Digital Spy Reviews ''Femme Fatale''

Let's be honest, Britney's last album Circus wasn't bad by your average artist's standards - 'Womanizer', 'Shattered Glass' and 'Unusual You' anyone? - but as a follow-up to the near-perfect Blackout, we don't mind telling you that we were left somewhat underwhelmed. Given that she's spent two-and-a-bit years working on a follow-up - one that she claims is built "for the clubs" and is her "edgiest and most mature sound yet" - we have a sneaking suspicion that the feeling was mutual. Question is, does Femme Fatale hit the mark?

The LP's two trailer singles have already raised the bar from what Circus offered us, having served up a pair of club-thumping stompers in the form of saucy 'n' seductive 'Hold It Against Me' and hi-NRG 'Till The World Ends'. Both helmed by producer-du-jour Dr Luke and longtime mixing buddy Max Martin, their dub-pop hybrid is both fresh yet undeniably 'Britney'.

Fortunately the LP's ten remaining tracks continue the trend, with the anthemic 'I Wanna Go', self-assured '(Drop Dead) Beautiful' and ballsy 'Gasoline' all tailor-made dancefloor choons; while the lyrics range from 'Inside Out's' blatantly slutty: "Baby shut your mouth and turn me inside out," to the supremely self-assured: "I wanna go down town where my posse's at/ Because I got nine lives like a kitty-cat" on 'How I Roll'.

Despite the album's well-worn producers and slightly obvious theme, the production is polished, intriguing and - best of all - fun. The dub-steppy 'Inside Out', the much-welcomed piano breakdown on the will.i.am-assisted 'Big Fat Bass' and the pagan-like flutes in closing track 'Criminal' all keep us guessing - albeit while feeling suitably pumped - for the full 65 minutes.

Future singles? She's spoilt for choice here, but if 'I Wanna Go', 'How I Roll' and 'Criminal' don't at least get a look-in, well, we'll be having strong words.

It may have taken four years to arrive, but Femme Fatale ultimately feels like the post-Blackout comeback we were waiting for, albeit with one important distinction: rather than feeling like we'd caught a worse-for-wear Britters at an underground, Red Stripe-soaked "party", this time we're joining her at an altogether classier venue, locking arms and ushering the barman for a round of raspberry Mojito's before throwing some serious shapes. Yes, she's teamed up with producers that her contemporaries are well-aquainted with, and the subject matter rarely shifts from the superficial, but what ultimately sets it apart is Spears's unrivaled ability to seduce us, which, given the album's title, is something she clearly knows all too well.

5/5 stars.

Source: Digital Spy

''Femme Fatale'' Is Basically Brilliant

The following italicized article is from www.popjustice.com:

So the recent history of Britney is a bit like this: recorded by a detached superstar at the height of some rather desperate lows, 'Blackout' quickly established itself as Britney's surprise masterpiece. Britney's next studio album was 'Circus'. Despite an amazing lead single 'Circus' sounded like the work of a popstar who was involved too much and too little at the same time, the victim of the sort of absent-minded hands-on approach that does more damage than good. 'Circus' was not the sort of album Britney Spears should have been making. It was, quite simply, not very good.

Well we had a listen to 'Femme Fatale' earlier. And here's the good news: 'Circus' feels like the work of a different artist. Here's the even better news: 'Femme Fatale' is another 'Blackout'. It's bursting with all that album's best bits - the slightly deranged production, the hard and dark spirit, the massive beats and the big tunes. And while it might be less of a surprise, as Britney is obviously pretty much back on top of things now, on first listen it might just be as much of a masterpiece. It's also a relief, because if 'Femme Fatale' had been a bit of a dog's dinner Britney-as-a-recording-artist would have been over.

To listen to 'Femme Fatale' we went over to Britney's label earlier tonight. The tracks only arrived in the UK at about 6pm, having been whizzed across the Atlantic via a spooky download link thing for internal use by Sony.

