FEATURE:
In All Her Glory
Ranking Britney Spears’ Nine Studio Albums
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EARLIER this week…
PHOTO CREDIT: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
there was news that Britney Spears is writing material for a new album. Her ninth, Glory, came out in 2016. Having won a long-drawn-out conservatorship battle against her father and those who have been controlling her career for years, it seems like this is a new phase for Britney Spears. Now forty, the Pop icon is looking ahead to fresh horizons. Maybe there will be big live dates later this year and some personal news. I think the music world is holding its breath for another album. Will it be confessional and angry, or will it be a return to the lighter, sexier Pop that she is known for? I think we will get something defiant, independent, strong and compelling. One of the biggest artists of the late-1990s and 2000s, it is good that she is in a happier space now. Ahead of a potential tenth studio album, I wanted to rank her nine albums. I think they are all very strong, though there are some that I prefer above the rest – even the lowest-ranking album is very good indeed. Here is my view when it comes to ranking…
THE albums of the inimitable Britney Spears.
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9. Britney Jean
Release Date: 29th November, 2013
Label: RCA
Producers: A.C./Chico Bennett/Christopher Braide/Peter Carlsson/Cirkut/Diplo/Dr. Luke/Freshmen III/David Guetta/Derek Weintraub/Zach ‘Reazon’ Heiligman/Keith Harris/HyGrade/William ‘DJ Keebz’ Kebler/Kool Kojak/LWAM/Sebastian Ingrosso/Damien LeRoy/William Orbit/Otto Knows/Anthony Preston/Nicky Romero/Giorgio Tuinfort/Marcus van Wattum/Richard Vission/will.i.am
Standout Songs: Alien/Perfume/Body Ache
Review:
“Even now, just about to celebrate her 32nd birthday, Britney Spears remains as enigmatic as the Disney-groomed, emotionally insulated teen who greeted us in the late ’90s. It’s part of why we treasure her: The feeling that, even as she sings her most seductive or inventive songs, the real Brit’s off dreaming her unknowable dreams. Britney Jean, which takes its title from her family nickname and has been billed as the most ”personal” of her eight albums, tells you virtually bupkus about her struggles over the years. But in just 10 tidy songs, it brings us closer than ever before to that distant dreamer.
Of course, since it’s a Britney Spears album executive-produced by will.i.am in 2013, it also happily indulges the fantasies of endorphin-seeking EDM festival goers. Brit promises she ”won’t stop ’til you breathe heavy” on ”Body Ache,” a David Guetta track that nearly builds to a clobbering house beat, then cannily falls back. Thor’s hammer comes down instead on the other Guetta collaboration, ”It Should Be Easy,” in which Britney, will.i.am, and their AutoTune elves join hands to reflect vacuously on love. Dance music’s lousy with anonymous female hook singers right now, but these two songs transcend DJ filler because Britney never soft-pedals her voice’s uneasy layering of girly and libidinous. They’re based more in tension than release.
Britney’s tradition of messing with pop forms goes back at least 10 years, to the genre-splicing ”Toxic.” As often as she might withhold tabloid fodder from her lyrics, she puts a lot of trust in her producers. That translates to the weird and wonderful intimacy of ”Alien,” a gently pulsing track in which an actual extraterrestrial finally realizes she’s ”not alone,” and repeats the phrase until it is pitchshifted up like a departing space ship.
