The following italicized article is from www.mtv.com:You've already heard the likes of Perez Hilton and "Jersey Shore" star Pauly D extol its virtues, but with the Monday (January 10) premiere of Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me," we figured it was time to let program directors at radio stations around the country weigh in on the track too.
After all, not only are they the ones responsible for putting the song on the air, but they're the kind of folks who know a hit the second they hear it. So do they think Brit has another smash on her hands? Not surprisingly, the answer appears to be "yes."
"When I originally heard it in December, it blew me away from the first listen, and the same thing happened when we played it on Elvis Duran's morning show [Monday]; our Facebook and Twitter pages exploded," Sharon Dastur, program director at New York's Z100, told MTV News. "People are going crazy for it. They heard the leaked version and loved it, and now they're loving the official version too. I can see it being another huge hit for her."
"We're playing it at the top of every hour, and the reaction has been great," Tommy Chuck, program director at Tampa, Florida, station 93.3 WFLZ added. "Both on Facebook and Twitter, people are glad Britney's back; [they're] thanking us for playing the song, telling us how amazing she is, and all the air staff loved it. It's a solid single, and it'll be a big hit for her."
And while that initial wave of fan enthusiasm was to be expected, what both Dastur and Chuck said would put "Hold It Against Me" over the top is the song itself, a master-class in of-the-moment pop, courtesy of the world's foremost experts on the subject, Max Martin and Dr. Luke.
"Pop radio is a tough business, and if the song is no good, it wouldn't make it beyond the initial airplay," Chuck said. "People are really responding to this song, though, commenting on the 'dub-step' element of it. It definitely sounds similar to a lot of the dance tracks you hear [on the radio by] Taio Cruz and Usher and Chris Brown. It continues that whole trend."
"[Britney's] got a great team around her, and with Dr. Luke and Max Martin, you can't go wrong," Dastur said. "The reaction [to the song] this morning was outstanding. I asked some producers about it, because sometimes, we'll play a song, and the reaction is a little one-way or the other. But this one was through-the-roof positive."
Source: MTV
Pre-ordering the regular album or deluxe version will allow you to download the new single Hold It Against Me on January 18. I’m still reeling from the excitement over today’s release of Britney‘s HOT new single that I can’t even wrap my head around official news of the album’s release in March. Happy Days ahead, Britney fans … we are going to be treated to a LOT of amazing Britney updates leading up to March 15. Who’s excited?!
Here is the massive RCA logo you see when you go into the label. It is a new logo. It is better than the new Britney Spears logo, but wouldn't really work as a Britney Spears logo as it says 'RCA' not 'Britney Spears'.
As a 'cunning bluff' it doesn't actually say THIS IS THE NEW BRITNEY SPEARS SINGLE 'HOLD IT AGAINST' ME on it, and has been kept in a Willow Smith CD sleeve. Note the subtle 'BS' at the leftmost extremity of Willow's whipped hair.
As you can see, the song is three minutes and fifty two seconds long. That makes it twenty two seconds longer than the optimum pop length (established by '...Baby One More Time') of three minutes and thirty seconds, but complaining about a new Britney song going on a bit is a bit like moaning your lunch is a bit too nice.
The big difference from the early demo that leaked last week is the presence - heralded by a classic Britney spoken word "if I said 'I want your body', would you hold it against me?" - of a fantastically ridiculous dubstep breakdown after the second chorus. After the whole song drops out it's dubstep gloomwobble-a-go-go for a full thirty seconds, with Britney throwing around some "yeah", "ow", "uh-huh" ad-libs and a new "gimme something good, don't wanna wait I want it now, drop it like a hood and show me how you work it out" line. After that there's a second middle eight (don't be surprised if certain radio programmers whip out the first one entirely) which is a hands-in-the-air smoke machine moment more in keeping with the rest of the track, and that's followed by the full chorus slamming in and taking you to the end of the track. Sudden end, no fade. Amazing.