For anyone amused by the apparently tokenistic dubstep breakdown in 'Hold It Against Me' - and the genre's trademark gloomwobble did rather seem to appear from nowhere then disappear back there just as abruptly - the big news from 'Femme Fatale' is that the foray into dubstep was more than just flirtation. There's dubstep in the DNA of this album. It's rarely as blunt as in 'Hold It Against Me' - there's no "ooh look at me I'm dubstep" showboating - and 'Till The World Ends' is a far better indication of the album's sound. With some exceptions, this is a heavy, dark and dangerous-sounding Britney album. It's a sound you'll hear in 'Inside Out', one of various songs leaked so far in clip form.

Even the will.i.am track 'Big Fat Bass', which sounded unbearable on first listen and seemed likely to reinforce will.i.am's reputation for turning in the worst tracks on otherwise amazing female-fronted pop albums - sounds great. We made notes on the songs one by one and had prepared the title 'Big Fat Pile Of Shit' in anticipation of this song starting but, halfway through, we'd crossed that out. It was surprisingly bearable partly because the second clip that emerged is a far better reflection of the track and partly because the rest of the album makes sense of it.

Lyrically - well, on the surface it's about what happens when you go out and what happens when you get back home, and beneath the surface it may well turn out to be that too. Pop right now doesn't really feel like it needs another set of songs about how great it is to a) go clubbing and/or b) have sex, and 'Femme Fatale' is preoccupied by both those topics, but it feels like Britney manages to sidestep the clublolz trap in the usually awful David Guetta sense or that sometimes awful Ke$ha sense. 'Femme Fatale' is an album with a perfectly defined sound and a clearly established personality. It's a club record in the same sense 'Blackout' was. It hangs together, it makes you feel like having a bit of a dance. It's playful. Gone are the slightly laboured, joyless moments of 'Circus'.

Some tracks are fast and some are slow but the nearest 'Femme Fatale'-era Britney gets to a ballad is closing track 'Criminal' (clip here) which has the flavour of 'American Life'-era Madonna - the 'Intervention' and 'Love Profusion' sort of sound. Flute (FLUTE) and guitar are high in the mix here but with hefty, whalloping beats. To these ears it's a darkly comic song about a guy who's basically awful ("he's a killer just for fun fun fun") and whose various character flaws are described all the way through the verses until the chorus arrives with "but... Mama I'm in love with a criminal, and this type of love isn't rational, it's physical; Mama please don't cry i will be alrgiht, all reason aside I just can't deny, I love that guy". Typing those lyrics out it looks a bit bad. But it sounds great. Really great. And when the middle eight swings around we're in classic - and by classic we mean the 'Oops!' album - Britney territory. Coming moments before the album's end it's a brilliantly timed glimpse of the traditional tuneage that put Britney at the top of pop over a decade ago. It doesn't sound much like anything else on 'Femme Fatale', but what's interesting is that it doesn't jar either. Her new album may be stuffed with fantastically aggressive robopop but, at the end of the day, Britney's still Britney.

We'll be able to discuss the album in more detail in coming days via a track by track sort of review but the key points from this overview are:

1. No crap songs.

And that, really, is all you need to know.

Usual disclaimers apply: we heard it all the way through once, it might sound less amazing on repeated listens but, equally, it might end up getting even better.

This hasn't been a very well written review so apols for that but finally, if you're still reading, we would like to say a thing. From what we've heard from this album (which is the whole thing, bar deluxe edition bonus tracks) and from what we've heard of the Lady Gaga album, they are entirely different bodies of work with entirely different influences and objectives from two entirely different artists at entirely different stages in their respective careers. Between them they offer a fantastic account of pop music in 2011 and should be viewed as complementary, not contradictory. There is room for both. Let's all just try to get along.

Source: Popjustice

Where's Britney?

