Britney Spears - Blackout
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.34 You Save: $4.64 (52%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.29 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Blackout
Free Music Review: Britney Spears : A Great White Hope
Hit: 5 Stars
Listening to the new Britney Spears record is an experience indeed - despite the obvious hooks, the singalong choruses, and the perfectly times beats, there also lies a certain depth and soul that was sorely missing on all her previous albums. Yes, the songs are good (just ask any critic), but what makes this album special is its tremendous replay value (I suggest you buy a physical copy of the CD), and the intricate attention to the production. Unlike other reviewers, I have to give credit for Britney's vocal ability as well - she is not the best singer, but one listen to her on tracks such as "Heaven on Earth", and you realize why it is that she is still so endearing.
Whats even more astonishing is Spears' ability to remain culturally and sociologically relevant in an era that has virtually wiped out all of her classmates from the late 1990s. Though I do respect Christina Aguilera and her recent "Back to Basics" album, I have already played "Blackout" more than I have that other album. That's a testament to what Britney is - it may be disposable, it may be too commercial, but through it all it remains relevant and addictive. You can't deny that, and if you're new to the circus, I would recommend that you pick this album up as soon as possible.
"Blackout"'s strengths (and there are many) - is that every song on this 12-track album could be a successful radio single. I cannot think of another album in the last ten years that I could say this about. Even if you're not a fan of the generic pop genre, you will find something here to love. Primary single "Gimme More" (which rates alongside "Toxic" as Britney's best single ever) is just the beginning of the brilliance. To give you an idea of the multiple genres that Britney has employed on this record, let me compare some of the songs to the artists they most closely resemble. You can base your opinions on this, if you like:
"Piece of Me" : Many call this the standout track of the album. I think its pretty great, but not a Britney classic. The production her is very `Neptunes', and the track itself is very reminiscent of something that came out of the UK Underground club scene. Great repeat value, and the rooster instrumental effects, coupled with the very singable chorus will guarantee that this is a track you will be playing a lot in the days to come.
"Heaven on Earth" - Easily the best track on the record. This is 1980s electro-pop goodness. I would go so far as saying that this one track is better than anything on the new Hilary Duff record ("Dignity" - where Hilary tried to channel the `80s as well). Why is this song special. Well, for starters, it mixes electronic pop with ambient trance, and layers it with a synthesized Eurythmics sensibility. Think an Annie Lennox song done by Kylie Minogue, with DJ Tiesto as the producer. This is that track. I love the vocals on this - frail, tender, vulnerable. The song is undeniably sexy, and one that I will hail as the one of the best of Spears' career. And the line "Waking up, with you next to me" sound eerily like Imogen Heap!
"Toy Soldier" - What production! The opening beats alone deserve to be played loud on your car stereo system. This is the jam she was born to make. The highly digitized vocals only enhance the overall effect of the track. Yet another song that you will have on repeat. The companion track to this is "Freakshow", which to me is not as memorable as this one, but still as good.
"Break The Ice" - Remember how Janet Jackson always brought the best track on her album as the album opener? Well, I only wish they had chosen this song to open the album - it so deserved to be Track 1. Its tailor made for radio - listening to it now, it seems to marry the best of the R&B and Hip-Hop genre, and infuses it with a very pop sound overall. A universally acclaimed track, this is the perfect foil for "Gimme More".
"Why Should I be Sad" - Justin Timberlake could only wish he made such a Timbalandesque jam on his last album. This is the slowest track on the record, but with a very poignant vocal from Britney. Production is stellar, and it's a superb closer to an already superb album. I highly recommend listening to this on headphones to truly appreciate it. It speaks of her marriage, divorce, and relationship issues, but she doesn't position herself as a victim - just as an observer, and I found this very classy.
Standout tracks include "Radar", and of course the much-maligned "Hot As Ice". Many people call the last track the worst on the CD. Granted, its not that great, but if you take it with a sense of humor, you will actually start to like it. The background vocals and singers sound like they're channeling the Oompa Loompas from "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" - listen to it to see what I mean!
