I love the new Britney Spears album. And I am not ashamed.
It's infectious. It's empowered. My sister passed it on to me and I immediately had it for my car. The sound of it - full of rhythm and experimental beats and willing to change direction and feeling on a thin nickel - keeps me interested. Some will say it's overproduced. I will say slightly, but not too much. It's Britney Spears coming to terms with who she is: a performer, a sex object, an okay singer who entertains on a much more encompassing level than simply having a pleasing voice. And it's just the right time to confirm that her "virgin" image is as old as her relationship with the NSYNC kid.
I love that this all comes across in the music. If she is maturing, growing layers and complications, so is her music and her willingness to take risks. The joint with Madonna ("Me Against the Music") is as close to a perfect dance song as humanly possible: there is no better embodiment of 'music' over the past few decades than Madonna, who samples influences on all points of the spectrum and has the career longevity of the Rock of Gibraltor. If Britney is battling her it's only natural - she's often been compared to Madonna, portrayed as something other than a musician, than an artist, and this "she's only a sexpot" attitude has crossed over into comparisons with Madonna's talent for reinvention and experimentation.
Now I see Britney experimenting just as much. This album is constantly pleasing and surprising, especially considering the quality of her first effort, the syrupy stuff of which Teen Beat is made. The Britney of today does not resemble the Britney of back then, and that's right. Artists should always grow and change, and bring that growth and change into their work. The way Britney once insisted on her virgin-mary image would lead one to believe she'd stick with it, and that she's finally accepted who she is and who she's become makes me believe a lot more of what comes out of her mouth.
There's also an eighties feel to this album; it has the good-natured reciprocity in the beats, the full-circle sound that makes you feel satisfied at the end of a song. There's even a quasi-electronica song thrown in that could easily be heard at the Culture Club today.
But it's eighties with an edge, with the lessons of the last 20 or so years of music - technology and hip-hop and a deep, low rhythm - underneath the music.
Britney just pushes the cart along. She's not the entirety of her music anymore. She's the voice on top that threads it together, but her art is now collaboration and entertainment; I have no interest at all anymore in the quality of her voice, just the quality of the song. That's change - that takes her away from Christina comparisons, and takes her away from the other girl singers making it today.
Britney is a production now, and she gives the idea that she's an integral part of her product. It's made not only for a listenable album, but a respect I never thought I'd have for the bubblegum princess.
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