(Singles are italicized, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE songs are recommended!)Back in 1998, a young, 16-year-old Britney Spears burst onto the scene with her debut single, "...Baby One More Time", and subsequent album of the same name was released by the time she turned 17, about 3 months later. She was a sweet, innocent girl, singing about love, friendship, and joy -- the norm for any teenager around that age.
16 months later, in May of 2000, while ...Baby One More Time was just cooling down on the charts, Britney hit us again with her sophomore album, Oops!...I Did It Again, which yielded several hit singles, and sold just as well as her debut, if not better. While Britney was still an innocent 18-year-old girl, but this time, she showed a little more attitude (and a little more midriff). Though there was still some controversy, fans and critics ate it up.
November of 2001 rolled around, and we saw Britney transform even more from girl to woman. Her third album (simply titled Britney), became her most mature effort up until that time. It was a different direction for Britney, who was 3 and a half weeks shy of 20. The songs were edgier, angrier, and Britney appeared to be more sexually emancipated, however, they still had that Britney charm that everybody knew and loved.
Two years later, in November of 2003, the public saw a different Britney. One that was totally different from the sweet, innocent little girl that came on the scene 5 years earlier. Her fourth studio album, In The Zone was a complete 360 for Brit, with influences of techno / trance, and even southern hip-hop. She became very involved in production and writing, and just like that, In The Zone became her most personal album to date.
2004 through 2007 were pretty quiet years for Britney, music-wise. Aside from a Greatest Hits collection release (which included 3 new songs, two of which became singles), a Remix album, and a few singles here and there, Britney laid low in the music industry. She married backup dancer / deadbeat dad K-Fed, had her own reality show and two kids with him, and just as quickly divorced him. Whew!
The end of 2007 came around, and it was not a good time for Britney. After a mental breakdown (which included her infamous head-shaving incident), we got the album Blackout, which was led off by its first smash hit "Gimme More". Receiving no promotion (other than a heavily-criticized VMA performance) and no world tour, the album still managed to do fairly well, and spawned three wildly successful singles and is considered one of her best among fans.
2008 started off equally as rocky for our Brit, as in early January she made headlines when she locked herself and her two kids in the bathroom of her home. With a scheduled (and subsequently canceled) Deluxe Edition re-release of Blackout planned, you couldn't go anywhere without hearing her name. Recording sessions in 2008 eventually evolved into what became Britney's sixth studio album, Circus, the title that reflected what her life was like around the time of the album's production and release. The album was immensely successful, and with 4 massively huge singles, it was safe to say Britney's life was back on track.
Halfway through 2009, after Britney released the final single from Circus, it was time for another break. That holiday season, fans were treated to a Singles Collection CD, which was essentially a re-release of her Greatest Hits: My Prerogative compilation, with some modifications and substitutions made to include her newer hits, as well as the only new track on the album, 3. Made into a single, 3 was relatively successful and generally praised by critics.
THE REVIEW:
From 2009 through the early part of this year, Britney had been hard at work recording her seventh studio album, titled Femme Fatale, which is the subject of our review here. Having worked with a multitude of producers and writers, Britney put it in full-gear and delivered a masterpiece. Sounding like a combination of Madonna's Confessions on a Dance Floor album, and Britney's older albums In The Zone and Blackout (with a hint of Circus flavor), Britney brings us her greatest album yet, and quite possibly the greatest Pop / Dance from an artist of our generation. Call it pop, call it dance, call it whatever you want, but there's no denying that the album is pure genius from start to finish. Fun fact - 11 of these songs (tracks 3 - 13) are already in my Top 25 Most Played playlist on iTunes.
1. Till The World Ends - The album's current single, which was written by Ke$ha is a fun dance tune, which finds Brit encouraging everybody to "Keep on dancin' Till The World Ends"! It's an awesome opening track that grows on you with each listen [EDIT: 4/6/11 -- The music video was just released and it is FANTASTIC. The dancing, the setting, everything. It looks like it could be the sequel to 2001's I'm A Slave 4 U music video.]