The only downside to this album, is that its too short. Some of the best tracks that Britney recorded from the era (And available on the net in various avatars) are missing from this. My absolute favorite from this Era is the unreleased track "Sugarfall", which easily is one of the best songs Spears has ever recorded. Two ballads remain missing - "Baby Boy" and "Let Go" (the latter shows off Spears' vocal training to full effect). Another winner, "Get Back" is possibly the song that should be immediately released as a single (what a chorus!) for for inexplicable reasons was left off the CD entirely. Heres the thing - there are at least 30 songs floating around that Britney made for "Blackout", but only 12 made it here. My guess is that some of these will surface at some point on some foreign editions of the CD. Please do look out for them - they are totally worth it.
So what would I compare this album to. Well, in terms of the groundbreaking genre and production, there are quite a few peers. If you liked this album, you would love "Neon Nights" by Dannii Minogue, "Come and Get it" by Rachel Stevens, "Ray of Light" by Madonna - but the truth is, there hasn't been an album quite like this before. It breaks new ground with every track, and there is literally something for everybody. Just when you think the songs getting repetitive, theres an electronica solo much like Imogen Heap that blows your mind, and traces of Eurythmics, Duran Duran, Modern Talking, A Ha, and even Debbie Gibson are found throughout this album. Is this a good thing? Yes it is! If anything, you cannot possibly be bored by this album.
Britney Spears making a classic album was considered an impossibility a few months or years ago. But with a great team behind her, she has finally achieved what she set out to. I'm no defender of her personal life, nor a huge Britney fan, but I do know likable and essential pop music when I listen to it. This review is for her new album, not her personal life. And that said, this is easily the best pop release of the year, and the finest of Spears' career. I would say - forget the person and concentrate on the music. Even if you remove Spears' persona completely from this record, its still a masterpiece of the pop-electronica genre, and you can't deny that.
Five Stars. Pop Album of the Year, and an instant classic.
Free Music Review: Britney Has Come A Long Way....
Hit: 5 Stars
If You are not into...Justin's, Nelly Furtado's, or Fergie's latest album's...I don't think this album is for you...still check it out =)
Blackout-
Britney has been out of the music scene for how long now....3 years!!!That's a really long time for someone who used to put out an album every year...Music has changed since she released Toxic...But for the past year the focus has been on everything from Britney's personal life to her driving skills...or "Britney did this...""She didn't wear that...""She hit that..."etc. Everything but her music...
But let's for one second put aside all the bad media and focus on her music...
Britney has never been known for her strong vocals so it's no surprise that this is a dance album...Every track here was made for the dancefloor. "Blackout" will do for Britney what "Confessions on a Dancefloor" did for Madonna...Redifine Britney's sound and range...and this album really succeeds in taking advantage of what her music is really about...Fun, Upbeat, & Sexy vocals with awesome beats...Isn't that all we hear on the radio these days anyway...All Britney really needs to do is focus on her performance...the album is her best yet...it's just all up to her...
(BTW...I have bought friends and family the album who were hesistant to buy it...Now we sing-along to every track...)
Let's dive right into the album's tracks one by one
1. Gimme More- 10/10
The lead single...Very Fun & Upbeat track and a total club smash...if you haven't heard this song yet shame on you (Britney's Biggest hit since "Baby one more time")
2. Piece of Me- 10/10
Awesome song!!! It took a few listens, but it grew on me...
(Produced by the same team that produced Toxic)
Easily one of my favorite Britney songs...
The lyrics describe Brtineys feelings toward all the media attention she has been receiving for the past year...And she doesn't care!!!
3.Radar- 10/10
I fell in love with this song...It's like your in a trance or something, Really laid back, the vocals work really well with the electric beat...
(Kinda reminds me of "Tainted Love" from Soft Cell...)
4. Break The Ice- 20/10
Total Awesomeness!!!!My favorite song off the album...