It also gives rise to less subtle pleasures, like the first single, ”Work Bitch,” a fabulous if campy dance track, and the bass bomb ”Tik Tik Boom,” in which Brit tells a lewd T.I., ”you got a sex siren in your face.” Alienation lurks in those songs, too — which naturally gives Brit’s duet with her younger sister Jamie Lynn, the morphing ballad ”Chillin’ With You,” a special poignancy. All we really learn is that Britney prefers red wine, and Jamie Lynn, white. But we share their warm, tipsy feeling all the same. B+” – Entertainment Weekly
Key Cut: Work Bitch
8. Blackout
Release Date: 25th October, 2007
Labels: Jive/Zomba
Producers: Danja/Bloodshy & Avant/Kara Dio/Guardi/Freescha/Fredwreck/The Neptunes/J.R. Rotem
Standout Songs: Piece of Me/Radar/Break the Ice
Review:
“Public image is vital to pop stars, but few stars have been so inextricably tied to their image as Britney Spears. Think back to "...Baby One More Time" -- it has an indelible hook but what leaps to mind is not the sound of the single, but how Britney looked in the video as she pouted and preened in a schoolgirls' uniform, an image as iconic as Madonna's exposed navel. Every one of Britney's hits had an accompanying image, as she relied on her carefully sculpted sexpot-next-door persona as much as she did on her records, but what happens when the image turns sour, as it certainly did for Britney in the years following the release of In the Zone? When that album hit the stores in 2003, Britney had yet to marry, had yet to give birth, had yet to even meet professional layabout Kevin Federline -- she had yet to trash her girl-next-door fantasy by turning into white trash. Some blamed Federline for her rapid downward spiral, but she continued to descend after splitting with K-Fed in the fall of 2006, as each month brought a new tabloid sensation from Britney, a situation that became all the more alarming when contrasted to how tightly controlled her public image used to be. The shift in her persona came into sharp relief at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, as she sleepwalked through a disastrous lip-synch of her comeback single "Gimme More," a disaster by any measure, but when it was compared to such previous meticulously staged VMA appearances as her make-out with Madonna in 2003, it made Britney seem like a lost cause and fallen star.
All this toil and turmoil set the stage for her 2007 comeback Blackout to be a flat-out train wreck, which it decidedly is not -- but that doesn't mean it's a triumph, either. Blackout is an easy album to overpraise based on the lowered expectations Britney's behavior has set for her audience, as none of her antics suggested that she'd be able to deliver something coherent and entertaining, two things that Blackout is. As an album, it holds together better than any of her other records, echoing the sleek club-centric feel of In the Zone but it's heavier on hedonism than its predecessor, stripped of any ballads or sensitivity, and just reveling in dirty good times. So Blackout acts as a soundtrack for Britney's hazy, drunken days, reflecting the excess that's splashed all over the tabloids, but it has a coherence that the public Britney lacks. This may initially seem like an odd dissociation but, in a way, it makes sense: how responsible is Britney for her music, anyway? At the peak of her popularity, she never seemed to be dictating the direction of her music, so it only stands to reason that when her personal life has gotten too hectic, she's simply decided to let the professional producers create their tracks and then she'll just drop in the vocals at her convenience. Even the one song that plays like autobiography -- "Piece of Me," where she calls herself "Miss American dream since I was 17" and "I'm miss bad media karma/another day another drama," complaining "they stick all the pictures of my derriere in the magazines," as if she wasn't posing provocatively for Rolling Stone as soon as "Baby" broke big -- was outsourced to "Toxic" producer/writers Bloodshy & Avant, who try desperately to craft a defiant anthem for this tabloid fixture, as she couldn't be bothered to write one on her own. Instead, she busies herself with writing the album's two strip-club anthems, "Freakshow" and the brilliantly titled "Get Naked (I Got a Plan)" (surely the successor to such trash-classics as Soundmaster T's "2 Much Booty (In Da Pants)" and Samantha Fox's timeless pair of "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)" and "(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Stay On"). Every piece of gossip in the four years separating In the Zone and Blackout suggests that her head is in the clubs, yet it's still a bit disarming to realize that this is all that she has to say.
