Britney Spears – Blackout
Jive Records (10/30/07)
Pop / Dance
I’d have been on the fence about whether or not to buy the new Britney Spears album, Blackout. I’ve not hid my feelings on the constant speculation on her private life, as well as the amount of stifling attention that she gets from the always-overzealous paparazzi. I have never spent so much time really in limbo on whether or not to support a high profile artist; it’s usually a snap decision, like most things in my life. After spending a lot of time going back and forth with myself, I decided to spend the $11.99 for the bonus edition on iTunes, and now I honestly can’t stop listening to this album.
Let’s be clear: Britney Spears is not the greatest singer in the world. She is no Judy Garland, but definitely could be considered in a similar category of dealing with a lot of attention from a young age into her adulthood. However, despite not being a incredible vocalist, Britney is still undoubtedly an entertainer and has managed to create quite a nice little dance/pop record here, even if it’s not written by her personally (with the exception of one track credit).
“Gimme More” is a song that has really grown on me and really the whole album is something of a grower—the more you listen, the more you can’t stop. I’ve yet to figure out what makes Britney’s life so addictive to the American public, but she’s certainly mastered how to make some music that parallels her life, and in doing so she’s going to rake it in, hand over fist.
“Piece of Me” is the perfect follow up and really is the “call-out” song to her life. Everyone wants a piece of her, and everyone has something to say about her. The aforementioned track can be easily released as a single in its original incarnation, though as a remixed club hit it could be massive. “Operator”, although not one of my favorite songs, is yet another track that could be packaged as a single, as Britney might never have to work again if they milk the album for all it’s worth.
“Break the Ice” is pretty sexually explicit, almost to a fault, while “Get Naked (I Got a Plan)” and “Freakshow” are dispensible and could have been cut altogether, again due to the subject matter. Yes, Britney loves sex and is probably a freak in the bed, we get it. Since I’m convinced she’s striving to parallel Madonna’s career, she should have saved this material for an Erotica-type record, which is about 1/4th of this record’s style. In fact, does anyone else out there think we’ll get a Britney-style Truth or Dare documentary someday?
“Heaven on Earth” is such a incredible track about being in love that I can see this sweeping the gay clubs of the country if mixed about seven times over (what’s Hex Hector doing these days?). “Hot As Ice” makes me think of Paula Abdul, though I’m sure that wasn’t quite Britney’s intention. “Why Should I Be Sad” seems to be pretty telling on Britney’s problems with finding the right relationship, from her perspective.
15 songs (three bonus tracks), plus the bonus “Gimme More” video, made the album worth it to get the whole complex picture of Miss Britney Spears “comeback” record. She also did a great sampling of Annie Lennox’s “Sweet Dreams” with one of the bonus tracks, “Everybody”, which completely suits this album and will dominate the charts if released as a future single.
Blackout is fun record if you like to dance, but be forewarned: even for the passive fan of dance records, this one is going to stay in rotation. As long as she stays in the public eye and people remain talking about her on a hourly basis, she’s going to give us more, whether we can handle it or not.
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