The renowned music writer will talk “Waiting for Britney Spears” and his time as a tabloid journalist in Dallas this week.

DALLAS — Britney Spears’ influence on pop culture during the early 2000s is difficult to overstate.

The “Princess of Pop” had 5 No. 1 hits, 14 Top 10 hits, and 36 songs on the Billboard Hot 100. 

Her personal life, though, was the subject of tabloid fodder, and has since prompted a re-examination of how the media covers celebrities. 

One of the tabloid journalists on the ground at the time covering the rise and fall of celebrities like Spears for outlets in Los Angeles was Jeff Weiss, who’s now best known as a longtime hip-hop journalist and founder of the blog Passion of the Weiss. 

He documented his “allegedly true” tales of his time covering the rise and fall of the pop icon in his new, partially fictional book, “Waiting For Britney Spears.” Weiss will talk about his book and share tales of his career in journalism at 6 p.m. Aug. 28 at Interabang Books at 5600 W. Lovers Lane in Dallas. 

After years as a renowned music journalist, whose work’s been featured in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and other outlets, Weiss gets reflective in his first full-fledged book, “Waiting For Britney Spears” — not just about his own experiences, but about what our obsession with pop culture and celebrity says about us. 

“The book isn’t some straight-up nonfiction memoir of a paparazzi or anything like that. It’s very far from that, and it’s not necessarily a straight-up biography of Britney Spears,” Weiss said. “It’s really trying to get at a deeper truth of American life and the path leading to the chaos of the modern moment.”

Weiss said Spears’ rise and fall also tells a story about the world she rose to fame in and the culture that shaped her young, millennial fans in particular. 

“It seemed like if you’re going to tell a story about the death of millennial American dream, it would probably start and end with Britney Spears,” Weiss said. “As she unraveled in the public eye, she was sort of symbolic of the death of the millennial American dream because she was so closely intertwined with I think the hopes and aspirations [of the generation].”

He said he hopes people gain a greater sense of empathy through his book and an understanding of their own role in shaping American culture.