BREAKING NEWS: BRITNEY SURPRISE IS COMING!!!!!!! "I AM BRITNEY JEAN" PREVIEW!!!!!

 

Have a little surprise coming for you all in a bit…any guesses as to what it is?! #BritneySurprise
— Britney Spears (@britneyspears) diciembre 13, 2013

UPDATE:

"Britney Jean" debuts at #4 on Billboard 200!!!!

Coming in at No. 4 is theonly debut in the top 10: Britney Spears' "Britney Jean." The diva collects her ninth top 10 set with the arrival, as the album bows with 107,000. That's a bit smaller than the industry forecast, which pegged it to start around 115,000 to 120,000.

The new effort is the singer's eighth studio album, and follows the No. 1 debut of 2011's "Femme Fatale" (276,000). All of her studio efforts have reached the top four of the chart. (She additionally earned a top 10 set with a best-of album, "Greatest Hits: My Prerogative," which went to No. 4.)

"Britney Jean" logs Spears' lowest sales debut for a studio set. Previously, her 1999 debut album, ". . . Baby One More Time," tallied her smallest start: 121,000.

"Britney Jean's" lead single, "Work B**ch!," peaked at No. 14 on the Pop Songs airplay chart (known as Mainstream Top 40 on Billboard.biz) and spent eight weeks on the list. It's the diva's lowest-charting lead single from a studio set since 2001's "I'm a Slave 4 U" (from "Britney") went to No. 15. The eight-week run of "Work" on the chart is the shortest visit to the list for any of Spears' lead-off tracks from a studio album.

A week after "Work" fell off the tally, the second single from "Britney Jean," "Perfume," debuted. This week, in its fourth chart week, it climbs 27-22 (up 34% in spins). The music video for "Perfume" premiered Dec. 10.

Source: Billboard.com

SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE AMERICA DOESNT LOVES BRITNEY...WHERES THE AMERICAN BRITNEY ARMY??...

The Telegraph: Britney 'There are more expectations of me now'

In her only UK interview for her new album, Britney Spears talks motherhood, perfectionism, heartbreak – and why, with her Vegas residency starting, she’s feeling the pressure
“This is scary,” admits Britney Spears, looking mildly alarmed. In an hour, the pop superstar will climb on to a small stage, perch on a stool in front of the worldwide media and numerous record executives, and give “Britney Jean”, her eighth album, its first public airing.

She’ll be joined on stage by her producer, Will.i.am, but the audience will focus on just one person, as she introduces songs, including her new single, Perfume, from an album (now free to stream on iTunes) that promises to delve further than ever before into the life of this surprisingly shy icon. “I’m eager for people to hear what I’ve been working on,” she adds. But I’m so nervous at the same time, because it’s such a personal album for me.” It’s late November and we’re in a private room at a Los Angeles recording studio-cum-art-space. Beyond a door, guests are eating sushi and drinking cocktails while a sound system pumps out her greatest hits, but in our quiet space a healthy-looking Spears sits politely on the edge of a sofa, her hands in her lap.

Tonight’s event is not the only thing that’s on her mind. On 27 December, she’ll follow in the footsteps of Céline Dion and Elton John with a Las Vegas residency, due to run for two years at Planet Hollywood, for which she will earn a reported $300,000 (£184,000) a night. It was launched in September with a 4am event in the Mojave desert, involving 1,000 Britney lookalikes, the star herself arriving by helicopter. “Vegas is definitely a new challenge,” she says. “But I wanted to be able to put on a different type of show. You get to do so much more when you don’t have to put your stage in trucks after the show every night – we got to build a venue specifically for my show. It’s going to be more like a party than a typical concert.”
Spears, who turned 32 on 2 December, is in great shape, wearing a plain black vest, tight black leggings and black heels. “I need to rehearse more now than I did before,” she admits. “I feel I’m more of a perfectionist these days.”

