Waiting for Britney Spears
A True Story, Allegedly
by Jeff Weiss
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Pub Date Jun 10 2025 | Archive Date Jul 10 2025
Description
"Like a J.D. Salinger novel rolled in Hunter S. Thompson's hallucinogen dust." —Ann Powers, author of Travelling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell
"[Waiting for Britney Spears] transformed and transported me." ―Hanif Abdurraqib, author of There's Always This Year
A frenetic, gonzo account of Britney Spears’s historic rise and equally tragic fall told by an iconoclastic music journalist.
America, 2003: A country at war, its shiny veneer beginning to crack. Von Dutch and The Simple Life dominate. And on the cover of every magazine, a twenty-one-year-old pop star named Britney Spears. Tracking her every move for a third-tier gossip rag in Los Angeles was an unknown young writer taking whatever job he could while pursuing his distant literary dreams. He'd instead become an eyewitness to the slow tragedy of a changing nation, represented in spirit by “the coy it-girl at the end of history.”
Years later, after finally establishing himself as a celebrated journalist, Jeff Weiss presents Waiting for Britney Spears, a gonzo, nostalgic, and “allegedly true” recounting of his years as a tabloid spy in the lurid underbelly of Los Angeles. Weiss follows America’s sweetheart through Vegas superclubs and Malibu car chases, annulled marriages and soul-crushing legal battles, all the way to Britney’s infamous 2007 VMA performance. As Weiss lives through the chaos leading to Britney’s conservatorship, he observes, with peerless style, cringe-inducing fashion waves, destructive celebrity surveillance, and a country whose decline is embodied by the devastating downturn of its former golden child.
With the narrative flair that established him as a singular chronicler of modern pop culture, Weiss goes for broke in Waiting for Britney Spears, a descent into a neon hall of mirrors reflecting our obsession with fame, morality, and the mystery of what really happened to the last great pop star.
A Note From the Publisher
Advance Praise
"Waiting For Britney Spears is a singularly thrilling and inventive reading experience, acting as a vivid time capsule, a sometimes hilarious and sometimes devastating rush of landscapes and people and places within them, but always an incredibly immersive read, that transformed and transported me." ―Hanif Abdurraqib, author of There's Always This Year
"I had no idea that one of America's premier hip-hop journalists began his career chasing pop sensations through the seedy VIP areas of the West. The tale Jeff Weiss weaves of his gossip-rag adventures, focusing on the elusive unicorn Britney Spears, reads like a J.D. Salinger novel rolled in Hunter S. Thompson's hallucinogen dust. Unlike most previous gonzo culture chroniclers, Weiss has compassion for his subjects — he cares about Spears as a person even as he strives to understand her as an object of mass (and, for him, personal) desire. File this one next to The Day of the Locust on your True Tales of Hollywood shelf." —Ann Powers, NPR music correspondent and author of Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell
“A gonzo ride through the twisted kingdom of millennial Hollywood. Young and hungry Jeff Weiss chooses his own adventure, sallying forth in his quest to outsmart greedy monsters, placate sleazy managers and rub shoulders with b-boy paupers, all while in search of the Pop Princess herself. A witty, whip-smart book I couldn’t stop reading.” ―Kate Flannery, author of Strip Tees: A Memoir of Millennial Los Angeles
"Waiting for Britney Spears is the very definition of 'smart escapism': 400-plus vertiginous and Cheeto-dusted pages of neon Los Angeles and vintage Bonnie Fuller-era tabloid sensationalism that reads like a juicy longform magazine story that you never want to end. The writing practically bounces with a Neptunes beat. I loved it." —Cat Marnell, author of How to Murder Your Life
"In this gem of a book, gonzo writer Jeff Weiss roams through the hellish paradise of pop music pursuing the enigmatic Golden Star Britney Spears from Mouseketeer to Sex Goddess as she rises to the heights of fame, crashes low, rises higher. In prose that seems to mime the rhythms of pop, he guides us with sardonic humor through a cartoon Las Vegas wedding, a surreal orgy in Technicolor at the Playboy Mansion, sex, drugs, booze, scandals, and more sex. Out of this erotic chaos, Weiss discovers a poignant lament, a yearning for something more than what is found in the world of excess. It is within that orbit that Weiss defines, movingly and unforgettably, the stunning creation known to the world as Britney Spears." ―John Rechy, author of City of Night
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9780374606138 |
| PRICE | $19.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 400 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Lola M, Educator
Waiting for Britney Spears, a True Story, Allegedly, is a ridiculously well-written account of the rise and fall of Britney Spears as experienced through the eyes of Jeff Weiss, a former tabloid writer. He begins his tale recounting his experience as a crowd extra in one of Spears’ first music videos and closes his book with the establishment of her family’s controversial conservatorship over the troubled star. Weiss’ affection for Spears is evident and rings true—while he acknowledges that he was also part of the exploitation machine that added to her struggles in the mid-2000s (and grapples with his guilt about it as well…). It was compelling to read about how the tabloid industry operates (both ethically and otherwise) and Weiss is a gifted writer. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in return for my unbiased review.
Amy D, Reviewer
What I thought would be a book of fun gossipy reminiscing quickly evolves into thoughtful reflections on the toxicity of paparazzi culture of the 2000’s from the lens of Britney’s media coverage. It’s exciting and engaging writing with real depth, and I found myself equally in the pop culture tidbits and the author’s own personal experiences. I adore Britney, and I’m always a little skeptical of anyone using her name and legacy, but the author treats writing about her with care and following his evolution alongside hers makes for a really compelling narrative. A worthwhile read for anyone who loves early 2000’s pop culture and are ready to reckon with its dark side.
Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley!
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