Britney may not have much on her mind but at least she pockets so deep she can buy the best producers, hiring Bloodshy & Avant, the Clutch and the Neptunes, among others, to help craft an album that cribs from Rhianna's sleek, sexy Good Girl Gone Bad and the chilly robo-R&B of Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds. Emotionally, this isn't a progression from In the Zone, but it is a cannily contemporary dance album, sounding nearly as fresh as Rhianna and JT, even if it's hardly as trendsetting as either. Then again, Britney hasn't set the pace for the sound of dance-pop since her first two Max Martin-driven productions, and her skill -- conscious or not, it doesn't really matter -- has always been to get the right producers at the right moment, which she surely does here. Those producers turn Blackout into a sleek, shiny collection of 12 guiltily addictive dance tracks where the only weak link is Britney herself. Never the greatest vocalist, her thin squawk could be dismissed early in her career as an adolescent learning the ropes, but nearly a decade later her singing hasn't gotten any better, even if the studio tools to masquerade her weaknesses have. Strangely enough, the computer corrections either emphasize her irritating, strangled delivery -- nowhere more so than on "Piece of Me," where she's sharp, flattened, and clipped, the vocoder stabbing at the ears like a pick -- or she disappears into the track entirely, just another part of the electronic tapestry. Naturally, the latter cuts are more appealing, as they really show off the skills of the producers, particularly the Clutch's lead single "Gimme More," Bloodshy & Avant's relentless "Radar," the new wave shimmer of "Heaven on Earth," the stuttering electro-clip of "Break the Ice," or the spare, silly chant of "Hot as Ice." When Britney is pushed to the forefront, she garners too much attention, as she tries too hard to be sexy -- a move she could pull off before, when carefully controlled pictures of her in schoolgirl uniforms, cat suits, and tight jeans filled in the blanks her voice left behind. Now, those images are replaced by images of Britney beating cars up with umbrellas, wiping her greasy fingers on designer dresses, and nodding off on-stage, each new disaster stripping away any residual sexiness in her public image, so when she tries to purr and tease on Blackout she repels instead of seduces. That's the new Britney, and as she's always been an artist who relies on image, her tarnished persona does taint the ultimate effect of her music, as knowledge of her ceaseless partying turns these anthems a bit weary and sad. But if you block that image out -- always hard to do with Britney, but easier to do here since the tracks sound so good -- Blackout is state-of-the-art dance-pop, a testament to skills of the producers and perhaps even Britney being somehow cognizant enough to realize she should hire the best, even if she's not at her best” – AllMusic
Key Cut: Gimme More
7. Circus
Release Date: 28th November, 2008
Labels: Jive/Zomba
Producers: Benny Blanco/Bloodshy & Avant/The Clutch/Dr. Luke/Fernando Garibay/Nate ‘Danja’ Hills/Rob Knox/Greg Kurstin/Let's Go to War/Max Martin/The Underdogs/Gary White/Nicole Morier/The Outsyders/Guy Sigsworth
Standout Songs: Circus/Out from Under/Kill the Lights
Review:
“Britney Spears is making a habit of putting out albums with titles that promise more self-revelation than she’s ultimately able to provide. Last fall, she released Blackout…which turned out not to have anything to do with experiencing blackouts. This year, it’s Circus, with a title track that’s not about the madhouse her life has become but just a brag about her prowess as a whip-cracking sexual ringmaster. In the studio, however, she’s no auteur, and with her producer-writers seemingly calling the creative shots, Spears is only as interesting as they are on any particular day.
Initially, that’s not interesting enough. Circus‘ first half has hitmakers like Dr. Luke and Max Martin bringing their B game to rote dance tracks like ”Shattered Glass” (pronounced glah-ee-ass) and the puerile ”If You Seek Amy” (sound it out to hear why it’ll be a middle-school sensation). But halfway through, Circus shifts from defiant booty calls to subtler material; suddenly, it’s a first-rate electro-pop album. The Danja-produced ”Blur” is a remarkably pretty song about (finally!) an actual blackout. ”Mmm Papi” giddily sets her littlest-girl voice against a guitar right out of 1960s go-go rock
The standout is ”Unusual You,” a pulsating ballad where a woman of experience finds unexpected love: ”Didn’t anyone tell you you’re supposed to/Break my heart, I expect you to/So why haven’t you?” Mostly, Spears still presents herself as fantasy object, but here might be her own fantasy — of real acceptance. Next time, Britney, flash us more of that. B” – Entertainment Weekly
Key Cut: Womanizer
6. Britney
Release Date: 31st October, 2001
Label: Jive
Producers: BT/Rodney Jerkins/Brian Kierulf/Peter Kvint/Max Martin/The Neptunes/Rami/Josh Schwartz/Justin Timberlake
Standout Songs: Overprotected/I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman/Boys
Review:
“To thwart bootleggers, and perhaps the reviewing process, reviewers get to hear Britney Spears third album once: on a swivel chair in the middle of her record company's office whilst all around workers get on with their daily chores.
