Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars Helped Influence Britney Spears

Justin Timberlake is among the artists that had a creative effect on Britney Spears.

Although most people would have a very hard time naming one of their exes as an influence on their career, the “Perfume” singer isn’t one of them. During a recent chat with USA Today, Spears opened up about the artists who helped shape her sound.

“This generation is hungry for new sounds. Bruno Mars is so different and fresh, and Justin Timberlake is, too. It’s inspiring for me, and it makes people eager to listen to music, which helps everyone,” she said of her musical influences.

In addition to Timberlake and Mars, Spears is also a huge fan of Beyonce. The singer said she was extremely impressed her recent visual album, a release Spears thinks is “genius” and “really brilliant.”

Another person who made Spears’ list of favorite people is “Same Girl” singer Jennifer Lopez. Britney told Yahoo! OMG that she wouldn’t mind appearing alongside the Selena star in a major Hollywood project at some point down the road.

“Jennifer Lopez is my idol — she’s so beautiful and even though she’s gotten older, she hasn’t aged at all. She looks more amazing than ever and I really admire and respect that,” she said.

Spears might love Justin Timberlake and Beyonce, but one thing she’s not altogether pleased about is the death of the compact disc. Like most people of a certain age, the singer is lamenting about a format that is practically dead and gone.

“We’re too smart for our own good. We’re at the point where the simplicity of buying a CD and the specialness has gone. I think it’s a shame. The whole process of buying a record was so special,” she explained.

One thing Spears doesn’t have in common with ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake is a problem with piracy. The “Mirrors” singer was one of my popular artists who made this year’s most pirated list. Not only was his album 20/20 Experience downloaded over 300,000 times shortly after its release, people illegally snatched his tunes over four million times this year alone.

While this number is nothing short of staggering, Bruno Mars and Rihanna found their names at the top of the list for 2013. Both artists had 5.4 million songs illegally downloaded, which adds up to quite a loss of revenue once you do the math.

Are you surprised that Justin Timberlake was a big influence on Britney Spears?