Even though Britney Spears has managed to grace the cover of every single magazine in probably the entire world, Rolling Stone’s eerie black and white cover seems to capture the downfall of America’s biggest star perfectly. The magazine calls the once-pop princess an “American tragedy” — something usually reserved for dead rock stars or horrific events. Every time I glance at it, I expect to see 1981-2008 written underneath her name.

I’ve been a big fan of Rolling Stone covers, mostly because they manage to capture an actor or musician’s personality in a creative way that accurately defines them. Even though the magazine has changed a lot over the past few years — moving from authentic artists to talentless pop icons –every now and then they get it right. I’m not saying that this cover is perfect. All they did was recycle an old picture of the Britster. In fact, I kind of hate it. It seems like Rolling Stone took note of the reports on how well the celebrity tabloid industry is doing. They’ve realized that they can only ignore the cash cow for so long and finally opted to leave all dignity behind (whatever dignity that was left) and jump on Britney’s crazy train to hell with the rest of the US Weeklys and OK Magazines of the world. They also may have felt a bit defeated after Blender beat them to the punch.

But nevertheless, exploitation for profit aside, I love the cover, too. The expression on Britney’s face seems to communicate a cry for help. Instead of placing a trashy photo of her flashing her crotch with words like “BASKET CASE” plastered all over it, Rolling Stone went all serious and artsy on us and I like that. I guess what I’m trying to say is I never thought I’d see a tasteful cover of Britney Spears throughout all of the hoopla but here it is. Someone finally took Britney seriously, as far as covers are concerned. Because, as much as we enjoy reading about the mess that her life has become, we often forget that’s she’s human as well. (Wow, Rolling Stone, it’s really working on me.) But most of all, it shows us just how far she’s fallen in such a short time. The once charismatic pop princess with the heart of gold has now become the most profitable tabloid soap opera ever. I’m curious to see whether Time Magazine will pick up on this. I mean, they shouldn’t be far behind, right? I can see it already — maybe a side profile of Brit-brit gazing into the sky. Let the exploitation continue!

Update: I totally spoke too soon.

Update: And if you want to have a laugh about it.

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Photos courtesy of Rolling Stone