Installation number two of New Music Tuesday hits with pop icon, Britney Spears. A bit of a confession first, Wiz and review 3 are "new" but I had access to them quite a while ago. This is the only cd I had to listen to in full this morning, and I just got through it now. I'm going to replay it again and I'll probably get through only 4 or 5 tracks before I'm done writing the review. So this is totally my first impression, and as always, subject to change. I want to come straight out with it though in terms of my opinion of Britney. If you asked me a decade ago, I'd have told you I can't stand her. Now, I very much respect what she's been through. I feel it's almost impossible to be young, a major pop star and not have your life get screwed up by all the attention and genuinely bad people out there giving you poor advice. Not that she didn't make any bad decisions on her own, because I'm sure she did. I simply can identify better with her now that she's shown her human side. She makes mistakes, and is trying to bounce back from all the weird things that happened in her life. I respect that. Regardless, this is her 7th studio album, and her first since 2008. Her albums have steadily declined in sales since numero uno, and it's fairly easy to see why. Her music has adapted a bit on each album and become a little more and more "adult" for lack of a better word. This album is no different. The goal of this album was to get "harder" (in her words) and dabble more into the dance/electronic world. In theory, I should love this, given my beatnut background. This has a couple good things and bad things going for it. It sounds fresh for a Britney album, but it still maintains the Britney identity that shouldn't alienate her vast fanbase. On the other hand, many of the beats sound identical or at least very similar. She also made a dance album with a couple too many "ballads" on it, to be taken overly serious in another genre. And to make sure you understand what I'm saying there, I'm talking mid-tempo dance tracks that still aren't "slow", just slow-er. In my opinion, this is a great idea. Mega pop stars should be able to make their own high selling dance albums instead of dropping bubble gum pop that some DJ remixes and capitalizes on later. I think for a first attempt, it's not bad. It's not amazing either - it's pretty middle of the road. If I could shut my eyes and think Deadmau5 may have mixed it, that's a total success in my eyes. And there are a couple tracks where that is the case. If this was a full album of that, I'd be 4 stars plus. As it stands, it's going to be above average with my opinion to keep forming as I listen more. I wanna hear the Britney fans! What do you think?
TRACK LISTING:
1. Till the World Ends
2. Hold It Against Me
3. Inside Out
4. I Wanna Go
5. How I Roll
6. (Drop Dead) Beautiful
7. Seal It with a Kiss
8. Big Fat Bass
9. Trouble for Me
10. Trip to Your Heart
11. Gasoline
12. Criminal
13. Up N' Down
14. He About to Lose Me
15. Selfish
16. Don't Keep Me Waiting
Listen To Samples
Top 3 Tracks:
1. Till The World Ends (probably the dance anthem off this record)
2. Up N' Down (nice stop and go beat with vocal)
3. Trouble For Me (great stretched out synth beat)
4. Hold It Against Me (Daft Punk-ish vocal/hard beat combo)
5. Inside Out (has that Genuine - Pony quality. could be a good single)
FINAL RATING:
3.25 out of 5 stars
Uhh, I don't know if I'd call myself a FAN per-say. However, looking back at her career from my standpoint at 04' onward, I've seen what I'll call a change. I'm not going to name any particular incident because even if you don't (and I don't) read tabloids or pay too much attention to the gossip, ya still have a basic idea of what's transpired. I'm sure all that media attention would drive anyone up the wall. I'll say too, that I wanted her to progress hopefully in a positive direction from that "period".
ReplyDeleteListening to the samples, the record got better as it went further along. One track that had me toe tapping a bit was "He About To Loose Me", that was good. "Big Fat Bass" was a little addicting as well. Overall, a different look. Nothing overwhelmingly unique, though it's cool to see her branch out towards something new. Hope its upward from this point.
I think the dance/pop albums could start to go hand in hand. I'm not sure with Gaga, how much of her stuff gets remixed and sent to the dance clubs. Seems many of her tracks could go on their own merits.
ReplyDeleteI didn't like her music before, but this is more than tolerable to me. So, step up from a B Side standpoint!