Britney Spears - Hold It Against Me and subsequent album (2011)

http://soundcloud.com/tpbsecretleaks/01-hold-it-against-me

she's such a robot, she will never stop sounding exactly like this. i guess it still works.

struck by the mix of super-bubblegum melody (the lift on "if we could escape the crowd somehow…") and vworp vworp bass production that i'm sure will sound immense in HQ.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpO9Oa-sSpI

oh my god

the chorus to this song is the old cheesy pick-up line?!??!

OF COURSE IT IS

i think this is pretty lame - the only good thing about it is the confused, stuttering breakdown and plaintive trance-style re-entrance to the song but neither really goes far enough

DUBSTEP BREAKDOWN

i want to hear britney deal with a breakdown like the one starting at about 1:30 here -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcxVyiHFDe4

Can't watch this in Australia for inscrutable copyright reasons :-/

Don't understand why Sony Australia can't talk to Sony rest-of-the-world.

brits kindof stuck in a moment she cant get out of imo

it is kind of amusing to hear the faux dubstep breakdown segueing seamlessly into a standard trance snare rush..

yt not accessible in the us
http://www.mediafire.com/?xm5y1k3nlhcgey8

one of the sites i went to to try and hear this directed me to ryan seacrest's facebook page. to listen you have to 'like' him. i thought really long and hard about it but went elsewhere.

brits kindof stuck in a moment she cant get out of imo

yeah but i'm hearing it, now, as just blithely doing what she always does, almost regardless of what's going on elsewhere. this is very...comfort food pop.

also she went dubstep already, like 4 years ago, so that is really not a notable thing

idk this kindof feels super whooshy at a moment when that is finally starting to drain out of the pop hegemony

i dont deal w/ whooshy well

The beats on this are sterner than I expected. Very Tiesto.

ugh

i mean tiesto is someone i want to like for contrarian reason but

Also the dubstep breakdown is hilarious.

also she went dubstep already, like 4 years ago, so that is really not a notable thing
that's fine but it's still hilarious

Very Tiesto.
yeah that's all i can think. has the original single been such an outright bad trance dance-mix before? i can't recall disagreeing this much with anything she's done other than womanizer but that was still more pop.

im surprised @ u lex bc this is a lot more popjusticey than i thought u had a stomach for

the whooshiness is what saves this i think? it gives it a gliding lightness that's usually absent in our current age of guettapopjusticepop

Agree with "gliding lightness", still... I think the problem with going straight out the gate bad-trance-dance is that the beats aren't really serviced by her vocals so much (which worked better with the lethargic slop of "Gimme More").

Bad-trance-dance sounds better with pitched-up, sped-up vocals. Like, if this actually sounded like the Ultrabeat remix of Sugababes' "About You Now" I'd probably love it.

what's wooshy, you kids and your lingo

like boshy but w/ a gliding lightness

whooshy >>>> boshy

produced by dr. luke + max martin

dr. luke remixed the mortal kombat film theme

everything is clear now

As people are kind of pointing out, it sounds like a Bangin' Club Remix of a normal pop song from 10 years ago.

also she went dubstep already, like 4 years ago, so that is really not a notable thing

She never actually went dubstep, that was just Dissensus dudes overreaching.

But Matt, it says on the liner notes to my copy of Android Soundzzz that it was Britney's dubstep turn in 2006 that influenced Cassie to work with Salem.

she did the wobble thing when it was hip

i dont think ppl really expect anything more from the idea of "britney doing dubstep"

she hasn't actually gone dubstep here either. like "freakshow", "hold it against me" just contains one obvious dubstep element

Dubstep doesn't have a monopoly on "wob wob wob" noises. It was a coincidence.

Matt, you don't get it.

All wob wob wob noises = influenced by dubstep.

All fiddly beats = influenced by grime.

A sampled voice that is not the singer's = influenced by Burial.

idk thats p overly simplistic, at that moment wob wob noises DID kinda mean dubstep.

i've been told that "it's pop music - don't overthink it. we'll all be dancing to this at the club."

you're all informed.

can't think what that tune bit reminds me of... maybe viva la vida ?!

it is kind of amusing to hear the faux dubstep breakdown segueing seamlessly into a standard trance snare rush..

lol i totally agree, i like it though.

if they do a good video for this single it could possibly be elevated to amazing status.

It starts off really fun with the goofy "VOO!! VOO!!" saw noises on the upbeats, but then it becomes totally generic at the "If I said my heart was beating loud..." part. They should put the saw noises in a better song.

might be the only one who hears Solid HarmoniE in the chorus. It's the staccato harmony and the near a cappella. it's really strange; I keep expecting Max to throw in some of his old piano stabs too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2xg5U8UJkM

yeah the thought never crossed my mind. i remember that song though, haha

Blackout and Circus were good but they were both released at a time where the Dance sound wasn't over saturated, so I actually considered both albums good. As long as this doesn't turn out like Bionic, she should be fine. Britney always seems to be one step ahead with her sound compared to everyone else in the Pop scene. She gets a lot of criticism because she doesn't write her own songs but screw it, some of the best vocal artists of the past 25 years only wrote half of their catalogs anyway.

maybe I'm just not in the mood or maybe I shouldn't have paused a Third Eye Foundation album to listen to this, but I think this is straight up hot garbage

xpost

Agreed, MintIce. If she appears to be even the slightest bit late on the whole Dance music bandwagon, her album will suffer the same fate as Bionic. The "dubstep" breakdown is just the absolute worst. It's like this song is pulling from conflicting genres of electronic music that are hot for popstars to ape right now. She shoulda gone chillwave or witch house (Italo, even!) if she wanted to stay ahead of the pack.

has any other US popstar released a song which directly apes from dubstep though ("freakshow" did on blackout, and so did some Rihanna songs but they were never released)? this could actually be the first of many dubstep influenced pop songs in the charts.

She shoulda gone chillwave or witch house (Italo, even!) if she wanted to stay ahead of the pack.

Tell me you're joking.

Britney always seems to be one step ahead with her sound compared to everyone else in the Pop scene

please do tell

witch house Britney has the potential to be incredibly awesome but I am not at all kidding myself about it being a good idea

has any other US popstar released a song which directly apes from dubstep though ("freakshow" did on blackout, and so did some Rihanna songs but they were never released)?

"wait your turn" was a promo single that had a video, charted etc. were eve's "me n my" or snoop dogg's "snoop dogg millionaire" ever proper singles?

not even sure it's valid to say us pop is "aping" dubstep - someone's going to throw in the "timbaland influenced dubstep" argument and then we're in circles

It's about as valid as saying that us pop was "aping" bollywood or classical chinese music 8 years ago.

People always (in the way they write about these things if not intentionally) seem to ascribe some further intentionality to any exploitative deployment of (or resemblance to) UK dance music though.

the rihanna songs were produced by chase & status!!! if that's not "intentionality" i don't know what is. i guess rusko was accidentally and coincidentally invited to work with britney, too.

ugh, forgot about that. like how do you go from producing in love with jenna g to that track.

