Happy Friday! If you're looking for new tunes than this week's Friday Four for GCN is heavy on dance duos and the new Britney tune. Also, Una Mullally had me do a guest post for her Irish Times blog where we hash out our differences on Lady Gaga as new album ARTPOP arrives on Irish shores.
On the Gaga tip, I'm chatting about her in today's Irish Independent as part of the Day and Night magazine. I've a regular column starting this week which is exciting in the extreme. And if you're at a radio at all tomorrow I'll be discussing the current trajectory of Gaga's career with Dave Fanning on 2FM around 10:30am and reviewing the album for Spin 1038 on Plan B at 1:45pm that same day. Phew.
If you've not been over to GCN today then there's a playlist of hidden gems of a one Miss Britney Spears that is worth a look and also this week's Friday Four which is loaded with incredible songs from Sia, Sky Ferreira, Charli XCX and Katy B. Consider it a nice little kickstart to the weekend on me.
The new Britney video is here! And in less than 24 hours it's clocked up plenty of chatter and had us wondering if sharks, large cars and questionable S&M imagery will feature in Miss Spears' much hyped Vegas residency.
There is lots to love about Work Bitch. Britney looks present and into it in a way she hasn't been in years. She's doing dancing that's actually faintly intricate and impressive, even if there's plenty of fast cuts away so we never see her do too much back to back. It's kind of like one of those really stupid Michael Bay directed ads for Victoria Secret given a Britney makeover.
It's already something of a ridiculous time in pop with Katy Perry and Lady Gaga being pitted against each other and a "fourth quarter" schedule that sees everyone from Cher to Miley Cyrus unload a high profile pop album before the year is out. But there's always going to be some space for whenever Miss Britney Spears decides to bring us some new stuff ahead of album number eight arriving before the end of 2013. There's been a drip feed of collaborators mentioned all year and while some fans winced at the involvement of Will.i.am as executive producer his touch seems to be bringing interesting people onboard, from Naughty Boy and Emeli Sandé (who could easily adapt the emotive pop-soul they've been huge with over here to Britney and take it to a new audience) and even possibly the likes of Charli XCX. The general message seemed to be "this is going to get personal" and the dance side of Brit Brit might take a break. But then comes along new single Work Bitch which is neither personal or as "urban" as we may have been lead to believe. But is this all part of a Vegas ready strategy behind Britney's next move? Work Bitch is a hyped up dance tune (I can't bring myself to embrace the horrific term "EDM" when it comes to talking about commercial dance music) that riffs on the kind of giant, wall of sound electronica favoured by Swedish House Mafia et al. In fact it was thought that Sebastian Ingrosso, one third of SHM, had worked on the song but it's in fact one of the acts he handles, Otto Knows (whose Million Voices is one of the biggest crossover dance tunes of the last 12 months) who is responsible for the beat on the Will.i.am produced track (Which also features Irish pop songwriter Ruth Anne Cunningham on co-writing duties). Still, it's easy to see the DNA of tunes like Million Voices or Swedish House Mafia's Greyhound in the sense of build and frenzied, thumping bass that form most of Work Bitch's production. There's definitely a sense that melody has been sacrificed for raved-up excitement at times but thankfully there's enough sass and Britney talk-singing to elevate the enterprise. It's got a bit of a weird structure and while it rubs shoulders off of every enormous dance-tinged pop single of the last few years it has a slightly more aggressive and demented swing that makes it feel like a bold move for her. And like the best Britney singles it manages to fit in with where pop is and feel slightly in it's own lane. Basically we're talking Swedish House Mafia's Greyhound, the British-ney bits of Scream and Shout (and sadly of some of Britney's oddest run ins with the paparazzi making it something of a fan reference point), the energy and stomp of a track made for vogueing too (the rumours that it samples RuPaul are sadly false but Britney screaming "WORK BITCH" definitely channels the same kind of idea as Ru's signature hit Supermodel) and the kind of weird vocal delivery that summed up Blackout highlights like Toy Solider and Hot as Ice.
