Britney Spears? Lip-synching? “Whateverrrr” as the pop princess might put it herself.

Britney has been lip-synching her way through her “comeback” world tour for the past six months, so it’s a bit of a mystery why it’s caused such a fuss in Australia.

As singer John Mayer , who has been in Australia promoting his own album, put it in a wry weekend tweet,  “If you’re shocked that Britney was lip-synching at her concert and want your money back, life may continue to be hard for you.”

Britney’s not the first performer to lip-synch during fast-paced, live song-and-dance performances, and she’s certainly not the last — even classical musicians Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman played to a recording at President Barack Obama’s outdoor inauguration in the bitter January weather.

But the practice seems to be news to some Australian politicians, who are suggesting that tickets should carry a disclaimer about whether parts of concerts are pre-recorded or mimed.

Britney’s fans — in Australia and elsewhere — are coming out in support of their idol, whose slick “Circus” tour went around the United States before going Down Under.

“oh my god Britney i’m so embarrassed by how Australia has treated you since you arrived in our country. You have been nothing but slammed and put down since arriving and it’s pathetic. I’m from Australia and my entire family is beyond inspired by yourself, your music, your life and your morals,” wrote one fan, Katie D, on the official Britney Spears website.

So if most fans seem happy, does it matter anymore whether Britney, or anyone else, lip-synchs at “live” concerts? After all, as Britney sings on the title track of her latest album “I’m runnin’ this like-like-like a circus.”

Or are audiences at pop concerts getting short-changed after sometimes handing over more than $100 for a ticket?

The critics largely enjoyed their trip to the circus with Britney Spears, as the 27-year-old troubled pop diva opened her latest Circus tour in New Orleans on Tuesday night to mostly positive reviews.
     
The New Orleans Times-Picayune said Spears, who was performing in her home state of Louisiana, nailed the first stop on her comeback.

“With so much at stake, and so much to prove, on the tour’s first night, she was fully focused on executing the complex concert. And execute she did,” Times-Picayune reviewer Keith Spera reported in a blog.

Los Angeles Times music critic Ann Powers wrote that  despite singing with a backing track, relying on “nothing special” dance moves and looking less strikingly beautiful than when she first gained fame at 17, Spears “nonetheless renewed her claim as one of the world’s most adept manipulators of the public interest.”

But People magazine writer Chuck Arnold was left feeling like the Circus Tour was full of hot air. “Don’t call it a comeback quite yet,” Arnold wrote, adding that Spears appeared nervous and hardly acknowledged or talked to the audience.
    
Arnold also said the show reminded him of Cirque du Soleil. “When she wrapped the concert about 90 minutes after emerging, she seemed more relieved than anything that it was all over,” he wrote.
    
Most agree the Spears show was heavy on spectacle and technically impressive, and almost everyone noted her lip syncing.  Some felt the production overwhelmed the star, while others said Spears looked great but seemed overburdened and distant. The show also was heavy on erotica, even though Spears still attracts many families with children in tow.

Spears will shuttle across the country at a dizzying pace in the coming months. She performs in Atlanta on Thursday, followed by Miami on Saturday and another show in Tampa the next night. Until the tour ends on June 14 in London, Spears will perform on many consecutive nights, as her Circus tour makes stops in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and other cities.

 Will she be able to keep up with it all, or will the newly resplendent Spears start to get frayed at the edges?  
(Additional reporting by Kathy Finn)

Photo credit: Britney Spears performs for “Good Morning America” December 2008.  Lucas Jackson/Reuters

(Writing and reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)

Jason Alexander, not the “Seinfeld” star but the 27-year-old first ex-husband of  Britney Spears,  has been sent to jail on his court conviction for driving under the influence.
    
A judge has sent Alexander to jail for 10 days for violating his probation in the case,  the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, said on Thursday.
    
Because of jail overcrowding, Alexander could be released after serving about seven days, officials said. 
    
Alexander’s jail stint comes as Spears launched a career comeback with the release of her new  album “Circus” and the announcement of a U.S. and British tour. 
    
Spears and Alexander, a childhood sweetheart, were married in Las Vegas in January 2004, but the the marriage was annulled a couple days later on the grounds that Spears “lacked understanding of her actions.”

(Reporting and writing by Alex Dobuzinskis)

As she works on her comeback, singer Britney Spears awaits the release of her album “Circus” on Dec. 2. But fans can start delving into the album now with the release of extended segments from six “Circus” songs that were posted on Thursday at the Web site of New York radio station 103.5 KTU.

One of the songs, “Womanizer,” was already released in September, and another song “Kill The Lights” turned up on the Web site YouTube this week, then was taken down within hours and later reposted. With lyrics that include the words “Mr. Photographer, I think I’m ready for my close up tonight,” the song is a clear reference to her paparazzi-filled life. The video posted online for the song features images of Spears pole-dancing, demonstrating that Spears shows no signs of changing gears from the sex-fueled persona that helped shoot her to pop stardom.
    
Other songs included in the nearly 8-minute segment posted on Thursday at KTU’s Web site were: “Circus,” “Out from Under,” “If U Seek Amy” and “Unusual You.”
    
It remains to be seen how far the album “Circus” will propel Spears as she seeks to make a career comeback from the public meltdown she suffered in 2007 and early 2008. Since the album will be released on her birthday, the singer stands a chance to give herself an outsized present if “Circus” is a hit.

Radio stations were supposed to start playing Britney Spears’ new single “Womanizer” on Monday. But instead the pop star’s record label pushed back the release by a week. 
    
The last minute delay comes after a 37-second segment of “Womanizer” was leaked and played on the Web site of a Nashville, Tennessee, radio station on Friday. The leak had a short life that day, as Spears’ record label, Zomba Label Group/Jive Records, told the station to take the song off its site.
    
Wendy Washington, a spokeswoman for the record company, said on Monday that the single’s release was pushed back.
    
“Yes, the mix is being finalized and is expected to be done within a week,” Washington said.
    
The leaked segment of “Womanizer” was not an immediate hit with commentators on the Web. The site Hollyscoop.com said the fake song “Candy From Strangers,” posted online last week by a Spears impostor, was more catchy than the leaked song from Spears herself.
    
The single is off Spears’ album “Circus,” which is scheduled to be released on the pop star’s 27th birthday on Dec. 2.
    
Spears has a lot riding on the album, because after a turbulent public meltdown last year she appears to have gotten her life back on track, giving her the chance to make what could be the biggest comeback in years in the rollercoaster music business. 
 (Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis)