FEATURE:
Second Spin
Britney Spears - Britney
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FOLLOWING the success of…
IN THIS PHOTO: Britney Spears in 2001
2000’s Oops!... I Did It Again, there was a certain level of pressure on Britney Spears when it came to her third album. Released a year after Oops!... I Did It Again, Britney was out in the market. Although Spears was nineteen when Britney was released, she wanted to move in a more mature direction for her third album. If her first couple of albums were more Pop-focused, Britney fuses Electronica, Hip-Hop and Disco into the mix. There is a slightly harder edge to the music, and I think that was a natural transition for an artist who had been in the public eye for a few years and did not want to repeat herself. I love the blend of sounds, and I don’t think she sacrificed big tunes in the desire of evolution and a more serious direction. With some brilliant production throughout, Spears addressed adulthood and sexuality. I think she balanced the more fun and dispensable Pop sound with songs that had a serious and less accessible edge. Maybe critics were looking for something like her first two albums; maybe they were uncomfortable with her image. There was a lot of press attention given over to a more proactive look and sound from Spears. If a male artist were in Spears’ shoes, there would be no complaints. She was still a role model for women, but as she approached twenty, Spears was growing into womanhood; none of her songs promote a bad message, and I think a lot of the grumbling and judgement was the feeling Spears was setting a bad example.
That said, the album debuted at number-one on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 745,750 copies. Its success made Spears the first female artist to have her first three studio albums debut atop the chart, a record she would later break again with her fourth studio album, In the Zone (2003). I’m a Slave 4 U is a sweaty and thrilling number where Spears pushed up the sauce factor. With influences of Urban and Middle Eastern music, her development and experimentation were clear from the off. Overprotected talks of a girl being manipulated and not wanting to stand for it any longer – the song’s Europop flavours makes it an instant gem. A lot of what was being discussed on Britney would have resonated with girls and women alike. Tracks that investigate loneliness and impedance would have resonated with many of Spears’ fans and, whilst her videos were definitely catching the eye, there was never a sense of Spears leading young fans down a bad path or her flaunting flesh to get coverage. This was Spears’ most eclectic album to date, and one where she was able to push the envelope and win the heart. I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman dealt with the struggle teenage girls experience, and it is a mature and memorable offering. Songs like Boys and I’m a Slave 4 U are among Spears’ best songs.
Whilst there are some issues with the album – the second half is weaker than the first; I Love Rock 'n' Roll could have been reserved as a B-side -, there are great moments to keep you invested. Though Britney Spears has released finer albums - Oops!... I Did It Again and 2007’s Blackout -, I think she is someone who courted negative reviews, just because of who she was and not what she was producing. Britney is an album that has some great songs, and Spears sounds committed throughout. I agree that there are some filler tracks, but I think a lot of reviews reacted to the attention Spears was getting in the media; the fact here was a huge Popstar that we could tear down. This is what SLANT wrote back in 2001:
“The problem is, however, that Spears is also a consummate under-achiever. There’s a learning curve in pop superstardom and Britney’s development has seemed comparatively slow—if only because she’s released three albums in such a short period without much time for growth in between. The media generously and optimistically dubbed her the next Madonna but she’s nowhere near “Live to Tell” and she’s light years away from Like a Prayer. (It’s undoubtedly hard to gain street cred when you think DJ Skribble matters anywhere else but at the Jersey Shore.) Her interpretations of classics like “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and, now, “I Love Rock N’ Roll” lack irony and grit. Her work with electronic guru BT was guiltlessly scrapped because it didn’t “fit” Spears’s vision. (Lord knows we wouldn’t want to silence the screaming TRL contingent.)
Spears unveiled the album’s first single, “I’m a Slave 4 U,” at the 2001 VMAs. The song, her chirpy voice and performance initially recalled Paula Abdul’s last moderate hit, “My Love Is for Real.” Both songs have subtle Middle Eastern flavors and both require little of their vocalists. However, “Slave” (produced by the ubiquitous Neptunes), coupled with one of the hottest videos of the year (courtesy of director Francis Lawrence), elevates Ms. Spears just slightly above her paradoxical squeaky clean image. Likewise, the retro-funky “Boys” calls on Janet’s “Nasty” and Vanity’s “Nasty Girl” to help channel Spears’s chastity into unapologetic dancefloor aggression.