The following italicized article is from www.mtv.com:

On Friday, Britney Spears took another teasingly small step in promoting her upcoming Femme Fatale album, releasing a video in which she announced that she'll perform on "Good Morning America" on March 29, the day the LP drops.

The short video clip temporarily calmed the increasingly anxious Britney fans, who had been wondering, "Where is Britney?" It's been six weeks since first single "Hold It Against Me" was released. Since then, Britney has hosted a Q&A session with fans on Twitter and premiered the song's video on MTV, but she's been largely missing from the public eye.

We know the pop princess is still busy putting the finishing touches to her album — she tweeted a picture of her and producer will.i.am at the recording studio recently — but it does strike us as strange that a mere month away from the album release, Britney has not done a single promotional interview or live performance.

In the months before releasing her last album, Circus, Brit had appeared at theVMAs and onstage at Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour, performed on the British "X Factor" and shows in France and Germany, and aired the revealing documentary "Britney: For the Record" on MTV.

So, why the relative silence this time around? Is Britney being shy, or maintaining an air of mystery until closer to the big reveal of her album?

"The girl's coming back, and her music's doing well," PR expert Howard Bragman told MTV News. "Coming back is a hard thing to do, and when you've been in the spotlight as long as Britney Spears has been, it's hard to maintain that. The fact that she's still relevant musically is quite a feat."

While Lady Gaga has performed on the Grammys and made appearances on "60 Minutes," "The Tonight Show" and "Good Morning America" since releasing "Born This Way," Bragman cautioned against comparing Brit and Gaga.

"Public relations, when done well, is not one size fits all," Bragman explained. "You've got to know who you're working with and what their DNA in the public eye is, and everybody has a different DNA in the public eye."

Perhaps Britney, now into the 13th year of her career, has decided that she doesn't have to go crazy working the promotional circuit, especially since she is a mother of two young boys. Unlike Lady Gaga and other relatively new pop stars like Katy Perry or Ke$ha, Spears has been there, done that and is no longer so hungry for success. She did her time on the nonstop promo circuit back in her ... Baby One More Time and In the Zone days, and maybe she's content to let the music speak for itself now.

Or perhaps the worrying fans have jumped the gun, and her team is about to surprise us all with a slew of appearances and performances. All we know for sure is that, promotion or no promotion, Britney is still very capable of keeping us intrigued.

Source: MTV

Britney Spears Sets March 15 Release Date For New LP

The following italicized article is from www.mtv.com:

As the wait for the dance-heavy video for "Hold It Against Me" continues, details regarding Britney Spears' new album have surfaced. Based on a sales-solicitation sheet, which was confirmed as accurate by a label rep to MTV News, the pop superstar's still-untitled LP is set to drop March 15.

With the rocket success of the album's lead single, it's no surprise that the singer's seventh studio album will feature "multiple songs" from pop masterminds Max Martin and Dr. Luke. Additional production credits include Rodney Jerkins, Stargate, Fraser T. Smith, Bloodshy & Avant and more. Fans can choose between a standard (soft pack/wallet packaging) version of the album and the deluxe (expanded soft pack with additional booklet pages), which will feature three or four additional tracks.

Spears has been hitting the dance studio hard, as the notice describes the forthcoming "Hold It Against Me" video as "a sexy, edgy dance piece directed by Jonas Åkerlund and showing Britney at peak form and ability." Earlier this week, MTV News took the liberty of mashing together some of the singer's most-iconic music-video dance scenes to give fans an idea of what Brit's new clip might look like.

In terms of Spears' press plans, the follow-up to 2008's Circus will be met with "a major TV event to launch the album" and a TV campaign, which will feature a variation of spots before the LP hits stores. The promotional rollout will extend to advertisements on everything from the Internet to the side of taxicabs. Other marketing schemes include a "LGBT/Lifestyle campaign," worldwide online fan contests and routine tweets from Brit.