But even after just one play it's clear 'Britney' is Spears' coming of age album. This is not an album exclusively for playground dance routines, this is an album of late nights and nightclubs, of self-discovery and self-doubt. She's clearly manoeuvring herself into Madonna's slipstream, but a better comparison can be made with Janet Jackson's 1986 album, 'Control', where Jackson powerfully announced her womanhood with an explosion of club-dominated pop. 'Britney' pulls off exactly the same trick, both musically and lyrically.
She enlists an array of top grade songwriters to facilitate this, including Rodney Jerkins, Dido and her boyfriend, *N SYNC's Justin Timberlake. It's The Neptunes, though, who spin the darkest magic with their two tracks - even if the lusty electro funk of 'I'm A Slave 4 U' and 'Boys' are essentially the same songs telling exactly the same story: that it's better to be a slave to the rhythm than to any man. Timberlake, meanwhile, provides backing yelps on his re-write of *N SYNC's 'Pop', 'What's It Like To Be Me', as well as a bizarre lyric for his fiancee to sing. "Do me right", growls Britney, "or we're through". Is this a memo from Justin to himself, or to her? Indeed, the fact Britney, 19, has so little lyrical input into all this soul bearing (including an icky trio of love ballads towards the end, written mainly by old Swedish men) somewhat lessens its dramatic impact. That it takes Dido - a woman staring into the harsh glare of her thirties - to sum up the projected mood of a young woman bidding farewell to the comfort of her teens with 'I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman' is ironic. That Dido forces Britney to pitch in with the kind of come-down funk for which Dido's become unjustifiably famous is downright cruel.
Britney and 'Britney' still works best when making a good pop cheese and dance sandwich: there's the ace Rodney Jerkins-produced version of Joan Jett's 'I Love Rock'n'Roll', which does exactly what is says on the tin. There's the crackle and Euro pop fizz of 'Overprotected' ("I'm so fed up with being told to be something else but me", howls Spears over a song written and produced by Max Martin and Rami). There's the roaring disco of 'Anticipating' (take that, Kylie!), but best of all there's 'Boombastic Love' which has exactly the same chorus as 'Oops...I Did It Again!'. All of this is better than the slow-paced navel-gazing. Then again... "It does improve the more times you hear," urges one of Jive's Britney-battered workers as we leave. Alas, that must remain a moot opinion “ – NME
Key Cut: I’m a Slave 4 U
5. Oops!... I Did It Again
Release Date: 3rd May, 2000
Label: Jive
Producers: Timmy Allen/Larry ‘Rock’ Campbell/Barry J. Eastmond/Jake/Robert ‘Esmail’ Jazayeri/Rodney Jerkins/David Kreuger/Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange/Kristian Lundin/Steve Lunt/Per Magnusson/Max Martin/Rami/Paul Umbach/Eric Foster White
Standout Songs: Stronger/Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know/Lucky
Review:
“Given the phenomenal success of Britney Spears' debut, ...Baby One More Time, it should come as no surprise that its sequel offers more of the same. After all, she gives away the plot with the ingenious title of her second album, Oops!...I Did It Again, essentially admitting that the record is more of the same. It has the same combination of sweetly sentimental ballads and endearingly gaudy dance-pop that made One More Time. Fortunately, she and her production team not only have a stronger overall set of songs this time, but they also occasionally get carried away with the same bewildering magpie aesthetic that made the first album's "Sodapop" -- a combination of bubblegum, urban soul, and raga -- a gonzo teen pop classic. It doesn't happen all that often -- the clenched-funk revision of the Stones' deathless "Satisfaction" is the most obvious example -- but it helps give the album character apart from the well-crafted dance-pop and ballads that serve as its heart. In the end, it's what makes this an entertaining, satisfying listen” – AllMusic