I meant the scene as a whole. There's always this breathless implication that it's about to become the next big thing rather than just being a diverting point of difference for particular tracks.

Jay-Z rapped over "Beware of the Boys" but even in 2003 at the height of desi/panjabi crossover people didn't seem to want to set up the latter as some kind of massive influence on rap in the same way they regularly try to do with jungle or dubstep.

I've got nothing against Britney et al messing with dubstep, I think there's just less at stake (for good or for ill) then a lot of folx pretend.

(the event no-one talks about tho is Usher taking a 2-step tune to the top of the charts)

Or, like, see also N.O.R.E making reggaeton tracks.

Usher had a two-step track...?

Remix of "U Got It Bad".

I'm being LOLsy, it's not actually worth talking about.

oh

I was just briefly excited, like "wait apparently there's a whole divergent reality out there where Usher fucked around more with music I actually liked...?"

people talked about 2-step going pop all the time back then? also reggaeton crossing over (daddy yankee etc)? people always get excited about underground scenes getting turned into pop.

2-step did kind of go pop though, what with Craig David and Daniel Beddingfield having big international success off of "Fill Me In" and "Gotta Get Through This" (I'm sure there are others I'm not remembering because they didn't have as large of an impact in the US)

dunno about usher but people keep mentioning n'sync's two-step phase re: spears + this

I just mean that whole dissensian thing of "the uk underground has always and will always set the trend for international urban pop sonics" - starting with the insistence that Timbaland got his ideas from jungle. It's like this vindication thing "see we actually are the masters and originators of this." There was a similar "surely it is only a matter of time before US rap discovers the superior grime beat" narrative which annoyed me.

People don't tend to do w/r/t even Jamaica where you could make a decent argument for it.

Enjoying random pop crossovers is a whole 'nother thing.

idk at the same time it makes sense that mainstream acts would see underground scenes as places to pick up on a new novelty and maybe a little cred. (i feel like the crunk crossover was a really good eg. of this) and i can see why ppl w/ a vested interest in those scenes might crave those narratives

It's like this vindication thing "see we actually are the masters and originators of this."

i don't get this either, the whole point of the excitement is that dubstep's been this tiny underground genre that no one ever pretended had crossover potential (unlike grime, or 2-step which was pop from the off), and it's still quite weird that this underdog genre is getting top 5 singles and its producers are getting to work with britney and rihanna.

i agree that in certain circles the US's influence is way underplayed, was just talking to j.shepherd about this the other night re: the fact that dizzee based "i luv u" on "is that yo bitch", which i never realised before but which becomes super-obvious once you know

Not talking about your excitement lex.

it's why most people i know are excited (even if like me they don't really give a hoot about rusko or chase & status as producers). who are you talking about? basically i've never seen anyone espouse the line you're suggesting.

I already said dissensian. Matt started this particular conversation by reference to that site too.

Basically Matt says "Dissensus imagined dubstep crossover"

Everyone says "no it's not imaginary it's actually happening"

I say "yes it's happening but the specific form of its significance in that context is imaginary"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x9Tgc0I0jk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQC-Z3S8NbY

mind=blown

I think I like the other big Max Martin produced single that dropped this week better, Avril's "What the Hell".

i don't know what dubstep is, and i don't know what grime is either.

i like this song - the chorus is beautiful, but the verse vocals should be produced a lot better. missing the vocal production on blackout.

i don't find the breakdown hilarious - i think it's good. i don't know if it's more hilarious if you're familiar with what it's trying to replicate, but i don't really care either way.

i like rich's take on this: http://fourfour.typepad.com/fourfour/2011/01/in-defense-of-against.html

Love Tim's point about the "masters and originators" delusion - it's just another sound in the mix. Dubstep does seem to attract certain supporters who are crazily evangelical about it and think that its destiny is to redefine pop music forever. You shall know them by their overuse of the word "nuum" and obscure semantic squabbles with Simon Reynolds.

i'm trying to imagine what she would have to release for her fanbase to quit being apologetic for her but i'm at a loss if this doesn't cut it

this could end up being anywhere from a 6/10 to 9/10 for me atm, dunno where it'll end up, but lead britney singles are traditionally scorned, are they not - "me against the music" and "gimme more" definitely were - only for people to quietly change their minds later

yeah i guess, for me gimme more only revealed itself as awesome in the contxt of the album. this seems like it might be kindof pants tho.

i think "gimme more" has proved itself to be a pop classic now, but conversely "womanizer" has held up really badly (or at least it was always pretty dire), so i dunno how this will end up lasting over time.

yeah womaniser...

womanizer has held up perfectly :)

I don't think dubstep suits pop at all, clunky half time beats and wobbles just take away more than they can give to pop music. It'll just end up sounding like halfstep ed banger and that stuff was boring enough as it was.

I don't think dubstep suits pop at all, clunky half time beats and wobbles just take away more than they can give to pop music

wholeheartedly agree

who didn't like "Gimme More" from the instant it dropped???? crazypants

"unusual you" is my favorite britney track of the last five years and it probably has the least cutting-edge sonics of anything else she's done in that span

iirc jive did an internet poll about what the third single from circus should be, and "unusual you" won it.. and then didn't get released. ah yes here it is

http://www.britney.com/us/node/66107/results

http://cdn.buzznet.com/media-cdn/jj1/headlines/2011/02/femme-fatale-britney-spears.jpg

nagl britney

FEMME FATALE

http://www.popjustice.com/images/stories/j/britneyfemmeart.jpg

oops xpost

7 albums, 7 dreadful titles, 7 dreadful covers. oh britney what is this.

it's amazing how consistently awful she's always been with her album covers.

good to see that the photoshop effect of making an arm look like it has nothing whatsoever to do with the body in the photo remains alive

Has anyone ever looked more "foundation should obscure that nasty hangover" than she does here.

if they've focused on her eyes to give it a sexy "come to the bedroom with me" dirty look they've really failed because her eyes always look so tired and sad these days. :/

what are those FONTS too, they look like the kind of fonts used by restaurants in provincial english seaside resorts on their menus to make them seem "classy"

i like "hold it against me" a lot but there's no artist in pop right now where i feel the singer is less important to the song than britney

http://www.hemmy.net/images/interesting/downwardspiral.jpg

i don't dislike the album cover but it does show her age. girl's been lookin kinda beat up for a while now.

tim is right about the foundation thing.