Very Sexy and Upbeat...I first listened to this song a month before Blackout hit stores and I was blown away...This song was made for radio (Should've been the lead single...)The lyrics, the Beat, Britney's voice...Everything just works together so perfectly...Definitely the "Sexxyback", "Promiscous", "the Sweet Escape" and "The Way I Are" of the album...If you still didn't recognise any of the songs I just mentioned stop reading...This album is not for you...LOL
5. Heaven on Earth- 10/10
I loooove this song....
It's so 80's...Has that Donna Summer feel to it...I loove Britney's vocals on this song...They are so sweet and sexy...This song juss screams dance with me, Kiss me, and touch me...Definitely Club Material!!!
6. Get Naked- 8/10
Good song...Good beat...Sexxy lyrics...
7. Freakshow- 6/10
An OK song...Not too much here
My least favorite song
8. Toy Soldier- 20/20
My second favorite song off the album...
It is the Toxic of the album...
Really fun, catchy, sexxy lyrics and great electronic beats is what makes this song just classic Britney...Definitely radio material...This song backed by a HOTT video equals #1...(I don't care what people say...Soldier by Destiny's Child has nothing on this song)
9. Hot as Ice- 8/10
Nice upbeat song, Easy to listen to, & very catchy...
10. Ooh Ohh Baby- 20/20
My third favorite song off Blackout...
I loove the intro to the song...This song is sooooo addicting...I can't beleive how little attention this song is receiving...I guess it is overshadowed by all the other awesome songs...I still can't beleive how much I loove this song...(My sister compared this song to "Oops I did it Again"...)I did't see the comparison but worth checking out if your a fan of ol'skool Britney...=)
11. Perfect Lover- 10/10
Very, very sexy song...
Britney does an awesome job here vocally...Very provocative and sexual lyrics...backed by Britney'sexxy vocals...Kinda makes you wanna kiss someone...
12. Why Should I Be Sad- 9/10
Very personal song about Britney's marriage to Federline...
It's the slowest song off the album
So it's nice they saved it for last...
(By this time I'm sure you must be exhausted from dancing)lol
That's "Blackout" for you...
Hope you enjoy it as much as I have...
If you give it a chance you will see it is full of great fun, & sexy songs...
Free Music Review: IT'S THE BEST ALBUM EVER
Hit: 5 Stars
Britney has reinvented herself with her new album "Blackout". The style and the tone of the album are totally different from her other albums, which makes Blackout - unique and interesting.
Unlike the previous album, "In The Zone" (very promiscuous in styles), Britney's new album is mainly focused on style of music - dance music. And how great it turned out. The music is so professional and atchy, it is obvious that Britney is a huge worlwide pop star, not a beginner.
1. Gimme More - very hot song, a huge hit that we all heard. Perfectly sets the tone for all the album. Vocal is hot. Everyone loves the song.
2. Piece Of Me - song, that proves that this album is a new style for Britney. totally different and definitely hot, a little bit inspired by Fergie style.
3. Radar - fun and hot, really catchy song. Could be a good single.
4. Break The Ice - one of my favourite tracks. I've heard it before the album came out and it became my favourite. It's perfect. Her gentle vocal is the best on album (starts from 0:35 of the song), I love that tone of her voice.
5. Heaven On Earth - very much like And Then We Kiss from "B In The Mix" - has a techno European style, brutal but hot.
6. Get Naked (I Got A Plan) - very much like Nelly Furtado or Justin Timberlake style, very much like Timbaland. It's freaking HOT. Much better than other artists' songs. Sexy.
7. Freakshow - very fun and hot song. Kind of like Brave New Girl from "In The Zone" but hip-pop centred.
8. Toy Soldier - very hot, her voice is different. The song is outgoing and fun, video would be perfect if she walks down the street and dances.
9. Hot As Ice - third and the last song that I have heard before the album. And again - one of my favourites (weird how that happenes, song I've heard before become my favourite). The weird thing is that her vocal is much worse than on the demo. They should have left her clear voice, but the whole album's disadvantage is that her voice is very computerized, no songs like Baby Boy, which is not really good for me. But still it's totally hot and electric.