This pressure isn’t all self-imposed. Back in 1999 when Spears first found international fame with …Baby One More Time, she could gauge reactions based on the roar of arena shows or sackloads of fan mail. But that was a long time ago, before she was a mother of two and the many ups and well-documented downs that have made her one of the most photographed and written-about celebrities of modern times, a subject of fascination across every demographic. In 2013 feedback comes from an internet’s-worth of fans and showbiz commentators who don’t hesitate to express their opinions on what Spears should – and shouldn’t – be doing.
“The increased scrutiny does make me a little harder on myself these days,” she says. “There are more expectations of me now, not just in terms of what I do, but also in terms of who I am.”
Part of the problem is that the ups of the past 15 years were extraordinarily high. Signature hits such as Toxic and I’m A Slave 4 U have helped her shift more than 100 million albums, she has scooped awards at the Grammys and MTV VMAs, her tours have grossed more than $380m (£233m) and she received her star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame when she was just 21. And she’s still hitting the spot: last year her will.i.am collaboration, Scream & Shout, went to number one in 24 countries. Almost 35 million people follow her on Twitter, and Forbes billed her as 2012’s highest-paid woman in music, ahead of Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Rihanna, with earnings of $58m (£35.6m).
She’s come a long way from her childhood town of Kentwood, Louisiana, a place whose other claim to fame is as the dairy capital of America’s South. “It’s a small town where everyone knows everyone,” she says. “You visit your friends and neighbours without ever telling them you’re showing up.”

At the age of three, Spears was attending dance lessons; by eight she was travelling to Atlanta, Georgia, with her mother Lynne, a former teacher, to audition for the Disney television series The Mickey Mouse Club. A spell in a performing arts school, several television advertisements and an understudy job on Broadway later she was finally cast as a Mouseketeer alongside Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling and her future boyfriend, Justin Timberlake. When The Mickey Mouse Club was cancelled she returned to Kentwood but she and her mother were not about to admit defeat.
An immaculately turned-out and friendly woman, Lynne is in Los Angeles with us today, just as she’s been with her daughter since those first auditions and the meetings with Jive Records that eventually propelled Britney to international fame. (Although Lynne and Britney’s father, Jamie, divorced in 2002, they were reconciled eight years later.)
“My mom is a wonderful woman,” says Spears. “She’s always been an inspiration to me, but having kids helped me make even more sense of my relationship with her. My sons [Sean] Preston and Jayden are eight and seven now – and not only do I find myself doing some of the things my mom used to do, I also understand why she did them.”
Compared with many children of celebrities, Spears’s boys, whose father is her ex-husband and former backing dancer Kevin Federline, have a relatively low profile, but earlier this year she took them to a film premiere. In footage of them outside, Jayden is having a great time posing for the cameras, but at one point, amid the bellowing and flashing of the media, his brother has had enough, and turns to his mother for comfort.
“That was Preston – he’s kind of shy,” she says. “I kind of keep them in their world – their kid world, away from the limelight. I feel that’s a different side of me. ’Cos, you know, it’s a lot to deal with. For a lot of people. Especially if you’re shy, like my boys, it can be overwhelming.”
After two decades of fame how has she learnt to deal with this? What’s the trick?
“Oh,” she says with a laughs, “it’s always overwhelming.”

At the beginning of 2013 Britney split from her fiancé, Jason Trawick, and the end of that three-year relationship, she tells me, is the reason “Britney Jean” is her most personal album to date.
“There are a lot of songs about heartbreak I can relate to because of the break-up I went through this year,” she explains. “When you go through heartbreak, you just do the things that get you by. Eventually you realise it’s about making the most of life. Even on the album when it talks about having a good time with friends and family, it’s because these are the things that make you happy and get you through heartbreak.”
She hopes the lyrics will inspire others. “There is definitely an element of that. I’ve always followed my heart and pursued my dreams, and I imagine that people find that inspiring. I hope that is the effect I have on my fans and people in general. I definitely want to project a positive energy out into the world.”
That said, Perfume, a song she co-wrote with hitmaker du jour Sia Furler, the woman behind hits including Rihanna’s Diamonds, is surprisingly bleak. “I hate myself,” she sings. “I feel crazy, such a classic tale.” Although right now she is dating 27-year-old David Lucado, who works at a Los Angeles law firm, the suggestion is that Spears feels doomed to endure a succession of disappointments in her search for true love.
“You put yourself through it again and again,” she agrees. “But each time love takes you over. It feels different every time for me. Every guy who I’ve been with, it’s been a different kind of love. And right now, I’m having a magical love.”

Although “Britney Jean” may be her most personal album to date, over the years her music has hinted at the reality of her life. As far back as 2000’s Lucky, a track on her second album, she sang about a starlet who cried in cars, “Thinking if there’s nothing missing in my life, why do these tears come at night?” In her 2002 single I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman, she sang, “All I need is time, a moment that is mine, while I’m in between.” Instead, she found herself under increasing scrutiny, followed everywhere she went by hordes of paparazzi. In 2007, she released the single Piece Of Me, in which she sang of paparazzi “hoping I’ll resort to some havoc, end up settlin’ in court”; of being “Miss Bad Media Karma, another day, another drama”. She was “Mrs Extra, Extra, This Just In; I’m Mrs She’s Too Big, Now She’s Too Thin”.

By 2008 Spears had moved on from daily dramas; neither too big nor too thin, she was getting herself back on top and in shape, with a routine of healthy eating and early nights. “I feel like an old fart,” she said at the time. I ask if 2008 was when she felt she had to grow up quickly. “Yeah, but I liked it. And believe it or not, I ended up liking going to bed early, in a weird way. At night, that’s when you mess up. So if you go to bed at 9.30, you’re good.”
In recent years, she’s kept herself busy. “Really busy, actually,” she says. “But it’s been nice. I got to be more of a stay-at-home mom – in fact, I had a whole year off when I was just doing the mom thing.” We talk about her “French country”-style house on the outskirts of Los Angeles, and about the early years of her career, such as when she and Timberlake turned up at the 2001 American Music Awards clad entirely in denim. “It was a pretty carefree time,” she says. “We were just, like, ‘We look great, let’s go!’ I have great memories of that time: there were a lot of rehearsals, but there was also a lot of clubbing and a lot of dancing. I still think the best night of my life was when I was 22 years old. It was New Year’s Eve, and in Hawaii.”

REPORT: Why is Las Vegas gambling $15 million on Britney Spears?
Her smile hints at a fun night, but also suggests that the details are not for public consumption. “It was a long time ago,” is all she will say. “But it was fun.” But, she adds, “I get bored really, really easily so I always have to feel like I’m doing something – I have to get back to work and start working.”
Is the recording studio her safe place now?
“Yes, yes. Definitely. And that feeling of safeness comes through in my music now more than it ever has before – that’s how I feel comfortable making personal music.”
From talent shows as a child to tabloid headlines as an adult, Spears has spent a long time being judged, so when Simon Cowell invited her to join the American X Factor judging panel in 2012 it was not a decision she took lightly.
“I did have trouble being overly critical at times but then I’d simply remind myself to be constructive and positive versus mean,” she adds. “Being able to mentor young singers was the main plus point. I think overall it was a positive experience.”
Not every career move is remembered so fondly. On the topic of Chaotic, the 2005 documentary that granted unprecedented access to her marriage to Federline, she says: “I would never do something like that again.” She purses her lips. It looks as if this is the first time she’s considered Chaotic in many years. “Actually, that was really bad,” she decides. “That was probably the worst thing I’ve done in my career.”
When I ask if that includes Crossroads – her not-exactly-Oscar-winning 2002 film – she looks suddenly outraged and clutches her hand to her heart. “No!” she shouts, springing to life. “I like Crossroads! F— you!”
And then, to my relief, she laughs.

Source: The Telegraph

(WATCH) 3 new parts of "BRITNEY BLOWOUT" on ET

USA Today: "'Britney Jean' eager to share, not shock"