And it's obvious that Las Vegas has been factored into this single too. From the forthcoming confirmation of her long mooted Vegas residency to the cheeky Vegas sign in her single cover, it's obvious that this is a big part of the next phase of Britney (and probably a big money deal). And Britney going to Vegas isn't just going to compete with the Cher, Celines and Bette Midlers of this world, she'll be expected to pull in a younger skewing audience. With Calvin Harris and co. packing out clubs along the Vegas strip, this new investment in dance music for young partiers heading towards Vegas is surely an influence on this new tune. One that will sound as good reswizzed in a Vegas superclub as it will opening her own headline show. Certainly what TMZ reported about the Vegas show and it's aimed audience today would confirm that. It's likely that we'll get a more "straightforward" second single before we get the album (As is now de riguer these days and likely a ballad) and it's still a bit of a jolt to hear Britney half singing / half talking over such an aggressive electronic-driven cut but it's got enough humour and camp thrills to suggest that Britney is going claw her way back to the top of the pop heap by fitting right in and doing her own thing all at once.
In case you think I'm doing nothing at all in between posts here, take heed of some new stuff I've done for GCN.
Today's music post covers a pretty diverse range of tunes including the new Cher (!) tune, that Britney/Will.I.Am track that appeared online last weekend and music from Solange and Villagers for "the hipsters" amongst you. Peep that post here.
Also, this month's copy of GCN is now online and in print across Ireland. It includes my chat with Eurovision star Loreen which was alot of fun to do. Click here to read the online edition, click through to the main mag and read my feature on pages 28/29.
Britney Spears may be appearing on US TV screens as a talent show judge right now but five years ago she was in an altogether different place. 2007 was the year that Britney’s meltdown became tabloid fodder, award show gold (in the wrong way) and made a star out of one overly emotional YouTuber (you’re welcome Chris Crocker).
More importantly it was also the year she released the impressive album Blackout. Britney's fifth effort was a triumph on several levels, for upping the stakes of her sound, for how it stood out from the pop pack and for the fact that it's much-hounded star even finished the album at all.
The Britney Spears saga become something of a nightmare throughout 2007. Spears had given birth to her first child the year before but divorced much-maligned lover Kevin Federline and soon used excessive partying to numb the pain. There was a forced rehab visit or two and that infamous head-shaving / attacking the paparazzi with an umbrella moment that has become a weirdly iconic image in the celebrity meltdown pantheon.
While all this oozed across gossip blogs, Britney was piecing together recordings with producers like Danja, Bloodshy and Avant and Sean Garrett many of whom were deliberately avoiding mentioning Britney's personal struggles (except on two standout tracks) to serve up a forward-thinking pop record.
Blackout arrived at the end of October 2007 with little proper promotion. Her appearance at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards was a disaster and the video for Gimme More a barely salvaged rough cut of Britney twirling around a stripper pole (more on that here). There was no press interviews apart from a famously weird Ryan Seacrest radio chat. The songs were effectively left to do the talking.
Gimme More isn't just a terrific lead single for the project, it's also still one of Britney's best singles ever. It's deceptively simple but so slinky, dark and suggestive it's impossible to resist. Danja's layered production takes a plinky video game beat, adds creepy strings and weird whirring noises while Britney coos over each and every syllable. It's one of those immediate, dance-ready Britney tunes given a dark and sexy twist.
I tackled Piece of Me for Idolator's look-back at Blackout and my comments on it apply here. It's a rare moment of self-awareness in the Britney back-catalogue as she gives a defiant middle finger to media attention over an agressive Bloodshy and Avant beat. It's single release in the UK/Ireland arrived not long after the infamous incident of Britney being removed from her home on a gurney in front of hordes of paparazzi. It was a creepy moment as the looming tabloid figure that Britney had become jarred with the popstar whose new direction was winning over fans both old and new.
Radar is another sprightly Bloodshy and Avant production that has the ear-wormiest of hooks while Break The Ice is a swirling, futuristic take on the sort of R'N'B pop that was huge in 2006/7. Heaven on Earth is oddly upbeat, a sweet but slightly moody synth pop ode to a seemingly perfect man. Get Naked amps up the sleaze factor straight after, the dirtier sister track to Gimme More with a thumping, hypnotic suggestiveness apparent.