Source: MTV

'Circus' Becomes Britney's 2nd Highest Selling Album in Australia

We didn’t see this one coming, but congratulation to our girl who has this week achieved triple platinum status in Australia for her album ‘Circus‘.

Sony Music have let us know that the album has now sold in excess of 210,000 copies across Australia.

Anyone interested in Britney’s previous albums’ sales listen up! The Singles Collection is Gold, Blackout is currently 2 x Platinum, My Prerogative is Gold, In The Zone is Platinum, Britney is 2 x Platinum, Oops! is 3 x Platinum and Baby One More Time is Britney’s highest selling Australian album still with a certification of 4 x Platinum.

Tally that all up, and Brit has sold well over a million records in this country.

Source: Gimme Britney

Lea Michele on Britney's Glee Episode

Lea Michele is super excited for Britney Spears’ upcoming appearance on an episode of Glee, where the pop star will have a role on the show. At a party last night in Hollywood, Lea gave us a little sneak peek of what to expect on the show…

“We’re recreating Britney Spears’ videos…a few of them, in fantasies, so I happen to be caught in my tracksuit. Whether or not that’s “Hit Me…Baby One More Time”, you can put the pieces together”. Lea actually had it mind to sing another song before coming to a realization : “I wanted to do “Circus”, which we’re not doing, but I realized that the choreography would be way too hard for me !” said Lea.

Source: LeaMichele.Org

Darkchild On Working with Britney

The following italicized article is from www.theprophetblog.net:

After the Britney Spears demo of the Lady GaGa hit “Telephone” leaked online yesterday it caused an online frenzy which made news headlines around the world (literally), so the producer of the song Darkchild was forced to do a live broadcast on Ustream today to clear up the controversy surrounding the track.

The hitmaker said that the leaked version was the first demo they did for the song and was completely unmixed and unmastered, and then went on to insist that he wasn’t behind the leak and wouldn’t be leaking the final version.

Now moving on from that old Circus B-side and onto the good stuff, Darkchild also spoke about Britney’s upcoming seventh studio album spilling some exciting details about the secretive project.

“[Britney's manager] Larry Rudolph came to my house and we had an incredible conversation about Britney’s new album. We talked about the direction of her album, he gave me some insight into the direction and he wants me to work on stuff… So with that said, “Telephone” did what it had to do and we’re very pleased with the results, but now I’m about to put 200% of my focus into writing a new smash for Britney’s new album… An international smash…

“I think the fans deserve it, I think Britney deserves it and I can’t wait to get back into the studio with Britney. I’m about to go crazy on making something that’s so crazy. Since the conversation with Larry Rudolph I’ve studied some stuff from her last album and the Blackout album, and that was great stuff but I’m gonna bring something a little bit greater. I’m gonna give it my all to deliver something that’s crazy, crazy amazing for Britney.

“The conversation with Larry went great, I know exactly what the direction is and I’m gonna kill it! I’m gonna create the most incredible, unbelievable track that you could ever think of to hit the planet earth, the galaxy, around the world, all of that [laughs], for Britney Spears!”

I’m not a fan of either version of “Telephone”, but it was obviously left off Circus for a reason so anything that makes the final cut for the next album will have to be really good, just like all her albums.

Source: The Prophet Blog

Britney Spears Takes Time Out for Mom

The following italicized article is from www.celebrity-gossip.net:

Treating herself to a day of retail therapy, Britney Spears was spotted out spending time shopping with her mother, Lynne Spears, in Los Angeles, California on Monday afternoon (March 8).

Joined by a helping hand, the “Womanizer singer and her mom gallivanted from shop to shop at the Glendale Galleria, loading up on a bagful of purchases at the Barneys New York department store.

Currently enjoying time off after a draining world tour, Britney is reaping the rewards from her impressive comeback - as she is among the nominees at the upcoming Juno awards.

With the winner to be announced on April 18th, Miss Spears’ latest album “Circus” is among the select few discs vying for International Album of the Year honors.