On her new album, Britney Spears is more into the groove than provocation.
There was probably nothing that Britney Spears could have done to embarrass herself at this point.
The bar for silly behavior among pop stars has fallen so low — tugged by a desperate music industry and we prurient folk in the media — that people are no longer shocked when an artist who has proven reliable tabloid fodder tries to freshly provoke or titillate us. We just feign surprise, or dismay, so that we can all talk/write/tweet about it.
Perhaps the best thing that can be said for Spears' latest album, in fact, is that it doesn't seem obsessed with provocation. Britney Jean (*** out of four), streaming now on iTunes a week ahead of its Dec. 3 release, aims to present this modestly talented young woman who has somehow managed to sustain our interest for 15 years as a cool but accessible dance-pop diva — willing to dangle the occasional profanity to keep us alert, but ultimately more into the groove than anything else.
The album opens with the recently unveiled Alien, a shimmering reverie that is by far the best track, followed by two now-familiar singles: the frantically ingratiating Work Bitch and the more vulnerable Perfume, on which Spears, weary of a romantic rival, warns her man that she's going to "mark my territory."
Emotional and carnal needs remain in focus, whether Spears is advising a lover how to push her buttons on Tik Tik Boom (featuring T.I.), letting him take control on the exuberant Passenger or trying to say goodbye on the wistful Don't Cry. The production, by such club veterans as David Guetta, will.i.am and William Orbit, is by turns clattering and graceful.
As a musical reintroduction, certainly, Britney Jean offers as much grace as anyone could have expected.
Download:Alien, Passenger, Body Ache

Seattle Times: "Britney Spears’ android-esque pop"

Fourteen years ago, Britney Spears sashayed onto the worldwide pop stage as a teen idol, and now is improbably making excellent albums as an adult. She works around her thin voice with production tricks and odd pronunciations (she was always more of a dancer than a singer). She has pulled back from her well-documented drug troubles. She is holding herself together.
“Britney Jean” continues her trend of highly digitized, android-esque pop, though its songs are sadder, more personal, and less sexy than on the oblivion-seeking “Femme Fatale” (2011). The album’s highlight is “Alien,” galloping electronica that is restrained yet heavy, where Britney tattoos the chorus of “not alone / not alone / not alone” until it becomes a mantra, as if she’s trying to internalize it.
The rest of the songs go from hip-hop (“Tik Tik Boom”) to exercise anthems (“Work Bitch”). A song with sister Jamie Lynn (“Chillin’ With You”), in which Britney sings about red wine and Lynn sings about white, adds a personal feel. All in all, it’s a gleaming, bittersweet pop experience.

Source: The Seattle Times

MTV: 4 Britney Jean Tracks That Deserve A Second Listen... And More

Britney Spears promised Britney Jean would be personal, and she didn't disappoint.The 32-year-old pop star has gone through a lot of changes since 2011's Femme Fatale, and rather than keep fans guessing of her emotional state, Brit decided to use her eighth album to share her feelings about love, heartache, lust and fame.Brit co-wrote every track on the club-ready album, teaming up with will.i.am, David Guetta, William Orbit and even Katy Perry to deliver a mature album that some are comparing to her 2007 fan-favorite, Blackout.There's no doubt that the Britney Army has had "Work Bitch," "Perfume" on repeat on repeat, but we here at MTV News have rounded up four other Britney Jean tracks that deserve another listen."Alien"
Teaming up with famed producer William Orbit, Britney takes us on a universal ride as she kicks off Britney Jean in another atmosphere. The mid-tempo heavy thumping beat automatically draws listeners in, but it's the personal undertones of the lyrics that are most riveting as she drifts through outer space coming to the realization that she's not alone."But the stars in the sky look like home, take me home, take me home/ And the light in your eyes lets me know I'm not alone," Britney sings on the track.During a recent listening of the album, Spears revealed that "Alien" was her favorite track, saying, "We have moments when we feel alienated, shy or nervous. That's what the song is about.""Til It's Gone"
"Til It's Gone" may soon find its way among Britney's fan favorites. Although the lyrics get personal about not knowing what you have until it's gone, the stand-out track, which was co-written by David Guetta and produced by will.i.am, shows off why Britney has become a queen of club bangers. It's intense, dark and slowly builds momentum until Britney's vocals burst over the track."I try every night to turn the page/But they lie, can't confide me to a cage/ In my mind, the life we had replays/ Now everywhere I turn I see your face," Britney sings."Passenger"
Getting over a breakup is hard, but falling back in love with someone else can be just as tough, and someone that can relate to that is co-writer of "Passenger," Katy Perry. The pop star, along with Diplo, lent a hand to the mid-tempo, EDM-infused track as Britney shows maturity on the guitar, drum-driven track as she overcomes her inhibitions and gives someone else the keys to drive and proclaims, "This is living.""I'll let you the lead the way now, 'cause I want you to take the wheel/ I've never been a passenger/ Though, I never knew how good it would feel," she sings on the track."Chillin' With You" Featuring Jamie Lynn Spears
The long-awaited track is no doubt music to fans' ears, as the sisters finally team up for a duet and recall their love of laid-back country living. Britney kicks things off over an acoustic guitar as she sings about drinking red wine, which has her "walking on the sky." Little sister Jamie Lynn, who recently released her country ballad, "How Could I Want More," jumps in with an equally strong vocal.The two sisters then join forces to remind everyone why they "don't got to worry 'bout a thing."

Source: MTV

NewsDay: "Still the Princess of Pop"

Britney Spears is from Louisiana, but at age 32, her patois isn't Southern, exactly. Hot is "hawt," work is "wuhk," natural is "natch-RUL" and when she demands that you drop everything and call the governor, it's not some bland head of state but the gah-vah-NAH. Her high, sensuous voice has weathered into its own thing, a rock-star way of singing, talking and posing that is as distinctive in its own way as Mick Jagger or Donna Summer. Spears isn't the world's greatest vocalist -- she began as the Janet Jackson to Christina Aguilera's Mariah Carey -- but nobody in pop music can mesh more effectively with the futuristic dance-music clinks and clanks created by the best state-of-the-art producers.
"Work B**ch" came out over the summer as the album's first single, and it has a dominatrix-style urgency, from its brain-drill of a bass line to the whooshing choruses and counter-choruses to Britney's rhyming. As with her last few albums, particularly 2011's "Femme Fatale," buzzing effects permeate the album; Spears winds up essentially duetting with video games on "Passenger," produced by Diplo, who helped rapper M.I.A. rise to stardom with a similar mix of dense electronics and soaring melodies.
"Britney's essence has always been sort of cutting-edge," Dr. Luke, her "Femme Fatale" producer, once said. While Luke is diminished on "Britney Jean," she connects equally as well with Sia (who co-wrote "Perfume," about the singer odoriferously "marking her territory") and executive-producer will.i.am (who with dance star David Guetta enlivens "It Should Be Easy"). The 36-minute album, Britney's eighth, leaked online, prompting her label to stream it early via iTunes Radio, which seems appropriate. Robots rule.

BRITNEY SPEARS
"Britney Jean"
GRADE A-
BOTTOM LINE Britney's post-teen-pop renaissance continues on this sexy dance álbum.

Source: Newsday

 

JUST ONE THING Q-U-E-E-N   O-F    P-O-P 

Entertainment Weekly: "the real Brit's off dreaming her unknowable dreams"

Even now, just about to celebrate her 32nd birthday, Britney Spears remains as enigmatic as the Disney-groomed, emotionally insulated teen who greeted us in the late '90s. It's part of why we treasure her: The feeling that, even as she sings her most seductive or inventive songs, the real Brit's off dreaming her unknowable dreams. Britney Jean, which takes its title from her family nickname and has been billed as the most ''personal'' of her eight albums, tells you virtually bupkus about her struggles over the years. But in just 10 tidy songs, it brings us closer than ever before to that distant dreamer.
Of course, since it's a Britney Spears album executive-produced by will.i.am in 2013, it also happily indulges the fantasies of endorphin-seeking EDM festival goers. Brit promises she ''won't stop 'til you breathe heavy'' on ''Body Ache,'' a David Guetta track that nearly builds to a clobbering house beat, then cannily falls back. Thor's hammer comes down instead on the other Guetta collaboration, ''It Should Be Easy,'' in which Britney, will.i.am, and their AutoTune elves join hands to reflect vacuously on love. Dance music's lousy with anonymous female hook singers right now, but these two songs transcend DJ filler because Britney never soft-pedals her voice's uneasy layering of girly and libidinous. They're based more in tension than release.
Britney's tradition of messing with pop forms goes back at least 10 years, to the genre-splicing ''Toxic.'' As often as she might withhold tabloid fodder from her lyrics, she puts a lot of trust in her producers. That translates to the weird and wonderful intimacy of ''Alien,'' a gently pulsing track in which an actual extraterrestrial finally realizes she's ''not alone,'' and repeats the phrase until it is pitchshifted up like a departing space ship.
It also gives rise to less subtle pleasures, like the first single, ''Work Bitch,'' a fabulous if campy dance track, and the bass bomb ''Tik Tik Boom,'' in which Brit tells a lewd T.I., ''you got a sex siren in your face.'' Alienation lurks in those songs, too — which naturally gives Brit's duet with her younger sister Jamie Lynn, the morphing ballad ''Chillin' With You,'' a special poignancy. All we really learn is that Britney prefers red wine, and Jamie Lynn, white. But we share their warm, tipsy feeling all the same. B+
Best Tracks:
''Perfume'' - A stalker fantasy that soars
''Chillin'' With You" - A touching sibling duet
Source: Entertainment Weekly

