Brit’s Blackout: The Review

October 30th, 2007

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Britney‘s back – and I oddly like it. The first time I heard Blackout, I was almost instantly poo-pooing it. I mean, how can one listen to this album objectively? It’s almost impossible to separate her much-publicized personal downward spiral from this latest musical effort. But upon another listen or two, it becomes apparent that this album is a “grower, not a show-er.”

With its 80s-inspired synth-heavy beats, Blackout is so utterly dance-able and (dare I say) Euro. Definitely taking a cue from Kylie Minoque and Madonna‘s latest Confessions album, Britney just wants to have fun. And going out and partying is much more important than meeting with your court-appointed parenting coach, right? Right? Obviously I’m just being facetious, however, in all honesty, Blackout succeeds purely due to its simple party mentality. This is the Britney that we have loved all along: all production, no substance.

And the production on Blackout is top-notch. Stand out tracks include Get Naked (I Got A Plan), Toy Soldier and Ooh Ooh Baby. As predicted, everything sounds so clean, so interesting, and so toe-tappin’ – so much so that the production actually over-shadows Britney herself! I mean, with the playing-it-safe range and multi-layered vocals, this could be anyone. And we learned last year that all one needs is a good producer to release a decent dance album (Paris Hilton, anyone?).

And therein lies the album’s flaw: Blackout does not showcase Britney’s talent. Now don’t laugh – the girl can actually sing (even though she rarely does) and sadly if she wasn’t such a mess lately and had her act together, this album could have been great. See, Britney’s albums usually don’t stand-up based on their musical merits alone; they must be accompanied by knockout spectacle performances (thumbs down, MTV VMAs) and crazy over-the-top dance videos (thumbs down, Gimme More vid). With Blackout, she has so far only delivered the danceable hits. Here’s hoping she’s in the right mind to bring the rest.

Grade: B

Posted on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 at 4:44 pm by Protest The Hero and is filed under Music & Videos.