10. Ooh Ooh Baby - what a hot song, what a HOTTTT beginning with this guitar. I love it.
11. Perfect Lover - a potential hit, very good and popular hip-hop style, very hot and sexy.
12. Why Should I Be Sad - good ending song, familiar bell in the background, very nice and relaxing song.
All the songs are hits, aren't they?
Potential singles except Gimme More : Piece Of Me (doesn't seem like the best song, but the style is very popular and the song is just electric). Break The Ice - I am 100% positive that this WILL be a single, because it's awesome, perfect formula for a hit, catchy music and the best vocal ever. Toy Soldier - would be a good single. Hot As Ice - I doubt it because her voice and the music is too computerized comparing to the demo but I wish it could be. Perfect Lover - very modern, very cool, great potential. Ooh Ooh Baby could be a hit too, other songs aren't worse and would most likely work.
So BLACKOUT is a state of art, it's totally electric and catchy, hot and sexy, joyful and fun.
For us, fans, it's sad that there is not much of Britney's personality like in her other albums, everything is kind of computerized and packaged. I mean it's totally a high quality album, but I don't see Britney in some songs. She did not even write anything in the booklet.
It is definitely one of her BEST ALBUMS and one of THE BEST ALBUMS OF THE DECADE for sure.
I love its urban, European, techno music style. Britney is on FIRE. She is hot and she is the best. Like we had any doubts, right? :)
It is a critically acclaimed album and that's what matters. Sales don't matter. Actually, very often critics and people like album but it doesn't sell that much and in other occasions critics hate it, but it sells and it's good. It's all diferent and it all depends on artist. I really hope that it sells but what matters to me is Britney and the fact that she HAS FANS and WE LOVE HER. WOO-HOO. 30th of OCTOBER isa HOLIDAY FOR ME.
The photoshoot for the album is one of her best. HOT, SEXY, REVEALING. I just love it. The Confessional shoot, the Dressing Room,The Phone Call picture, The Red Flower Room , The Roses On The Floor Room - everything is hot! I love that blue dress picture - it's the best. Confessions photos are so sexy, I can't stop looking.
Free Music Review: Britney Let's Go!
Hit: 5 Stars
This album is Britney Spears' best to date. It's cohesive, it's cool, and it should pull her back up to the top of the pop kingdom she ruled a few years ago - hopefully on her own terms this time. Despite the mess of the last few years, she somehow managed to pull it together for a few days to work with a few fabulous producers to produce a few minutes of fabulous music. Mixing sounds from various current artists ranging from Goldfrapp to Justin (yes) to the Pussycat Dolls, Britney's album easily stands out as the best pop/dance album to come out in quite some time.
Enough about that though - you're probably just wondering what songs are good! The answer would be, in my opinion, the first four. Although Gimme More wasn't received as warmly as most 'comeback' singles go (in part b/c of MTV) once you hear it within the context of the rest of the album it makes perfect sense - although Brit had her pick of other singles!
"Piece Of Me" is an attack back at the media that has in part made Britney who she is, and easily one of the best songs on the album - yet interestingly Britney's name doesn't appear on the writing credits. It's insanely catchy and easy to sing along to, and really distorts Britney's voice till it's simply one of the instruments in the song.
"Radar" is tied for best song with "Piece of Me" I think - Britney's voice sounds fantastic in the verses, it's another great catchy dance song, and probably the next single. "Break The Ice" possibly should have been her first single - as per she's breaking the ice with her fans again, and it makes for another fabulous dance tune but the heavy breathing in the chorus might remind people too much of "I'm A Slave 4U"
After that we have what I think may be some of the weaker tunes on the album - but by no means bad - including the 80's-tinged "Heaven on Earth", and two songs basically about getting down and dirty in the club (and perhaps out) "Get Naked" and "Freakshow".
