Britney Spears at the Billboard Awards: Career-Spanning Medley Opens the Show

Britney Spears amazed television audiences across the nation last night with a career-spanning medley of her hits as the opening number at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards.

The potpourri of the chart-toppers began with a biting version of her 2013 single, "Work B*tch." From there, the Princess of Pop continued to wow the audience at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with succinct but satisfactory renditions of her classic tracks, "Breathe On Me," "I'm a Slave 4 U," "Touch of My Hand" and "Toxic."

Eschewing early material like "Oops!... I Did It Again" and "...Baby One More Time" for a majority of mid-period favorites, the vivacious singer looked to be in top shape as she strutted around the stage with various backup dancers.

"I'm a Slave 4 U" proved to be the titillating centerpiece of the set and was the earliest selection performed, culled from her 2001 album, Britney.

After a tumultuous interval in the mid-aughts, Ms. Spears began her first Vegas residency in 2013. The show, Britney: Piece of Me, is performed at The AXIS auditorium within the Planet Hollywood resort. The show was revamped last year and will continue to run through this September.

In a recent interview with Las Vegas Sun, the veteran pop starlet shared her fondness of the Vegas residency and discussed her main reason for staying put -- taking care of her family:

"I love doing my show in one place, plus it's been great because I can have my boys out with me a lot of the time."

2013's Britney Jean is Spears' most recent studio album, and the singer is reportedly working on a new release for this year. It remains to be seen if she will continue the Vegas show in the coming years, but the singer told Variety she enjoys the static nature of the residency:

"I'm a home girl. I really don't see how I went all over the place and traveled the world and did everything. I feel like I was out of my frickin' mind, and I did that for 15 years. But I was just so hungry and young and eager to pursue my dreams that it made sense then."

Tags
Billboard Music Awards, Britney Spears
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