Has the princess of Pop lost her throne? (Circus - Britney Spears)

Member Name: Great_reviewer07

Product:	Circus - Britney Spears
Date:	04/04/09 (201 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic fast and slow paced songs

Disadvantages: One or two weak links but they're still good songs

Britney Spears? What can you really say about Britney that hasn't been said already? At the age of only 27 she's been through more in her life that most people twice her age have. She was thrust into the spotlight at the tender age of 17 in 1999 with her monster hit Baby One More Time... this song is so famous that even my Dad knows the lyrics to this track and he hates pop music! The iconic video may have had something to do with it though, back in 1999 it would have been pretty much impossible to find a straight male who didn't have the hots for Britney.

Britney has released 6 studio albums to date:

... Baby One More Time (1999)
Oops!... I Did It Again (2000)
Britney (2001)
In The Zone (2003)
Blackout (2007)
Circus (2008)

Britney first gained acclaimed when she appeared on The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993 to 1994, I've never seen it but I've heard it's a childlike version of The X Factor. Of course Britney wasn't the only one from The Mickey Mouse Club to make it big, her ex Justin Timberlake and her main rival Christina Aguilera also appeared on the show at the same time.

Over the past few years Britney has had a lot of trouble in her life, first she married Jason Alexander in Vegas in early 2004. A wedding that famously lasted a full 55 hours! After the marriage was annulled Britney then went onto meet Kevin Federline, in July 2004 she confirmed that the pair were engaged. Kevin, previously was in a relationship with actress Shar Jackson who was 8 months pregnant with his child, nice eh?! Britney of course went onto have two children with Federline before divorcing him. In early 2007, in what was Britney's most shocking moment she entered a hair salon and proceeded to shave her own head. Britney is also famous for having a 'close' personal friendship with Madonna, who'd want to kiss that 50 year old woman?!

After her diabolical performance on the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards in which Britney opened the show with her hotly anticipated new single Gimme More, sceptics said that Britney had hit rock bottom after her lip syncing was all out of sync and she stumbled around the stage as if she were drunk and that her career was over. After the single Gimme More was a huge worldwide success as was her album, people are finally starting to get their heads around the fact that Britney is back. She's managed to clean up her act and she's becoming a responsible Mother for her two kids. I think she deserves a lot more respect than she gets from people.

Britney released Circus, her 6th studio album on her 27 birthday on the 2nd December 2008, her first single from the album Womanizer became Britney's first number one in the US for 10 years. Critical reaction to the album was favourable with a lot of critics claiming that Britney was back on top form. Circus was voted best album of the year in the US, an accolade she also achieved in 2007 with her album Blackout. The album, to date has sold in excess of 3 million copies. It peaked at number 4 in the UK.

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TRACK LIST

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1) Womanizer (3.43)

This was of course the first single from Britney's much anticipated new album and for all intents and purposes was a huge success. I personally loved the song when it was first released and I thought that Britney was back for good. Womanizer could be described as electro pop at either it's cheesiest or it's fabulous best. I think you're either going to love this song or you'll hate it, which isn't a bad thing considering Britney has built her career on people worshiping her and hating her at the same time, controversy sells and who knows that better than Britney?

As I mentioned earlier this became Britney's first US number one in 10 years since Baby One More Time and it just goes to show that no matter what Britney does, as long as she keeps releasing great music people will still love her. This is a fantastic and instantly catchy club tune that was constantly doing it's rounds in the clubs upon it's release. Near the end of 2008 this song would have been almost impossible to get away from and I must admit after a while it does get somewhat tiresome however I listened to this recently after not hearing it for a while and I absolutely loved it. This song was released at around the same time as Christina Aguilera's new single Keeps Getting Better and although Womanizer did a lot better in the charts I personally prefer Christina's offering. Although that doesn't take anything away from Womanizer, it's an annoyingly catchy song that after hearing it, it will be impossible to get out of your head.