Freakshow plays with dubstep sounds years before Spear's future hit Hold It Against Me , while Toy Soldier channels Gwen Stefani and M.I.A. in a skittering, kinetic hip-hop infused number laced with attitude. Hot As Ice is somewhat clunky but endearing in it's brash knockabout quality. Ooh Ooh Baby is a callback to early Britney but more grown up. Perfect Lover brings things back into a darker vein, Danja layering up layers and layers of buoyant rhythms over a breathless Britney vocal.
Closing track Why Should I Be Sad is the only mid-tempo note on the whole set, a R'N'B ditty about a no-good man that she has to leave behind. It's standard stuff but delivered by Spears in an emotional way that suggests she's a little too invested in the content amid choice lines about expensive gifts she bought and gossip mags.
Blackout still remains the most consistent set Spears has ever released. While peers like Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake had found a sense of credibility from hip-hop approved hits (Timberlake's work with Timbaland) or mature artistic choices (Aguilera's much vaunted Back to Basics album) it took Blackout for Spears to finally shed her bubblegum beginnings for a believable sonic evolution.
The proceeding albums didn't always mine similar territory. 2008's Circus had high-points but resorted to the mixed-bag of styles that plagued her earlier releases. 2011's Femme Fatale was tightly made and packed with big songs but favoured a more bombastic approach, the sense of subtlety and pop-grit of Blackout left behind.
Blackout is a fan fave and critical darling five years down the line, with hysterical fan reaction to Britney's tweet about Blackout 2.0 a good marker of the esteem in which the album is held. It may not have had the push that a pop album can expect in the current chart world but Blackout still sounds just as good unfolding from your speakers as it did five years ago.
Blackout is out now and you should really just get a copy because it really is quite brilliant.
The X Factor has spent more time the in the last year hyping who the new judge will be as it has making wannabe popstars churn out soundbite sob stories.
The UK version spent months last year keeping us guessing about who would take slots on the panel. Now Simon Cowell’s US model has tongues wagging again after both Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul were booted off the show after a less than stellar first season (never mind poor Steve Jones who was removed after a poorly received turn as host).
Rumours about Mariah Carey potentially coming on board seem to be swept aside and a proposed slot for Janet Jackson was dismissed by the singer. The latest name to come up and according to some sources, close to signing a contract (or not doing it at all, or wanting more money, or wanting to have a Vegas residency depending on who you read) is none other than Miss Britney Spears.
Now, not to be rain on any Britney fan’s parade but is this really a good idea?
Don’t get me wrong. I consider myself a big Britney fan. She was the first popstar I properly became obsessed with. Her last album, Femme Fatale, was one of my most played of last year and was replete with hit after hit. And she has clearly got her act together in a considerable way compared to her pink wig-English accent-paparazzi magnet-shaved head meltdown.
But Britney might be relatively back to normal, on the treadmill of touring, having her life monitored and getting engaged etc etc. But there’s no way Britney is ready to put herself on TV every week with the X-Factor.
Every interview and TV appearance tied to the last album made Britney look rigid, uncomfortable and too shy to properly engage with people. The X-Factor may be a smoke and mirrors slice of reality TV madness but it requires the judges to really engage with both the audience and their chosen acts. Britney looks terrified to speak to anyone not within her inner circle and unable to articulate much more than how “cool” and “great” everything is.
Then there’s the matter of Britney’s own rep. Not known for singing live or being at the peak of her performing powers, can Britney really get away with sitting on a panel and convincing both viewers and acts that she’s a confident, saavy, in-control popstar with something to say?
Look, Britney has become a pop icon, has maintained a level of success many wouldn’t have expected when first debuted at the end the 1990s. And certainly while Britney might not belt ‘em out like Mariah she has a distinctive, quirky vocal style and a popstar presence that still shines now, even if it has dimmed a little.
