Britney Spears Says She's the 'Original' as Others Borrow Her Early Look

Dancing in red boots to a Chris Isaak classic, the pop icon opened up about staying real in a world she calls fake, just weeks before a nostalgic album release hits shelves.

Britney Spears has a message for anyone channeling her early-2000s style: She did it first.

In an Instagram post shared on Saturday, October 17, the 44-year-old pop star wrote that “a lot of girls last year have definitely done the complete image I used to have when I was younger.” Then she added, “And yo that’s cool but at least mine was real.”

From there, Spears opened up about how the world treats her and how she feels about that. “I was that nerd in school that was real as hell... the world has become fake... people who are actually real get hated on... which is a shame.. ok,” she wrote.

She joked that maybe she should “get fake nails and do the fake thing,” adding that her guy friends tell her to “just be fake” and that she’s “actually too kind in real life and that’s the problem.”

Then came her boldest message. “To all the girls who say I’m History... I’M PROPHECY,” she declared. She described herself as “the original apple B school girl who did backflips and backhand springs and fell in love with people on every set I ever went to,” calling those years “precious so young and naive.”

Near the end of her message, she wrote, “The world has been hateful to me and I’m still standing, living, and dreaming,” before adding one last tip: “PS no makeup makes you look WAY younger.”

In the video accompanying her post, Spears dances in a white button-down top tied at the waist, a short gray skirt, and red boots, with Chris Isaak’s 1995 song “Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing” playing in the background.

Her outfit was reminiscent of the schoolgirl look she popularized in her 1998 “...Baby One More Time” music video, where she danced through school hallways in a tied-up white shirt, pleated skirt, and braided pigtails.

Billboard suggested her post’s comments may be pointing to that look, as well as other looks she popularized during that era, including a red catsuit from “Oops!... I Did It Again” and the crop tops and low-rise pants from “I’m a Slave 4 U.”

Britney Spears’ post comes on the heels of music she dropped earlier this month. The track, “She’ll Never Be Me,” was originally recorded for her 2001 album “Britney” but never released. She co-wrote it with her then-boyfriend Justin Timberlake, along with Bradley Daymond and Alex Greggs. In the song, she calls out an ex for replacing her with a look-alike.

“She’ll Never Be Me” will be included in the 25th anniversary edition of her album “Britney,” set for release on November 6. The 25-song album will also feature other never-before-released music, such as “Am I a Sinner,” “When I Say So,” and “My Big Secret,” to accompany the album’s famous hits.

In 2024, Spears said in a now-deleted post that she will “never return to the music industry.” Her last album of new music, “Glory,” was released in 2016.