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It's time for the Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years, MTV News' celebration of all things Britney to honor the pop star's 30th birthday! In the lead up to the big day, we're asking you, Brit's most loyal fans, to help us decide which video from her legendary career is your favorite by participating in a winner-take-all tournament. MTV News' resident Britney experts assigned 30 of Britney's videos seeds and put them up against one another in a series of single-elimination match-ups. Fan voting will determine which of her amazing clips is named the fan-favorite. So vote now and vote often for your favorite video. The winner will be announced on December 2 – Britney's 30th birthday!

It's down to the Final Two!

This is it, Britney fiends. We are down to the final two videos in MTV News' Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years. Each new round has brought fantastic surprises to the MTV Newsroom, as videos we assumed to be sure things got knocked out of the race early and clips we thought might get left in the dust dominated.

Our showdown to find out which video is the Britney fan favorite comes down to "I'm A Slave 4 U" and "Criminal," two of the pop star's sexiest clips ever. "Slave" is classic Britney – a "TRL" favorite from her third album, Britney – while "Criminal," the most recent single from her hit album Femme Fatale, showcases Britney Version 2011, as our girl goes on a crime spree with her real-life boyfriend Jason Trawick (and hits the showers for a particularly steamy sequence).

It's getting down to the wire and we only have one day to go until Britney's big day. Our winner will be determined on Friday, Dec. 2 – Britney's 30th birthday! Cast your vote below now through tomorrow at 7AM and be sure to check back tomorrow to see which video takes the title of Best Britney Video of All Time!

Watch both videos after the jump! Read More...

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It's time for the Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years, MTV News' celebration of all things Britney to honor the pop star's 30th birthday! In the lead up to the big day, we're asking you, Brit's most loyal fans, to help us decide which video from her legendary career is your favorite by participating in a winner-take-all tournament. MTV News' resident Britney experts assigned 30 of Britney's videos seeds and put them up against one another in a series of single-elimination match-ups. Fan voting will determine which of her amazing clips is named the fan-favorite. So vote now and vote often for your favorite video. The winner will be announced on December 2 – Britney's 30th birthday!

Man, you Britney fans are a surprising bunch!

We've pretty much given up trying to forecast the outcome of MTV News' Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos For 30 Years because as we go into the Final Four things look nothing like we expected … with one notable exception!

From the beginning, we had a feeling "I'm A Slave 4 U" would be one of the clips to survive the intense competition and we were right. The sexy clip marked a major transition in the Princess of Pop's career as she moved away from the wholesome image she'd carved out with her first two albums, …Baby One More Time and Oops! I Did It Again, and moved into more adult territory with her third album, Britney, and was one of her biggest "TRL" hits.

The other remaining videos indicate fans' affection for Britney Spears: Version 2011. Early on, we thought nostalgia would rule the day and her older videos would dominate the competition. That hasn't been the case as newer clips have proven themselves to be Britney fan favorites. So much so that two of the final four videos come from her most recent album, Femme Fatale. One of the biggest surprises of the whole competition – as far as the Britney experts here in the MTV Newsroom are concerned – has been the incredibly strong performance of Brit's latest clip "Criminal." It's a great video (and we know she loves it), but we are shocked that such a recent clip has destroyed Britney classics like "Baby" and "Stronger" to make it to the final four.

It's getting down to the wire and we only have three days and two rounds to go until Britney's big day. Our winner will be determined on Friday, Dec. 2 – Britney's 30th birthday! Cast your vote now through tomorrow, Dec. 1 at 7AM in the Final Four showdown after the jump. Read More...

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By Christina Garibaldi

We are now in the third round of the competition in our Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years! From now until Friday, Dec. 2, 30 of Britney Spears’ hottest, sexiest and most iconic videos are battling it out for the title of the Best Britney Video of All Time. We know that this is not an easy decision to make, which is why we are here to help! We will be taking a look back at several of Ms. Spears’ videos throughout the years to get insight from directors, set visits and Britney herself.

Next up is Britney’s video for “Toxic.” In probably the fiercest match-up of the competition, “Toxic” will try to edge out “I’m a Slave 4 U” for a spot in the final four.

"Toxic" has become one of Britney’s most recognizable videos and had her teaming up, yet again, with "Stronger" and "Womanizer" director Joseph Kahn. "The plot is pretty nonsensical," Joseph told MTV News of "Toxic" in 2009. "It's just fun. [It's like] James Bond flicks and sex."

"Toxic," which was the second single off Britney’s 2003 album In the Zone and scored Spears a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording, shows off the singers sexy side as a secret agent in disguise. "It's basically about a girl addicted to a guy," Britney told MTV in 2003. "I really like 'Toxic.' It's an upbeat song. It's really different, that's why I like it so much. This villain girl, she'll do anything to get what she wants. She goes through different obstacles."

Probably the most challenging obstacle of them all was just how Director Joseph Kahn was going to pull off Britney’s biggest request. Read More...

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Shocking is the only word to describe the results of Round Two of MTV News' Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos For 30 Years.

