Britney Spears has declared that she "will never return to the music industry," after quashing claims that she is releasing new music.
Earlier this week, a report by Page Six alleged that the 42-year-old pop princess will be working with singer/songwriters Charli XCX and Julia Michaels for her unannounced 10th studio album - which would've been her first in nearly a decade.
Rolling Stone additionally quoted an insider claiming that "management and A&R are trying to get her excited for the music. As of right now, she’s not actively in recording but they’re getting [songs] done to present to her".
However, the 'Baby One More Time' icon staunchly denied the claims in an Instagram post shared on Wednesday (December 3).
Check out Spears' post below:Posting a picture of the Italian Renaissance painting 'Salome Bearing the Head of St. John the Baptist,' Spears penned: "Just so we’re clear most of the news is trash !!! They keep saying I’m turning to random people to do a new album… I will never return to the music industry !!!"
Instead, she said that she had written "over 20 songs" for other artists over the past two years, adding: "When I write I write for fun or I write for other people !!! For those of you who have read my book, there's loads that you don’t know about me…"
The 'Toxic' songstress went on to call herself a "ghostwriter," meaning she most likely uses a pseudonym when writing for other artists, and said she "honestly [prefers] it that way".
She concluded her post by addressing claims that her memoir, The Woman in Me, was released without her approval.
"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 !!!" she said.
Spears has not released a full album since 2016’s Glory and officially took a break from music in 2019, describing it as a strike against her estranged father, Jamie Spears, who was benefitting from her sales during her conservatorship.
After a Los Angeles judge terminated the 13-year legal arrangement in 2021, she released collaborations with Elton John for the hit song 'Hold Me Closer' and Will.i.am for 'Mind Your Business' in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
In her recent candid book, the Grammy-winning star wrote that as a young artist, "music was my life and the conservatorship" - which controlled her life from 2008-2021 – "was deadly for that," as cited by The Guardian.
She explained that despite her recent collaboration with Elton John, "pushing forward in my music career is not my focus at the moment. It’s time for me not to be someone who other people want; it’s time to actually find myself."
It looks like we won't be getting any music from the pop icon anytime soon.