The video of this song is a bit like the song, something you'll either love or you'll hate. I don't particularly like the video, I find it a bit risqué for someone who's been through as much controversy as she has. Throughout the video you see Britney laying in what seems to be a sauna completely naked, obviously you can't see anything (just for you guys that were getting curious) but I think considering a lot of Britney's fans are young girls, to be lying naked 'tastefully' being covered up by the steam may send the wrong message about her new image.
4/5

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2) Circus (3.12)

This, of course being the title track had a lot to live up to and I'm happy to say that it does. When I first heard this song previous to it being released I was instantly into it and I thought there and then that it should be released as a single and luckily it was. Circus, is Britney's way of poking fun of her mad, circus-like lifestyle. Circus is a more underrated song than her previous single Womanizer but that doesn't make it any less catchy, infact I think I actually prefer this to Womanizer as it's a less cheesy and less hyped up song but it still remains a great pop club. This song also managed to make it's way onto the club scene with it's numerous remixes, I personally don't think they lived up to the original but that's a good thing. It shows Britney's versatility in that she can create a teen pop song for the young girls but she can also create club bangers that will get people on the Dancefloor. Circus peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in America despite receiving limited air-play and exposure. In the UK Circus peaked at a disappointing number 13, in a normal artists book that would be a good spot however this is no normal artist this is Britney Spears and people expect better from her. I personally feel that Circus should and could have performed better in the charts given more airplay.

The video, yes you guessed it is set in a circus with Britney of course being the Ring-Leader. Obviously this fits well with the theme of the video and the album itself but I can't help but be reminded of her infamous VMA performance with the dancing in this video. It just looks half-hearted like there wasn't much effort put into it and this isn't something you expect from a seasoned professional like Britney Spears.
4/5

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3) Out From Under (3.54)

This is a song that I wasn't overly impressed with on my first listen and now a couple of months after downloading this album I'm still not excited about listening to it. This sounds like a song that you'd expect to hear from someone like the infuriating Taylor Swift or someone from that weak pop music genre. I was expecting more from Britney Spears, of recent years she's been releasing really catchy pop tunes that work well in the clubs and this is neither of those things. I initially thought that given time this song may grow on me but unfortunately it hasn't. This is quite depressing song, where she talks about not thinking about things that never were, I tend not to listen to this song too much and it brings my mood down.
2/5

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4) Kill The Lights (3.59)

This song starts off with a news bulletin exclaiming that our Princess of Pop Britney has something to say. This then leads into a catchy pop R&B song where Britney's vocals could sometimes be described as rapping during the versus. This song has something of a sinister sound to it especially during the chorus. The lyrics are nothing special or sinister she's simply singing about photographers taking pictures of her. This is a song that needs time before you really appreciate it for all that it is, a catchy and unique pop song. If anyone's heard the Miley Cyrus song Fly On The Wall then Kill The Lights has the same sort of message that the Cyrus song does however thankfully Miley Cyrus is going to have a hard job on her hands trying to dislodge Britney from her throne because Kill The Lights far eclipses her dodgy effort.
4/5

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5) Shattered Glass (2.53)

The beat on this song is incredibly unique and equally catchy. I can't see this being released as a single but it's still brilliantly catchy. You may not like it at first but you need to give this song a chance, listen to it a couple of times and I guarantee that you'll eventually come to like it. I feel that this song isn't as strong as some of the others on the album and fear that it may be overlook as I do the same and when I get round to listening to this I remember why I liked it so much in the first place. Another thing that this song has against it is that it's barely 3 minutes long so you hardy have time to get into it, you may have to play this a couple of times in concession to really get a feel for it. Shattered Glass tends to get boring after a while though and is by no means the best song on the album, the way she repeats what she's singing during the chorus gets very annoying very quickly. When I listen to this I tend to think of a dodgy foreign entry into the Eurovision Song Contest however I'm sure if this was an entry it would by far beat whatever England puts out there!
3/5

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6) If You See(k) Amy (3.37)

This song was co-written by Max Martin who also co-wrote Baby One More Time and Oops!... I Did It Again, this will explain why Britney sings oh baby baby throughout the song, in homage to her first hit. This is without doubt my favourite song on the album and infact one of my favourite Britney songs ever. It's versatile in a way that 13 girls will love it and so will 30 year old men and of course everybody in between.

If you've seen the video for this song or watched E! news recently you'll have heard about the controversy surrounding this song. If You Seek Amy apparently is some sort of code for f**k me. I've got to say that I've listened to this song a thousand times and I can't figure it out, I have both versions (cut & uncut) on my iPod and I much prefer the uncut one it's just a shame that overzealous people feel the need to cut Britney down in everything she does because in my opinion there's nothing rude about this song. I think if you're going to download this you should download both versions to see what I mean. the edited version has been called If You See Amy and apparently this makes all the difference! I'm sure none of the controversy has bothered Britney in the slightest as this song has become famous overnight and a lot of people who wouldn't generally listen to Britney's music have been downloading this to see what all the fuss is about. Unfortunately you're likely to be disappointed as unless you're Carol Vorderman, Stephen Hawking or some other kind of genius then you wont be able to decipher the swearing in this.

