Once again, I find myself listneing to Britney Spears which I have to say for the first time in my life, I actually quite like her now – someone call a doctor now – I know! I have never really been into her all that much, but it finally seems that she's making the sort of music that appeals to me and my favourite genre. So when "Circus" landed in my inbox yesterday, I thought hey, let's give this puppy a whirl…
"Circus" is very similar in the vein of "Blackout" – perfectly produced electropop that is pleasing to the ear – but really that is no big suprise at all. Instead of overanalyzing each track (I'm really bad at that), what I'll simply do is tell you about the songs that really stick out to me upon the first few listens. I hate doing album reviews anyways, so forgive me if you feel this review isn't everything you're looking to read. I am by no means a Britney Spears expert, nor do I strive to be.
"Unusual You" – The most heavenly track on the album and a bit different from the rest of the tracks. It's a bit of darker electro for Britney and is definitley my favourite song on the album. Subtly located smack dab in the middle of the album, this track has some of the most beautiful synths I've ever heard. The song really reflects my personal view of love. You know when you've had your heart broken so many times in your life, you start to beleive that real love doesn't exist. Then suddenly you meet someone perfectly normal and lovely and you start to overanlyze to try and find what the hell is wrong with them – that's what this song explores. It kinda hits the nail on the head for me around this topic and it's a gorgeous song. Even a few shades of Depeche Mode on this track which is suprising to me…
"Circus" – My second favourite song on the album. Snappy and punchy to the extreme. The song isn't that notable when the song starts, but when the main chours kicks in, it's pretty fucking amazing. The song is quite fitting in comparision to Spear's life with Britney re-claiming and exclaiming she's the ring leader of the circus with the dancefloor as her stage. "When I crack that whip, everyone gonna trip – just like a circus". I love hearing Britney cracking the whip so to speak. This song definitley wreaks "It's Britney bitch" once again.
"Out From Under" – is a tender and touching song. I am quite glad she included a nice ballad on the album. At times she has a really nice voice and it's hard to notice this sometimes on an album full of heavily vocoded electro. However the other ballad on the album "My Baby" isn't as strong in my opinion.
"Kill The Lights" – I really like this song, but I think it's a bit presumptious when Britney is named "Our very own pop princess, now the Queen of Pop" by the MC in the begining of this song. Britney love, the queen is still Madonna. You won't get this title until Her Madjesty kicks the bucket – sorry love. Having said that, the song is rather groovilicous.
"Phonography" – A bonus track, but be careful…I thought she was talking about pornography but in fact, Britney is going on about how she loves being a gadget queen and how she's addicted to her mobile phone, text messaging and getting good network service bars in her "zone". A bit tacky yes, but when you analyze the lyrics, she's really drawing biological sexual comparisions here. I can totally see her rubbing her phone up and down in places she shouldn't – albeit a video clip ever emerged for this song.
As far as all the other tracks on the album. Quite good, not really a duff track at all. Whereas "Blackout" sounded a bit souless in places (which can easily happen on electronic albums), "Circus" definitley sees Britney taking control and giving us an album of pop perfection that everyone will enjoy. I would like to see Britney delve a little deeper at some point in the electronica genre. Perhaps she's still working on her epic "Ray Of Light", but for the moment I'm quite happy with "Circus" and perhaps a little surprised that I've turned into a Britney Spears fan now. Gimme gimme more.
"Circus" is released in the UK on December 1st and in the USA on December 2nd. It's EQ Approved.