Britney Spears' hair scare is just the latest in pop star stage mishaps

Last Friday night at Britney Spears’ Las Vegas performance, a chunk of the pop princess’s hair tried to make a run for it. While performing “Do Somethin” from her first greatest hits album Greatest Hits: My Prerogative, her weave caught spirit and did something: Jumped out of her head.

Britney danced it off like a champ (possibly because she didn’t feel its descent), and the show went on without another hitch. This is just the latest casualty in the popular trend of inanimate objects going rogue on stage. Just last week Madonna’s cape tried to kill her as it dragged her down a flight of stairs at the Brit Awards:

And let’s not forget that one time when Beyonce was almost swallowed whole by a fan (the other kind of fan):

Though she was swiftly cut free, it’s like all of our worst nightmares about school plays are becoming reality. Turns out being filthy rich, beautiful, and talented isn’t enough to stop the Gods of gravity and wind from sabotaging your performance.

Is there some greater message here about excess in the forms of fabric and hair? Should Madonna have listened to the sage advice from Edna Mode in The Incredibles:

Hindsight is 20/20.

Luckily these iconic women have a good sense of humor about themselves and will take it in stride. Most of us mere mortals wince at the memory of a time we tripped up the stairs in private — we probably couldn’t deal with it if it happened in front of a sold-out arena.

Images via YouTube, Disney, and ITV

Akilah Hughes is a comedian, YouTuber, and staff writer and producer for Fusion’s culture section. You can almost always find her waxing poetic about memes and using too many emojis.