Key Cut: Oops!... I Did It Again
4. Femme Fatale
Release Date: 25th March, 2011
Label: Jive
Producers: Ammo/Billboard/Benny Blanco/Bloodshy/Cirkut/Dr. Luke/Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins/JMike/Henrik Jonback/Magnus/Max Martin/Oligee/Fraser T Smith/Sandy Vee/Shellback/Stargate/will.i.am
Standout Songs: Till the World Ends/I Wanna Go/Criminal
Review:
“Femme Fatale? The title of Britney's seventh album suggests a mystique redolent of cigarette holders and smouldering glances across cocktail parties. A more accurate title might be "In Season". For these are 12 all-out mating calls, issued on an endlessly pulsating dancefloor, in which Spears dispenses with any other subject matter save her unquenchable lust.
Spears went big with this predatory insatiability around the time of 2007's Blackout, released concurrently with what appeared to be a nervous breakdown. It was a little weird at the time, how she conducted herself like a Duracell sexbot in song, while her children were being removed and her affairs handed over to her father.
But the idea of dead-eyed female lubriciousness is now a Britney staple, and this album is better at it than most. Femme Fatale's first two singles – "Hold It Against Me" and "Till The World Ends" – have garnered praise, despite being two of the less arresting songs on the album. The standard is high. The cringe-making "Criminal" aside, there are no noisome ballads cluttering up the steady throb of Auto-Tuned solicitation.
There is, moreover, one copper-bottomed work of pop finery on this album. "How I Roll" is a thrilling digital workout penned mainly by Bloodshy & Avant (they did "Toxic" and "Piece of Me") which you could describe as ghetto-Nordic, via MIA. It sounds like a sweet come hither soundtracked by a shop full of digital toys, until the line "You could be my fuck tonight" reaffirms the thematic status quo.
Dancing has rarely been a more obvious referent for sex standing up than on Femme Fatale. "I Wanna Go" is all hi-NRG booty calling, with a possible reference to New Order's "Blue Monday" thrown in. But it's not just Britney with her hands in the air. American pop seems to have caught a wholesale case of European rave pox. For the past decade, Stateside pop has more or less equated with mass-market R&B, tweaked by frequently Scandinavian auteurs employing hip-hop production techniques.
Of late, though, the steady tish-tish of continental dance music – inaugurated, arguably, by Madonna's Confessions on a Dancefloor (2005) – has turned into an all-out all-nighter.
Synth stabs, techno builds, house pianos and Ibizan dynamics have conjoined with high-end digital production to create a new hybrid pop. The Black Eyed Peas have been movers in the field, linking up with French dance producer David Guetta on various tracks. Curiously enough, though, the token will.i.am track on Femme Fatale is the most old-school work here, a deeply silly chant-along in which Britney declares she "could be the trouble" and "you could be the bass" ("Big Fat Bass"). Do you see what they did there? The bass, of course, grows ever more tumescent.
"Gasoline", meanwhile, offers an extended petrol metaphor for desire in which the line "my heart only runs on supreme" should be commended. It would be tempting at this point to say that Britney is on fire, having turned in the "fierce dance record" she promised. But let's just say: she's hot to trot” – The Observer
Key Cut: Hold It Against Me
3. ...Baby One More Time
Release Date: 12th January, 1999
Label: Jive
Producers: Jörgen Elofsson/David Kreuger/Kristian Lundin/Per Magnusson/Max Martin/Rami
Standout Songs: (You Drive Me) Crazy/Sometimes/Born to Make You Happy
Review:
“The song that sparked the beginning of the pop princess herself, Britney Spears, as well as years of iconic Halloween costumes, started back in 1997, when Spears first tried to join girl group Innosense, and instead was singed to her own record label with Max Martin, where she was given the demo for “Hit Me Baby One More Time” (originally rejected by girl group TLC).