2. Hold It Against Me - I won't lie, when this single was released back in January, I was by no means impressed. I liked the dubstep breakdown in the middle, and the chorus was catchy the first few times around, but I find the song to be otherwise average, and that's not saying much because I can easily listen to this entire album from start to finish.
3. Inside Out - For some reason, this sounds a lot like it could easily be a Janet Jackson song. It's a slower song about having . . . relations . . . one last time before breaking up, and it's got a really good tune with a nice chorus.
4. I Wanna Go - By far my favorite song on the album. Everything about it just makes you want to get up and dance. The killer beat, the catchy chorus, the sexy verses. It's just purely amazing. It's rumored to be the third single, so we'll see how that goes!
5. How I Roll - This is a very unusual song. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but it's just so different. It's got a strange beat, and Britney uses a vocoder (or some other voice alteration process) to deepen her voice for the first part of every line in the chorus (similar to the entire chorus of "Get Naked (I Got A Plan)" from Blackout). And contrary to popular belief, she says "You can be my thug tonight", NOT "You can be my f**k tonight"!
6. (Drop Dead) Beautiful [featuring Sabi] - Let's face it, we're all thinking it -- who the hell is Sabi? Why would Britney use an unknown female rapper for her record? To be quite honest, the rap in the song by Sabi just sounds like Britney, but heavily autotuned and her voice tweaked down a pitch or two. It isn't though! Otherwise, it's a great song. It sounds like Ke$ha could have written it (she didn't), and it's a great listen.
7. Seal It With A Kiss - Call me crazy for thinking this (and sorry for all the comparisons to Blackout), but this honestly sounds like it could be "Freakshow", The Prequel (or Sequel, either works). The music, the dubstep, the lyrics, and everything about it. Not that I should have to say it, but it's great.
8. Big Fat Bass [featuring will.i.am] - Now, this is the only song on the album I have a legitimate complaint about. WHY will.i.am?! Ick. He ruins the song, to be quite honest. While I'm a fan of The Black Eyed Peas, he really adds nothing to this particular song. In fact, his rap verse just sounds like a scrapped verse from the BEP's "Boom Boom Pow". Useless. I do really like Britney's parts, and in the second verse where she sings "I wanna go out dancin'", her vocals are hauntingly reminiscent of Madonna.
9. Trouble For Me - The dance party continues! Probably my third favorite on the album (tied with Gasoline , behind I Wanna Go and Criminal), it's an amazing song. The Bridge is outstandingly fantastic, I could have just the Bridge on repeat and never tire of it.
10. Trip To Your Heart - Brit slows it down a bit with the mid-tempo song about, erm ... getting closer. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. It's got an In The Zone kind of vibe to it, and I like it.
11. Gasoline - Another one of my favorites from the album! It's a fun song with a summery feel to it. For some reason, I feel like this could have easily been on her Circus album.
12. Criminal - You might be confused when you first play this song, because you'll hear a flute in the beginning. Don't be alarmed, you haven't subconsciously switched over to the Pocahontas soundtrack! This is another winner, which tells the story of Britney falling in love with, well, a criminal. Here is another instance of Britney's voice being slightly reminiscent of Madonna's.
13. Up 'N Down - A fun song about dancing! She starts off the bonus tracks on the right foot! A highly recommended song which finds Britney's voice, once again and for the final time on this album, being very reminiscent of Madonna's, especially during the chorus.
14. He About To Lose Me - One of the fan favorites, Britney shows us she doesn't need autotune to enhance her voice.
15. Selfish - A very sexual song that finds Britney being, well, selfish. Filled with a few innuendos, it's a fun song to dance to.
16. Don't Keep Me Waiting - What? A rock song? WHAT?! Britney tells this guy not to "keep [her body] waiting". It's killer. Think along the lines of Amnesia and Rock Boy from Circus.
17. Scary - The bonus track that's only available on Japan pressings of the album! It's a funky song that finds Britney wanting a guy "so bad [that] it's scary". Definitely worth a listen!
