A year after her disastrous performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, Britney Spears opened the event's 25th annual installment on Sunday in anti-climactic fashion, leaving the singing to others.
After weeks of hype, the pop singer took the stage simply to deliver four sentences, shielding her lower face with her microphone.
"Thank you so much. Thank you for all the love. I'm here tonight to celebrate a very important birthday, the 25th anniversary of the VMAs. This is the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards and it starts right now."
And that was it. While MTV had said Spears would not be singing, it had promised a fun surprise. The audience barely had time to digest her perfunctory delivery before R&B singer Rihanna belted out the show's first musical performance.
Spears did return to the stage a few minutes later to accept the first award of the night, best female video for her tune "Piece Of Me." It also represented the first MTV "Moonman" statuette of her career.
She thanked God, her family and dedicated the award to her fans. Spears is also in contention for video of the year and best pop video, both also for "Piece of Me," which stalled at No. 18 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart earlier this year.
Spears inadvertently stole the show last year. Clearly unsteady and out-of-shape, she badly lip-synched to a song, drawing bewildered stares from the high-wattage audience and universal derision in the messy aftermath.
