A NEWLY unearthed vintage video of Britney Spears have surfaced showing the singer doing something incredibly rare — actually singing live.

Britney fan site MuuMuse has posted the 12-minute video, presumed to be from 1998, featuring a teenage Spears showcasing her debut album in Singapore.

It was a decidedly unglamorous beginning for Spears, who recorded her debut album in March and April 1998 in Sweden with hit maker Max Martin.

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In the video Spears performs with no band or backdrop, and sings in front of road cases in what looks like a hotel. No audience members are visible in the clip, which has apparently been a prized item among Spears collectors, and there is no applause.

She sings Baby One More Time, a No. 1 hit globally after being released in October 1998, and has sold over 10 million copies. Spears then sings the follow-up ballad Sometimes and You Got It All, which would later surface as a bonus track on her second album.

The song was written by Rupert Holmes, best known for his 1979 hit Escape (The Pina Colada Song).

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While her vocals waver at times, the vintage footage demonstrates Spears can actually sing live, she just chooses not to anymore.

Spears apologists point to the difficulty of dancing and singing live on stage simultaneously, although Lady Gaga has demonstrated it is possible, while Pink sings live while hanging upside down.

Spears started a four year residency in Las Vegas in 2013, with many punters believing she lip syncs the entire high-energy show, if not the majority of it. However the singer and her manager have suggested there are some live vocals as well as the use of backing tracks, which are commonly used in pop concerts.

Her one Australian tour, in 2009, was mired in controversy for blatant lip-synching and lacklustre dancing and minimal crowd interaction.

She has yet to return to Australia.

At the time singer John Mayer tweeted “If you’re shocked that Britney was lip-synching at her concert and want your money back, life may continue to be hard for you.”

Spears was also slammed for miming her medley at this year’s Billboard Music Awards.

Sydney DJ Angus O’Loughlin, who was at the event, even claimed the heavy breathing at the end of her medley was also prerecorded “so it sounds like she’s exhausted and that her mic’s on, but the curtain didn’t come down for 30 seconds after her performance but she didn’t say thank you because that wasn’t on the prerecorded track.”