The Daily Beast: Britney Spears Is the Last of the Pop Goddesses

 

Britney Spears teased that ‘Britney Jean’ is her most personal album yet. It’s not. At all. And she may be the only person left who can get away with that.

Who is Britney Spears?
It’s been 20 years since the pop supernova first came into our lives as a spunky Mousketeer. It’s been 15 since the pigtailed teen danced through the halls of a high school in a Catholic school uniform. And we still don’t know.
Spears’s latest album, Britney Jean, comes at a peculiar point in her career, when a feverishly anticipated Vegas residency and general “aw-we-love-her” goodwill cements the fact that we have deified her as one of the elite pop goddesses. But as we bow down to worship at the altar of BritBrit, we also recognize that Spears may be the last of those divine divas. We’re in an age now when we want to know our pop stars. We want to relate to their humanity rather than gape at their untouchable infallibility.
Britney Jean wisely winks to that desire, but in the end fails to deliver any meaningful insight into who this Britney Jean person is. But it does give us what we still want from Britney Spears, the Last of Our Pop Goddesses: nonsensical, addicting…and only vaguely revealing pop scripture.
Spears has built a career as the ultimate tease. She’s bared all, sure. At the same time, she’s bared nothing at all.
An emotionally insulated teenager, “Britney Spears” was long just a mouthpiece robotically reciting Jive Record’s idea of “pop star” to the press. She quickly took up permanent residence on tabloid covers—a personal life with all the turbulence of a JetBlue flight through a tornado helped with that—without having to even say anything. I mean she said things, sure. But even when, say, holding a press conference to announce that she intends to remain a virgin until marriage, Spears’s revelations had all the intimacy and emotional honesty as…revelations made during a rehearsed and staged press conference.

By the time Britney Jean ends, the most intimate revelation is that Jean is Britney’s middle name. Because it says so in the title.

Now, Spears is 32 and still releasing music. The landscape has changed from when pop stars were treasured monuments safely separated from gawking public by gatekeepers and security tape, should anyone accidentally tarnish the singing artifacts by catching a glimpse of—and then telling the world about—their imperfections. Baring souls and exposing warts is no longer a cathartic exercise reserved solely for singer songwriters and soul chanteuses. The industry’s most commercial stars now market themselves in 140-character confessions, public displays of vulnerability, and tracks that are as emotionally naked as the women who perform them.
It’s no surprise that, cannily securing relevance decades after the pop movement she helped usher in was dismissed as disposable, Spears is responding to the industry shift by releasing what she calls her “most personal album ever :).” The result, though, is peek-a-boo music, 10 songs that gingerly peel back the curtain justthismuch to give the smallest insight into who Britney Spears is. But, really, by the time Britney Jean ends, the most intimate revelation is that Jean is Britney’s middle name. Because it says so in the title.
It shouldn’t be surprising that an album that counts a song titled “Work Bitch” as its leadoff single isn’t exactly a penetrating musical therapy session. It also doesn’t matter. “Work Bitch” is great! And so is the rest of Britney Jean, a top-to-bottom effortlessly listenable record with no Gaga-esque pretension to reinvent the concept of pop music, Cyrus-esque (foam) middle finger to the idea of pop music, or Perry-esque cartoonification of pop music.
It’s just straightforward pop music, and that’s just fine.
“Work Bitch” was, however, a bit of false advertising for the album that would follow. With its whirring bees nest production, jackhammer driving beat, campy lyrics, and Spears’s gloriously idiotic British accent, the song hinted at something more exciting than what Britney Jean ends up offering: a pop star who gets it, the idea that pop music can, and maybe should, be silly. It’s the way Miley Cyrus—stop clutching your pearls—gets it. It’s the way Lady Gaga practically parades around with a neon sign that flashes, “Hi everyone, I get it! See!!!???”