See more pics here!

Source: Celebrity Gossip

New Britney Single in March?

According to several news outlets, Kiss FM stated on air that a new Britney single, produced by David Guetta, will be coming out next March with the new album following in June.

Now, since there is no actual recording of Ryan Seacrest saying this there is no way of knowing how truthful this report is. To me it seems very suspicious since Britney has only been recording a handful of times since October 2009 but there is a rumour that they're using rejected 'Circus' songs for the new album so who knows.

To be continued...

Britney Is The Celebrity Of The Decade

The following italicized article is from www.popeater.com:

While that one wacky news station swears that they report and you decide, PopEater really lives up to the mantra. Last week, we asked you to choose from our lot of six megastars who would earn the title 'Celebrity of the Decade.' We laid out our reasoning for why each celebrity was nominated, but in the end, you chose Britney Spears over Angelina Jolie as the most important celebrity of the 2000s. Britney's rise to, fall from and subsequent rise to fame once again apparently won our readers over, as the resilient Spears took 36 percent of the vote.

Of the six celebs who were eligible for this honor, Britney Spears has had the most weathered and dramatic journey of all. In 2000, she was pop music's new queen -- a brilliantly marketed blend of cutesy teen goodness and sexy jailbait badness. In 2006, she was a freight train off the rails, quickly spiraling towards being a publicist's worst nightmare and even worse, many weren't sure she'd make it out of the decade alive. Now, with 2010 approaching and after all of the ups and downs, Britney's back on top of the music world -- proving that divorces, head shavings and psychiatric holds can't keep greatness down.

Britney started off the decade by absolutely demolishing the record charts, selling more than 1.3 million copies of 'Oops! I Did It Again' in the album's first week. Months later at the MTV Video Music Awards, she sizzled on screen in a nude-colored outfit. Britney was growing up ... fast.

Three years later, Britney made similar waves when Madonna passed the pop torch onto her via her tongue during a French kiss at the 2003 VMAs. Why is this even mentioned? Because it's easily one of the top 5 most memorable pop moments of the decade. However, that smooch came close to being the kiss of death for Britney.

In 2004, Brit married her high school boyfriend Jason Alexander for 55 hours ... and then a year later, she tied the knot to Kevin Federline. Two children, a reality show and a whole bunch of drama later, we all know how that worked out. In 2006, the couple was kaput, and Spears barely able to tread the dangerous waters she was floating in.

2006-07 saw Spears at her lowest point. Her divorce sent her spiraling into a downfall, including the infamous shaved head incident, an umbrella attack on photographers, rehab visits and more. This was erratic at its most severe, and many thought Spears could never recover and come back to her pop greatness.

After a very rocky return to stage during 2007s VMAs with an awkward and ill-fitting rendition of her new tune 'Gimme More,' Spears continued to dig herself deeper into the pop ditch, thanks to a wild relationship with paparazzo Adnan Ghalib. She was in the headlines every day thanks to her behavior and sheer who-knows-what-will-happen-next allure.

Then, in 2008, after starting the year by being rushed to a hospital and being placed under a psychiatric hold, Spears slowly began turning things around. She ditched Adnan, reached a custody settlement with Federline, and topped the charts again with her "comeback" album 'Circus.' A year later in 2009, Spears was back on top of the charts again with 'The Singles Collection,' riding the strength of the album's blatantly sexual ode-to-threesomes single '3.'

What the future holds for Miss Spears is yet to be seen, but one thing is for sure -- the girl's got some rebounding skills. It's that type of highs-and-lows ability to overcome adversity that put Britney on this list -- and your celebrity of the decade.

Source: Pop Eater

Top Ten Celebrity Comebacks of the Decade

The decade started so well for Britney Spears. She was at the top of her game at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards when she strutted across the stage crooning "I'm a Slave 4 U," a larger-than-life snake slithering above her taut abs.

