing burning in Britney’s belly is the scotch she washed her meds down with!
i’ve often thought madonna wishes she were Cher. Cher can actually sing well and can act (and has an Oscar).
I saw Brit at her peak in 2004 for the Onyx HOtel tour and she was RIDICULOUS. Her dancing was incredible. Then I saw this show in NJ back in March and I completely agree with the journalist. Her lip synching in 2004 when she was working her ass off was totally fine, but on this tour, she looked bored, half asleep, and not even singing. I will never go to another Britney show and will count on my memories from the 2004 show.
Britney Sing? Come on. Count your blessing that she is lip synching. Britney Dance. Again, come on. She has no moves because Janet Jackson has done nothing new. The old Britney dance stuff was all of Janet Jackson stuff when Janet was a kid. Know that Janet is not dancing, where does that leave Britney the copy cat? SLOPPY.
i agree. BS has stolen so much from janet it’s ridiculous.
Britney doesn’t steal anything – the 80 people who put together her show, songs and dance routines do.
SHE IS TRASH.. STRAIGHT UP. SHE IS MAKING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.. FOR WHAT?! SHE CAN’T SING WITHOUT THE HELP OF PROTOOLS (BUT SERIOUSLY ALL ARTISTS USE THIS CRAP NOW) AND SHE CAN’T DANCE, SO WHY DO PEOPLE PAY MONEY TO SEE HER? WHY CAN’T WE PAY PEOPLE WHO HAVE TALENT?!
Because it is not about talent, it is about moving product that the big wigs want moved.
Dammit that’s really mean!!!! She’s still Hot and she’s making mega bucks! Why all the hate for an artist who has been through hell?
This is weird to me, this isn’t news. If I had to produce 100 circuses in one year, consecutively, I’d probably look less excited than I should be for circus number 92 or 93. I mean, I could act, but come one, the same 3 hour acrobatic spectable for 100 times?!
She’s very engaged in her music when she performs a piece for a couple of times. Her music sells. Yes, it’s doctored in a studio – but doctored well, in a way that sells millions of records with every turn she makes.
Anyone can make robotic sounds in a studio. It’s HOW you produce those vocals. HOW you “fake singing” that’s art nowadays. She’s creative with her shows and he synthesized sound despite it all being recorded and robotic. End of story.
Britney’s show is no way 3 hours long of “acrobatic” spectacle. In fact, she’s not even the one doing the acrobats. I’m a Britney fan, but even I think you should be able to turn it on for an hour a day (really less, with days off in between). That’s her JOB as a pop star.
Even as long as Paul McCartney has been performing, he doesn’t phone it in AND he sings live at his shows. He did a 100 show tour several years ago — I attended at the midpoint — and it was like he was performing it for the first time. THAT’S an artist!
I almost feel bad that you actually mentioned a real musician/performer in this thread. It should be common knowledge that they dont’ make them like they used to, and if by some fluke there is a diamond out there, noone cares – and that person will continue playing in a local pub and being awesome, since you dont’ make the pop charts by being talented anymore – it’s all about how much money you have behind you. (Granted there are a few out there but I wouldn’t even say it was 10%) Music these days is in a very very sad state.
To be fair, a fair few still do. I’ve seen bands like Spearhead, Gomez, Massive Attack, AIR – many or all of whom use a lot of electronics in their recordings – and all of them put on an incredible live performance that actually WAS live (some of the synth/sound effects were done from backing track, but that was all.) The Massive Attack performance in Perth, for the record, had only 1,000 less concert goers than did the Britney concert. While I’m not a fan of rock, both Tool and Pearl Jam sold out a larger venue than the Burswood Dome inside several minutes, and I wouldn’t doubt every second was genuinely live – friends loved them. There are still good artists out there and they are still filling venues.
I’m sorry, but did you REALLY just try to make the argument that being good at faking singing is now an art? Excuse me while I barf.
One point of contention might be comparisons of this show vs Pink’s similar-themed “Funhouse” tour. Pink has received a bit of press specifically because she does NOT lip sync, and has perhaps raised the bar on what audiences for this style of “spectacle-show” expect from their stars. True: Spears has been granted a free pass for a decade, but expectations have since grown, perhaps?
Well Britney has out sold Pink and has the highest grossing tour of 09. Does that answer your question??
WRONG AGAIN JENNA – that would be Madonna.
The only reason this retard manages to have the “highest grossing tour of ‘09″, as you think she does, is because of rebid loser fans like you who can’t seem to come to the realization that she’s a terrible singer/dancer/whatever and doesn’t have an iota (that means a tiny or scarcely detectable amount) of talent.
Jenna…even though she has sold more records and has grossed more money on her tours, honestly, Britney doesn’t have anywhere close to the talent that Pink has. And I seriously like Brit’s music…but if you want to honestly talk about songwriting, singing and performing LIVE, Brit’s not even in the same class as Pink.
Um, Pink sold out exactly the same Perth venue for 2 nights, just like Britney, implying about the same number of people saw her. In the eastern states Pink actually had more dates than Britney does, at many of the same venues.
What a surprise, but then she’ll always have her flock who defend everything she does.
The woman has no talent. Blame Michael Jackson, who lost all of his by the time he was 20, and Madonna, who made it without any but worked her rear off to learn along the way and ended up earning her fame.
Britney will never bother. SHowbiz has NOTHING to do with music, and it never did. It only pretended to.
did u not see This Is It?! MJ had talent to spare HIS WHOLE LIFE. i mean, did you actually think before you commented?! MJ lost all of his talent by the time he was 20?! do you realize that “Thriller”, one of the greatest albums of all time, and the highest selling album of all time was released when MJ was 24? please show some respect to the King of Pop.
The real story here is that she can charge over a hundred U.S. for a ticket. lol…whoever pays that to watch some dancers is an idiot.
I’m glad to see more people are coming on board with demanding more from our entertainers than just that they look good and pump out electronically enhanced music. Brit is nothing but a glorified stripper. Looking at a pretty girl moving her body around in pseudo-sexual undulations and lip syncing to music is EXACTLY what goes on at strip clubs. I like what others have said in that other, much more talented entertainers can manage to sing AND dance. I feel that if someone is being paid a tremendous amount of money to put on a concert, then they should be up for the task, which includes singing and dancing at the same time. For all those others who are die hard Brit fans, they would pay $100 to watch her chew gum and that’s a shame because if we demand more from our entertainers for the major money that they make, maybe they would become better for it.
I totally agree with you! Man I heard a bit of her song 3 the other day and First of all you can barely hear her over all the effects! Secondly i can’t believe that people continue to buy her albums and put her on the charts! Music should be from the heart and soul. If you like to dance to it that’s cool and if not that’s cool too but come one these people that we idolize should have at least SOME talent!
As someone who knows something about creating studio ‘magic’, I think we’re reaping what we’ve sown. It’s so easy to make ANYONE sound good in the studio that it’s more possible than ever for people to make simply because they look good. Talent of ANY kind is no longer required, merely the right look. OF COURSE, Brittany lip-synchs. She can’t sing. Until you, the listening public, demand more of your artists, this is what you’re going to get.
Skip the cost of a ticket, and buy song at your local store, if they sing go back to the shows, if not forget it.
Who would have thought that Britney lip-syncing would be news?
She’s always lip-synced her ‘concerts’.
She can’t sing. She can’t dance.
Why is this skank famous?
Oh that’s right.. for being a skank.
Well, a skank she’s not. She could probably work on her singing and dancing though.
Why are you defending her? She sells sex for a living and you say she is not a skank?
everyone that posted something on here – get a life
Would that include you?
Haha! Good one Lila!