Britney Spears gets it.
In a 342-word "Dear Fans" letter posted Friday on Spears' official Website, the fallen pop princess said she understands why her faithful are disappointed, and promised to pay them back with a new album and tour "sometime later this year."
"If I were you I'd be unhappy, too, if I had to read what I've been reading every day," Spears wrote. "But trust me, I get it."
Spears did not specifically reference her recent misadventures: the missing underwear; the Paris Hilton confabs; the New Year's nodding off, etc.
"The last couple of years have been quite a ride for me," a diplomatic Spears wrote.
A less diplomatic Spears blamed the bumps in her ride on a familiar villain.
"The media has criticized my every move, and printed a skewed perception of who I really am as a human being," she argued. "I know I've been far from perfect, and the media has had a lot of fun exaggerating my every move."
Spears' missive comes days after the aforementioned New Year's incident in which the mother of two, while in the act of hosting a Las Vegas bash, "went into a dead faint," the media member known as the New York Post said, or merely grew "tired and [fell] asleep," Spears' new-old manager said.
While it might follow that the nap blogged round the world inspired Spears to make her public declaration, it appears she was moved by another event: the impending death of World of Britney (worldofbritney.com).
"I noticed today that one of my biggest fansites is shutting down soon, and I want you all to know that I do understand all the reasons that went behind making that decision," Spears wrote, "and I am sad to see it closing."
World of Britney, launched in 2000, the same year Spears released the top-selling Oops!...I Did It Again, is scheduled to shutter on Jan. 31. Webmaster Ruben Garay has said the site, if not Spears, now three years past her last new-album release, had run its course.
"Its feet are not holding firm anymore, not because of my ability to run it," Garay said in a Dec. 27 statement, "but because I believe Britney is unfortunately done (for me at least)."
On Friday, Garay took heart in Spears' "Dear Fans" letter.
"Britney has taken the first humble and genuine step on her own that will hopefully ensure a successful comeback in the eyes of her fans," Garay wrote in a post.
In her own post, Spears also sounded hopeful, noting that her recent journey had been enlightening and, as the underpants-free photo ops suggested, liberating.
"I am now more mature and feel like I am finally 'free,' " said Spears, who last month celebrated her 25th birthday by "shaking her booty," in the words of TMZ.com, for Beverly Hills paparazzi.
The supposedly settled Spears promised she's been working hard on her dormant music career, and said she couldn't wait to drop her new album. (A report that Jive Records wanted to drop Spears, as in dump her from the label, has been denied.)
"I want you all to know that I love my fans so much, and I appreciate everything you have done for me," said Spears in her sign-off, adding for emphasis, "so, thank you, thank you, thank you!"
In legal matters, Spears and estranged husband Kevin Federline have worked out a child-custody deal. At least for the rest of this month.
Per court papers filed Friday in Los Angeles and obtained by E! Online, Spears can take her sons, one-year-old Sean Preston and baby Jayden James, with her to Miami for a weeklong trip, beginning Friday.
Starting Jan. 12, the document says, Federline can visit his children—well, his two with Spears, anyway—at Spears' house on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons.
As requested in the court petition, the least-selling rapper would appreciate it very much if nobody besides Spears, Spears' assistant, household staff and the children's nanny be present when he rolls into the crib.
The custody deal is an interim order and applies only to January.
Spears filed for divorce from Federline in November.
In a recent post on his own official Website, Federline pledged that "2007 is going to be bigger and better," and threatened a "BIG surprise" was nigh.
No word if he planned to get it, too.