Even Madonna wanted a piece of her. Their kiss at the 2003 VMAs made headlines around the world and is still one of MTV's most-talked-about moments.

By 2006, it appeared the pop princess was ready to abdicate her throne, her marriage to Kevin Federline and custody of their two boys, Sean Preston and Jayden James. A months-long saga of bad behavior that included multiple flashes of her private parts, countless nights on the town and allegations of drug and alcohol abuse culminated in February 2007 with Spears buzzing off her famous locks at a Tarzana, Calif., hair salon while photographers snapped away outside. Later that year, she gave what has become a widely ridiculed performance at the VMAs.

It took nearly two years and her father taking charge of her life before Spears regained her footing. Musically, she ends the decade on an up note. Her 2008 song "Womanizer" put her back at the top of the singles charts for the first time since the 1990s. And her album "Circus" is approaching double-platinum status, while her 2009 concert tour was the year's highest-grossing in the United States .

Source: ABC News

Britney Wins Fuse's "Best of 2009" Countdown

Britney Spears! [Applause...] But also congrats to...

Papa Roach, who came up just short. Well maybe not JUST short, but they did make it to the final - respect.

Still, the glory is all yours Britney. You met some heavyweights - Eminem, Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas - and took 'em all out. Well played.

So, why not celebrate Britney and everyone else, too (because really, everyone's a winner), by heading to the the Fuse Top 40 of 2009 page while watching the Top 40 of 2009 on Fuse RIGHT NOW (4p Eastern). You can also catch an encore broadcast tomorrow (Sunday) at Noon Eastern.

And peeping the latter-day Britney classic below is always fun, too. Congrats, Britney... and thanks to everyone for voting!

Source: Fuse

Artists of the Year 2009

#7 Britney Spears

After a few tumultuous years that found Spears in the tabloids more often than the charts, Britney redeemed herself with a pair of mega-hit singles -- "Womanizer" and "Circus" -- from her 2008 comeback album. A successful world tour brought her back to center stage, but the real proof of her rejuvenation was the one-off single "3," which debuted atop the Hot 100 chart in October. Spears was the first artist to enter the chart at No. 1 in more than three years.

Source: Billboard

Britney Spears Earns Grammy Nomination for Best Dance Recording with 'Womanizer'

Britney Spears has scored a Grammy nomination for her No. 1 hit single "Womanizer" in the Best Dance Recording category. Spears previously earned a Grammy win in the same category with her mesmerizing hit "Toxic" in 2004.

"Womanizer" was the lead single from her sixth studio album Circus and climbed to the coveted No. 1 position on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. The song rocketed to No. 1 in over 10 countries outside of the U.S. In addition to setting new records with the song last December, the global icon earned critical-accolades: Rolling Stone praised "Womanizer" as an "electro-glam stomp" and went on to describe the song as "head-boppingly hypnotic." Overall, The New York Times praised Circus, noting that "most of her new songs are crisp, cunning dance pop..." Upon the release of the album, Spears became the first female ever to have five No. 1 album debuts, and both the single and album resonated with her fans as evident by the sales. "Womanizer" sold close to 3.5 million combined digital/mobile units domestically while the album has sold 3.4 million units worldwide to date.

Spears, who has just wrapped up her international tour, recently set another record when she became the first artist in over three years to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart with her new song, "3." The catchy song is from Britney Spears' new album The Singles Collection which hit stores last month. "3" has already sold over one million tracks and is presently the No. 2 pop song in the country (Source: Mediabase) and ranks No. 10 (with a bullet) on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart.

Source: Jive Records

Britney Spears Going Back To The Studio For New Album

The following italicized article is from www.radaronline.com:

With her The Circus Starring Britney Spears tour ending Sunday night, the pop princess' team has decided to keep the momentum going. After breaking for the holidays, Brit is going into the studio in January to work on a new album.

