Positive Circus Review

The following Italicized article is a review from www.thesun.co.uk:

***1/2

IT is a decade since school-uniformed Britney Spears back-flipped her way to the forefront of popular culture – achieving her first and only number one in the States with Baby One More Time.

The world has since watched in horrified fascination her steady decline from teen queen virgin to a twice-divorced fallen star.

After 2007’s ill-timed and overproduced Blackout, an unconvincing attempt at maintaining her once glossy façade, Britney has finally chosen to embrace the pantomime chaos and release a more honest body of work on new album Circus.

Britney proves that it truly is show time, as she steps into the ring on tip-top form and wears her heart on her sleeve.

She confronts issues of fame, broken relationships and motherhood against a masterfully engineered soundscape, which at times verges on the electronic complexity of a Daft Punk remix.

Having already found global success with the first single — the dark and aggressive pop powerhouse that is Womanizer — and with a guest spot on tomorrow night’s X Factor, it looks like Britney’s new extravaganza will be coming to speakers near you.

Here POPPY COSYNS takes you on a track-by-track taste of the album, which sees the Princess of Pop transformed from media clown to whip-cracking ring mistress:

WOMANIZER: Siren synths trigger the start of what is already a dance floor favourite from Louisiana to Lewisham. Savvy lyrics and an obnoxiously repetitive chorus guarantee pop perfection.

CIRCUS: “All eyes on me in the centre of the ring just like a circus/When I crack that whip everybody gonna trip just like a circus,” sings Brit, reaffirming her bad-girl image on the album’s infectious second single.

OUT FROM UNDER: A starker vocal and acoustic guitar backing herald the first of the few slower tracks. This is a sincere story of a suffocating relationship.

KILL THE LIGHTS: A full-on bolshy tirade, attacking sleazy parasitic paps with a vocal performance reminiscent of leotard-era Madonna.

SHATTERED GLASS: Creepy electro beats pulsate through this warped tale of an irreparable partnership and it becomes positively robotic as it reaches its crescendo.

IF U SEEK AMY: “Oh baby baby,” starts this track recalling a certain sound byte in our audio archives and the “ha ha hee hee” chorus is appropriate to the album’s carnivalesque overtone.

UNUSUAL YOU: The backing track on this tune leaves it sounding like the discovered dregs of a would-be late Nineties hit.

BLUR: An anthem for all those who have misbehaved under the influence: “Can’t remember what I did last night/I gotta get my head right, where the hell am I? Who are you? What’d we do last night?” showing Britney at her brutally honest best.

MMM PAPI: Mashing up whimsical sound effects with girlish vocals and bizarre lyrics which reference her love/hate father-daughter turmoil.

MANNEQUIN: Another Queen Madge moment, this slickly produced feisty pop number is one of three tracks co-penned by Spears herself.

LACE AND LEATHER: Something of a return to Lucky era Britney, only this time with racier lyrics and moments of electro pizazz – in particular the guitar which cuts in halfway through.

MY BABY: The most pared-down track on the album, fully exposing Spears’ fragile vocal – this is a tooth-numbingly saccharine ode to her babies. Aw.

RADAR: A hearty helping of electronic R&B which sounds like the Pussycat Dolls at their most risqué.

AMNESIA: Almost Eighties-sounding in its synth-led campness, Britney tops off her show with an old school pop formula, marrying chorus, bass line and melody in a perfect trinity of chart-topping potential.

Source: The Sun