Britney Spears. Steve Granitz/WireImage
Britney Spears won’t be releasing new music anytime soon.
“I will never return to the music industry!!!” Spears, 42, wrote via Instagram on Wednesday, January 3. “When I write, I write for fun or I write for other people !!! For those of you who have read my book, there’s loads that you don’t know about me … I’ve written over 20 songs for other people the past two years !!!”
Spears, whose last album Glory dropped in 2016, noted that instead of stepping back into the spotlight for herself, she’s recently worked as a “ghostwriter” for other artists and “enjoys it that way.” The singer also slammed rumors that her 2023 memoir, The Woman in Me, was released “illegally” without her approval, calling the speculation “far from the truth.”
The pop star has been taking her life into her own hands since her 13-year conservatorship ended in November 2021. Britney’s father, Jamie Spears, was first appointed the conservator of her personal life, finances and more starting in 2008. Britney began advocating for the termination of the conservatorship in 2021, alleging that Jamie, 71, and co-conservator Jodi Montgomery — who took over in 2019 — had abused their positions.
The Woman in Me, which hit shelves in October 2023, detailed Britney’s ups and downs since being thrust into the public eye, including what led up to her conservatorship being put into place. In the book, Britney wrote that she she knew “[she] had been acting wild” and partying at the height of her early 2000’s fame, but did not think that warranted such a strong reaction from her family.
“There was nothing I’d done that justified their treating me like I was a bank robber. Nothing that justified upending my entire life,” she alleged. “I went from partying a lot to being a total monk. Security guards handed me prepackaged envelopes of meds and watched me take them. They put parental controls on my iPhone. Everything was scrutinized and controlled. Everything.”
It was that tight control placed upon her, she explained, that has now led her to posting frequently and candidly on social media. Since the end of her conservatorship, Britney has taken to Instagram to perform dances for her fans, seemingly call out ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake, share memories with her sons and give a glimpse into her life as a newly single woman after estranged husband Sam Asghari filed for divorce in August 2023. (Britney shares Sean Preston, 18, and Jayden James, 17, with ex-husband Kevin Federline.)
“I know that a lot of people don’t understand why I love taking pictures of myself naked or in new dresses,” she wrote. “But I think if they’d been photographed by other people thousands of times, prodded and posed for other people’s approval, they’d understand that I get a lot of joy from posing the way I feel sexy and taking my own picture, doing whatever I want with it.”