Brit's last album, Circus, debuted one year ago today. It was her sixth studio album, and her fifth to debut number one on the Billboard 200. She's obviously hoping this next effort will be lucky #7. The goal for release is June, 2010.

Source: Radar Online

Britney Spears Channeled 'Classy' Madonna In 'Radar' Video

The following italicized article is from www.mtv.com:

Britney Spears has been compared to Madonna since she leapt onto the pop scene, dancing around in a schoolgirl uniform. The two did eventually hook up for "Me Against the Music," but Britney's video for "Radar," from her Circus album, really paid tribute to the pop queen and her ultra-glamorous Bedtime Stories period.

In the video, Britney is stuck in a love triangle with two very sexy polo players, who spend a good part of their time trying to woo Spears or riding their horses. Spears hooked up with "Boys" director Dave Meyers for an ode to Madonna's "Take a Bow."

"That was the premise behind 'Radar.' [We were] looking for a way to take her into a contemporary, classy environment," Meyers explained. "I felt empowered by referencing Madonna's video. Britney hasn't done anything like that."

Meyers had a very clear idea of how he wanted the story line to work. "There is a narrative going on, a romantic triangle on a weekend at this polo mansion," he said. "A soap-opera romance."

Britney apparently got nervous around the guy playing her lover (not her official boyfriend) in the clip, but Meyers said that shyness captured the essence of Britney. "She was really shy with this guy. She's really pretty here too," he said. "I think it's the Britney a lot of us know and love. It was nice to bring that out in her."

Despite the song's midtempo dance groove, the video is noticeably choreography-free. "I don't miss the dancing," he said. "When I watch, I feel like all the cuts and the dissolves keep the pace of the song alive."

Source: MTV

Britney Spears: 'The Singles Collection'

The following italicized article is from www.digitalspy.co.uk:

Rating: 5/5 stars

When Britney released '...Baby One More Time' at the tail-end of the last century, few would have predicted that she'd still be around today. Sure, it quickly became obvious that the track - reportedly rejected by TLC - was one of the great pop singles, but the history books are littered with the remains of stars that instantly light up the charts only to burn up just as fast. Despite some filler-heavy albums, Britney has always been something else, and this compilation perfectly captures the career of one of the best singles artists of the last ten years.

Where her 2004 Best Of, My Prerogative, was let down by some needless inclusions, unsatisfying sequencing and under-written new material, the 18-track Singles Collection is as lean as the star herself after a couple of months on the road. Better still, it features the best singles from the Blackout and Circus albums, which salvaged Britney's career as a pop artist in the face of a personal breakdown. The only possible quibble is having newbie '3' tacked on the start rather than the end - ruining the otherwise chronological tracklisting - but in the grand scheme of things that matters not-a-jot.

Running from '...Baby One More Time' to 'Radar', you get a single-disc timeline that shows a progression in style and substance from school uniform-wearing pop ingénue to sultry motorik saucepot. There's an argument that the 65-minute run-time should have been extended to include a few more songs, but in the main it's the slowies that have been dropped, and that's no bad thing. Of course, there's little you can say about the songs themselves that hasn't already been said. Hits like 'Toxic' and 'Oops!... I Did It Again' proved their cultural cachet by featuring in Doctor Who and John & Edward's most magical moment respectively. Even the oft-forgotten 'Stronger' boasts two stone-cold classic pop moments: the lyrical inversion of her debut hit ("My loneliness ain't killing me no more") and that sound drop-out at two-and-a-half minutes that teases before the chorus slams back in.

Britney's voice has long been a source of contention, but while the debate about the value of a lip-synced live concert continues to rage, this compilation underlines her worth as a distinctive pop singer, at least on record. She certainly doesn't have the pipes of contemporaries Christina or Shakira, let alone the likes of Mariah or Whitney, but as last year's X Factor finalists showed, it's not as easy as it looks to make these songs sound as good as they do here.

