Britney Spears Vies With Lady Gaga on Lusty Party CD: Review
When you are up against Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Katy Perry, there’s no room for subtlety.
Britney Spears never sways from the role of constantly available disco bunny on her album “Femme Fatale,” out today.
The 12 very straightforward mating-call tracks are in-heat demands for love, burnished by her producers into the sleekest collection we are likely to hear in 2011 -- or at least until Lady Gaga releases “Born This Way” on May 23.
Spears, who turns 30 this year, has sold more than 100 million albums. Listen to a track like “Inside Out” and it’s clear she’ll sell a few more. Pulsating synths clatter away and the dubstep beats are easy to dance or work out to.
Britney’s fulltime job for a while was as a one-woman tabloid news factory, fuelled by rehab, car crashes, hasty marriages, custody fights, stripping and head-shaving.
She hasn’t been writing songs or producing her own music -- she’s left that to the likes of Dr. Luke, Max Martin and will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, whose song “Big Fat Bass” is one of the best things here.
Brand Britney is too valuable to be messed up and this autotuned album carries on where “Circus” left off, though there isn’t anything quite as good as its 2008 single “Womanizer” or her previous hits “Toxic” and “Gimme More.”
The lyrics include the lines “So if I said I want your body now, would you hold it against me?” and “Got me kinda hot... steaming like a pot full of vegetables.”
Vegetables? Well, at least it makes a change from Lady Gaga’s meat dress.
Rating: **.
What the Stars Mean: ***** Exceptional **** Excellent *** Good ** Average * Poor (No stars) Worthless
Spears is on Jive Records. Her new CD is priced from $12.98 in the U.S. and 8.99 pounds in the U.K. There is also a deluxe edition adding extra tracks. Download fees vary across services.
Information: http://www.britneyspears.com/
(Mark Beech writes for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
To contact the writer on the story: Mark Beech in London at mbeech@bloomberg.net or Mark_Beech on http://twitter.com/home.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.
"Femme Fatale"
Jive Records via Bloomberg
The cover of "Femme Fatale" by Britney Spears, on Jive Records, is released in the U.S. on March 29.
The cover of "Femme Fatale" by Britney Spears, on Jive Records, is released in the U.S. on March 29. Source: Jive Records via Bloomberg
Britney Spears
PRNewsFoto/Palms Casino Resort via Bloomberg
Britney Spears sings "Till the World Ends," inside Rain Nightclub at Palms Casino Ressort in Las Vegas. Spears's new album is ``Femme Fatale,'' on Jive Records.
Britney Spears sings "Till the World Ends," inside Rain Nightclub at Palms Casino Ressort in Las Vegas. Spears's new album is ``Femme Fatale,'' on Jive Records. Source: PRNewsFoto/Palms Casino Resort via Bloomberg
Pop singer Britney Spears. Her single “Hold It Against Me” promotes her album released in March. Photographer: Mark Liddell/Zomba publicity via Bloomberg
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