Poor Britney Spears. Try as she may, the 32-year-old pop star still attracts controversy like moths to a flame. It's been over a year since her top-selling album Britney Jean was released, and it has since faded from public consciousness. That didn't stop some bozo from leaking an unedited version of Spears' hit single "Alien," in which she sounds, well, rough.
Spears has never been praised for her vocal prowess, and has faced criticism for her reliance on Auto-Tune and other in-studio trickery to help make her sound like a legit singer. The thing is, she's not a legit singer. Sure, she can carry a tune better than your average drunk karaoke reveler, but she's a performer above all else, which explains why audiences have been lining up in droves and paying absurd ticket prices to catch her enormously successful residency at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas.
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Still, it's hard not to feel for Spears, who is likely mortified by the sudden leak. Luckily, the song's producer William Orbit has come to her defense today, via a statement on his Facebook page.
"I’d like to affirm that ANY singer when first at the mic at the start of a long session can make a multitude of vocalizations in order to get warmed up," Orbit wrote. "Warming up is essential if you’re a pro, as it is with a runner doing stretches, and it takes a while to do properly."
According to the producer, Spears was having a cup of herbal tea at the time of the recording, and was only singing to help the engineers make some tweaks before the actual recording.
"Whomever put this on the Internet must have done so in a spirit of unkindness," Orbit added. "But it can in no way detract from the fact that Britney is and always will be beyond stellar! She is magnificent! And that’s that."
Check out both versions of Britney Spears' "Alien" below.
Photo: REX USA/Beretta/Sims/Rex.