I like the album cover and think she looks pretty good in it. I would almost buy this for the album cover alone. No idea what you guys are talking about.

yay! i like that reaction

i also liked the blackout and circus covers

i'm weirdly fond of the totally ridiculous s/t cover, where it's all some hideous shade of blue to denote Maturity. (i am also fond of the s/t in general.)

http://celebirtiessupporter.webs.com/Britney_Britney_Album_Cover.PNG

good christ i'd forgotten how lurid and gross the colours on this were

(great album tho. "before the goodbye" = most underrated britney song of all)

ugh, looks like a jessica simpson album cover or something

yeah like: they tinted her pee-yellow. and surrounded her with a melancholy blue because she's serious now. but went for the cleavage shot so as not to be wasteful. someone in an art department made these decisions. it's such an mistake of an artifact it's kinda beautiful.

but yeah, album was easily the high point pre-blackout.

i know i shouldn't be surprised when a britney cover is terrible, but sigh. i was going to buy her greatest hits album however many years back until i saw the abomination that was the cover:

http://images.uulyrics.com/cover/b/britney-spears/album-greatest-hits-my-prerogative.jpg

Like, this is a very good album cover - the fonts, everything!

What the hell is it that you guys don't like?

lol i love it

what is that like lace embroidery background

and i'm sorry but that outfit is a classic

I'm sorry surm- I'm still fuming about the reaction to Femme Fatale. The greatest hits cover is just atrocious. : )

it's ok i'm used to standing alone . . . i have to represent my inner-most values, with or without alliance!

To thine own self be true.

it's ok i'm used to standing alone . . . i have to represent my inner-most values, with or without alliance!

― i like lucy (surm), Wednesday, February 2, 2011 2:58 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

what a beautiful summation of your personality

aww :)

i just want to know who was in the room who said "I KNOW. doilies would look GREAT as a backdrop for her half-naked leather bird outfit."

I wrote about the awfulness of Britney's album covers for The Awl today. Link

article completely otm

this has all made me remember the Stylus column theorising about her covers:

http://stylusmagazine.com/articles/under_the_covers/under-the-covers-britney.htm

hilariously bad in retrospect lol

i'm trying to make a poll of them all but it won't let me :(

I generally hate fanmade covers on principle but Britney's record company should have stopped the pressings immediately and made this the Circus cover:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_7BL8-7BxuHg/STrzdO1cG6I/AAAAAAAAAFg/hv8gs1xfISs/s320/Vin.png

I always thought Britney's covers were a great visual summary of the early 2000s shiny, over colorization of pop/r&b at the time. Too bad she hasn't progressed from that though.

I love that Greatest Hits cover though at the time of its released I hated it due to her image at the time.

xp I always thought that was an official cover. Wow!!! That's a beautiful cover.

that is actually great

i wouldve done the tex differently but the image is amazing

my personal beef with the new cover: the clumpy texture of her hair reminds me of when my own hair gets oily, which has always been a signifier of being too depressed to shower. i see this cover and i'm like "britney i realize you're down but it's the album cover for god's sake!!!"

http://i56.tinypic.com/24grtyw.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lgsmxcWnol1qdjfj7o1_400.gif

umm

this video just made my day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Edv8Onsrgg&feature=player_embedded

beat me!!

(xp)

yes THAT SMILE -- i could not believe it

and then the bridge. sold.

good video, it's nice to know that she can still dance while not actually moving outside of a 4 inch radius

honestly i thought her dancing was still pretty bad in this - but all of the EXPLOSIONS and QUICK EDITS kind of distracted from it

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lgsmuzC7Fs1qa9vqgo1_500.gif

it's kinda trippy to see her singing this song since there's really no trace of her at all in the vocals of the song, it's sorta like watching someone doing the most big budget karaoke ever

yeah her dancing is atrocious -- i think the video averaged a cut every .03 seconds

not surprised

it's kind of like the verses of the song and the video in the verses are just a tease for the greatness of the chorus-bridge-chorus sequence

i was on the train yesterday and this one kid was talking really loudly to his friend about how THE MAINSTREAM ALWAYS TAKES THINGS FROM THE UNDERGROUND, LIKE, BRITNEY SPEARS JUST MADE A DUBSTEP SONG

video is pretty adorable.

also what is with dating website PlentyOfFish.com appearing in both this video and the one for ke$ha's "we r who we r". what is going on there.

they payin up

it was also in the alejandro video. it's how prison guards spend their time apparently.

um i am going to have to disagree that this video has any redeeming qualities at all, in fact i think it made the song worse for me

A great concept but Britney seems to have lost all enthusiasm of being a performer.

errr by alejandro i meant telephone

it's visually stunning but it looks like britney is being forced to be a popstar these days

reminds me of all the late-90s r&b videos set in spaceships. odd video, some really visually effective shots (stiletto in slo mo, double pupil in eyeball) and some really awful lazy ones (heat seeking camera zzz). britney looks mildly confused/heavily sedated throughout.

lex otm

I like that the video ends with a question mark, because it seems to ask the same question I am asking: what the fuck was that? The "Earth 2011" intro caption made me think there would be an actual plot to the video, and the font is so dated.

Britney herself seems such an empty vessel now - instead of the raw sexuality of BritneyDroid 07-09 which worked, this unsubtle come-on seems so unengaging and neutered.

at this point, it is probably wise to just accept that she is a sedated vessel for the marionette show that has become her video career. no surprises there. i don't mind it, though. it is slightly disturbing, somewhat sad, and as always, you have to watch it. at least once. it is like a play within a play, and that smile that she flashes when she kicks off the bjork/matthew barney bridge portion of the video dots the i on that point. also liked the hit me baby imagery.

actually, tho, now that i think about it, her performances in the womanizer and circus videos were good. i felt like she was alive and kickin it there.

and double actually, more than any other recent video, this one seems to comment on her puppetry - the way she is dressed up in that huge ridiculous gown, not quite doing anything.

the 90s spaceship aesthetic makes this sounds even less like dubstep and more like Castles in the Sky. there is a sad Brian Wilson propped-up feel to her career at this point--as if we all know she doesn't want to be there, but she can't think of any other way to make a living/life her life and just lets herself be pushed around by people with a financial incentive in her continuing to make music. I do like the beat-less chorus here though.

that was also an oops reference obv

it's kinda trippy to see her singing this song since there's really no trace of her at all in the vocals of the song, it's sorta like watching someone doing the most big budget karaoke ever

― teenage cream (J0rdan S.)

__________________________________________________

yeah her dancing is atrocious -- i think the video averaged a cut every .03 seconds

― teenage cream (J0rdan S.)

so she isn't singing on the record; she can't dance anymore; and i assume she didn't write the song.

i don't really doubt any of this. it just makes me lol and smh at the same time.

i think britney wants to be doing what she's doing. i think she's singing on the track, even tho it's edited to bits. even her breathing and her moans are interesting. you can't edit something that doesn't exist already. even if she can't Sing, she has something in her voice that can record a pop song. i realized that a while ago. but i don't know if she's happy. and i don't know if she knows how to do what she's doing anymore. it's weird. it's like her memory was erased.

hilariously, I feel like the quality of her singing has increased as she's become more robotic

I feel terrible for hoping she goes off the rails again, there is definitely a link between her music getting better and the more fucked up her personal life becomes

I overanalyze the video on The Awl today.

love the song more and more

"Guys I've been asked to direct a pop video and I've got some great original ideas. The singer is going to be in front of alot of cameras! And microphones! With lots of flash bulbs going off and stuff! And lots of people crowding around to get a look at her! It'll be soooo meta! It'll be a comment on being a celebrity! Wow I am so clever!"

