Britney Spears did not attend Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards in New York City, instead posting a short video to Instagram in which she wore a plaid, pleated miniskirt and a cropped, off-the-shoulder top that evoked the schoolgirl look from her 1998 debut video "...Baby One More Time." The 43-year-old singer, who has about 41.9 million followers on the platform, performed for her fans from what appeared to be a Los Angeles setting and provided no accompanying music in the clip.
In the video Spears showed her midriff, paired the low-waisted skirt with black knee-high boots, dark eyeliner and a lace choker, and said she had wanted to wear a "baby pink hat" with the outfit, likening the accessory to the 1995 film Clueless. She captioned the post with two roses flanking a dagger emoji.
The clip arrived amid renewed fan speculation in recent weeks that Spears might make a televised return to the VMAs after a nine-year absence; those reports were subsequently debunked by outlets covering her plans. Spears last performed "...Baby One More Time" publicly in 2017. The song was part of her set during the 2011 Femme Fatale tour and featured in her Las Vegas residency, Britney: Piece of Me, which ran from 2013 to 2017 and comprised 248 shows, grossing more than $137 million.
The post appeared consistent with several recent social-media uploads from Spears. A week earlier she shared a montage filmed at a Mexican vacation home in which she wore a black, sheer bodysuit and a red boater hat over a white bikini, and she has modeled a black choker that observers have linked to her upcoming jewelry line, B. Tiny. Days before the VMAs-posted clip, Spears issued an apology to fans after sharing nude photographs online with only a rose emoji covering parts of her body. In that message she wrote, "Self love and confidence [are] something I'm seeking. I apologize to anyone by showing my a**," and added that sometimes people "have to embarrass yourself to remember who [you] are."
Spears rose to global prominence in the late 1990s with the release of "...Baby One More Time," and her signature schoolgirl costume from the video has remained one of pop culture’s most recognizable images. Since the end of her conservatorship in 2021, Spears has posted intermittently and maintained an irregular public performance schedule. Her social-media activity and occasional music-related announcements continue to attract wide attention from fans and media outlets alike.