In January, Spears took to social media to say reports of her working on new music were false.
Charli XCX says she worked on fresh music for Britney Spears, despite the "Toxic" singer shooting down rumors earlier this year.
In a recent Watch What Happens Live episode, Charli confirmed speculations that she was involved in writing music for Spears' upcoming album, despite the pop icon's denial of having "random people" contribute to her songs.
When asked by a virtual fan about her alleged collaboration with Spears, Charli initially responded with a playful ambiguity, stating, "Um… So… Yes?"
"It leaked to the press. Britney then did this post where she was like, ‘I don’t have random people write for me,'" Charli explained during the After Show. "And I was like, 'Oh. OK. Go off.' So I don’t know that she was a part of the process."
Despite going to Malibu to write songs with Spears' team, Charli clarified that Spears did not record the material. "The team were present… But she didn’t record it. She obviously didn’t," she noted.
However, Charli XCX expressed her admiration for Spears, stating that it would be a "dream come true" to have the pop icon record her songs. Despite Spears' team allegedly wanting to relaunch her into the music industry, Spears herself seemed to express frustration with the rumors in a since-deleted Instagram post.
“Just so we’re clear most of the news is trash !!!," Spears wrote in January. "They keep saying I’m turning to random people to do a new album … I will never return to the music industry !!!”
In the post, Spears also claimed to have ghostwritten more than a dozen songs for other singers and groups in recent years, pointing to her October memoir, The Woman In Me, in which she also discussed her music career.
Alongside the caption, the singer shared a photo of a Guido Reni painting showing Salome III from the Holy Bible holding the head of John the Baptist.
"For those of you who have read my book, there’s loads that you don’t know about me …I’ve written over 20 songs for other people the past two years !!! I’m a ghostwriter and I honestly enjoy it that way !!!" the mom of two claimed. "People are also saying MY BOOK WAS RELEASED WITHOUT MY APPROVAL ILLEGALLY and that’s far from the truth … have you read the news these days ??? I’m so LOVED and blessed !!!"
Spears -- whose most recent music release was the "Tiny Dancer" remix, "Hold Me Closer," with Elton John in 2021 -- also seems unlikely to perform any of her older hits live anytime soon. The last time she performed on stage was on Dec. 31, 2017 for the final night of her Las Vegas residency.
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