Billboard Music Awards 2016: Britney Spears opens show with ‘Toxic,’ ‘Womanizer,’ ‘Breathe On Me’ medley

Given that Britney Spears is one of the most iconic pop stars of the past twenty years, can you really be surprised that the 2016 Billboard Music Awards chose to open things with a performance from her? We’re certainly not, especially when she still has something to promote in her “Piece of Me” show in Las Vegas.

As for what Spears chose to perform on this occasion, it was a medley of some of her his, whether it be “Work, B—h,” her cover of “I Love Rock ‘n Roll,” “I’m a Slave 4 U,” “Toxic,” “Breathe On Me,” or “Womanizer.” Also, she may be near the top of the leaderboard now when it comes to one of the most risque outfits in the history of the ABC awards show.

Is this going to go down as one of the greatest vocal performances in the history of the BBMAs? It’s probably easy to say that the answer to that is “no,” since it has all of the same pitfalls of every other Spears performance over the years. (For example, we’re not entirely sure what the natural sound of her voice even is at this point.) Still, we figure that you hire Britney more for the visual spectacle than the vocal showcase, and from that vantage point, it’s fairly clear that she delivered.

We will say that with Madonna in attendance for the show to pay tribute to Prince, there was a part of us that expected her to come out at some point to join in this. That didn’t happen. Yet, the show did devote a good ten or so minutes to Britney’s opening medley, which is more than we tend to see for many other performers.

We’ll have some more on the Billboard Music Awards later at this link, so check back soon for more coverage! Also, sign up over here to get some other TV news on all we cover, sent right to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)