And there's nothing that sounds out of place. The thematic muddle of wedging a coming-of-age ballad ('I'm Not A Girl...') between two slabs of sexed-up hip-pop ('Slave 4 U', 'Boys') looks dodgy on paper, but sounds perfect in the listening. Best of all is the double-header of 'Everytime' and 'Gimme More', where you get Brit's best ballad jammed up against a throbbing robopop thriller that's rightfully survived her infamous VMAs performance. The only arguable weak link is the Madonna-featuring 'Me Against The Music', but in this context what once looked like a respectful passing of the baton now seems like an unconditional surrender of pop Queendom to its rightful heir.

Source: Digital Spy

Thanx to 'R' for the heads up.

Britney Nominated for Best Video at This Year's EMAs

Britney Spears is one of the top-selling artists of the last decade and to date has sold in excess of 62 million albums worldwide. Her latest album, Circus, is her fastest-selling album and has spawned 4 hit singles so far: ‘Womanizer,’ ‘Circus,’ ‘If U Seek Amy,’ and ‘Radar.’ She is currently in the midst of her hugely successful ‘The Circus Starring Britney Spears’ tour which has sold out all of its dates and been extended to include an Australian leg and further North American dates.

Best Video
Britney Spears - Circus

Note: This category is not open to voting. Winners will be determined by an MTV panel. Watch on 5 November to see who wins!

Source: MTV EMA

New '3' Review

The following italicized article is from www.digitalspy.co.uk:

Britney's got a 'Singles Collection' coming out at the end of November and, in customary fashion, it contains a new track that's going to be released as a single. Two of your trusty DS reporters got to listen to it at the end of last week - 18 times, if we recall correctly - so here's what we thought.

1. It's called '3' and it's a Max Martin production.

2. We won't beat around the bush - it's about having a threesome.

3. The chorus, which has more than a hint of the playground chant about it, goes like this: "1-2-3 not only you and me / Got 180 degrees / And I'm caught in between / Counting 1-2-3 feed upon that three / Getting down with repeat / Everybody loves ohhhhh". The "ohhhhh", in case you were wondering, is a classic Britney lusty sigh.

4. Britney makes her intentions very clear elsewhere, telling us "living in sin is the new thing" on the bridge and offering this coaxing couplet on the second verse: "Three is a charm, two's not the same / "I don't see the harm, so are you game?"

5. Enough already with the lyrics! What does '3' sound like? Well, it's uptempo, quite electropoppy on the verses and a little bit ravey on the choruses.

6. '3' would fit better on Circus than Blackout - it's got that slightly cartoony quality that the more recent album sometimes has. The Britney track to which it's most closely related is probably 'If U Seek Amy', though they're more like second cousins who only see each other at family funerals and weddings than brother and sister.

7. The best bit of the song is the middle 8, on which Max Martin cools things down with some synthetic strings, a load of bassy beats kick in and Britters offers her boyfriend a get-out clause: "If you don't like the company / Let's do it just you and me..."

8. ...Before promptly changing her mind by suggesting "or three... or four on the floor". That last bit's pretty clever, because the beats she's singing over at the time could legitimately be classified as "four-on-the-floor".

9. It took us a few plays to fall for '3' - and truth be told it's no 'Gimme More' or 'Womanizer' - but as a fun, fruity newbie to round off a potentially brilliant Singles Collection, it does its job very well indeed.

10. It's premiering on US radio today, so expect to be hearing it very soon. The first UK play, in case you were wondering, will be on Radio 1 this Wednesday afternoon.

Source: Digital Spy

Britney Places Twice in 2010 Edition of Guinness World Records

And in December 2008, Circus topped the US album chart, making Britney Spears the youngest female artist in history to have five of her albums reach No.1. Before she turned 20 years old on 2 December 2001, Spears had sold an unprecedented 37 million records around the world, making her the all-time best-selling teenage artist.

Source: Guinness World Records