"Listen, any time you go on national television and dance in barely any clothing, you're going to be facing a lot of scrutiny," Zinczenko says. "Anybody would be asking for it." Not that many people were not pulling for Spears, he notes: "If she had come back, she would have been the toast of the country." And certainly she had a lot to come back from over the past few years: Well-documented parenting mishaps - remember the baby on her lap in the driver's seat? A messy divorce from husband Kevin Federline. The famous crotch photos. The bizarre head-shaving incident. Rehab.
And now this.
How all this will impact Spears' career, and sales of her new album, has yet to be seen. "I just felt like that performance was make or break for her comeback," says Wade. "Now with last night's performance, she's just kind of put herself back in the same boat - everybody thinks she's a train wreck."
But the single of Gimme More, the song she destroyed onstage, is off to a great start in the Top 40, says Sean Ross of Edison Research, which tracks radio play. "A great VMA performance would have probably closed the deal for her, but she's still got until Thanksgiving to do other good performances and to release a strong album with other hits on it," he said.
In any case, it seems it would never be wise to write an obituary of Spears' career.
"With everything Britney, we think this is the last chance," says Min. "The fact is, it never is."
"At least this puts attention back on her as a performer. My sense is she'd rather be judged on that than on the rehab."
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