I can still remember where I was and what I was doing the first time I heard "...baby one more time." I was with my mother, in the car, on our way home from church one night when I heard those history making notes. Then, I heard her voice and I was hooked and I have been ever since. Britney Spears is more than a singer, more than a dancer, more than a pop star. She is an ICON!!! Her talent may come under fire many, many times by the media and critics, but it doesn't matter. Anytime someone tries to convince me that Britney Spears is not talented, I always tell them the facts. They are as follows: 4 straight #1 albums, her first 5 studio albums in the top 2 slots on the charts, she holds the record for most copies sold of an album in one week by a female artist ("oops I did it again" 2000 1 million copies in one week!!!) 8 #1 world wide singles, over 60 million albums sold, sold out concert tours all over the world, and she is the 8th best selling female artist in music history. The facts speak for themselves. I know she doesn't have a "powerhouse" voice (i.e. Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Christina Aquilera) but she never claimed to have that. I know that Britney Spears can sing beautifully, otherwise she would've never gotten a record deal. Many people want to say that she is "created" by studio trickery. I know this is not true. Sure she may have a few notes "fixed" here and there, but if you think Christina Aquilera, Celine Dion, or Whitney Houston never have a note altered, you are in serious denial. I don't know why people feel the need to discredit Britney, but it doesn't matter. I know what she means to me. I love her. I have never met her but I feel like she is a good person at heart, hugely talented in every way, and beautiful!!!! If i could snap my fingers and relieve her of all the judgement she endures, I would. However, we all know this is impossible, and as britney said in her Showtime special for the Onyx Hotel Tour 2004 quote " The world keeps movin' and we keep movin' with it, and everything we experience makes us realize how beautiful life really is" Those words are so true and I know that no matter what happens to Britney Spears in the years to come, whether she sales as many ablums as she used to, whether she has another #1 hit or not, she will always be an inspiration and an icon to me and millions of others out there and that, my friend, is something that no one can ever take away.