Britney Spears in concert at Rod Laver Stadium in Melbourne. Photo: Roderick Norman Trestrail II

Britney Spears in concert at Rod Laver Stadium in Melbourne. Photo: Roderick Norman Trestrail II

Britney Spears has brought her Circus to Melbourne. I went along.

It’s tempting to disguise my interest in this concert by comparing the rise and fall of Britney’s fortunes to that of modern America and its place in the world.

After all, like the country that produced her, Britney’s story is of a rapid advance, fabulous wealth, global fame and selective domination — only to be followed by a self-obsessed plunge into infamy and wide-eyed abandon.

Britney shot to worldwide fame in the late 1990s when US power was at its apex, Bill Clinton grinning and sitting on a plump budget surplus. And a decade later, as George Bush struggled in his last months to defend a costly war and an economy in tatters, Britney had been transformed into a media punchline, suffering a public breakdown, head shaven and hospitalised.

In words from Rolling Stone in 2008, ‘‘she’s the perfect celebrity for America in decline,’’ a symbol of the how the country’s pop-culture can at once appeal and repulse. Rich, yes. Tacky? Absolutely.

Like America, Britney has always kept a loyal legion of fans, many more than her joyous detractors will ever concede, with her mistakes remember more than her success.

Like America, Britney has bounced back after her fall to rise once again. The American President is the most popular politician on the planet. Britney's songs are again topping charts.

Barack Obama offers ''Hope'' as his mantra as he seeks to restore American international prestige, challenging people to believe in change. In her latest album, Britney divides the people world in two, ‘‘the ones that entertain, and the ones that observe.’’

Yet like Obama, the gloss of Britney’s renewal has quickly worn thin. For the President, his fine speeches have not transformed into instant action. The realities of office are dragging him down, in Afghanistan, on climate change, in the Middle East and at home. People are starting to wonder if her is all style, no substance.

For Britney ... well, she’s lip-syncing her latest hits. Style over substance.

But the truth is, this comparison is all a stretch. A pop star is no emblem of America. I just like her music — some of it at least.