In some ways, if Britney demonstrated a bit of firecracker energy as a personality you could excuse the “not singing live” bit. Cheryl Cole was written off before she started her run on the X Factor a few years back but soon proved many wrong. Mainly, because she was opinionated, feisty and motional. She was, to coin a cliché, TV gold. If Britney could be that forthcoming and bright then we’d be on to a winner but little that she’s offered us over the last few years suggests that.
The fan in me still wants this to work out. It would be a thrill to see a star like Britney, who is in fact something of a mystery on TV week to week. And certainly, it would add a sense of occasion to the US X-Factor that the first run sorely missed. But, it’s hard to see how Britney could light up the show.
If Cowell is really serious about placing her on the show then maybe I’m wrong. Perhaps she has a personality she’s finally ready to put on full display and like Cole when she first started the show, she’ll be a breath of fresh air. A well-known star peeling back a layer of their public persona and jumpstarting the increasingly crowded talent show world is just.
It’ll be fun to watch this play out over the next few weeks. All of this speculation only helps Cowell build hype for a brand that is struggling in some quarters (US X-Factor has yet to challenge the Voice or American Idol in the TV talent stakes) and starting to wane in others (after a promising start the last UK run felt bogged down with novelty contestants and a misfit panel of judges).
In the meantime, let us remind ourselves of a gem from Britney’s last album. Inside Out was rumoured to be a single from Femme Fatale but was left to languish on the album to the chagrin of fans worldwide. Remind yourself of the track below. More time on songs like these, less on possible talent show roles Britney, OK? Cheers.
More than anywhere else, pop music is ruled by the weird and wonderful world of the single. Having a hit single is the lifeblood of many a chart act and still a vital tool for an artist to capture any kind of audience. You only have to look at how the likes of Katy Perry can sell 2.5 million downloads per single in the US but only 1.5 m of the album those singles come from to see that the single wields more power than ever.
One of the frustrating things about being a pop fan is when you pick up an album by an artist that has more than it's share of singles or the very least that one song you just know would be a huge smash. Sometimes it's a song almost too good for the artist in question, sometimes it's one that never makes it to the charts due to the album flopping. Whatever the reason there are many a song that should have, could have, would have been huge. Here I'm starting what I hope can be a regular look at a handful of tunes that never quite got the glory they deserved. From singles that flopped to album tracks that never got a release at all, here is a chance to give a few songs a their moment in the sun.
Britney's 2003 release In The Zone was an attempt by Team Britney to have the starlet grow up, growling her way through a mish mashed of sexy club cuts, R&B bangers and the odd ballad. In The Zone contains some of Britney's finest moments including Toxic and Everytime and some of her worst (The Hook Up was Britney's first and only entry into the cod reggae genre thankfully). There were a handful of gems scattered throughout the album that would have marked an interesting chocie single wise (Showdown, Early Mornin') but the pick of bunch is Breathe On Me. An icy Kylie style synth riff, a trademark breathy-y Britney vocal and a slinky chorus mash together for one of the most mature and interesting tune in Spear's back catalogue. Still sounding fresh today, in the current David Guetta dance friendly radio landscape a song like Breathe On Me would still do good business. Hands down one of Britney's best tunes.
Rihanna's Rated R was considered something of a commerical misfire despite being her best album yet. Rude Boy was the obvious smash hit of the set and a signifier for where RiRi would end up with her next release. The moody textures of Rated R yielded a few chart misfires (Rockstar 101, Te Amo) but it's hard to fathom why somebody at her label didn't give Fire Bomb a shot at chart glory. A huge stadium ready chorus, a yearning vocal from Rihanna and plenty of music video friendly imagery (just imagine the girls go on the road video that could have been. Sigh) make this pop-rock number one that could have shown another side to Rihanna's chart personality.
(3) Janet Jackson - Enjoy
The last decade has not been kind to the sales of former chart juggernaut Janet Jackson. I caught her recent live show in Dublin and was suitably blown away by the presence and energy Janet still exudes. Her hit-making powers may have diminished somewhat but Janet has had plenty of strong material over the last decade but post-Superbowl has found it hard to connect with radio programmers and a wider audience.
