EJ's Thoughts: Britney Spears Experts Debate Final Four Videos

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Britney Spears Experts Debate Final Four Videos

BreatheHeavy.com's Jordan Miller puts his money on 'Criminal' as voting continues.
By Christina Garibaldi

Jason Trawick and Britney Spears in "Criminal"
Photo: Jive

It's Final Four time in MTV News' Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years. Hundreds of thousands of votes came in during round three — and that led to some shocking eliminations. Most notably, fan favorite "Toxic" lost out to "I'm a Slave 4 U," which advanced to round two.

"We thought that would be the biggest, tightest competition," MTV Newsroom blog editor John Mitchell said of the contest between "Slave" and "Toxic." "And it was the one that was separated by the most [votes]."

The closest finish in the third round came down to this year's "Till the World Ends" and "Lucky," released in 2000.

"Till the World Ends" held the lead for most of the voting, but a last-minute push by fans edged "Lucky" into the next round with a margin of just 128 votes. Now, it's down to the Final Four. "Lucky" will take its chances against Spears' latest video "Criminal," which has a strong shot at the final round, according to BreatheHeavy.com's Jordan Miller, who runs Britney's biggest fan site.

"I think 'Criminal' 's made it really far because it's her latest music video that's out," Miller explained. "I think if that music video came out years ago, I don't think it would be doing so well. It's being promoted right now on TV and radio, but I think because it's new to fans, it's made it this far."

In the Final Four, "Slave 4 U" is facing off against "Hold It Against Me," and MTV News experts predict "Slave" and "Criminal" will ultimately fight it out for the title of Best Britney Video of All Time.

Spears herself recently weighed in on the competition with a tweet, hinting that boyfriend Jason Trawick was supporting "Criminal," in which he co-stars with Brit.

"It's constantly been the most voted-upon bracket every single round," MTV News' Mitchell said of "Criminal." "I think there's a lot of groundswell behind that video; [Britney] obviously supports that video. I think that her fans are going to take it to the end."

Voting for the top four clips is open until 7 a.m. Thursday; the top two will be unveiled at 10 a.m. on Thursday morning, followed by the big reveal of the winner at 10 a.m. ET on Friday, which happens to be Britney's 30th birthday.