The essay “I Killed Britney Spears” was written by the London based journalist Jean Hanna Edelstein, in 2008. Edelstein was born in New York, 1981 to an American father, and Scottish mother. She later moved (1999) to London, where she studied economics and political science. She has also lived in Montreal, Berlin. She has an online-based blog, where she uploads a few essays and inputs – inputs that are all backed up by her academic background. Despite the online essays, her first official published book was in 2009.
“I Killed Britney Spears” is a (non-fiction) personal essay, with a first person narrator which makes the essay identifiable. Edelstein clearly wrote this essay to highlight a few consequences and flaws in the relationship between fan and idol. Most of these flaws are shown in the age 13-18. These years are filled with the confusion that follows the transition from child to adult. Edelstein might have thought about this particular transition and thereby, intending the text to be read by these confused adolescents.
The text “I Killed Britney Spears” was written in 2008, a year of great turmoil for the star Britney Spears. She was fighting over the custody of her children, she had been in rehab and just cut off her hair. All these events generated a lot of public attention. Mostly negative attention. Many of the “Spears” fans (including Edelstein herself) who identified themselves with her, were emotionally hit by Britney’s instability.
The intention of Edelstein is spread across a few points. First, Edelstein intends to raise awareness towards the ignorance of “feeding the show business machine”. Towards the end of the essay, Edelstein concludes that she contributed to pushing Britney to the metaphoric death. The death of her spirit. “Bleeding her dry”, Fed the Britney machine”. “Britney machine” is the embodiment of Britney Spears as a celebrity and not a person. A celebrity that is meant to please her fans at all cost despite all the emotional pain she might be going through. Edelstein even makes it sound quite inhumane and sad. Young people are some of the main users of this machine, because they dedicate a lot of themselves to their idols. Change hair, lifestyle and even religion. Therefore, a celebrity like Britney Spears has many people who rely deeply on every single move she makes. In the end, Edelstein tries to make the reader reflect on how the media works, and how it wears out talent and materializes it. “I gave her family and managers a reason to continue bleeding her out” – “Flicking through the gossip blogs”.
The theme(s) of this essay is idolizing, media-manipulation and growing up. Edelstein depicts the pros and cons of idolizing a celebrity. Edelstein finally found someone who was just like her, but had more. An amazing talent. Therefore a hero, who was fighting her cause. “My worship of her was heroic”. However, things often turn sour for most celebrities due to the high amount of pressure placed on their head. In response to this pressure, they turn to drugs and other sorts of self-harm. How should the fans react in these situations? This question is also reflected in Edelstein’s essay. “Her life seemed to be going the opposite direction from mine”. Edelstein herself did not follow her idol in to this deep turmoil, but instead grew up/away from her idol. As Edelstein grows up she slowly drifts away from the connection Britney and her had. “Time has marched on for both of us, the transition to womanhood has been compromised”. “The Whaler”, by Joe Sheering also deals with the themes of growing up and idols. It depicts a boy who has raised his idol to God status, but is inevitably disappointed by his human flaws. Similarly, Edelstein is disappointed in how meaningless Britney’s lyrics become, and how outrageous she behaves on TV and social media. On the contradictory, Edelstein has not raised her idol to God status, but identified herself with the idol, which is perhaps even more “dangerous”. Edelstein actually get through with her message. Through her first person narrative, and emotive language the reader is able to identify with her. Thereby making the text easier to understand and agree with. She uses “ethos” throughout her text, by using personal and a first person narrative. This establishes an idea of how Edelstein is and reacts.
The essay is divided in to sections/paragraphs, where every section begins with a headline that contains a quotation from one of Britney Spears’s songs. These quotations work as a summation of what has been said in the previous paragraph, or what is about to be said. The meaning of these quotations however changes as the essay unfolds.
Introductory Edelstein lays the foundation for the essays plot with the quote: “It’s Britney, bitch”. In this paragraph she expresses how she felt when Spears’s career started to decline. After this paragraph the storyline follows her career chronologically.
In the first paragraph Edelstein describes Britney Spears with positive and delightful adjectives: “She's so lucky, she’s a star / but she cries, cries, cries in her lonely heart”
The choosing of this quotation obviously shows that she at this point in time feels an admiration towards Spears. As mentioned before the meaning of the headlines change as the story goes on. In contrast to this paragraph where it expresses feelings of delight and love the last paragraph expresses another view on the “love” and admiration shown in the first. The love might have become worn out and sick - and no longer considered actual love. It is called “With a taste of poison paradise / I’m addicted to you / Don’t you know that you’re toxic?” This shows that Britney’s music has changed and Edelstein’s view also has changed drastically.
Edelstein uses long sentences, which means that you should be a student or educated audience to acquire a full understanding of the text.
The language is very informal and there are a few of examples of this, fx: slut, sexy and knickers.
The use of these words makes it easier for ordinary people to understand/relate the language.

In the first section Edelstein begins all sentences with “I”, this is called an anaphor, this anaphor makes it emotional and biased/personal.
Metaphor: “guided her career with an iron fist”. This metaphor gives us a vivid image of what Edelstein’s is trying to say.

Edelstein writes with a tone that has a pinch of humor, if you have an eye to find it. “Was ever so romantic, or at least not so much”. Here Edelstein uses humor in her tone, to describe her quite absurd relationship with Britney. Edelstein is aware that it would be weird if she was romantically involved with Britney, but still wants it. “These possibilities had been trampled over by my parents”. Here Edelstein uses a humoristic metaphor to describe the dominant nature of parents, which most people can relate to. Edelstein also calls Britney’s mother “infamous”, instead of saying which negative deeds Lynn has done. Throughout the text the text Edelstein doesn’t directly use jokes or puns, but has a tone that could be conceived as mildly humorous in the way they describe things/persons/situations.

Edelstein is very biased throughout her “personal essay”. She doesn’t use logos or facts and numbers. She shares a lot of her own feelings, and mainly sees the situation through her own eyes and viewpoint. “I was unhappy, when I heard”. In this quote it is heavily implied that she is dissatisfied with a situation – and expresses her own feelings to describe it. The text would not be a personal essay if she was entirely objective.