"Toy Soldier" is a pretty different tune, and another potential single -although slightly less likely because Britney's voice is quite tweaked to sound extra whiny, meaning you can only give this one the occasional listen before you get sick of it. It definitely evokes a bit of Missy Elliot though!
"Hot As Ice" isn't nearly as good as its other 'ice' counterpart on the album, and sounds more like past Britney material."Ooo Baby" is one of the few tunes co-penned by Ms. Spears (I believe Get Naked, and one other one might be as well) and it's pretty good - not lyrically or anything, but it's really catchy with a mixture of spanish guitar and a sports-like beat line.
"Perfect Lover" is basically filler, nothing good or bad to say about it, followed by the jarringly slow, smooth, and mellow "Why Should I Be Sad" produced by The Neptunes - a nice but different end to an album that barely stops to take a breath overall.
Overall this is a great cd. There will be lots of comments about how it's all about the production, how Britney is ticking off her label by not promoting it, how it's simply a slickly-produced dance album, or how it's formulaic (sexy lyrics? shout-outs of Brit's name? hot dance beats? check x3)...but at the end of the day, it's Britney B*tch and I'm lovin it.
Free Music Review: Brilliant Blackout
Hit: 5 Stars
No joke. I gave this album - Britney Spears' Blackout - 5 out of 5 stars. No, I'm not drunk...nope, nor am I high or in any altered mental state right now. Unless, of course, you can count Blackoutmania as a form of drug, because if it is I, and any pop music fan that finds the fallen pop princess' latest record as intoxicating, have been mental since October. Simply put, Blackout is the best album (as a whole) that Spears has ever delivered. Though she's had singles (and, boy, has she had singles!), the CDs they came from always sounded a bit off-kilter, like a lot of the best songs were included at the beginning so, by the end, you were so overwhelmed by the amazing sounds of the first that you completely disregarded most of the ending. In the Zone, of course, ended up being the exception ("Shadow" and "Everytime" are startlingly beautiful, completely un-cheesy songs)...almost. It had some simmering moments and one scorcher, the infamous Grammy-winning "Toxic," but overall it lacked much material that could be listened to over and over and over and over and over and...well, you understand. 2007's brilliant Blackout breaks this tradition and is a completely enthralling piece of ear candy from start to finish. From the blazing radio hit "Gimme More" (ok, people, I know it's a bit repetitive, but the "gimme gimme more gimme more gimme gimme more"'s are meant to get stuck in your head--that's what great pop music choruses are about!) and Top 10 paparazzi and public haters basher "Piece of Me" to third single (and one of Brit's best songs EVER) "Break the Ice" and "Hot as Ice," this disc is pop perfection in terms of likability, playability and production. Sure, it's often hard to distinguish Britney as a singer over the course of some of the tracks that use her voice more like just another instrument to be tweaked with in the studio, but that's part of its magic. Like it or not, the girl has a unique sound that is, despite its mediocrity, has a quality that is instantly distinguishable; on every song she's had on any record over the past decade, Spears has been able to present herself as a capable singer in terms of how each song suits her voice perfectly. Blackout is, as mentioned earlier, about production, and what marvelous production it has! "Gimme More" starts out with the infamous "It's Britney..." (that alone proves its merit) and a somewhat bland beat, but as the lyrics and Spears' nasally soprano take over it's instantly catchy, and this is large part due to Danja's amazing studio skills; "Piece of Me" is just the same, delivered by the Grammy-winning team who brought the world "Toxic," showcasing that it really is about the song as a whole rather than separating it into the vocalist (Britney), the songwriters and the production team. So am I claiming that Blackout is perfect? No. "Let Go" (an unreleased song written and recorded for this project, though never making it on record) would have been a MUCH better closing number rather than the extremely bland "Why Should I Be Sad," and "Perfect Lover" can get a little tiring after subsequent listens (the bridge is awesome when it breaks into harmonies, though), but overall Britney Spears has delivered her best album to date, a piece of modern-day pop that shines through the current radio's Hip Hop mediocrity.