Others are pointing out that Britney has completed more than 10 years at the very top of her industry with no immediate signs of stopping or losing her audience, and that, in the terms of reference applicable to a typical female pop singer, “great longevity” has already been achieved. After all, back in 1998-9 nobody thought she’d last more than a couple of years and music critics of the day would be amazed to hear that by the end of 2009 she’d just completed a 100-date sell-out arena tour, had had 5 number one albums and was just about to release her second greatest hits compilation.

I must admit that, when I first read Michael’s remarks, my mind turned to their context - and to the person to whom he addressed them, Rabbi Schmuley Boteach (pronounced, sadly, not “Bo-teach” but “Bo-tay-ack”). Boteach has had an anti-Britney fixation and has fulminated about her in print and on the airwaves pretty much continuously since the start of her career. He says “Her whole career has been a moral abomination.” He has claimed that “Female pop stars like Britney and Madonna have pushed the envelope past provocative and into the downright pornographic.” He refers to Britney, Christina and Madonna as “the musical axis of evil”. He has even written to Britney to inform her that she is a bad mother. A contributor to Richard Dawkins’ website describes Schmuley’s mewlings as “oratopygous encopresis” (Google it!) and I shall not demur.

My point is that Michael - as a person who, for reasons of both personal empathy and outright feelings of intimidation, would doubtless have sought to respond positively to the Ranting Rabbi’s self-righteous moralising delivered pretty much into his face - was likely to have told Boteach what he wanted to hear. Which was that he need not worry because that awful Britney girl wouldn’t be around corrupting the young for very much longer. (One can only speculate about what Boteach thinks now, with the Britney Monster bigger than ever and the throughly immoral "3" under her belt.)

Debate around the fansites has taken some strange turns. Presumably anxious not to suffer haunting from Michael’s spectral presence, some have rushed to agree that Britney has indeed “lost her mystery”. This seems an odd thing to say. It is certainly possible to argue that she has lost much of her pristine sheen. It may even be credible to claim that she has lost some of her “mystique”, if by that one means the more particular speculations that surrounded the first year of her career - such as the questions of whether she was an alien or an angel, or what she would look like naked.

But it could hardly be said that someone lacked mystery when there are so many unanswered questions about them, such as...

How much does she think about and prepare for her recording sessions?

What kind of albums would she like to make, given a free choice?

Would she like to perform "unplugged" at small venues?

Are her song stylings and interpretations conscious art or pure instinct?

What is her "natural" voice like? Same as on her recordings or different?

Can she sing live or not?

If so, why does she constantly lip-synch?

Why does she dance so energetically in rehearsals but not on stage?

Is she basically very energetic or pretty lazy?

What are her professional ambitions?

Is she intending to retire in the next 2 or 3 years?

Why has she never made another movie after "Crossroads"?

Will she ever make another one?

Will she write or collaborate in an autobiography?

Is she really shy, as she once claimed to be?

In real life, is she naturally beautiful or really rather ordinary?

Did she ever have breast implants?

If so, did she have them taken out again?

Why do her breasts seem to change in size from day to day?

Why does her booty seem to be a lot rounder some months than others?

Is she intending to keep showing lots of skin for years to come?

What state is her left knee in?

Did she have post-partum depression?

When she appeared to be mentally ill, what EXACTLY was wrong with her?

What mental state is she in NOW?

Does she still suffer from asthma?

Is she still on a spiritual quest, or has that been abandoned?

Could she be trusted to live without the conservators?

What really happened when she reportedly went to rehab in Antigua?

Has she ever made a suicide attempt, and if so, how many times?

What was the REAL reason she shaved her head?

How much of Fat Tony's testimony was true?

Was she ever really a serious drug user?

Was there ever really a sex tape?

Will she ever pose for “Playboy”?

Has she ever done "it" with girls, as K-Fed’s buddy claimed?

That’s a lot of “mystery” for someone who allegedly has none. I think we need to go back and take a second look at what Michael Jackson allegedly said. “She doesn’t understand the power of mystery”. He said this back in 2001, long LONG before the break-up with Justin, the marriages, the babies, the breakdowns, the head-shaving AND the vagina-showing. If you think about it, what he was talking about was her media presence AT THAT TIME. She was everywhere, always on TV, always at awards shows, always giving interviews.... She was over-accessible, and it seemed that there was nothing about her at that time that we didn't know - and that there was, indeed, no great mystery. This explanation is confirmed by the words Jackson actually used: “In a few years, this girl is gone from the public eye. Nobody’s gonna care about her. She is all over the place. There is no mystery. I would never do what she does. I hold myself back.”

The thing is that SINCE then, she has become one of the most mysterious, unpredictable, uncommunicative artists in the whole world of music. Around the time of the notorious “Letter of Truth”, the “Stream of Consciousness” and the weird poetry, there was a sense that “Britney Spears” was disappearing into the shadows and becoming ever less tangible and more ethereal. In the years that followed, everyone began to wonder what had become of her and who she now was. Who was “Mona Lisa”? Who was the girl who spoke in the English accent and often wore a pink wig?

Something messy is still clinging to her image. She's transitioning from tenebrous to numinous, but it's taking a while. Even now, apparently happy and smiling, her body in great shape and enjoying both career and motherhood, Britney is inaccessible, elusive and withdrawn. Someone like the great Barbra Streisand is as starry and reclusive as a star can get, but Britney seems to belong to a different order of being, one that is so legendary as to be barely physical. For the fans attending her shows, just to have confirmation of her corporeal existence seems enough, and a couple of live "woo hoo's" the icing on the cake.

For whatever reason, it seems that the closer we get to her, the further away she appears to be. We got to see more of her physical being than she intended, for a couple of years, and now she’s moving it further away from us than ever. She isn’t on magazine covers. She doesn’t do interviews. She doesn’t talk to biographers. She has gone very, very quiet - yet you always have the feeling that something shocking and outrageous is about to happen. So, can we truly say that this is a woman who doesn’t understand the power of mystery?

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