Two of Britney's most iconic videos – "…Baby One More Time" and "Oops! I Did It Again" – were knocked out of the competition and even though thousands of votes were cast in each showdown, the winner in several brackets was determined by only a handful of votes. We are now down to the Elite 8 – "Hold It Against Me" vs. "Me Against The Music," "Toxic" vs. "I'm A Slave 4 U," "Till The World Ends" vs. "Lucky" and "Stronger" vs. "Criminal."

Don't forget to vote in Round Three of Britney Spears: 30 Videos For 30 Years:
>>> Round Two, East Division
>>> Round Two, West Division

Voting continues through Tuesday, Nov. 29 at midnight. Voting for top four will begin Wednesday, November 30.

As we head into the homestretch (Britney's 30th birthday is Friday!), things start to get more and more serious, so we called upon our resident team of Britney experts, MTV News' Christina Garibaldi and Jocelyn Vena, who are joined by Celebuzz's Amber James, to talk about the surprises from Round Two and give their predictions for Round Three.

Watch below:

Read More...

Tags britney spears, Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years

We are now in the third round of the competition in our Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years! From now until December 2, Britney Spears' hottest, sexiest and most iconic videos are battling it out for the title of Best Britney Video of All Time. We know that this is not an easy decision to make, which is why we are here to help! We will be taking a look back at several of Ms. Spears' videos throughout the years to get insight from directors, set visits and Britney herself.

Next up is Britney’s video for “Me Against the Music.” The video, which barley edged out "(You Drive Me) Crazy" in the second round, faces off against “Hold it Against Me” for a spot in the final four. This video had Britney team up with the Queen of Pop herself, Madonna. The two play a cat-and-mouse game in the video, teasing not only the viewers, but each other as well.

"Madonna is an icon of an earlier generation, and then Britney of the newer generation," director Paul Hunter told MTV News in 2009. "She was at her peak at that point, so it was a challenge to kind of bring both of the worlds together."

The video, which was the lead single from Britney’s 2003 album In the Zone¸ shows off some of her sharpest dance moves and teases us with near repeat of their VMA kiss, which is where this collaboration came together. Read More...

Tags britney spears, Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years

It's time for the Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years, MTV News' celebration of all things Britney to honor the pop star's 30th birthday! In the lead up to the big day, we're asking you, Brit's most loyal fans, to help us decide which video from her legendary career is your favorite by participating in a winner-take-all tournament. MTV News' resident Britney experts assigned 30 of Britney's videos seeds and put them up against one another in a series of single-elimination match-ups. Fan voting will determine which of her amazing clips is named the fan-favorite. So vote now and vote often for your favorite video. The winner will be announced on December 2 – Britney's 30th birthday!

"Hold It Against Me" vs. "Me Against The Music"

Another insanely close call! Another early Britney clip falling to a newer video. You guys are seriously rallying hard around your favorite Britney videos.

Sure, "Me Against The Music," with its fantastic dancing, high production values and Madonna appearance, is technically a better video, but here in the MTV Newsroom we were certain that nostalgia would rule the day and "(You Drive Me) Crazy" would sweep Round Two right out from under "Me Against The Music." Wrong! Like the competitions between "Everytime" and "Lucky" and "Criminal" and "Lucky," this was, essentially, another 50/50 runoff, but in the end when the final numbers were tallied, "Me Against the Music" was the one left standing.

That means it will square off in the Elite 8 against the video for the lead single from Britney's most recent album, Femme Fatale. In one of Round Two's stronger victories, the futuristic video for "Hold It Against Me" took down Britney's VMA Video of the Year-winning "Piece of Me." Given the support "Hold It Against Me" received in Round one of Britney Spears: 30 Videos For 30 Years," we're actually not that surprised the video performed so well as part of the Sweet 16.

"Toxic" vs. "I'm A Slave 4 U"

Finally, a bracket runoff that panned out exactly as we expected!

Listen, the videos for "Circus" and "Womanizer" are fantastic (heck, "Womanizer" is itself a VMA winner for Best Pop Video), but it just wouldn't have been right if the legendary clips for "Toxic" and "Slave" didn't make it to the Elite 8. (Of course, we would have said the same thing about "…Baby One More Time" – but that's just us!) "Slave" bested "Womanizer" 61.61 percent to 38.39 percent, while "Toxic" triumphed over "Circus" with the largest victory in the second round – 67.41 percent to 32.59 percent.

The only thing is … That puts two of our absolute favorite Britney videos up against each other in the Elite 8, meaning one of them won't make it into the final four! So which will it be, Britney fans? Do you love "Toxic" or is "I'm A Slave 4 U" more your jam? Vote below.

Tags britney spears, Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years

It's time for the Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years, MTV News' celebration of all things Britney to honor the pop star's 30th birthday! In the lead up to the big day, we're asking you, Brit's most loyal fans, to help us decide which video from her legendary career is your favorite by participating in a winner-take-all tournament. MTV News' resident Britney experts assigned 30 of Britney's videos seeds and put them up against one another in a series of single-elimination match-ups. Fan voting will determine which of her amazing clips is named the fan-favorite. So vote now and vote often for your favorite video. The winner will be announced on December 2 – Britney's 30th birthday!