2008's Feedback almost turned the tide, managing a decent performance Stateside but never quite did the big business many expected it would. Enjoy, a cut from her underrated 20 Y.O. set, is in many ways the biggest missed opportunity of the bunch. A chirpy, euphoric slice of soul pop it's got an uplifting, cheery quality last seen in her late 90s megahit Together Again and a sleek groove that recalls her heyday. Enjoy would have been the perfect antidote to how Janet has been ignored by radio playlisters were it not for her then label Virgin getting cold feet with how the 20 Y.O. project had performed. It's a shame, Enjoy would have sounded great on advertisments, blaring out of radios and reswizzed for the clubs. As it stands it falls into a pile of lost classics provided by Miss Janet.
There are many many more tunes in this vein to think about so we'll hopefully look at some more soon. If you have some ideas feel free to suggest below.
At the height of her mid-life meltdown Britney Spears gave us the near-perfect pop masterpiece album, Blackout. It was of course preceded by the fantastic Gimme More, one of Britney's best singles. A swirling cocktail of a throbby post Timbaland electro-R&B beat and the air of a popstar gone bad it never really had the visuals to back it up. Now we have Britney performing it as part of her current tour but back in 2007 all we had was that ropey VMA performance and the oft delayed and ultimately disappointing music video.
Despite a lengthy shoot and promises of a dark, funeral orientated concept fans were given a video of Britney whirling around a pole with two friends while some random guy and Britney in a blonde wig with friends watched on. It made little sense but was said to be the record label's attempts to cover over the cracks in Britney's life, despite reports of a scene involving a rapper, Britney facing off her blonde self and an extended funeral sequence.
Now a leaked cut of the original video has surfaced. It's a little more conceptual than the version we're used to but not much. There's footage of Britney walking the streets, sitting in bed and plenty of sloppy, out-of-it dancing to be had. It's a mess of badly cut footage, a clearly not all there popstar and little or no plot. But it's oddly hypnotic and an eerie reminder of how lost Britney looked at one point.
What else do you need to know? Well this gif about sums up how "lucid" Britney probably was for the whole thing. She seems to be picking lint out of the air here. Or talking to herself. Who knows?
Other important visual "motifs" in this new cut:
1: Just-out-of-bed-ney
2: Funeral Chic Britney
3: Lots of extra "dance" footage of Brit & pals
4: Bald-patch-ney
There you have it, the Britney fan holy grail is now with us. It works on a car crash "laugh until you cry" level. But it's also a hypnotic slice of what could have been, were Britney really coherent enough to command this dark (i.e slutty) and challenging (i.e. slutty) a vision throughout the whole Blackout campaign.
Well to say I was excited about this an album would be a huge huge huge huge understatement. Despite many a flaw, from not singing live to questionable interest in her own music I'm constantly drawn into the perfect pop of Miss Britney Spears.
Sure some of it is driven by the heady Britney obsession of my teen years but it also helps that Britney has been serving up genuinely edgy pop cuts for the past decade. Blackout was the zenith, a swirling mash of thump-y beats, groaned vocals and a sense of danger that was enthralling. Follow up Circus sold better and attempted to re-establish Britney as a down to earth and healthy popstar but it wasn't as cohesive or thrilling.
Thankfully Femme Fatale stands somewhere between the two. It takes it's thumping, club ready cues from Blackout with a sprinkle of the brighter Britney sheen of Circus. It's a perfect mix of brave ideas and glossy, radio ready melodies. The cliche of modern pop albums is that "Every song could be a single" and generally speaking it's rarely true. But Femme Fatale is such a slick and polished affair that with the right push any song from this album could enjoy a healthy chart lifespan.
Britney sounds great, even if her voice is processed, analysed and torn apart by Dr. Luke, Max Martin and all involved. But that's part of the point. Britney has always been pop's most robust robot, her vocals and personality spliced, diced and delivered by a ruthlessly efficient. That in truth makes her out of step with today's current crop who display more agency, more control over their image and are reaping the chart rewards. Spears is struggling to compete right now. The first 2 singles not having the staying power needed to build buzz on an album truly deserving attention.
