Don't call it a comeback—call it the long-awaited removal of a career-damaging albatross.
Not only is Britney Spears on her way to editing Kevin Federline completely out of her life—and bank account—but she's now gearing up for the final blow: the relaunch of a successful music career.
According to People, Spears has already wrapped up her ice-skating, cleavage-baring, Letterman-visiting tour of New York City and is heading south for the winter to begin recording new tracks for her first studio album since her pre-Federline days three years ago.
The 24-year-old pop star has already begun recording in Manhattan and will continue to perfect her tracks in Miami this weekend. The still untitled album, which no doubt will be laden with pop-rock odes to independence and mommyhood, will reunite Spears with hit-making producer Pharrell Williams, who provided the Grammy winner with several top 10 singles from her last album, 2003's In the Zone.
"The stuff I'm about to do is amazing, but I don't like talking about what I'm about to do," an uncharacteristically—and briefly—coy Williams told People. "Okay, I'm going in with Britney."
Even without Williams on board, Spears' album will no doubt fare better than Federline's—granted, not a tough benchmark to surpass.
When not being ruthlessly maligned, K-Fed's debut, Playing with Fire, was completely ignored. It debuted last week to reviews that were across-the-board negative, when not utterly demoralizing, and tanked at number 151 on the Billboard album charts, with roughly 7,000 copies sold.
As Spears' career is revving back up, Federline's appears to be winding down for good. At least until his inevitable tell-all book hits the shelves.
Despite the insane amounts of publicity following K-Fed's every self-imposed career-faltering move, the aspiring rapper and former househusband can't seem to generate interest, aside from the mocking sort, in his debut album.
Hot on the heels of ticket sales so poor that his Chicago promoters were forced to give away tickets to his House of Blues show this week, two more gigs have been called off. The Federline camp has canceled last night's date in Cleveland and tonight's show in Atlantic City due to little or no progress in ticket sales.
While Spears, who has reunited with her career-shaping Svengali manager Larry Rudolph in recent days, has yet to comment on Federline's challenge to her request for sole custody of the couple's two children, she has fought back where it really hurts: his pocketbook.
According to Women's Wear Daily, Spears is shopping around the first photos of her youngest child, Jayden James, to several glossy magazines, with the kicker being that she's offering them up completely free of charge.
Per the terms of her reportedly ironclad prenup with Federline, any proceeds from photos of the family would be handed over to her recently estranged husband. Should Spears succeed in flogging the snaps free of charge, it would mean no change to Federline's bank account.
Which, according to WWD, is exactly why Spears is going the Suri Cruise route, shopping the photos at Vanity Fair and other monthly rags that make it a policy not to pay for pictures. People, Spears' usual go-to source for family spreads, does pay for snaps, and a spokesperson for the magazine has already expressed interest in the Jayden layout.
The loss of potential income can't be too welcomed by Federline, who's already fighting off embarrassment that a relic from his prefame days caused him this week.
Earlier this week, a seemingly authentic rent check from 2003, when Federline was cohabitating with Moesha actress Shar Jackson, made its way onto eBay, complete with a bank stamp declaring "Insufficient Funds." (The $3,625 check has since been removed from the auction site.)
Apparently, humiliation comes in waves for Federline—it's just that the waves are of the tidal variety.
While he rather prophetically claimed to be "America's Most Hated" in a recent single, there is at least one person on K-Fed's side: his ex-girlfriend and inaugural baby mama, Shar Jackson.
"He's such a nice guy," the actress told Inside Edition. "He's made some mistakes, but everybody else doesn't have the whole world pointing their finger at their mistakes.
"I don't understand why people take so much joy in other people's pain."