Britney Spears Calls Janet Jackson Her Pop “God,” Says “She’s Not Trying to Be Sexy … She Just Is”

Britney Spears paid tribute to Janet Jackson in an Instagram post on Thursday (Oct. 15), writing that Jackson has been a godlike figure to her since childhood.

Spears shared a photo of Jackson and recalled that at age 13, her “mouth dropped open” whenever a music video by the “That’s The Way Love Goes” singer came on TV. “I kept repeating in my head, ‘No, No … Please come back, I wanna see that again … Where the hell did that come from ???’” she wrote.

“It was her ability to be incredibly mysterious, so dark with a vibe that sucked you in immediately, and then this haunting simple angelic tone … The feeling she gives with her voice when she sings is so pure and genuine,” Spears continued. “She’s not trying to be sexy … She just is … She can’t help it … She has always been god to me.”

Spears also described Jackson as more than a singer, calling her “an entertainer in people’s eyes” who leaves adults “spellbound” just as much as she “captivate[s] the hearts of children.”

“I was so young, and she spoke to my heart and soul like no one else … I have no idea why I’m writing this, but I do believe people like her are here for a reason,” Spears added. “Just her smile alone changed the world forever … She’s my girl crush this month.”

Jackson reshared the post on her Instagram Story with a red heart emoji and a kissy-face emoji.

Jackson, the younger sister of Michael Jackson, dominated the late ’80s and ’90s and has scored 10 No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100. Only the King of Pop, The Beatles, Mariah Carey, Taylor Swift, Drake, Rihanna, Madonna, The Supremes and Whitney Houston have had more.

Spears, whose music was inescapable in the late ’90s and 2000s, earned the nickname Princess of Pop and has five No. 1s on the Hot 100 to date.

The two singers are also linked through Justin Timberlake. In 2021, he apologized to both women at the same time after facing backlash years after the events in question.

“I am deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right,” he wrote at the time, referring to his disrespectful comments about Spears following their 2002 breakup and his lack of support for Jackson after he exposed her breast at the 2004 Super Bowl. “I understand that I fell short in these moments and in many others and benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism. I specifically want to apologize to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson both individually because I care for and respect these women and I know I failed.”

Spears does not appear to hold ill will toward Timberlake. She has said kind things about him in the past couple of years, and on Oct. 9 she surprised fans by releasing a song the two wrote together more than two decades ago, “She’ll Never Be Me.”

Source: Billboard