It was shortened later to “…Baby One More Time” because producers were worried it held connotations of domestic abuse. The song “…Baby One More Time” featured on Spears’s debut studio album of the same name, which released in January 1999. But the pop song of the century released in October 1998, and it reached number 1 in every country it charted in.
Before Spears got her record deal she was already an American sweetheart, having performed on Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club, and it was here that she was discovered as a star. She worked alongside Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and Ryan Gosling, all of whom became stars in their own right.
But this album marked Britney’s ongoing success. Opening with “…Baby One More Time”, the album introduces a poppy up-beat style, and “makes its presence known in exactly one second”. It’s a great way to grab a listener’s attention for a debut album. The next track, “(You Drive Me) Crazy”, might sound like an unfamiliar version if you listen back. The track was made more popular with “The Stop Remix”, and was used for the music video, giving it more substance a second time round.
As we move into “Sometimes”, we get an airy, romantic-comedy type song. It’s everything associated with a young Britney, with slow, relaxing vocals, accompanied by delicate percussion and soft backup vocals. The song, also a single, made it to her singles collection album, entitled Britney: The Singles Collection, which features 4 other singles from her 1999 album, including “…Baby One More Time”, “Autumn Goodbye”, “(You Drive Me) Crazy [The Stop Remix]”, and “Born To Make You Happy”.
The next song, “Soda Pop”, shows Spears revisiting her countrified vocals a little more, and stepping away from the iconic voice she moulded for herself so carefully. The singer channels her friend Christina Aguilera (XTina), and also her old-self, when she performed alongside Justin Timberlake on the Mickey Mouse Club. With such strong, deep vocals, it was astounding to see that she’d changed her singing style, but thanks to doing so, she stood out.
And so did “…Baby One More Time”’s music video. The schoolgirl singing in the halls became Britney’s most iconic look (after the “Oops!… I Did It Again” red latex suit), and it skyrocketed her career. With her look and voice complete, her first album paved the way for this sweet, innocent new star. But Britney had other plans for her future…
“Born To Make You Happy” was a record that fitted well with “Sometimes”. It was airy and light, with low piano notes playing throughout. However, unlike “Sometimes” and “Soda Pop”, this track used flats and sharps to create a more sorrowful sound. Worried that she’ll lose her love, the song explores this emotion and plays on it, with the song progressing to a happier ending as the tune switches octaves towards the end. Uplifting and reassuring, it’s a love song for the ages.
Surprisingly, upbeat “I Will Be There” and ballad “E-mail My Heart” were never singles, but they were favourites for many from the album. The latter explored a more emotional side of the album, depicting a softer vocal-d Spears, professing her love. It was warm and soothing, perfect for her teen girl audience at the time” – We Plug Good Music
Key Cut: ...Baby One More Time
2. In the Zone
Release Date: 12th November, 2003
Label: Jive
Producers: Bloodshy & Avant/Brian and Josh/Roy ‘Royalty’ Hamilton/Jimmy Harry/Penelope Magnet/Moby/The Matrix/R. Kelly/Rishi Rich/Guy Sigsworth/Shep Soloman/Mark Taylor/Trixster
Standout Songs: Me Against the Music (feat. Madonna)/Outrageous/Brand New Girl
Review:
“For the most part, In The Zone is a big, fat, thumping love letter to the dancefloor, which makes Madonna’s involvement (on lead single “Me Against The Music,” arguably one of Britney’s finest moments and one of her mentor’s worst) even more appropriate. Britney’s unabashed devotion to dance-pop is, perhaps, the one thing that truly links her to the big M, as she presses her body “up against the speaker” the way Madonna did back in the early ‘80s. Tracks like the Southern-fried, banjo-infused “(I Got That) Boom Boom,” which features Atlanta party rap duo Ying Yang Twins, and the string-laden, Bollywood-style “Toxic” find Britney dabbling in hip-hop, but it’s clear her heart lies in the clubs. Britney beckons to an anonymous dance partner on the ambient-techno number “Breathe On Me,” exploring (perhaps for the first time in her career) the eroticism of restraint: “We don’t need to touch/Just breathe on me.” Curiously, the sexy thump of the song is briefly interrupted when Britney simultaneously channels George Michael (“Monogamy is the way to go,” she whispers) and Lauren Bacall by way of Madonna (“Just put your lips together and blow!”).
