Stream It Or Skip It: ‘It’s Britney’ on Hulu, An Exploration of Britney Spears’s Early Popstar Years — Including Her Relationship With Justin Timberlake

The new Hulu documentary It’s Britney reframes Britney Spears’s early years as a celebrity around the new revelations from her memoir The Woman in Me, which was released on October 24, 2023. As part of the Impact x Nightline series, which has also investigated the lives of Paris Hilton and Kanye West, the installment explores Spears’s battle with sexism as a young woman in the music industry, her tumultuous relationship with Justin Timberlake, and her long-lasting conservatorship – all of which is reexamined by journalists and former collaborators with context from the new memoir and the stories told amid Spears’s newfound freedom. 

IT’S BRITNEY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: It’s Britney analyzes Britney Spears’s public image as it revisits her split with Justin Timberlake, her perceived “mental breakdown” after she shaved her head, and her long-lasting conservatorship, which saw her performing in two tours against her will.

The documentary recontextualizes these happenings with new information from Spears’s memoir, along with recollections from journalists and her former collaborators, including music video director Chris Applebaum, tour manager and creative producer Dan George, ABC News Contributor Chris Connelly, and more.

Nightline co-anchor Juju Chang narrates the tight 37-minute documentary and breezes through Spears’s life, starting with her former relationship with Timberlake, which garnered heavy headlines following the release of The Woman in Me, in which Spears revealed that, at one point, she fell pregnant with his child and got a secret abortion. It’s Britney revisits this time in Spears’s life and the sexism she faced over the course of their relationship, piecing together interviews that saw Timberlake being asked about his future music career and Spears being hounded with questions about her sexuality. The unfair treatment is heightened after Timberlake embarked on a press tour about Spears’s infidelity and their break-up with Connelly stating in the documentary that Timberlake “shattered the image” that Spears had built during her career.

The interviews are inserted between segments of the Woman in Me audiobook, narrated by Michelle Williams, and archival footage and photos of Spears throughout her career. 

Next, It’s Britney explores Spears’s relationship with Kevin Federline and the rise of tabloid culture and their stalker-esque behavior towards the pop star, with archival footage showing a paparazzo detailing how a nearby apartment complex would rent space to paparazzi to allow them to capture photos of her during her private moments. Around this time, Spears infamously shaved her head, which she details in her memoir as an act of reclaiming her space, writing, “I’ve been the good girl for years and I’m tired of it.”

As the documentary continues, it explores Spears’s custody battle with Federline, her eventual conservatorship, the tours that followed, and Chang’s viral 2022 Nightline interview with Jamie Lynn Spears.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Since the rise of the #FreeBritney movement in 2020, there has been no shortage of documentaries on the beloved pop star. Therefore, It’s Britney will remind you of those, which includes Framing Britney Spears, Britney vs. Spears, and Britney Spears: The Price of Freedom, as well as other installments in the Impact x Nightline series.

Performance Worth Watching: Dan George, who worked with Spears during her Circus tour, is an interview subject with much to share. He offers great insight into her life during the beginning of her conservatorship and expresses moving guilt towards his complicity. 

Memorable Dialogue: “The media kind of made it seem like Britney was the evil-doer and Justin used his pain to create a really beautiful project,” Kelley Carter, ABC News Contributor, said about the public response following Spears and Timberlake’s break-up and the release of Timberlake’s song “Cry Me A River,” which shamelessly used Spears’s image. Tell him, girl!

Sex and Skin: None aside from the archival footage of Spears’s scantily clad magazine covers and performances. 

Our Take: Honestly, documentaries about Spears’s life tend to feel slimy and exploitative as the pop star has long said that she doesn’t endorse them – slamming them as “insulting” in 2022. And rightfully so, as the mainstream media came to her side far too late in her battle against sexism and her conservatorship. However, It’s Britney does a phenomenal job amplifying Spears’s own words and redefining pop culture moments that many of us are familiar with.

Those who haven’t heard of Spears’s memoir will feel intrigued to pick it up after watching the documentary and hearing first-hand accounts from her previous collaborators and figures in journalism. If there’s one of the million Spears documentaries to watch, let it be this one. 

That said, the work would have benefitted from a longer runtime and more time spent with the interview subjects because it felt like it was just starting to rizz up when it ended. Many of the moments felt rushed, such as the portion about Spears’s custody battle and her devotion to her kids, which is a shame given that it replayed a chunk of Jamie Lynn Spears’s old Nightline interview that was a whole lot of nothing. 

Our Call: STREAM IT! Pop culture fanatics won’t learn anything new about Spears’s life through this documentary, but they will benefit from the recontextualization of these crucial moments. It’s Britney is heartbreaking, short, and engaging, but contains a sweet ending filled with overdue praise for the star. As Carter says towards the end, “That woman is strong; she survived a lot that would break most of us – and in front of millions and millions of people. Britney Spears is a strong, badass woman.”