Britney Spears - Blackout

The real question here is... where is Tim Finney? Tim Finney to thread.

true nuf

I was thinking I hadn't seen Tim lately.

This is indeed amazing. I mean, it's Britney Fucking Spears! and this is still an excellent pop album! Just as great as Annie, Kylie or Bertine at their best really. What happened? I mean, if there is somebody I didn't expect this from, it's her. And particularly not in the light of recent new stories.

Now, the two most positive surprises of the year have been from Britney Spears and Babyshambles. Does this mean we'll see a classic and absolutely flawless pop album from Amy Winehouse before Christmas then?

isnt tim touring europe or something

Is anyone else having difficulty pinning down how much of this is actually Britney singing? There are a host of 'backing singers' credited on the record, including Robyn. Which is weird because before I found this out I'd already been thinking bits of it sounded like Robyn's kind of enunciation, albeit heavily treated - Piece of Me for example.

Maybe it's because I can't quite see Britney managing to spend much time in the studio this year, but I can't shake the feeling of listening to a collage of different, robotised female voices with Britney as the 'face'.

Not that it matters really, as the end product is cracking. Finally clicked with me on the way home yesterday and now I love it.

Is a good album really a surprise? With the exception of her first album, her albums have all been solid.

The first two I would rather consider the most decent ones. The next two were awful "contemporary R&B" crap.

But, really, Britney is whatever her producer/songwriters turn her into, as she herself has no other talent than looks and temptation.
Max Martin was obv. way better than Neptunes, but the people she is working with now seems to know good music better than any of the people she has ever worked with in the past.

how are the melodies?

I was listening to "Piece of Me" earlier today and thinking that it could totally fit on that Felix Da Housecat's Devin Dazzle album.

I am back in Australia :-( but haven't heard this album yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlbLdTxSkV8

This is kind of bizarre.

A Danja Hands produced Britney track, with a very Dubstep sounding wobble.

It makes my head hurt.

Why does this exist?

Robyn is on this album???????

I did find this -

"I've been approached about writing a new song for Britney and I'm cool with that. I've written for her before but it only got to the recording stages, so doing it again would be a good move for me. I'd like to think I could help." -- Robyn

i wonder where this album's silk-pursers were in 06's great paris hilton wars. seems like everything goes out the window when eurodisco is involved.

(ok yes i did personally just get a deckchair, keep shtoom and watch the lex get flayed alive but the album was okay and better than this on pretty much every level including "interesting" or whatever it is floating people's dismal little boats here)

oh sorry i forgot about the stupid robot voice treatment on every track, my bad

Don't know how it compares to the stuff that, like, actually made the album, but "A Song About You" is very nice in a wispy, Janet-esque hyperballad kind of way (that's totally not her singing in the intro though). From what I've read I imagine the album isn't like that at all though.

Actually it's not that good. I got momentarily excited by the resurrection of one of my favourite pop styles.

i will say tho (again) that in terms of assessing the current timbahandz dynasty danja coming out as some sort of glamly perverse rocky horror ringmaster is kinda remarkable! hi dere son of green velvet

Haha this is a million miles better than the Paris album you are on crack.

not today i'm not! how shall we break this down? deliciously ironical lyricky self awareness? 'stars are blind', 'fighting over me', 'screwed'. blithely wealthy industry appropriation of modern musical trends? 'turn it up', turn you on'. fuck you world and you yes you in particular? 'jealousy'. all britney has over paris is a vague hazy rage and people's insane lust for electro-toss and hacky robodiva crit; paris only covered 'do you think i'm sexy' once, not 12 times.

whh-tshh!

haha note to self only think whh-tshh next time do not type

In fairness, electro-toss and hacky robodiva crit is 90% of the reason I prefer this to the Paris record.

Also do the whh-tshh again.

whh-NO I WILL NOT BE EXECUTIVE PRODUCED DAMN YOU PAPARAZZO

Someday, a real rain's gonna come and wash all this bullshit away.

I'm imagining the marketing team standing in the studio and looking at Britney passed out in one corner, saying "So, guys, what are we going to call this record?"

lol

after listening to freakshow and gimme more... doesn't every britney song follow the same formula?? the only difference with these songs is that britney is trying to be darker and more in tune with music trends of recent times (the hiphop beats remind me of every other song).

did Seripop do her cover art? that thing looks better suited to an AIDS Wolf sleeve.

also while this album is surprisingly good, it still takes a backseat to Rachel Stevens' last album in the "soullessly robotic white-girl buying an album's worth of unstoppably insane tracks from worldbeating producers" sweepstakes.

how is anyone liking this album? seriously. whats wrong with people today. I heard Radar and Piece of Me... Its terrible

I still love this. "Heaven on Earth" is unusually affecting. Sounds yearning, unrequited.

The album would have been even better if the hip-hop beats were replaced with Kylie-style 120 bpm 4/4-beats. But still a pleasant surprise.

Is there an emoticon for resigned exhasperation?

http://i7.tinypic.com/5z50gwk.gif

(a.k.a. "sigh.gif")

2 good songs (Piece of Me, Heaven on Earth), the other songs are mainly random electroclashfuturistictimbalandorgwenstefanistyle tracks. But where's Britney on the record?

Why does everyone else like Piece of Me? Jesus, that's no good. Heaven on Earth and Break The Ice are both better.

And Christ, HoE is asking for a remix.

"Gimme More" is still the best track. Good choice for 1st single. Shame about the VMAs fuck-up.

Agree on the "Heaven on Earth" love, even if the intro calls up "Hung Up" too explicitly.

"Hung Up"'s intro calls up "What You Waiting For?" a bit too explicitly.

xpost More like a very obvious Moroder reference.

First listen today, and I'm thinking "Toy Soldier" would be an awesome single.

heaven on earth was made by Freescha!

Why is everyone all over "Piece of Me"? It's terrible. sounds like a bad Fergie track.

The rest of it is pretty good though.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/1632/moqschq3.gif

no... i'm still not understanding that gif

anyway i like this now

it is fun