Hoping to add, in The Hollywood Reporter’s words, the “legitimacy as a successful recording artist” that Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger only aped as manufactured pop stars, The X Factor is very close to locking down Britney Spears as a judge, bringing in the grizzled, hard-won wisdom that Spears has earned over years of riding the rails, slinging the truth to every dive bar in every two-bit town across the nation. Deadline confirms that Spears has been offered $10 million to join the panel, and train her gimlet eye on the future of the music she’s fought and clawed and bled to protect, ensuring that future will only be decided by others similarly willing to cut open their hearts and squeeze out every last honest word.
That relatively modest exchange for Britney’s priceless experience would, as Deadline notes, be commensurate with Christina Aguilera’s similar earnings for sharing her own born-out-of-the-muck sagacity on The Voice, but still below Jennifer Lopez’s salary for American Idol, because as she’s reminded us repeatedly, Lopez had to battle her way out of the block. In preparation for the job, THR notes that Spears is “undergoing extensive media training,” which we can only surmise means they are coaching Spears on how to couch her cutting observations and harsh industry truths in the sugarcoated niceties of broadcast television.
Update: Spears has officially joined the series for its upcoming season, and we've learned the cost of her legitimacy will be $15 million, a fairly astounding payday (though not that incredible on a per-episode basis). E! Online has the details. We're sure this makes you all far more interested in the show. Right? Right?