Album Review: Britney Spears – Femme Fatale
For me, the apex of Britney’s career to date is Blackout
One year and a parental intervention later, Britney released Circus
So is her latest opus, Femme Fatale
Lead singles Hold It Against Me and Till The World Ends firmly establish the sound which is maintained throughout the rest of the album. This is Euro dance-pop, polished to within an inch of its life with an added smattering of dubstep wobble.
Sounds awful doesn’t it? But to Britney’s credit, she pretty much pulls it off!
The album has already been described by many as a ‘club record’, which might be overstating it a little (no amyl nitrates were inhaled during the course of this review). But make no mistake, this is most certainly an album to which you’ll be shimmying around your local Yate’s (*shudder*) whilst clutching an oversized glass of rosé.
Standouts tracks include: I Wanna Go, which borrows an exaggerated vocal inflection from The Pussycat Dolls, and shares the bounce-around-your-bedroom giddiness of Till The World Ends. And Big Fat Bass, a song which will initially irritate your tits off, until you surrender to its cheese-ball charms and realise it’s actually quite good fun.
The album does include a few stinkers however… naff lyrics and and an over-reliance on whizz-popping sound effects make How I Roll fall flat, and Trouble For Me and Trip To Your Heart fail to really make an impression beyond their dated dance leanings.
Closing track, Criminal is something of an oddity – not just for its deft use of a flute – but it’s the closest you’ll get to hearing Britney’s ‘natural’ voice (which isn’t rubbish to be fair). The rest of the album is firmly anchored in robot vocal territory, which is no bad thing as far as I’m concerned.
So has Femme Fatale replaced Blackout as my favourite Britney album? No, but it came dangerously close! And let’s be honest, it’s reassuring to know that Britney doesn’t need to be completely off her nut to produce a quality album.
Pop Specs rating:
I just had to share that I love that wall paper behind Britters! x
Ha! Yes I agree. I think it would work brilliantly in a downstairs loo!
Britney’s best albums were always the ones where she was involved. At one point in her career Britney took control over her image and over her career, and that reflected in the music. With half the tracks being co-written by her, In the Zone was undoubtedly her most mature and developed record. Then there was Blackout, where she had free reign and produced most of the songs for the first time. (Not surprisingly, that album was also her best.)
It’s quite a shame she lost much of that freedom when Jamie took over. Circus was good. Not as amazing as Blackout. Femme Fatale is amazing, yet not as good as Blackout, either. In the end I think it all comes down to her involvement as an artist. Critics criticize her lack of involvement in this record, but it’s not like it’s her fault. She doesn’t make the decisions anymore. (One of her penned tracks, Scary, DID make it to the Japanese edition of the album, though.)