Sorry for the obvious trolling but really feel like this is the 1000th pop video I've seen where the concept is 'Meta commentary on being a celebrity'.

I just heard this song. I like it.

Sorry for the obvious trolling but really feel like this is the 1000th pop video I've seen where the concept is 'Meta commentary on being a celebrity'.

― Telephoneface (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, February 19, 2011 6:01 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest

well, you know, when you're someone like britney & you've been a massive celebrity for all of your adult life, commentating on being a celebrity is probably constantly at the forefront of your mind

i love the verb commentating

i use it in the arena of tennis a lot

This is probably a video Janet Jackson refused to do in 1998. I would say song too but there's too much desperation. Maybe that is all brit brings to it.

i can kind of see the parallel with the video but i don't hear janet in the song

Good for her to keep making music and stuff, tho. Much better to do that than, say, sign up for a VH-1 reality show.

She hasn't toured since 2009? Is it really possible to maintain a pop-star lifestyle these days relying solely on CD/MP3 sales?

when you've sold 100+ million albums worldwide in your career, yeah probably

lol i love how jordan's like the jive records rep

i can kind of see the parallel with the video but i don't hear janet in the song

― i like lucy (surm), Sunday, February 20, 2011 11:31 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

that's why I said not the song so much.

i know . . . . just a comment

lol i love how jordan's like the jive records rep

― i like lucy (surm), Sunday, February 20, 2011 12:44 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

: D

tho speaking of desperation, i think there could be a very distant relation to janet's "so lonely," both lyrically and sonically

oh yeah, that's cool. Yes! I get lonely is 100 times a better song than hold it against me and Janet still retains her sexy powerful woman image/message in the video. I mean, look at her. Yeah, she's lonely- but she doesn't have to be and she knows it.

plus it was made in 98

yeah totally i was thinking the same thing -- it is a more powerful song. which isn't to say that there isn't a certain power in britney's brand of vulnerability, but it isn't the same.

Not to get into an argument about what "meta" means, but wouldn't a meta music video be about the making of a music video?

That's exactly what's going on in the video in some shots.

serves me right for going on description rather than watching the video

Trust me, you've seen this video already.

feels like this video confirms just how much britney's trying to play catch-up to gaga but doesn't she even know how to begin

that said, when the control fluids started spraying from her fingers i had high hopes

it's kind of like the verses of the song and the video in the verses are just a tease for the greatness of the chorus-bridge-chorus sequence

otm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOThRTE9UbU

Some fan took out all of the backing vocals and made a video of just Britney singing the song solo. Nothing to prove with this video. Just something interesting.

she sounds good imo

This kinda vindicates her I think.

She isn't technically a good singer, but she does have something in her tone that makes a good pop song. I never understood why her producers/record label thought it is a good idea to bury her voice amongst the music and background vocals. I think I'll make a mp3 of this because I rather hear her and just not layers of her and others.

This version is loads better. Now if only they could get her back to Womanizer-era dancing skills, she'd be a bad bitch again.

the snippets of 'i wanna go', 'inside out' and 'how i roll' all sound gorgeous. and 'hold it against me' is so good.

HOWEVER. now there's the snippet for the ludicrously titled 'the big fat bass' featuring the ludicrously awful will.i.am.

http://dipdive.com/member/iamwill/media/171985

sounds dire. just like everything else will.i.am is involved in. you crazy for this one, britney.

c'mon guys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYRSvQXkcZ0

yeah i heard it the other day but it's just kinda boring isn't it? can't think of much to say about it really.

co-written by ke$ha

it's aight -- based on the snippets all the songs kinda sound exactly the same? at least the dr luke ones

I had the same response to this and "Hold It Against Me."

xpost

i think both of them are like 6 or 7/10

needless to say i'm most excited about the two darkchild bonus tracks

i'd never heard of this dude before but i guess he's working heavy w/ max & luke now -- has writing or prod credits on the first three songs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_%28producer%29

also there's this dude calling himself "Billboard" & a dude named "Jukebox" that did "whip my hair"

i'll lol if this nicole scherzinger album i'm listening to turns out to be better than either britney or gaga's efforts

(there is a song called "club banger nation"!)

nicole loves blogs

i mean "poison" >>>> "hold it against me" >>>> "born this way" and it isn't even close

the album has leaked, and it's much better than i was expecting after hearing the first two singles (except for will.i.am's "big fat bass")

I'm just going to assume that's a song about fishing

omg that interpretation has totally redeemed it (pre-emptively)

listening to the album now - it's very uhhh functional? it does what it does (britney in robosex mode over chunky, bassy beats à la the singles) and it does it with no surprises so far but it does it effectively.

all the songs so far basically sound the same

as i type that "criminal" opens with a pastoral flute o_0

i like it

the middle 8 to "criminal" is really unexpected and completely gorgeous. "how i roll" is probably my favourite. 'YOU CAN BE MY FUCK TONIGHT'. i heard a snippet of "inside out" a while ago and was blown away. the full thing is still good but it goes absolutely nowhere. "trip to your heart" and "i wanna go" are fucking awesome, even if the former is a bit of a heaven on earth ripoff.

really i don't think there's a bad track on it. even for britney there's a pretty ridiculous amount of autotune though. "drop dead gorgeous" and "trouble for me" are kind of filler-ish but they're ok.

obvs this is no blackout, but i'd say it's her second best! very happy after the horrorshow that was circus and the '3' single

i think it's really cool how laid-back this album is: how it only goes for the Big Chorus a couple times, but doesn't recede into balladry elsewhere. "inside out" finds this really cool kind of ease to exist in.

also i like that almost everything here has at the very least a Weird Noise.

Weird Noises bode well for the remixes !

blown away by this album, so weird and different - can see it influencing many new styles in pop over the next year or two. my 2 faves are the two nuttiest sounding ones: how i roll and big fat bass (i can overlook will.i.am).

gaga must be listening and gnashing her teeth - for all her Pop magnificence she doesn't have anything that comes close to half the songs on this (bar bad romance)

totally agree on the weird noises thing. im sure some smuggoes out there will say "oh dubstep act x has been doing this for eons" but this is mainstream world-conquering pop so it's kindof a Big Deal. people are saying the songs all have dubstep elements and sounds, what's the general reaction in dubstepland to her using the sounds? outright horror or open arms?

but yeah even better than blackout in my book.

Listened to this four times this weekend. A busy album -- too busy in places, as if the sound effects and sonic whahoozits were doing the job of her voice and songs.

But I LOVE the decision to go Italo disco: lots of oh-oh-ohs and metronomic beats. I retract what I said about "Til The World Ends."

More in a few days.

really kind of heartened by and proud of how britney sounds so much more comfortable and funnier and sexier as a fucked-up post-emotional-problems thirtysomething divorcee with really sad eyes than she did as the ostensible queen of high school.

b&a could go easy sometimes

i like the album but it's effective rather than, like, mindblowing. it's not so much that dubstep acts have done this before as britney herself has been a lot weirder and more surprising before. don't think it's as rote as circus, it's a good album...it's no better than, say, the new nicole scherzinger though. dunno, i doubt it'll grow on me to the extent that i think it's great. i kind of dislike "how i roll" because it sounds like fucking robyn.

Robyn's album is better than this one, actually (the will.i.am collab is bad in an interesting way).

come now, femme fatale isn't THAT bad

i think blackout just wore me out to the point that i haven't been able to connect w/ any chart house pop or w/e since. i like just cant vibe w/ this at all and i put on break the ice and it just slays me. i just dont i mean

Your eternal Robyn-hate has gone from maddening to comforting, lex.

Like, if all the sudden you changed your position, I'd be upset.

I was in lex's corner for years but when I made my own version of Body Talk for reviewing purposes I cried uncle.

yo, lets stick to britney rather than get distracted by not-relevant hate campaigns

tracklist + producers:

1. Till The World Ends (Produced by Dr. Luke, Max Martin and Billboard)
2. Hold It Against Me (Produced by Dr. Luke, Max Martin and Co-produced by Billboard)
3. Inside Out (Produced by Dr. Luke, Max Martin and Billboard)
4. I Wanna Go (Produced by Max Martin and Shellback)
5. How I Roll (Produced by Bloodshy, Henrik Jonback and Magnus)
6. (Drop Dead) Beautiful ft. Sabi (Produced by Benny Blanco, Ammo, JMIKE and Billboard)
7. Seal It With A Kiss (Produced by Dr. Luke, Max Martin and Dream Machine)
8. Big Fat Bass featuring will.i.am (Produced by will.i.am)
9. Trouble For Me (Produced by Fraser T Smith)
10. Trip To Your Heart (Produced by Bloodshy, Henrik Jonback and Magnus)
11. Gasoline (Produced by Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco)
12. Criminal (Produced by Max Martin and Shellback)

im not listening to anything w/ that many dr luke credits

i mean that is esssentially just masochism

"I Wanna Go" is my second favorite -- the whistling!

iirc "inside out" and "criminal" were my two immediate favourites, i don't get what's supposed to be weird or surprising about any of them though - oh look it's britney sounding posthuman and putting weird effects on her voice and singing about fucking...for the third album in a row

trip to your heart is the only semi-duff, and gasoline or criminal, i forget which, one of those isn't quite as good. other than that, all fucking awesome. could have had a better first single than HIAM maybe

which is the track where she refs hit me baby? im an absolute sucker for things like that

"Till The World Ends," I think.

it's "inside out" and she references "crazy" too - for a minute i thought she was gonna reference ALL her hits. she should've!

ah is it? it bugged me a bit that one the first time i heard it, the whole "dj take it to the floor" thing, just kinda dumb and very black-eyed peasy. ignoring that it's a great track but poss needs a few key vocal edits before djing with

interesting:

According to Britney, Femme Fatale will include 12 tracks and have a deluxe edition with four additional songs, such as ‘Up N’ Down’, ‘He About To Lose Me’, ‘Selfish’, and ‘Don’t Keep Me Waiting’ produced by Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins.

hope none of those are ballads, best thing about this album (and blackout) is the lack of gloop

For some reason, the first time I saw "Selfish" I actually read "Shellfish" and thought, "hmm...wonder what THAT's gonna sound like."

really kind of heartened by and proud of how britney sounds so much more comfortable and funnier and sexier as a fucked-up post-emotional-problems thirtysomething divorcee with really sad eyes than she did as the ostensible queen of high school.

^ love this

surprised by it too, as she *does* sound like she's having fun on this album - would never have guessed from the HIAM video where she looked like she was kept alive by prescription drugs, cryonics and a system of pulleys

whatever else you want to say about britney, she produces some of the best writing on ILM.

provokes, i mean.

Dunno, since the Blackout sound has become common currency in pop I've become less and less interested in other things that sound like it. Kinda feels like Blackout was the artistic pinnacle of this whole sound and the idea of Britney trotting it out for the third time just feels boring at this stage, and that's without taking into account the countless other records in this style over the past couple of years. I'm actually finding it difficult to muster up the enthusiasm to listen to it.

who else is making / has made blackout style pop lately? not having a jibe, wondering if i've missed anything

also without getting all techwank & looking at the exact beats and structure i just dont feel FF is anything like blackout, baffled by that statement. certainly nothing like how i roll or BFB on there

unless you mean the whole dirty dark club tracks thing, in which case sheesh im walking away right now

femme fatale doesn't feel like a blackout retread like circus did (which is why it's better than circus) - mostly a different sonic palette, and the general feel is more robotic (but also...kinda...airy? and spacious?) rather than druggy and fucked-up. but substantively it's not exactly a departure.

I couldn't warm to Circus at all; this really does sound like an aural sequel to Blackout, in the best sense.

in the best sense: the no doubt lavish budget is well spent.

Ah if it doesn't actually sound like a Blackout retread I'm more enthusiastic.

at one point mid-album i heard laughter and i thought to myself "wow! i don't think i've ever heard britney sound so human, so earnest, so present!" and then i realized i was actually hearing sabi's guest spot.

so happy there are no ballads, i loved blackout for not having any ballads either. feel like "hold it against me" works a lot better in context than it did as a single.

i'm not having any more anti-ballad talk, my favourite britney song is still "everytime"

feel like "hold it against me" works a lot better in context than it did as a single.

agree with this too

a friend said the only thing she'd change about it would be to have minaj guesting rather than sabi. yep yep yep

totally agree on the weird noises thing. im sure some smuggoes out there will say "oh dubstep act x has been doing this for eons" but this is mainstream world-conquering pop so it's kindof a Big Deal. people are saying the songs all have dubstep elements and sounds

Yes and no - yes her producers are using dubstep elements but it's not actually that big a deal. It's not the source material that really matters here, but the blueprint it's slotted into. I should elaborate on what I said yesterday - I'm not accusing producers of rehashing Blackout again and again but it does feel like the blueprint (or one of the blueprints) for an American pop aesthetic that's feeling played out now - I'm including Ke$ha and Gaga in this as well. Rave synths, vocoders, robot noises, kitchen sink maximalism.

Differences between genres appear less pronounced the further away the audience is from them, and they can erode if you take them out of context - both of those things happen here. So in this context dubstep is just another European dance sound the producers can draw on - a dirty bass noise to use in the breakdown of what's essentially a big-room Eurohouse-inspired track. It might not actually register with the majority of the intended audience. In the same way that rnb-inflected pop circa 2001-2004 took Bollywood as a soundtrack and expanded it to include anything that sounded vaguely Eastern. By 2004ish, when that sound was played out it didn't really matter whether the producers were lifting from Bollywood soundtracks or Turkish pop, they were still employing them in the same tired framework. I'd say a similar thing's happening with this sound now.

Femme Fatale doesn't actually sound fresh and original at all because there are so few sonic surprises - the whistling noises, 'How I Roll', the synth flute on the last track. Doesn't mean there aren't good songs here, but as a whole it feels a bit rote and predictable, including the dubstep elements.

What can teenpop do next that might sound fresh? I was wondering this earlier today. Back to rock feels too soon? And presumably R&B has got to start sounding like R&B again before teenpop will think to go there.

rebecca black

does teenpop really need to sound "fresh"? i mean the last teenpop i really loved was demi lovato, who wasn't doing anything new exactly, bar a slightly heavier tinge than you'd expect to her rock and a surprising versatility, but just did it incredibly well

well, loved "blackout" (like everyone here apparently), couldn't care less about "circus" and didn't expect much from this after the first single but it's surprisingly good. "how i roll" is great. "drop dead beautiful" is heavy and groovy as hell. the rest I don't have a clear idea yet as i've only listened to this twice (I also confess I find "bass" pretty fun although I hate will iam).

well there sorta needs to be trends to rally around right? I mean as one offs people like demi can do what they do but I assume that in general terms it's not gonna be stomp stomp euro forever.

but demi is only a one-off in terms of her talent, not her sound, which at least a couple of years ago fit neatly in between the bubblegum rock miley cyrus was doing and the more serious "confessional" rock of kelly clarkson (and her excursions into other genres seemed to use that as the base).

who even are the teenpoppers right now, anyway? demi's in rehab, when was the last time miley or vanessa released new music, taylor's too much of a one-off and bidding for adulthood anyway. bieber and selena gomez i guess. surely the first actually decent bieber song is overdue.

Really surprised there aren't more Taylor Swift clones actually. Or alternatively pop stars who are feeding off the popularity of Glee. Bright and sunny and inoffensive with big choir choruses.

I mean, it'd probably be terrible but that's neither here nor there.

oh god i forgot about glee #fuckglee #fuckglee

mdc otm about femme fatale btw, i listened again yesterday and...i am not sure most of these songs are gonna hold up really. i found myself thinking longingly of "friday" at several intervals.

but demi is only a one-off in terms of her talent, not her sound, which at least a couple of years ago fit neatly in between the bubblegum rock miley cyrus was doing and the more serious "confessional" rock of kelly clarkson (and her excursions into other genres seemed to use that as the base).

yeah I meant one-off in terms of carrying a sound that's now out of fashion.

i don't think she'd have necessarily stuck with that sound, pre-rehab she was talking about her next album being more r&b - i assume "behind enemy lines" style r&b rather than ciara/terius.

idk i think autotuned up-in-the-club eurostomp has more mileage in it yet, at least in combination with bellowed "self-empowerment" anthems à la jessie j and katy perry - i have no clue what will replace them! i am completely useless at predicting hits, i mean wiz khalifa is in the uk top 5 this week and i'm like, what? i did not see that coming.

It's not a sound that's out-of-fashion, per se, but a sound that's fashionable or popular elsewhere and yet to be co-opted? Hope you're all ready for Mumford & Sons influenced teenpop, kids.

tbh i can totally envisage a jessie j/mumford & sons collab

having to listen to the jessie j album all weekend took years off my life btw, basically all you need to know is that "do it like a dude" is in fact the best and most socially acceptable song on it

Not surprised Black & Yellow is a UK hit by the way, it doesn't seem that different in spirit to some of the Tinchy & Tinie stuff that the British public have lapped up. Pop enough, in other words.

yeah but so many random rap songs sound catchy and poppy to me every year and it's just a total mystery how some cross over and others don't

i'm not having any more anti-ballad talk, my favourite britney song is still "everytime"

my sister holds the same opinion, i'll say to you what i say to her: TIIIIINY HAAAAAANDS, YES THAT'S YOUUUUUU...

but yeah, moreso than just not having a ballad, blackout's songs/sequencing felt coherent in a way that circus's wasn't -- like the "lace and leather" -> "my baby" transition which is just screechingly offputting. femme fatale's sound/sequencing feels just as coherent as blackout, and my only disappointment is that "criminal" isn't a state-of-britney's-life song like "why should i be sad" was.

and the general feel is more robotic (but also...kinda...airy? and spacious?)

yeah, the "spacious" thing is what i love--a lot of stuff here ("how i roll" particularly) is in this weird hinterland between CLUB BANGER and SENSITIVE BALLAD. like the club relaxes her. which is really sexy.

circus barely felt like an album to me; i think i've listened to it once. i dunno why. sequencing probably had an awful lot to do with it.

Yeah, Circus felt dated the moment it played.

WHEREAS THIS THING...hasn't left my iPod. The ooh-ah-oohs and whoa-whoa-whoas getting scrunched against your spine by some ugly, thrilling synth belch -- that's what puts it over.

i love how far "criminal" goes in making the guy Bad: not only does he "kill for fun", he's also a snitch.

and then that like wicker man flute.

This thing feels like ten fantastic rewrites of Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy."

i think i hate "how i roll" :/

i agree on the mediocrity of circus but i gotta say, no song here is yet hitting me as hard as "amnesia" did

possibly my view is coloured by having to digest the katy b and nicole scherzinger albums this week too

WHEREAS THIS THING...hasn't left my iPod. The ooh-ah-oohs and whoa-whoa-whoas getting scrunched against your spine by some ugly, thrilling synth belch -- that's what puts it over.

so so true, haven't battered an album quite like this since... since my Rock Days. BFB and how i roll have that great rich almost g-funk sound to them, the standout tracks by far for me.

really thought she was saying "you can be my fuck tonight" in how i roll, which is *such* a great lyric, but apparently it's thug. sounds massively like 'fuck' mind, wonder how the radio will treat it

Listened to it again last night and I think I'd be willing to forgive the production if the songs were stronger but it doesn't feel like there's a great pop song here.

ahah, yeah, I thought the same thing for "you can be my fuck tonight" !

haha it's SO that, well rum. bound to be a single that one so i can't wait to see what they do with it. has there been a precedent with this already? a pop single with someone saying a word that sounds like a swear but actually isn't

'forgive' the production lol

a pop single with someone saying a word that sounds like a swear but actually isn't

idk its become so much more acceptable to just put fuck in the song title now (cee lo, pink, enrique)

in keri hilson's "the way you love me", she sings "fuck me, fuck me, it's the way you fuck me" in the explicit versh but "thug me, thug me, it's the way you thug me" in the clean versh - it sounds virtually identical and hearing it as "fuck me" is the only way it makes sense anyway.

also in tricky's "overcome" i still swear martina sings "when we fuck we'll hear beats" despite the lyric booklet having "when we funk we'll hear beats" printed in it because wtf does the latter even mean.

This is surprisingly good/listenable.

Disappointed that there's no big single, but relieved it doesn't stink of the same hysterical desperation as the last one. Fun.

just one iteration of the word "fun" looks so paltry in the era of rebecca black

I reviewed the album for BurningAmbulance.com today.

Always thought Ashanti saying "I love it when you thug me baby" was kinda simultaneously ew and mysterious.

oh man, i've ended up liking "till the world ends" as a single way more than i thought i would

I disagree with Phil: when the album works, it's precisely because the computerized-beyond-recognition voice IS "Britney Spears." We're listening to the apotheosis of Britney.

i don't think i'm really going to get into this album beyond lukewarm enjoyment of the few songs that actually hold up beyond a couple of listens - great swathes of it are decent-but-not-that-exciting production allied to subpar songwriting and britney doing what she always does over the top

surprised nobody's brought up poker face, which hilariously has a different edit that makes "poke" more audibly long-O

"till the world ends" makes me want to poll the guetta apopalypse tunes I actually like: this vs "only girl in the world" (winner obv) vs "who's that chick" vs "dj got us falling in love" vs "dynamite" vs "we r who we r"...

also "s&m" & "who that girl"

also the guetta/cudi song, the new j lo song, the enrique songs, the pitbull/t-pain song, the benny benassi/t-pain song...

The j lo song makes me feel weird because I was really into lambada crossover as a kid.

"when love takes over" in the poll as well obv.

i think you two actually just like david guetta tbh

and also smh

oh i missed the "that i actually like" part of that post -- i also like all the ones tim mentions + "who that girl", "s&m" & the guetta/cudi song

SMH

Hey so quickly b/c I haven't heard any of Brit's albums prior to Blackout: would it be fair to say this is her most uptempo album?

The first three are fairly frisky; I didn't listen to the first one before Blackout.

I've been listening to a lot more chartpop lately, directly because of this board. For instance, someone recently touted the new Britney Spears album (was it Chuck Eddy? It may as well have been), and I ran right out and discovered for myself that it's a pale, cold, lifeless exercise in formula. Thank, ILM!
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, November 24, 2003 8:47 AM (7 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Progress.

I saw her in San Fran and the degradation of her dancing skills bugs the hell outta me. I don't care about the lip-synching or having her voice autotuned. I can even ignnore the fact that she basically is personality-free these days, but to watch her dance as of late is depressing. I mean, Womanizer wasn't that long ago.

I have liked her previous two albums maybe better (because they were more 80s like). What seems interesting about the most recent one is, however, that it seems like for the first time she has tried to produce a cohesive full album, not just a handful of hit singles combined with a few OK tracks and a handful of filler.

which tracks on blackout are filler? i am too in love with it to see its flaws.

Huh, I thought it was "fuck tonight" too. Makes me think of fuck/funk in "Erotic City".

i just gave the full album a listen. it sounds decent, but for whatever reason most of the songs sort of bounced off me without leaving much of an impact.

i'm actually not sure if i've listened to blackout in full (if i have, it's been a very long time since then), so i guess it's time i did that

I still think "Rock Me In" on Circus is totally overlooked. Even that Dido track is pretty good.

^ cosign, "rock me in" is by far my most played track off circus.

Teleporting in from the rock und weirdstuff section of ilxor for a moment. Really, really like How I Roll. No surprise maybe. Apparently it's the hipster bait on the album. No guitar overload, but it hits the same buttons that Sleigh Bells do, in many ways. That's all. Wish she/they'd do more like this.

the last minute of til the world ends is among my fav thing shes ever done

Metal Mike Saunders asked me via email to post this for him here:

oh yeah --bought the new britney album yesterday. whoa and wow, tracks 4 through 12 KILL nonstop, it's just as good as advertised. and totally-different from BLACKOUT or (different still from) CIRCUS (which i actually like even more than BLACKOUT), but the SAME genre, ha! hat trick, baby, hat trick! ARTISTIC 3-CARD-MONTE PRIZE WINNER HERE! the buzz and advance press (including Max Martin and Dr Luke themselves in the new Rolling Stone, talking aggro and making good points about the album) did not lie.

the britney album tracks 1 and 2, oh yeah...those are the two hit singles everyone knows sooo i didn't even really notice those when it started playing (from the living room while i was around and about back and forth).

i guess that leaves "Track 3" as the only "why didn't that one tune (only) sound great on first listen?" i do believe we got a 5-star 9.5 and 3.90 GPA "BEST OF CAREER" winner here. even if nothing is even a pimple on the 1999-2000 teenage genius of "Lucky" or "I Won't Be There" or or or, any of them. yep, totally different ten years down the line. now that sir is a true artist's catalog!

the last minute of til the world ends is among my fav thing shes ever done

yes

it's definitely "you can be my fuck tonight". why would anyone think differently?

except for that line, it's true that How I Roll does sound exactly like a Robyn track.

i still haven't heard the whole album!

it's definitely "you can be my fuck tonight". why would anyone think differently?

because they don't censor it! they censor "shit" out on "til the world ends."

on the radio? that kind of crazy, it's clear as day!

i don't think "how i roll" has made it to radio yet, but i know they censor the swears on the album itself. as far as i can tell they never bother to put out the explicit versions of songs, they pre-censored stuff on circus and blackout too. the only brit song i remember having an un-censored swear is "do somethin'"

Um. Just realized that the 8 bar rap on (Drop Dead) Beautiful is Sabi from The Bangz. Hmm.

reeeeeeally? very cool

Buying a physical copy last week made the difference. Now I consider this album just a notch below Blackout. I even like the will.i.am. track.

Um. Just realized that the 8 bar rap on (Drop Dead) Beautiful is Sabi from The Bangz. Hmm.

haha wow, how did no one notice this before now?! also you'd think sabi would've spammed the hell out of social networking sites about it, i admire her unbotheredness.

this album is not inspiring any more repeat plays though.

dudes i totally mentioned upthread that sabi sounds more alive under the robo-FX than brit does on the whole album. i can only think of two moments on the album where we get a hint of brit playfulness, and that's in her pronunciation of "ha-zy" and "seh-elfish."

http://www.poisonparadise.com/post/4850349700/till-the-world-ends-remix-feat-nicki-minaj

the official websites for britney, k$, and nicki all have a countdown timer suggesting that this will be released on monday

ke$ha seems kinda pointless on this

i couldn't tell which one was britney, which one was kesha & which one was nicki

wait, this record is good? shiiiiiiit, now i have to actually listen to it

This is a much better than the single version IMO, especially the Ke$ha part. I feel like no one really nails those anthemic Dr. Luke chorus bits (before the beat kicks back in) quite like her.

oh. was kesha on shut up and party too because i just made some joke about it sounding like kid sister guesting on kesha's dutch house tribute to bbd's poison but hey maybe that was actually kesha.

wow nicki's verse is nuts

This remix is unassailable

the remix makes me want to live in LA and put gel in my hair and hang out with cheesy girls in terrible clubs

Yeah it's like the apotheosis of the LA aesthetic.

the 30 seconds or so after "dj, what you waitin for" are just precision engineered for artifically straightened hair to whip around on a strobe-lit dancefloor as mooky dudes kind of chunter along on the periphery, day-glo wristbands around their chunky wrists, clappin along, but if you're in the middle of it and the dry ice gushes out and catches the lasers as all of this is happening then this song must be such a fuckin rush at that point

inside out is stupid how good it is

best song on it, hands down.

like, retarded

The ambiguous use of "Hold It Against Me" in the song's chorus is kinda cool. Too bad the same idea was already used by Bellamy Brothers more than 30 years ago....

i only figured out that "hold it against me" had a double meaning like 2 months after the song came out

i was like ohhhh

"Inside Out" sounds like a shinier, poppier Tricky/The-Dream song to me. A matter of fact, I would like to see how her voice fits into their current sound now.

Random side note: I argued with someone a long time ago that Janet Jackson was better than Britney Spears, and his only defense was because she is so messed up is why he loves her. And that Janet Jackson is not "hot" right now. Now every time I see his boyfriend, the boyfriend always sings "Til The World Ends" to annoy me which doesn't work since it has a killer chorus. Those "oh oh oh's" are catchy as hell.

cool story bro

I know you are being snarky Brainwasher. :P The whole situation was pretty silly in retrospect. The person actually stopped talking to me after that discussion.

Another incident I had at a party, someone said "Fuck you" to me when I mentioned Britney's live performances were lacking big time.

The girl has die hard supporters. She needs to retire for her sake.

die hard

that's pretty crazy that he stopped talking to u bc u thought janet was cooler than brit

it's like, woah, way to take a situation out of hand, broth

was at local club the other night, and can confirm that Til The World Ends is pretty fuckin rad.

"the 30 seconds or so after "dj, what you waitin for" are just precision engineered for artifically straightened hair to whip around on a strobe-lit dancefloor as mooky dudes kind of chunter along on the periphery, day-glo wristbands around their chunky wrists, clappin along, but if you're in the middle of it and the dry ice gushes out and catches the lasers as all of this is happening then this song must be such a fuckin rush at that point"

:D

won't u give me somethin to remember
baby shut ur mouth and turn me inside out
even tho we couldn't last forever
baby
u know what i want right now
hit me one more time it's so amazin
how you shook my world and flipped it upside down
you're the only one who ever drove me crazy
cuz you know me inside out.

this "burning up" cover is SO BAD

like "oh god my ears when is it going to end" level bad

is it worse than the 'i can't get no satisfaction' cover?

The first four tracks are just ace. Then things get dicey. "Inside Out" and "I Wanna Go" - yum. I've been listening to "I Wanna Go" on repeat for days.

too kesha for me. til the world ends is admittedly a very good song but it remains too kesha for me as well. i can't.

Don't hate any of it, don't love any of it. Meh.

this "burning up" cover is SO BAD

I just played 15 seconds of it and was appalled

is it a cover of the madonna song burning up?

"cover" is too charitable

"wholly misconceived attempt to update a song that didn't need updating" is more accurate

I am shocked that an artist who's recorded exactly two good songs in her entire career couldn't pull a rabbit out of the hat with this one

lol

"2 good songs" is some hilarious shit

Well, the point that she's put out a bunch of overhyped shit is a valid one to make (then again I'm still the only person on Earth who still doesn't like "Toxic")

if I accept djp's anti-"Toxic" stance then the only thing left is "Lucky"

uh huh

haha okay I can see the redeeming value in "Toxic" even though it's not my thing but "Lucky" is kind of the textbook definition of "Britney poopburger"

(and I do think she has more than 2 good songs, it's just that I generally like her when she's an afterthought on the track)

lucky is good bc it is so disney

i like the AND THE WORLD KEEPS SPINNING AND SHE JUST KEEPS WINNING part in lucky

Madonna's voice and force of personality (with all her early chutzpah and hunger) is so key to "Burning Up" that I can't really see anyone doing it justice, but Britney's version is particularly horrific. "I'm not the others, I'll do anything" sounds really quite sad coming from her now, emphasising her complete lack of autonomy post-conservatorship that is the very opposite to Madonna's statement of intent and control all that time ago. Plus, it needs guitars!

Her cover of "Satisfaction" is great though! That and "Don't Go Knock My Door" was a really good two song sequence.

"I'm not the others, I'll do anything" sounds really quite sad coming from her now, emphasising her complete lack of autonomy post-conservatorship

i got sad just reading this. i can't really deal with britney's music anymore, because of her life.

You can't separate life from art?

britney sounding completely bored/dead/medicated on Femme Fatale makes it somewhat harder this time round (ie the life, or the non-life, is in the art now)

"art"

I see it the other way around, hence why she's made the second best album of her career.

Its predecessor, however, was nattering and listless.

i'm not defending Circus, lol

it bums me out too when i get the impression britney is just doing things because people are telling her to, which is why i like "mmm papi" even though it's a silly one-off of a song. she participated in the writing and she sounds invested in it and it find it enchanting.

ha ha, i went to wikipedia to verify her writing credit and found this gem:

"Mmm Papi" received negative reviews from music critics. Many said the song represents Spears' trouble with men, while noticing its lyrical content as a go-go romp with daddy issues and the nexus of cock-hungriness.

ok someone at ILM is responsible for that

it's not as good a nexus of cock-hungriness as "get naked"

You can't separate life from art?

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, June 24, 2011 4:16 PM (50 minutes ago) Bookmark

i'm not saying it's a reasonable response on my part, and i'm not like this about everyone, but she just makes me sad.

This still holds up.

I voted "Till the World Ends" on the ILM year-end poll, since it seemed like the consensus favorite, but the best track on here is really "Trip to Your Heart," which is gorgeous.

It is glorious, like a Lisa Frank folder come to life. I think you're right that "Till the World Ends" is more popular, but I voted for "Trip to Your Heart" anyway. That last "trip to your hear-aar-aar-aart" gets me every time.

don't know if we have a more recent britney thread, but:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjAxY9sjpMM

so it's intended for the smurfs 2 soundtrack, but i swear i'm hearing the lyric "we don't fuck 'til we got enough" in there. maybe if they play it during the movie they'll change "fuck" to "smurf."

pretty sure it's "we don't STOP til we got enough"

offcut yeah but still this is garbage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVcSNnqRD0c

video for the smurf single is ultra-terrible & the height of laziness, but brit's so cute and lively in it that i love it anyway. jayden and sean preston's presence is awkwardly cute too.

like the Smurf single

http://25.media.tumblr.com/5abb084c87e52fa46258e19172c04a4f/tumblr_mps55iK73L1qa03y5o1_500.gif

best bit, just hammin' it up for the kids. also people are saying that's jamie-lynn's daughter maddie in the row behind them?

Video was as awkward as something made by ARK music imo

"children's movie" now translates to "katy perry" apparently. welcome to america thank you and goodnight

disappointing single tbh