Britney Spears is Elvis

Britney Spears is in fact Elvis seems to be the thrust of this piece today.

It is 1977. On stage, the performer in the tight spangly outfit is barely recognisable: doped up, spaced out, the once sleek physique swollen and spread, the singing slurred and unintelligible. The audience is aghast yet mesmerised. These are the dying days of Elvis Presley. Skip forward 30 years, and Britney Spears appears at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards to unveil her new single, Gimme More. The response is not good: "Spears was stuffed into a spangled bra and hotpants," jeers the New York Post, "and jiggled like Jell-O as she sleepwalked through the song."

Hmm, I think we can tell how this comparison between Britney and Elvis is going to turn out, can't we?

The similarities between the lives of Britney and Elvis, two of the most successful acts in the history of pop music, are striking. Born in Mississippi more than 45 years apart, their lives have followed a similar course, encompassing not only No 1 singles, Grammys, wealth and fame, but substance abuse, divorce and a dubious attraction to Las Vegas. Last week, Spears launched her new album, Blackout, to critical applause, but after a year of increasingly unpredictable behaviour, failed rehab stints, attacks on the paparazzi and an ongoing child custody battle, it remains to be seen whether the Princess of Pop can navigate the immense celebrity - and attendant excesses - that destroyed the King.

It's that both Britney and Elvis were/are fat, drugged and divorced. I'm sure there needs to be a little bit more to it than that though. Otherwise we'd all be expecting to hear that Don Simpson died in his bathroom too. Oh, he did you say? Well, better watch out for that porcelain then Britney!