Could a Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake collaboration be on the pop horizon? Fans seem to think so. The “Baby One More Time” singer, 39, recently shared an Instagram post that featured a very big cat on Tuesday, Aug. 17. What does a very big cat have to do with her ex-boyfriend from the early aughts? Britney captioned the post with lyrics from Justin’s song “Filthy” — and some have interpreted as such as a collab tease.
“As JT would say … haters gonna say it’s fake !!!!!” Britney captioned the image of the cat and an unidentified person. “I MEAN … wow I have no idea … what do you guys think 💭 ???? I’ve always liked small kittens … although big cats are extremely smart they always sort of scared me.” In the comments section, one fan wrote: “JT collab confirmed,” while another wrote, “I’m off JT’s wagon, but if you guys collabed, I would hop back on so fast.” (Meanwhile, another fan wrote, “Free Britney right meow!”)
The singers previously dated between 1999 and 2002 after initially meeting as children on set of The All-New Mickey Mouse Club in the early ’90s. While the couple have never collaborated on a song together, they did perform together on stage at the Super Bowl XXXV halftime show in 2001. Justin performed with his boy band NSYNC alongside Aerosmith for a medley, and Britney and various other major stars, including Mary J. Blige and Nelly, eventually joined in.
It is unclear if a collaboration is truly on the horizon, but Britney’s cat post comes after her ex-boyfriend slammed her conservatorship amid her very first highly-publicized court hearing in June. The “Suit & Tie” singer expressed his support for his ex in a series of tweets on June 23. “After what we saw today, we should all be supporting Britney at this time,” he wrote. “Regardless of our past, good and bad, and no matter how long ago it was… what’s happening to her is just not right.”
Presumably referencing Britney’s claims that the conservatorship hasn’t allowed her to have more children due to the implementation of an IUD without her consent, Justin concluded, “No woman should ever be restricted from making decisions about her own body.” Since that first court hearing, Britney has been able to appoint her own lawyer, Mathew Rosengart. Her estranged father Jamie, who has controlled her estate for the past 13 years, has also agreed to eventually step down as conservator.