Britney Spears sang her latest hit on the X Factor stage during her first UK television performance in over four years. The pop singer, who turns 27 on Tuesday, mimed her way through her latest single Womanizer after the five remaining finalists each covered a classic Britney track. Spears, who was dressed all in black, with hotpants, fishnet tights and knee-high boots, did not coach the show’s contestants, as previous guests have done. It has been reported Spears travelled with a 45-strong entourage of stylists and security. And reports claimed she is said to have banned contestants and judges from approaching her. But the judging panel gave her a standing ovation along with an excited crowd. On Monday, she releases her sixth studio album Circus, and has been on a whistle-stop tour of Europe to promote the record. Earlier, Alexandra Burke, who sang Toxic, said: “When I was nine, Britney brought out Baby One More Time, and I loved her. I’m very excited about meeting her. This is the Britney we all know and love. I hope I can do my Britney song justice, with my own twist.” Eoghan Quigg performed Sometimes, Ruth Lorenzo – who was later voted off the reality show – sang I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll, Diana Vickers sang I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman and JLS took on Baby One More Time.

For me, the folks making such a big deal of Britney lip-syncing (”miming”) are missing the point — and none of this criticism is new. Even at the height of her fame, critics felt it necessary to try and demean her performances by making a point of the lip-syncing. She is a performer, not really a singer … she has always been this way. I, for one, do not mind it at all. I find when critics attack her for the lip-syncing it’s because they’ve run out of other things to complain about … it means that things have finally gotten back to normal ;) Regarding this performance, I felt that she offered the most vim and vigor of all the performances she put on this week. Even tho she wore the same outfit that she wore in Germany, I think she looked the best on X-Factor than on the other two shows. The rolling steel cage ball was taken out of the performance and made it feel more like a dance routine than a “spectacle” — I liked it. At the end, Britney got a standing ovation from the crowd and from the judges. The girl is not trying to reinvent the wheel … slowly and steadily, she is working towards getting back to her comfort zone. I think she is handling it all very well. After the jump, check out a backstage photo of Britney with the X-Factor judges, a few photos of Britney making her exit from the venue and video of her performance in full …

Here is a very cute group shot of Britney Spears with the X-Factor judges Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole (of Girls Aloud), Louis Walsh and Dannii Minogue (my girl!):

Here are a few pics of a jubilant Britney waving to her admirers as she left the X-Factor studios last night:

And without further ado (for those of you who have yet to see it or just want to watch it again), here is Brit’s X-Factor performance of Womanizer: