BRITNEY SPEARS
Blackout
(ZOMBA) A

The long-awaited Britney Spears album Blackout hits Australian stores this Saturday, the 27th of October, and it is well worth the $19.95 - $31.00 you will spend on it (depending on where you shop.) Don’t let the packaging put you off. As a matter of fact, It’s not as terrible as some would have you believe.

She’s gotten a LOT of flack for the albums artwork but, in all honesty, when has she actually delivered the goods in that department? Not a single one of her covers have actually been any good.. in fact, this is probably the best one yet, and that is saying something. Are you telling me people actually think the covers for…Baby One More Time, Oops!… I Did It Again, Britney or In The Zone are better than this one? I’d urge them all to get themselves to their nearest optometrist ASAP if that’s the case.

My plan with this review is to look past the fact that Britney’s an absolute troubled hot mess, and focus on the songs. I’d managed to avoid the majority of the leaks from this record, only having previously heard Radar and Heaven On Earth. Resisting the leaks was the best thing I could have done to enjoy this album to the full extent now that it’s ‘out there.’

It really is Britney Bitch, and opening track/current single Gimme More is still an absolute 4 minute powerhouse. Proof that people were able to look beyond the terrible MTV performance, this song is doing very well pretty much everywhere I look, and that pleases me. My favourite bit of this song? Aside from the explosive last 1 minute and 30 seconds, anytime during the chorus to replace the words “Gimme Moore’ with “Demi Moore.” Go on… try it.

Piece Of Me is a self-referencing stab at the Hollywood and gossip tabloids. It’s all a bitLindsay Rumours in more ways than one, but with more of a firm tongue-in-cheek feel rather than Blohan’s “FEEL SORRY FOR ME I’M FAMOUS, LAWLZ” approach in her now infamous single. The production is excellent, high-synthed electro meets urban - just the kind of thing Britney SHOULD be doing on a new album. I don’t really mind Radar, but there’s something off about the vocals through the chorus; it’s just too high. Stay away from Hot As Ice though, terrible chorus with a faux-Outkast feel to it. Impressively, those two songs are the only real dud moments on here. Usually, for me anyways, I’ve found that I am faced with more than half an album of Britney material that is just thoroughly rubbish. Not this time around though…

Break The Ice sees Brit announce “It’s been a while, I know I shouldn’t have kept you waiting, but I’m here now.” Quite. The opening synths remind me of something from old Italo-disco King Fancy’s back catalogue. Never a bad thing. The verses and chorus that follow absolutely deliver the goods… This is Britney’s Promiscuous. The best song on the album has to be Heaven On Earth though, one of the earlier leaks I’d actually heard before. This is SUCH an adorable/cute electropop song that really needs to be a single. Breathy vocals, corker production, an amazing chorus, it really is near heavenly.

Get Naked (I Got A Plan) sees producer Danja (or Mini-Timbaland) recreate the ultimate in Timbaland homages. It is like putting Maneater, The Way I Are, Oh Timbaland and Wait A Minute into a blender, along with the 20 seconds of goodness to be found on Gwen’s otherwise annoying Wind It Up. It’s also the song Britney admits to being “crazy” in. Brilliant. Tracks like Freakshow, Toy Soldier (sadly, not a Martika cover) and Perfect Lover carry on this clever, modern urban sound through to the end of Blackout. Yes, so it might all sound like it’s Timbaland production, but I still believe the majority of his production (past and present) is beyond excellent. I don’t see anything wrong with making a record which sounds like this at all. Timb’s sort of redefined the type of Urban a primarily pop artist can record, which I think is a very, very good thing.

Ooh Ooh Baby is an endearing nod to The Turtles‘ classic So Happy Together, whilst moody-near-ballad Why Should I Be Sad sounds suspiciously like it could be about a certain Mr. Federline, or at least intended to sound like it’s about him anyway.

Across the board, this is a quality, quality record which fuses together the key elements of urban, pop, electro and dance music incredibly well. This - as an album - works, which is something I’ve always felt Britney’s never been able to achieve. Great history of singles, yeah, but she has never been an albums artist. But Blackout really has changed all of that.