“Piece Of Me” is up to #46 in the official UK singles chart this week, rising 23 places since last week!

“Blackout” is also proving more popular among the UK public this week.  It has risen 13 places and is currently at #65 in the official UK album chart.

The thing about being a celebrity fotog is that you can dip your pen in the company fountain and still show up for work the next day and everything’s business as usual.

The paparazzo turned boy-toy that Britney Spears plucked from her caravan of lurking photographers last weekend says he makes as much as $200,000 a year off of the pop wreck by staying on her tail 20 hours-a-day, 7 days a week — and he’s sticking with his day job.

“I think she’s awesome,” Brit’s one-night stand, Adnan Ghalib, told 20/20 in his first sitdown interview which aired last night.

“I think she’s a great person…It’s unfortunate that she’s the way she is, because of the people she surrounds herself with.”

When the reporter asked whether her life would improve if the 30-cars of stalking shutterbugs left her alone, the freelancer admitted he’d “be lying if I said no.”

“She’s so unpredictable…she is lucrative in that sense,” he rationalized.

Case in point: “We’d been out driving for about six hours. And I just stuck with her the whole time. She had paid for some cigarettes, went back in, picked up a lighter and said, I stole a lighter. I couldn’t believe it…Ball park, that 40-second clip could run about $40,000…

“I mean, if we’re not there, who’s going to pump her gas? Just yesterday she asked me to escort her home,” said the married videographer of their budding relationship.

Last week, PageSix.com exclusively revealed the behind the scene hour-by-hour of their overnight 5-star hideaway where Britney rambled for hours about her troubled life.

“Maybe the only friends she’s going to have that treat her with the respect that she deserves are going to be the photographers that work her 24 hours a day. It’s going to have to be us…I think we are her friends now. Until she tells us to go away.”

Source: Page Six

How deluded is he? Friends?

Here’s another remix of “Piece Of Me”, the Boz O Lo mix, which was produced by Bloodshy & Avant, who are also the producers of the original song.

I havent’ posted the full thing as it’s the only remix on the UK CD single. Click the Play button to listen!

Image via X17.

Britney’s latest single “Piece Of Me” has raced up the US Billboard Hot 100.

The song jumped 24 places to #21 this week!

The music video is also available to download now worldwide on iTunes.

Paris Hilton has done it. Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie both (barely) did it. And then there’s Michelle Rodriguez, Kiefer Sutherland… Heck, this year it seems like just about every celebrity has spent a little time in the gray-bar hotel. And if Britney Spears continues her past behaviour in her ongoing custody dispute, sources tell OK! she may very well end up spending some time in lockdown herself.

OK! has confirmed with sources close to the ongoing custody war between Britney and ex-hubby Kevin Federline that the pop star is — once again — scheduled next week to be deposed by K-Fed’s lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan. However, as the 25-year-old mother of two has blown off over a half-dozen previously scheduled attempts at being deposed — including two depositions ordered by the court! — many insiders are convinced that she will be a no-show for this one as well. But considering the potentially dire consequences for Brit, she might want to think twice before oversleeping or calling in sick next week.

“She could go to jail for contempt of court if she refuses to show,” one legal eagle confirms to OK!. “That would be extreme for a child custody hearing, but not outside the realm of possibility.” More likely, explains the courtroom insider, K-Fed’s team could ask the court to impose monetary sanctions on Britney, who is already footing the bill for Kevin’s legal expenses!

As things stand right now, barring any more emergency hearings, lawyers for Britney and Kevin are not due back in court until February, with the final custody hearing expected to start April 9.

Source: OK! Magazine

Here is another official remix of “Piece Of Me”.  It’s the Junior Vasquez & Johnny Vicious Vocal Club Remix.

Listen to it here.

One of the songs that leaked with the rest of the “Blackout” demos has been uploaded in its finished form to the producer’s MySpace profile.

It’s not much different to the demo, but the vocals have been polished up.  It was recorded during the “Blackout” sessions, but was obviously rejected once they decided to go with an upbeat album.

The official title is “To Love Let Go”, and was written by Britney, Devo Springsteen and Tom Craskey, according to the official song registering service, BMI Repetoire.

Listen here. 

Here’s another official remix of “Piece Of Me” – the Mysto & Pizzi Radio Edit.

Click the play button to listen!

Britney’s long time assistant and friend, Felicia Culotta, has spoken out on Britney for the first time since just before Britney went to rehab (check out some of what she had to say back then here). She was spotted backstage at Z100’s Jingle Ball recently, and was asked a few things about her long time employer.

Fe, who is now the assistant of the Jonas Brothers, said, “It’s just so sad to see Britney now.”  She has turned away from everyone that wants to help her and love her. I hope she reaches out to her family for help soon.”

She went on to comment on how working for Jonas Brothers differs from her time with Britney. “Working with the Jonas Brothers is a totally positive experience,” Culotta gushed. “They are wonderful, and I feel so lucky to be with such sweet people. It is a completely different experience from my time with Britney near the end.”

Britney and Fe parted ways in 2005.