Anyway back to the song I think! If You Seek Amy is something that will be heavily played in the clubs, it's recently been released as her third single from the album and I can easily see this getting to number one, not just because of the unnecessary controversy but simply because this is a fantastic song that is impossible to get out of your head. This is Britney back at her Baby One More Time best and I can see this song being one of her biggest hits to date.

The video, for anyone who's seen it is very strange. At one point Britney's dressed up like someone out of the 50's and is carrying a freshly baked pie to a pack of photographers. I would highly recommend watching the video on youtube, there's so many reasons to download this song and I can't find of any reasons not to so if you're planning on downloading selective songs from the album make this one a top priority.
5/5

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7) Unusual You (4.23)

This is another one of my favourite tracks on the album. It starts off relatively slow until about 20 seconds in the thumping beat kicks in and blends brilliantly with Britney's voice and with the overall sound of this song. I think Britney has done a really good job with this song as it's not something that you would usually hear her singing. This is quite a subtle song compared to the overall upbeat pop sound of this album and this song makes a nice change, unlike a couple of others that try the mid-tempo sound this song actually works and it's a song that really stands out on the album.
4/5

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8) Blur (3.09)

When I first heard this I thought it sounded quite dated, it reminded me of the JoJo song Leave but this song does grow on you if you give it half the chance. Unfortunately it doesn't quite match up to the brilliance of Unusual You but it does try damn hard and it's a good effort from Britney. Her voice sounds superb on this track and it just goes to show that whatever happens, we love Britney for her voice and her music, it's what made her famous and in 10 years time everyone will have forgotten about all her troubles but people will still talk about her music. This song is catchy in a subtle and classy way, not one of her best though. In this song she's singing about how she can't remember what happened the night before, something which probably after all her troubles with binge drinking she shouldn't be singing about, if this song was perhaps more upbeat it wouldn't be taken so seriously and you'd see it as her way of poking fun at herself but as it's a slow and serious song it becomes quite dark and really makes you think about what she's been through in the past couple of years.
3/5

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9) Mmm Papi (3.22)

This song instantly pulls you into the beat of it and it becomes insanely catchy very quickly. This song has more of a foreign feel to it than any of the others. However despite it being catchy to begin with it's not something that I could listen to on a regular basis. This is a really cheesy song that sounds about 10 years old or something that a band like Steps would have released. It's not up to Britney's standards which is a shame as the album as a whole is really strong.
2/5

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10) Mannequin (4.06)

This is another brilliant up-tempo song from the Princess of Pop, unfortunately it's not quite as good as If You Seek Amy but this is instantly catchy and although you can barely understand what she's singing in this case it doesn't really matter too much as the beat and overall sound of this song manage to somehow carry it despite it's downfalls.
3/5

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11) Lace And Leather (2.48)

This is another brilliant and this more than makes up for the previous Mmm Papi fiasco! This is a mid-tempo song with a catchy yet subtle beat. Britney's voice goes perfectly with it and this song is another example of how versatile she can be. This isn't the usual song that you'd hear Britney singing but it manages to work with exact precision. This song is about sexual fantasies, maybe something that you wouldn't want your young kids listening to but it's a brilliantly catchy song. The chorus is sublime and is something that unlike a couple of other songs on the album doesn't get old after a couple of listens.
4/5

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12) My Baby (3.20)

In true Britney fashion she's saved the ballad until last, this song manages to round off the album brilliantly. This song is reminiscent of her massive global number one Everytime from 2004, this is a sweet love song that will be relatable for a lot of people. This song is more aimed at the girls but is a really romantic song that I'm sure a lot of men could get into as well.
5/5

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So there you have it, another 12 tracks from the princess of pop and Circus just goes to show that fortunately no one has stolen her crown and for anyone that attempts to she's willing to fight for it. The majority of songs on this album are absolutely fantastic with only one or two weaker songs and to be fair even the weaker songs have something to offer so basically this album is sublime and her best in a long time.

Britney is definitely back to stay if this album is anything to go by.

Best track: If You Seek Amy
Worst Track: Mmm Papi

This fantastic album is available to download from iTunes currently for £7.99 and for an album of this volume I'd say that was a bargain. the CD is also available from play.com for £8.95. Whichever platform you prefer this album is a must for any pop fans.

Summary: Britney is back with a vengence