Still even the most casual pop fan will find plenty of moments to raise a smile on Femme Fatale. It's jumpy, thrilling and addictive and it just may be Britney's best album yet.
Track by Track
Hold It Against Me : Hasn't quite hit the chart home run all on Camp Britney clearly thought it would but this is still a stone cold Britney classic for me. Icy, pumping and melodic it's all that is right with pop in 2011.
'Till The World Ends: I've gone back and forth on this single. It's anthemic, likeable and lodges in your head for days on end. But it's a bit too anonymous for an artist like Britney whose strangled cat warbling is imprinted on to everything she does in the best possible way. Mind you if this is Britney at her less than stellar it's still a damn sight better than most popstars.
Inside Out : If this isn't a huge smash single than something is NOT RIGHT. Melancholic, downbeat but still possessing a sleek, dirty groove this is a gem. The chorus is undeniably impressive but those verses are clearly the real winner. Britney's syncopated delivery is on the button and this is a song that manages to both be slinky and seductive and still chug along at a mechanical pace. Brilliant.
I Wanna Go: Sort what 3 should have sounded like, this upbeat and cheeky number again has single stamped all over it. The jumpy beat, the infectious whistle and the vaugely raunchy lyrics make this a satisfying slice of Club Thumper Britney fun.
How I Roll: The quirkiest track on the entire album. Bloodshy and Avant prove their genius here on a jagged of robot electro pop. This one clicks and whirrs itself along in a very minimal but it's sleek melody is gold and although it's not as immediate as other songs on the set, it's also a real grower and one of the strongest.
(Drop Dead) Beautiful: A pleasing update on pure pop Britney. There's very little that's new about this one but it's so snappily written and dripping in sass that it's kept me coming back for more with every listen. It's hard to not love a song that contains the line "Yeah your body looks so sick/I think I caught the flu"
Seal It With A Kiss: Another ode to the early Britney with a naughty update. The lyrics may have Britney lining up illcit liasons over a dubstep pop beat but the melody is as light as air. She coos her way through this one and you'll find this is one of Femme Fatale's most earworm-y tracks.
Big Fat Bass: This should have been the album's stinker but Will.I.Am has rolled out something of a corker here. A house music piano riff, a huge huge beat and some brilliantly distorted vocals give this tune a menacing sound that offsets the vocal back and forth of Will and Britney perfectly.
Trouble For Me: UK producer du jour Fraser T Smith competes with the big guns to great effect on this tune. A grime inspired beat flickers underneath one of Britney's strongest vocals. This is a glittering gem and could be a fine single.
Trip To Your Heart: Britney's does her take on Madonna's Get Together (which she already tried on Circus bonus track Trouble) and it is pretty great. Sure the main hook is a tad cheesy but the trance-lite production and bubbly vocals make this hard to resist.
Gasoline: As close as this album gets to filler. Not a bad tune but stumbles in comparison to some of the corkers on display here.
Criminal: What. a. TUNE. Imagine if you will Madonna's Papa Don't Preach, Miles Away and Love Profusion in a Britney blender you're halfway there. This is lovely, rippling with melancholy but also with it's tongue firmly in cheek. It's completely not what you expect from Britney but brilliant for that very reason. If there's any justice in the pop world this will be a huge huge smash single.
There are numerous bonus tracks floating around too but we'll get to them later. Long story short: you need to get your hands on Femme Fatale right this minute.
