Ever since James Corden announced that Britney Spears would be joining him on The Late Late Show for a round of Carpool Karaoke, I’ve had some conflicted feelings. On the one hand: Britney! Fun! I hope they do “Toxic”! On the other hand: Live singing is not exactly Britney’s strongest suit as a performer. (No shade; she’s never pretended to be Adele, and that’s fine.) How was she going to handle this?
Watch: Britney Spears lip syncs and chair dances on Carpool Karaoke
Constance Grady is a senior correspondent on the Culture team for Vox, where since 2016 she has covered books, publishing, gender, celebrity analysis, and theater.
As it turns out, she decided to handle it by mostly mouthing along inaudibly to her songs while Corden belted them out. But she still treated us to some quality chair dancing, and she gave Corden the greatest gift of all. “I like your moves,” she told him.
They started off with a classic: "Oops! … I Did It Again."
“What’s that really about?” Corden asked curiously.
Britney gasped as though he’d just asked her the world’s most insightful question. “I don’t know,” she concluded after a moment. “I think it’s just a song.”
Then it was on to “Womanizer,“ followed by “Make Me,“ before they finally reached what is inarguably and objectively Britney’s greatest song, “Toxic.“ (Fight me.)
You might have expected them to end with “Toxic,” as anything after that would inevitably be a letdown. But instead they started talking about schools and corporal punishment (Britney gave Tickled a shout-out), and that could only mean one thing.
It was time for ”… Baby One More Time.“ Which, of course, they performed in Catholic schoolgirl drag. Corden even donned a pigtail wig for the occasion.
Britney may not be the greatest live singer in the world, but you can’t say she doesn’t know how to put on a show.
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