"Till The World Ends" vs. "Lucky"

In one of the stronger wins from Round Two, Britney's apocalyptic, VMA-winning "Till The World Ends" handily defeated the steamy clip for her cover of Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative." That means one of Britney's latest videos will square off against one of her earliest in the Elite 8. In one of the closest races (among many very close showdowns) Britney's clip for "Lucky" just pulled past her controversial video for the In The Zone ballad "Everytime." How close were they? Well, 51,694 votes were cast in this category alone and the split came down to 50.03 percent for "Lucky" and 49.97 percent for "Everytime". That's close, y'all!

"Stronger" vs. "Criminal"

But guess which race was unexpectedly even closer than the runoff between "Lucky" and "Everytime"? In perhaps the biggest surprise so far in Britney Spears: 30 Videos For 30 Years, "Criminal," the hot and sexy video for Britney's most recent single, defeated arguably her most iconic video of all, "…Baby One More Time." You heard that right. "Baby" took 49.999 percent of the vote, but "Criminal" snagged just a few more key votes to snag 50.01 percent, taking the round. We suspect Brit's boy and "Criminal" co-star Jason Trawick will be quite pleased.

That pits another new video against an early Britney classic, as "Criminal" will go up against "Stronger," which itself knocked another Britney classic out of the competition, in the Elite 8. Going into the holiday weekend, the showdown between "Stronger" and "Oops! I Did It Again" looked was shaping up to be the neck-in-neck contest of Round Two. How wrong we were! Sure, it was a tight race, but in the end "Stronger" ruled the day with just over 52 percent of the vote, leaving the big budget, otherworldly lip for "Oops" with just under 48 percent of the 56,085 votes cast in this frame.

Tags britney spears, Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years

By Christina Garibaldi

We are now in the second round of the competition in our Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years! From now until December 2, Britney Spears' hottest, sexiest and most iconic videos are battling it out for the title of Best Britney Video of All Time. We know that this is not an easy decision to make, which is why we are here to help! We will be taking a look back at several of Ms. Spears' videos throughout the years to get insight from directors, set visits and Britney herself.

Next up is one of Britney’s biggest budget videos of all time, "Oops! I Did It Again." The video will battle it out against "Stronger" in the second round, another video off her Oops!..I Did It Again album. Britney hooked up with director Nigel Dick to bring "Oops" to life, which stripped Britney of her school girl look and put her in to a skin-tight catsuit.

"There was another catsuit, actually, which was fantastic, which I loved," Nigel told MTV News in 2009. "And the night before, I was told that Britney hired this guy that worked with Michael Jackson, and so we're going to use that catsuit. So that's the catsuit."

Britney told MTV back in 2000 that she was the one that actually came up with the concept for the video. "This whole idea was my idea," she said. "I was like, 'I want to be on Mars, dancing on Mars.'" Read More...

Tags britney spears, Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years

By Christina Garibaldi

We are now in the second round of the competition in our Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years! From now until December 2, Britney Spears' hottest, sexiest and most iconic videos are battling it out for the title of Best Britney Video of All Time. We know that this is not an easy decision to make, which is why we are here to help! We will be taking a look back at several of Ms. Spears' videos throughout the years to get insight from directors, set visits and Britney herself.

This Thanksgiving we are giving you a look back at Britney’s video for "Piece of Me." The video, which got a first round by in the competition for its 2008 VMA win for Video of the Year, gets in on the action against "Hold It Against Me." "Piece" was the second single off her 2007 album Blackout and the video takes aim at the paparazzi, who at the time (and even now) were following her every move. The video marked not only Brit’s first Video Music Award, but also director Wayne Isham’s.

"On 'Piece of Me,' I really just wanted to put the mirror back onto the whole experience," Isham told MTV News in 2009 about the video's concept."You can see that she had that kind of confidence. And, literally, every take became a more and more confident take, so that she could have fun with what was going on. Not being over-the-top sarcastic but having a laugh at everything that was going on around her with confidence."

And it seems that Britney’s real-life confidence was returning as well. Wayne revealed that she came up with the choreography for the final dance on the set of the video. Read More...

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Round Two of MTV News' Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos For 30 Years is underway and everyone in the MTV Newsroom is ultra excited about it!

So excited that we called up our friend Tamar Anitai from MTV Buzzworthy to join MTV News' own Christina Garibaldi and Kara Klenk to get into an in-depth discussion of the second round of competition. The fierce ladies of MTV are joined via Skype by one of Britney's biggest fans, celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, who reveals his favorite Britney video!

Check out the red-hot discussion below:

And don't forget to vote Round Two of Britney Spears: 30 Videos For 30 Years:
>>> Round Two, East Division
>>> Round Two, West Division

Tags britney spears, Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years