Holy crap. You wait a month (as in don't blog for a month) to blog about a huge pop tune and then two come along at once. This isn't an attempt to pit Britney's "Hold It Against Me" against Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" in some kind of do or die battle BUT two big artists, two big songs.. why not do one quick blog post? Here is your cheat sheet to the new tunes from both Britney and Lady Gaga
The Song: A relentless club pop stormer that's about as subtle as a bag of glow sticks being ground up in a blender by a gaggle of pilled up drag queens. The underpinning beat is stompy and obtrusive but the vocal gives it a sense of desperation. The first time Britney croaks (and she sort of does, it sounds like they've let her voice sound a bit raspy for some reason) "if we could escape the crowd somehow" it's a weird moment of isolation and dread amid a song that takes a cheesy chat up line as it's main chorus. It combines a slightly disjointed Xenomania style structure with an out of the blue would be dubstep breakdown and a whizzing climax. It is in a word: A-M-A-Z-I-N-G
How has it fared? Insanely good at first. With minimal promotion it broke US airplay records while shifting over 400,000 downloads all in one week and flew to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. It was instantly a top 10 smash in most major territories also. It has started to slide but this is a single that is still in the middle of it's chart run. With the immediate iTunes release this track has garnered a decent chart performance but we'll see how the video and possible promotion from Miss Spears allows this one to shape up over the next few weeks.
The Video : Directed by Jonas Akerlund (squeal) and already the subject of fourteen seperate online teasers to be released daily until the official premiere next week. Sounds like it'll be a chaotic affair, heavy on the dancing according to dance-commander Brian Friedman. Exciting.
Do Say: "It's good for dancing isn't it? It's bit like a rave, a bit like that moment you come off something and feel a bit weird and a bit like that time you ended up at dubstep night and spent the night wobbling around"
Don't Say: "I preferred If U Seek Amy"
BORN THIS WAY
Who : Lady "Why would I take a nap, when there's so much WORK TO BE DONE?" Gaga
The Song : Well to say this has arrived with a bit of hype is an understatement. Gaga has declared this her anthem for a generation, a song about loving yourself blah blah blah. Basically she talked it up way too much. After talk of a deeper heavier side to the music the resulting confection that is Born This Way is a tad dissapointing.
Picture if you will Madonna, Kylie, Gaga and a desire to name check as many minorities as possible combined with a rattling cheesy dance pop beat and you have Born This Way. It's not that's a bad tune. It's actually tremendous fun. Infectious, catchy and feel good it's a pure pop blast that stands well amongst the current batch of chart ready electro inspired numbers. It's well crafted with a strong melody but you can't help but feel the urge to throw the kitchen sink of production at the track makes it too layered. Compared to how Telephone mastered the wall of pop noise alongside an airtight melody Born This Way sounds like a track in desperate need of a pruning. If you can get past the hype though (and let's face it, that's not easy now) this a great little pop tune.
How has it fared: Well it was released Friday, topped the iTunes chart in 23 countries (it just debuted on the UK chart at number 3), broke that radio play record Britney had up until a few weeks ago and looks set to go to number 1 in more than a few places by next week. and there's a small matter of a Grammy's performance tonight, which as I write Gaga has just arrived to in a coffin. And a giant egg. Subtle.
The video: Directed by Jonas Akerlund (Squeal AGAIN), set in New York with talk of Gaga giving birth, trannies and we're sure more than a few jaw dropping outfit choices. Let's just pray it's 100 hours long like some of her previous efforts.
Do Say: "This song is good fun isn't it? and isn't it nice that she just wants us to be loved? Pass the cocktails, this makes me want to dance"
Don't Say : "UGH IT'S SO CONTRIVED, IT'S LIKE A MARKETING EXERCISE MORE THAN A SONG" Really?
To be honest I'm really enjoying both songs for different reasons but the fact that both artists are releasing new albums in the next few months is cause for much excitement. Britney's Femme Fatale feels like it might be a collection of brilliantly produced pop masterpieces with a slightly souless sheen while Born This Way will offer soaring melodies with a side order of cheese that might begin to grate. But who knows? As Gaga arriving to an award show in an egg shows you really can't predict the pop world sometimes.
