Britney Spears - Blackout

People who like this album should really check out Ashley Tisdale's Headstrong. It's quite similar, only with slightly less look-at-me production and slightly better singing/songs.

But Tim, what if we're unreasonably attracted to the look-at-me production? (Personally, I couldn't stand Headstrong. I really wanted to like it, cause I like Tisdale, but it was awful.)

Oh i'm not saying Headstrong is necessarily the better album (although clearly I like it more than you!). Britney really makes the limited singing/songwriting work for her here.

I like the look at me production.

Okay so obviously me saying "look-at-me" is being taken as a value judgment. It's a good thing, and Britney's album is better than Ashley's. If anything, the better singing/songwriting makes Headstrong seem more like a generic pop album. All I meant was that the best stuff on Headstrong (e.g. "So Much For You", "Be Good To Me") sounds like what Blackout might sound like if Britney was still trying to make typically shiny pop songs.

well i think the fact that the album has faired so poorly on the charts must be partly because the 80s thing isn't really grabbing everyone's attention right now. that might be me just BSing -- but this definitely sounds 80s to me in parts.

Video previews of 'Piece of Me' suggests she still doesn't know the words.

Album of the year!

i should put this on tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89oS4SN4mNg

she looks okay, but she could flatter herself better.

The song somehow sounds a bit boring with that video.

Still Britney's best ever album, but my immediate enthusiasm has cooled somewhat. Junior Boys, Kylie, Annie and Bertine all do this so much better.

As my sister said, she 'looks like somebody you'd move away from on the dancefloor'. Too true!

Your sister is a prophet.

Why is her hair up in one second but down in the other? could they only do two takes?

This album is the bomb.

I wasn't too impressed at first but it hit me yesterday : this album is great, indeed !
no track I really dislike and many potential hits (well, maybe not commercial hits since it seems "gimme more" didn't work too well yet it might be my favorite britney single ever).
as everybody said, the production/synth sounds are amazing.
from "it's britney, bitch" to the pretty smooth neptunes closer through the fun paranoid robotic pop of "piece of me" (the equivalent to MJ's "leave me alone", in a way), the raving 90s synth of "break the ice", the great pop tunes "heaven on earth" and "hot as ice", the epic "get naked"... so many things to love !
also, I really like how her image has changed, much darker, trashier, stronger (i'm not talking about her life per se but the image the album and videos build). When you compare her in the video of "piece of me" (which I find very fun) and "slave 4 u", for instance, it doesn't really seem like it's the same person. she seems, I dunno, taller, stronger (obviously, she's not as thin but that's not just that), her face is more angular... I was never a big fan (liked "one more time", "boys" and "toxic" but that was about it) and never found her sexy or else but I really like her new persona and music.

hum. after a quick check it seems I was wrong and the album and "gimme more" are a success, actually...
all the better for her !

rly ? i thought they weren't doing too hot. numbers?

here's what I found on wiki:

blackout : United World Chart peak : 1 Gold 1,232,000+
"Gimme More" became Spears's highest chart peak since "...Baby One More Time", having reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100. The single has sold 2 million+ United World Chart points

i'd take it

But the album didn't perform that well...

mhmm... well who gives a flying fig, i mean everyone knows it's the best she's ever done. she just needs to fix her skin situation and she'll be fine.

Surely her best, but she can do better. If next time around she gets rid of those Timbaland proteges and instead uses someone like Richard X, to make a similar album, only with straight 4/4 beats and a more true 80s-retro sound, it will be even better.

You seem to have gotten lost, Geir:

http://poptimists.livejournal.com/

the other day i was struck by how much "piece of me" sounds like a justin timberlake song; not just the melody and instrumentation but the WAY that she sings those lines, with the same kind of insistent, almost monotone that he uses

I think it sounds like Virginia Woolf tying stones to her shoes. Great song.

Her skin is bad?

Officially break the Ice is by far the best thing on this. It sounds different on every different stereo/headphone whatever you play it on too.

wow I just realised how risqué the lyrics are

do people (and by people I mean 'people who aren't record companies') still care about chart placement in this day and age where no-one actually buys music?

by which I mean: this album and the single seem to be in a weird place where they have sold relatively ok, placed well in charts, have gotten critical acclaim, and yet everyone still has a terrible opinion of her and the media is out for blood (not that she is helping them in that regard...and I guess you could argue the album's critical success has little or nothing to do with her)

It is all about her though!

They wanna look, we can give 'em a ENCORE!

yea it's not about the album it's about her. which is too bad. but actually for the people who don't follow all the bullshit (like my parents), the bottom line DOEs sometimes seem to be -- well the album is fairing well. it's just when you pay attention to like Access Hollywood that things get messy

i'm sorry but this is just hot

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/rrawn/brit.jpg

in a big way.

& she lost even more weight no?

Easiest mash-up in the world: "Piece of Me" and "Word Up".

Such a sucker for these things: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixlHxS3ZpZM

akm: I wouldn't say "critical acclaim", rather mixed reviews: http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/spearsbritney/blackout

Surely the best album of Britney, but it's mainly because of their previous ones were shite. This is just half-shit.

the same kind of insistent, almost monotone that [justin timberlake] uses

it's like halfway to rapping (at least) - so cool how her voice is literally played on a synth despite how many times this has been done - shades of "j-j-jam it on the one" as if theo was hanging out in booka shade's studio instead of stevie wonder's

xpost

I don't really like Hot As Ice all that much, but there's pretty much no song on this that you could say is less than good. About 50% is brilliant and 40% is incredible

definitely not half-shite, if you appreciate pop music.

"Hot as Ice" sounds like it could fit on Felix da Housecat's Devin Dazzle and the Neon Fever.

Yeah, seriously, this album is like the definition of unfuckwithable

I do appreciate good pop music...
But this is just half good. Sorry about that, Brit.

That Turtles song "Ooh Baby Baby" or whatever it's called is garbage, and "Why Should I Be Sad" is kind of blah, but otherwise yeah this album is wicked. The three-song stretch "Get Naked (I Got A Plan)"/ "Freakshow" / "Toy Soldier" is *LEGENDARY*.

How do the Turtles get here?

it samples/interpolates some Turtles song...

"happy together"

Strange, but I can't hear The Turtles there... but the song is really shit, you're right.