POP princess Britney Spears does not know the meaning of "once bitten, twice shy". Indeed, the singer " who over the past year has made headlines for her custody battle with ex-husband Kevin Federline and her ill-advised relationship with tabloid photographer Adnan Ghalib " is planning to perform once again at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) on Sept 7.
At last year's VMAs, she was the opening performer and ended up a show-stopper " in the worst sense of the word. Viewers cringed at a performance that had Spears lip-synching badly and dancing stiffly to her song Gimme More.
Not to mention that she was dressed in a bra-and-undies outfit that didn't fit well, and showed off post-baby fat that she hadn't quite managed to lose yet.
This year, she has bravely agreed to perform at the VMAs again. She has also been nominated for two awards.
But is she ready? Last year's awards were meant to be her comeback after giving birth to second child Jayden James, born in September last year. It was also meant to introduce her album, Blackout. Instead, it fuelled rumours of a breakdown.
Yet, if she is prepped well for the VMAs this year, a spot-on performance could be a PR coup.
The flip side, of course, is that another flop could seal her fate as a has-been.
But things are looking up for Spears. She has been under the watchful eye of strict dad Jamie, and has spent a rumoured sum of US$23,000 (S$32,439) amonth on personal training. She's also had one-on-one counselling from fellow embattled celeb Mel Gibson, who she holidayed with in May.
In a VMAs promotional advertisement which she shot with host-to-be Russell Brand, a British comedian, she appears put-together and displays a naughty chemistry with him.
"Can you remember my name?" Brand asks her, looking deep into her eyes.
"Russell," she replies.
"And can you remember my surname?" asks Brand. "Brown," Spears replies hesitantly.
When she is corrected, she bursts into an infectious laugh.
"You will remember that name because pretty soon, it's going to be your surname," Brand informs her at the end of the ad, which has been widely circulated on the Web.
Brand has said that the entire segment was ad-libbed.
Cheekily, producers of the clip even included an elephant in the room. It is a reference to Spears' performance last year " the white elephant in the equation.
In April, Spears appeared on the respectable, ratings-friendly sitcom How IMet Your Mother.
She has also come to a custody agreement with Federline and is in the studio recording a new album. Spears has sold more than 83 million albums worldwide.