The rather great MuuMuse has pointed out that a New (NEW!) cut of the most recent Britney video "3" has leaked online. How exciting! The original video is here ("embedding disabled by request" of course. I'll never understand the reason for this. Never) and while many fans aren't mad on the video I think it does the job well, providing us with lots of shots of hair flipping Britney (amazing) and sultry close ups (amazing x 2)
Phwoar etc. Still this new cut is quite exciting for the fact that it features way more dancing than the first version which when it comes to Britney is no bad thing. There is also a whole new scene cut throughout too with Britters resplendent (there. I said it) in lace and a very tight hair bun which makes her look classy as classy can be:
So classy she had to lie down obviously. I actually love this look on Britney. It doesn't sit so well with the looser tone of how she looks elsewhere in the video and the general flapping about suggesting a threesome but I'll take what I can get.
There are loads of different shots in this cut that aren't in the original. My favourite is one where Britney spins into the arms of a dancer who is at Britter's crotch and stares as if looking for his keys. Or just needs somewhere to rest his head for a minute. Shoddy screen cap alert:
Who hasn't been having a bit of a dance party and needed a few seconds to relax? Even if that relaxing takes place at crotch level. Try not to judge.
I went through a couple of minutes of indecision over which of these cuts was better. And after that torment I realised that obviously the new one is best. Not only does it feature all the great qualities listed above it has an exclusive air that will give Britney nerds major bragging rights for years to come. "Well true fans know that the director's cut of 3 is actually one of her best videos. Its a rare find but a real gem" they'll say as their friends debate silly musical questions such as "Is Kid A the best album of this decade?" or similar.
Without further ado (or pointless rambling) here is that director's cut. And if you find some track from "Kid A" playing through your head while you watch this that's your problem. Don't look at me. It's not like I ever listened to it.
Britney is rumoured to be releasing a new singles collection within in the next few months, a move that excites me (new Britney tunes!) and bores me (new album would be better B!) in equal measure.
BUT
A photo I just found on the Popjustice forums has me thinking about how great the album cover could be.
Feast your eyes on this, I'm envisioning it free of text, slapped across CD boxes the globe :
I'll let you come up with your own titles, although I think "OH CRAP! I'M RELEASING ANOTHER BEST OF!" would be an appropriate one.
Well I won't go into the nitty gritty but basically I went from having no Britney tickets to getting them for both nights. Ended up near the pit on the Friday show and had a seated view on Saturday (for which I had free tickets, the kind of fluke oppurtunity that I love). I thoroughly enjoyed the show despite my reservations. Alot of people were saying she wasn't ready to be back on stage, that she acted like she didn't want to be there etc.
But personally I thought she looked really happy to be there. Having seen Britney the last time she was in Dublin, she seemed to be enjoying it alot more this time around. Her dancing HAS slowed down. but only from ridiculously fast paced to energetic and full of life. I'd forgotten how charismatic Britney is. She isn't singing live, she isn't really talking to the crowd but her face just lights up and she has that popstar swagger few really have.
Also that setlist was fan-tastic. Loading up on the juiciest cuts from Blackout (and dropping in the super slinky should have been a single Breathe On Me) and pacing the big hits out in just the right places, it was a non stop thrill ride. Some people complained about the fact that there were so many interludes but I thought they really worked. The Sweet Dreams video interlude is one of the best videos she has ever done, effortlessly sexy and beautiful to look at. And that was another aspect of the show I really enjoyed. It was the perfect mix of exuberant, flashy and sexy. It wasn't over the top sexy like the last one or weighed down with a cheesy concept. The entire production was so well executed.
Yes, I would have loved Britney to engage more. And yes, it would be great if she sung live. But it says alot that despite these (quite large) flaws, I still found myself entertained. I still found Britney enthralling. She IS a huge popstar. There are complications and she clearly has her guard up, but The Circus still thoroughly entertained me.
AND to my delight, I got my own minute of Britney weave malfunction on Friday night when a piece of her fake hair fell out as she was mid air (during a thoroughly wierd but thoroughly brilliant simulated sex suspended in the air stunt). Really, how could I have not been entertained by this show! (the photo below is from Saturday and not of the amazing weave moment but gives you an idea of the stunt I was talking about!)
In the interest of balance (ahem) here are Panti and Rick O'Shea's views on the show, which I'm posting more to promote my love of their blogs than anything but also that I am not blind to some people not loving Brintey. I'm not some crazy maladjusted fan. honest :/
