Extra! Extra! This just in! Only four fans got to meet the Princess of Pop when she was in Singapore. Here is a first-hand account of what went down.
It was 3.43am. Britney had just ended her first full-length concert in Singapore earlier in the night. I was trying my best to fall asleep, but my head was still racing with thoughts. You see, before the concert, I was one of the lucky few who had a meet-and-greet with Britney herself.
Out of nowhere, my phone started going crazy. One notification after another came in. “You’re on Brit’s IG!” said one of the messages. Turns out Britney had uploaded a video of our little backstage interaction on her personal Instagram page. Say what?
“The fans at the meet n greet were so nice they actually made me nervous for my show!! 👠👠👠,” she shared in the caption. Hold up everybody, did Britney Jean Spears just say I’m nice? Be right back y’all, changing my Instagram bio right now!
Side note: Why Britney was still awake at 4am, posting on Instagram after busting her ass off (singing live, tyvm) is beyond me. Perhaps she was still really jet-lagged.
Everyone from former schoolmates to fellow fans from across the globe started to flood my social media inboxes, curious about my little interaction with the Princess of Pop. So here goes.
Prior to the concert, I had joined a contest organized by Kiss92, the official radio station tied to the show, and actually won (alongside another winner, Zack). The win included some pretty outrageous prizes, including a photo opportunity with the living legend – the only reason I gave the competition a shot. Unlike her shows in Las Vegas, there were no meet-and-greet packages available for her tour in Asia. This was the only way anyone in Singapore could score a picture with Brit Brit.
Just over an hour before the start of the concert, Zack and I, along with our friends Paula and Valerie, were ushered backstage. We had to go through several stages of security, which was understandable because it’s Britney Spears we’re talking about here.
Two members of Britney’s security team came over to give us a briefing. They towered above us. I instinctively put my phone in my pocket (I had been recording videos up until this point). We were told right away that Britney is a rather reserved person. “She may be a superstar, but she is actually very shy,” shared Security Guy 1. (As if us hardcore fans didn’t already know that!)
They also told us to try our best to appear calm, and to keep the interaction swift. I guess with Britney’s level of fame, the team has had to deal with fans who may have been a little too eager.
“Try to be as natural as possible,” said Security Guy 2. I nodded, but that was not going to be easy. My heart was already beating so hard, the bass was getting biggah.
While waiting for further instructions, we saw familiar faces like her manager, Larry Rudolph, who had been with her from the very beginning, as well as her father, Jamie Spears. For the record, Jamie was as intimidating a figure as I expected him to be. He seemed very no-nonsense, as well as someone who commanded respect.
We were then escorted into a holding room where we had to surrender all our belongings, including our phones. Damn, there goes my killa selfie with Britney, I thought. More waiting ensued. Everytime the door opened, I had a mini heart attack. We started talking about what we were going to say to Britney. “I think I’m going to puke,” I whispered to Valerie.
Finally, about 30 minutes later, Security Guy 1 appeared again, and motioned for us to head towards him. We were joined by Security Guy 2, and the Fearsome Twosome brought us down the hallway, right in front of a giant curtain piece which was flanked by even more security personnel. I heard heavy murmurings behind the curtain, but I was unable to make out what was being said. It sounded like there was quite a number of people behind it. The anticipation was overwhelming.
We were accompanied by a local photographer, probably delegated by the Singaporean organizers to document the meet-and-greet. However, the security team informed her (nicely, I must add) that only Britney’s team would be taking pictures. Oops.
After we had chatted with Security Guy 1 for a little bit (he revealed that the fans from the Philippines were the most enthusiastic, while the Thai fans were the most awestruck), Security Guy 2 announced that Britney was ready for her close-up.
This was it.
I walked past the curtain, and was immediately greeted by a large group of people (I didn’t really bother to count, everything was a blur), most of whom were pointing cameras and smartphones at us. Gee, totally not intimidating at all.
Britney was waiting in the corner, dressed in a midriff-baring (of course) top and jeans that are cool because they are faded. She was a lot taller than I expected her to be, especially since people have been going on about her petite frame for the longest time. Her hair was also classic Britney, long and blonde. Kudos to her glam squad; she was drop dead beautiful (feat. Sabi). It was as if we had been transported back to 2001.
She looked a little nervous, but she was smiling. At me.
“How are you?” she asked in her signature girly voice.
“I’m good!” I replied.
It’s funny, because before this moment I had been rehearsing all sorts of things to say to her. I was going to go for “The fans really want a male fragrance from you, Britney!” However, when I was right there in front of the actual Britney Spears, my mind just went blank. Sorry Britney Army, from the bottom of my (broken) heart. My bad.
Instead, I leaned in for a hug to break the ice. However, as you can see in the video Britney posted, there was a slight moment of hesitation on my part. This was because we were specifically instructed to not “go at her” during the briefing earlier. Security Guy 2 was right there, obviously keeping a watchful eye in case we stepped out of line. I did not want any trouble for me, so I made sure to ask her if she was fine with me giving her a hug (kiasi, you know), and she was! (That was the “Yes!” she said to me in the video.) Phew.
The one thing I remember was that she smelled really nice. I could not recognize the scent, but it was a sweet, floral perfume. In fact, long after meeting her, I could still catch a whiff of her perfume on my shirt. Yes Britney, mark your territory.
We were instructed to look at one of the cameras and to be honest, the entire thing went by really quickly. All I can remember is being surrounded by people holding portable beauty lights (seriously, thank you!) and having so many cameras pointing at us. While it looked like it was a pretty chill setting in Britney’s video, it was actually rather terrifying for us mere mortals. It was just like a circus. The spotlight was on us and we were ready to break… into tears. In short, we were shookt.
We took several pictures, and Britney herself chose the image she liked best after. We thanked Britney for the opportunity and were then escorted out from under to join the rest of the audience for the concert.
Outside, all we wanted to was scream and shout, and let it all out. We had been #blessed by the Holy Spearit. We had only just begun having our fun, and went in for the concert feeling like heaven on earth. It was an amazing high-energy show that felt like an adult slumber party from start to finish.
We left the Singapore Indoor Stadium in high spirits, but I realized one thing. I did not actually receive the picture! There was no word from anyone how I was going to be receiving the photo (it was taken with Britney’s phone after all), which left me low-key worried. I mean, I actually need proof that I met Queen B, right? Will Britney slide into my DMs? Will she email my heart?
The following day, I did actually receive an email with the photo, though not from Britney herself (feel free to still slide into my DMs anytime, Brit).
With that, I will now officially join the ranks of Britney fans who set their meet-and-greet photos with the Britterz as their Facebook profile pictures.
It’s a pretty cool picture to have, and I have several people to thank for the hook up. A big shoutout to Kiss92 and IME Singapore for organizing this, and the many friends who were instrumental in my win in the first place. All of you made this Fantasy™ (available in stores island-wide) of mine come true.
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