After a night at the club (and, interestingly, little actual physical contact), she passes out on a couch in the “Early Mornin’” (with hypnotic beats, bass loop and synth flute courtesy of Moby) and finds some self-gratification on the Middle Eastern-hued ode to masturbation “Touch Of My Hand.” The only hint of pure pop is the retro Euro-dance/pop number “Brave New Girl” (yes, we’re assuming Britney actually had the chutzpah to evoke the Aldous Huxley classic without having read the book). “Outrageous,” a collaboration with R. Kelly, includes a telling parallel that reveals a lot about one of music’s biggest—as Alanis Morissette would put it—treadmill capitalists: she sings “my sex drive” and “my shopping spree” with the same dripping gusto. For a girl who’s always seemed too sexed-up for her age, In The Zone finds Britney finally filling her britches, so-to-speak. Her little girl coquettishness actually works now—maybe because, at 21, she’s finally a woman. And she’s a self-referential one, at that: “Am I too hot for you?/Did you check out my video?” she asks a prospective boy-toy on “Showdown.” Yes, Britney, we all have. And that’s the way you like it” – SLANT
Key Cut: Toxic
1. Glory
Release Date: 26th October, 2016
Label: RCA
Producers: BloodPop/Burns/Cashmere Cat/DJ Mustard/Jason Evigan/Oak Felder/Andrew Goldstein/Oscar Görres/Ian Kirkpatrick/Mattman & Robin/Nick Monson/Alex Nice/Robopop/Lance Eric Shipp/Twice as Nice/Tramaine Winfrey
Standout Songs: Private Show/Do You Wanna Come Over?/Clumsy
Review:
“The soft commercial performance of 2013's Britney Jean made it clear that it was time for Britney Spears to shake up her recording career -- a move made somewhat less urgent due to the success of Britney: Piece of Me, the residency show she launched at Las Vegas' Planet Hollywood a few months after the release of Britney Jean. Sin City's influence can be heard within the splashiness of the arrangements of certain portions of Glory, the 2016 album designed to be Britney's return to the Top 40. To that end, Glory downplays the show biz glitz of Vegas in favor of modern dance-pop, one with EDM undercurrents and hip-hop overtones. Sometimes echoes of other stars can be heard -- Justin Bieber's Purpose appears to a primary text -- but despite this contemporary gloss, the album usually relies on sounds of Spears' past, trading heavily on the cloistered dance of Blackout and the shimmering neon of Femme Fatale. Glory is much lighter than either album, a reflection of Britney's maturation -- the softer nocturnal numbers make a play for Ellie Goulding territory, but they could slide onto adult contemporary -- and her willingness to be goofy. Some of the highlights are the silliest songs: the swinging "Clumsy," the overheated flamenco chorus of "Do You Wanna Come Over?," and "Private Show" and "Slumber Party," a pair of heavy-breathing come-ons that never manage to seem sexy despite the flood of innuendo. Such moments accentuate Britney's playfulness, an aspect of her persona that's been in hibernation for nearly a decade, and it's a welcome return, as is Glory as a whole: it feels as fun and frivolous as her earliest music while retaining the freshness of her best mature work” - AllMusic
Key Cut: Slumber Party (ft. Tinashe)