Other surprise deviations from the formula include the saccharine-doused disco of “Anticipating” and the midtempo “That’s Where You Take Me,” in which Spears gives a Janet-inspired performance amid Middle Eastern chimes and a collage of electronic beats and drum programming. Martin and Rami spice up their pop recipe on the savory “Overprotected” but the hip-pop of tracks like “Let Me Be” and “Bombastic Love” stick to the same old Britney blueprint. Britney fills her role of guilty pleasure (the disc certainly satiates more than the stunted growth of last year’s Oops!…I Did It Again), but it’s time for Spears to quit being such a cock-tease and cook something up that will satisfy the ever-vacillating hype-machine”.
I have been looking at reviews long after Britney came out, and opinion has changed slightly. Maybe there was too much expectation on her shoulders, and Spears was trying to please those who wanted Pop classics and others who wanted her to progress and change.
Britney is a hugely autobiographical album, and one that won her a lot of new fans. In their review from 2013, AllMusic were in a positive frame of mind:
“The title says it all -- that this third album is where it's all about Britney. Actually, the titles say it all: Britney is "Overprotected," she pleads "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman," tries to let us all see "What It's Like to Be Me." All three songs are pivotal moments on Britney Spears' third album, the record where she strives to deepen her persona (not the same thing as her character, of course), making it more adult while still recognizably Britney. That much was evident from the selection of the first single, "I'm a Slave 4 U," a sultry Neptunes-produced salute to Prince that is so far removed from the big, glitzy Max Martin productions that are her signature that at first it sounds awkward, even wrong. As it grows, it sounds like one of her best singles -- a skittering, spare funk number that is a perfect next move for her teasing, unformed sexiness. Such a departure seems to signal a full album of surprises like that, especially when teamed with the aforementioned title, but Britney isn't that bold -- after it opens with the Neptunes' retro-future funk, it delves right back into Martin territory with "Overprotected." At first, that's a disappointment, but then the small, yet significant, changes become apparent. Rhythmically and melodically, the whole album is sharper, tougher than what came before.
IN THIS PHOTO: Britney Spears performing at the V.M.A.s in 2001/PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Mazur/Wireimage/Getty Images
What used to be unabashedly frothy has some disco grit, underpinned by Spears' spunky self-determination that helps sell hooks that are already catchier, by and large, than those that populated her previous two albums. While there's no denying that this reinvention and statement of dogged individuality is no doubt a calculated move (and a brilliant, timely one at that), there's no denying that it's effective, in large part because Spears is committed to making this record work. She's co-written more songs than ever before, and these are strong selections, whether it's the hard-edged "Lonely," the sweet "That's Where You Take Me," or, especially, the neo-disco "Anticipating," one of the pure delights on this record. These are small steps forward -- really, the most overt steps forward are the collaborations with the Neptunes on "Slave" and "Boys," which are the sexiest sounding cuts she ever did -- but most of the Martin productions sound fuller (particularly the Dido-written ballad "I'm Not a Girl"), and Rodney Jerkins offers some welcome rhythmic invention on many of his contributions.
This isn't a perfect record -- Martin stumbles on "Bombastic Love," Jerkins drops the ball on "I Love Rock N Roll" (this year's entry of the now obligatory cringe-inducing classic rock by Ms. Spears) -- but it does sound like the work of a star who has now found and refined her voice, resulting in her best record yet (and rivaling Mandy Moore's eponymous album as the best teen-pop record yet released). It's enough of a reinvention to suggest that Britney will know what to do when the teen-pop phenomenon of 1999-2001 passes for good”.
Maybe Britney sounds a little dated now, but I think it inspired a lot of other Pop artists of the time, and Spears would follow Britney with 2003’s In the Zone – an album that was better received and contains the brilliant single, Toxic. I would encourage people to listen to Britney, as it has some great tracks, and it is interesting comparing the album with her first two and seeing how she grew. I think Britney deserves some reappraisal and, as it was released almost twenty years ago, we can see artists who have taken the album to heart and incorporated elements in their work. Despite some patchy moments, Britney is an album that warrants more respect and acclaim. I have been playing it a bit lately, and some of the songs I missed back in 2001 are revealing themselves to me now. I am glad I have featured Britney and given some new exposure to…
A pretty decent album.