There is something quite strong about The Atlantic publishing an article in 2026 asking if Charli xcx is “the new Britney Spears” or “the new Lou Reed.” Here’s a fact that will make you feel old: Britney Spears appeared as a pop phenomenon almost 30 years ago. She hasn’t released an album in 10 years, she’s retired from the industry and she just said again that she doesn’t plan to return. And yet we continue to wonder who the new Britney is.
In 2025, The New York Times had already dedicated a report to the phenomenon of the new Britney Spears of pop. The list of candidates is constantly renewed. Addison Rae, Tate McRae, Ariana Grande, Aitana… As if there had been a vacancy that someone had to fill.
But Britney didn’t leave any vacancies. This August marks 10 years since ‘Glory’, her last album, and this month Britney has once again explained that she does not plan to return to an industry that traumatized her. She has also said that things are no longer like when she was there, when she had to be “too good” and couldn’t do practically anything her way. Today, pop stars can be indies and no one raises an eyebrow. While Spears talks about that stage as something she doesn’t want to be a part of again, her figure continues to appear everywhere in current pop.
Charli xcx, probably the most important pop artist of the moment, has said that ‘Blackout’ is her favorite album ever and many have detected her influence on ‘brat’. Charli is 34 years old and belongs to that generation that grew up with Britney. In ‘2007’, he also sings about being at home, as a teenager, singing in front of the mirror. It’s not a song about Britney, but it’s hard not to think about that entire generation that learned to be a pop star in front of the mirror watching her videos.
And then there are the artists’ calculated references. Recently, Tate McRae has used visuals during her tour that are very reminiscent of the aesthetics of ‘Britney’ (2001) and the debate has been generated ipso facto. It has all the appearance of having been premeditated: online conversation is also promotion. Addison Rae is Britney, all of her. Aitana has included an interlude of ‘Toxic’ on her tour. Zara Larsson and Tyla’s fan service to the Britney Army is a song. Sabrina Carpenter had already turned to Britney at the VMAs and even Rosalía evoked Spears in the video for ‘Baghdad’, a song about domestic abuse that samples ‘Cry Me a River’. Even the cover of Karol G’s new album has been simultaneously compared to the covers of ‘In the Zone’ and the ‘I’m A Slave 4 U’ single.
Tate McRae is receiving criticism as many believe her new visuals are too similar to Britney Spears’ ‘Britney’ era visuals. pic.twitter.com/H1FoB4bpBZ
—MR. POP (@MrPopOfficial) August 2, 2026
All of this makes Britney function as a kind of pop cultural capital, both aesthetic and artistic. His name, his image and certain moments in his career have become references that artists exploit to express themselves. Britney already functions almost as an idea or a concept that can be used within a work, with more or less taste: ‘Britney in 07’ by blackbear is not exactly a tribute; Halsey’s ‘Lucky’, yes. In Spain, Britney has appeared in songs by Rigoberta Bandini or Vicco that speak interchangeably about nostalgia or mental health. Even an artist as unlikely as Florence + the Machine has mentioned Britney in ‘Morning Elvis’. They are not songs about Britney, but Britney functions in them as a cultural reference that artists use to tell something about themselves.
Ariana Grande is surely one of the clearest examples of that heritage. Her voice is closer to the great belters, but her way of building a pop superstar has a lot of Britney. Aitana occupies a similar space in Spain. Tate McRae does it from the dance. Addison Rae from the transformation of an internet celebrity into a pop star. Tinashe even has the direct connection of having collaborated with Britney on ‘Slumber Party’. And although Zara Larsson or ADÉLA have shown more affinity for Christina Aguilera or Beyoncé, they also enter into that tradition of a singer who has to be a performer, dancer and image at the same time. It is a model that K-pop has recovered and turned into an entire industry structure, so it is not something that has disappeared with Britney nor that Western pop has discovered now.
There is also a very personal comparison that comes to mind when I think of Britney, and it is that of Vaslav Nijinsky. It is an association of mine and I do not intend to draw any biographical parallels between the two. What makes me think of him is something much more specific: the way he dances. Britney was an extraordinary dancer when she was young, with an impressive ability to execute very demanding choreography and make it look natural. Nijinsky has been spoken of many times in these terms, for his technique and for that grace that made very difficult movements seem easy. They also had very particular bodies and physical conditions for what they did.
Over the years, Britney lost her skills as a dancer and her way of acting on stage changed. But you only have to watch his first videos and performances again to understand why it seems so difficult to reproduce today. When it is said that Tate McRae or Addison Rae do not have Britney’s “aura”, it is usually not saying that they dance worse. They are talking about that power that Britney had on stage and a very specific combination of technique, physicality and presence.
Whether because of the impact she has left or because she continues to be referenced, Britney begins to function like other figures who have stopped being just artists and become icons. Marilyn Monroe or James Dean continue to be used as references even though their careers ended eons ago. Your image no longer needs to be linked to a specific work to have meaning. With Britney it is still too early to know if the same will happen, but it is striking that, a decade after her last album and with Britney herself insisting that she does not want to return, her name is still so present.
That’s why the question about who is “the new Britney” can entertain us for a while or generate viral content, but it may not be very useful. Britney can appear as an aesthetic reference, as a pop star model, as a sample, as a song title or simply as a name that allows an artist to talk about himself. His influence is spread across a multitude of different pop stars. Many of them have inherited parts of what Britney stood for, but they don’t necessarily need to become her successor.
Swipe to see pic.twitter.com/Jon15EWv9E
— Britney Spears 🌹🚀 (@britneyspears) August 7, 2026