Weird, sexy, and aggressive as it is, “Work Bitch” is just a quirky one-off treat on Britney Jean. The album’s second single “Perfume,” a moody stalker fantasy, and the appealing folktronica opener “Alien” are far better representations of the tone of Britney Jean.  Still, the former, about a love triangle so torturous Spears feels paranoid enough to mark her man with her own scent (presumably one of her own signature fragrances), and the latter, about how she “always felt like a stranger in a crowd,” are more personal in concept more than they are insights into Spears’s psyche.
They do, however, feature Spears—wait for it—singing! Like for real for real singing, not speak-singing into an Auto-Tune machine that distorts her voice into an alarming, digital frog-sounding disaster. You can actually hear her voice and, with it, some actual emotion, particularly on the wistful closing track, “Don’t Cry.”
Britney Jean has more playful, and even skillful, vocal tricks and ticks than any of Spears’s post-meltdown albums, a welcome reminder of what Spears made her name on in the first place: a unique voice. (She really has one!) Thee was the Lolita sultriness in the vocal fry of the “oh bab-ay bab-ay” on “…Baby One More Time;” the growling sweetness of “Sometimes;” and the lilting carnality of her voice on “Oops!…I Did it Again” and “Slave 4 U.” The thinness of her voice on “Everytime” is what gives it its aching emotional resonance.
Spears was never a strong vocalist. But she was always an interesting one.
In fact, Britney Jean is least enjoyable when Spears, on occasion, reverts to the Auto-Tune crutch. The distorted vocals on “It Should Be Easy,” which features Will.i.am, sound about as dated as, well, a song that features Will.i.am. The dance-floor banger is a nondescript cacophony of beats dropping and crescendos and otherwise noisy production that distract from lyrics about why love has to be so complicated.
But “It’s Should Be Easy” does set off a run of three more club tracks that, though they have a tendency to meld together on a casual listen into one mutant megatrack, are all markedly stronger. “Tik Tik Boom” has Spears cooing provocatively—her sweet spot—about getting busy (“Not too slow and not too quick/ Baby make me tik tik”), though the production could use a more aggressive thrust. (Heh.) “Body Ache” continues the sex sprint, this time with a more energetic, stuttering beat and titillating guttural delivery from Spears.
“Til It’s Gone” is sweatier than the album’s other dance tracks, a power surge of raunch that explodes into an EDM-inspired dance-party finale. You’d half expect sparks to rain from the sky by the end of the endorphin-building bridge.
“Til It’s Gone” leads into “Passenger,” segueing into the wind-down portion of the album. Co-written by Katy Perry and Sia, it’s the most vulnerable of Britney Jean’s tracks: “It’s hard to jump with no net, but I’ve jumped and got no regrets.” It’s also the best of the album’s midtempo songs. The less said about “Chillin With You,” a duet with her sister that’s supposedly meant to drive home the “this is personal” message, the better. Britney discusses her preference for red wine. Jamie Lynn is more of a white wine girl. It’s more #confessional than “confessional.”
Let’s make that three things, then, that we now know about Britney Spears. Her middle name is Jean. She likes red wine. And she’s still capable of churning out a great, if not revolutionary, pop record. At 32 and after 20 years in the business, maybe that’s all we need to know about Britney Spears, our Last Goddess. Amen.

Source: The Daily Beast

"Britney Jean" review on Rolling Stones magazine

 

Billboard: 'Britney Jean' Headed for Top Debut on Billboard 200

Britney Spears' new album "Britney Jean" is on course to score the highest debut on next week's Billboard 200 chart.
Industry forecasters suggest the album, released on Dec. 3, might sell around 115,000 to 120,000 copies by the end of the tracking week on Sunday, Dec. 8.
That will like make the album debut around Nos. 2-4 on next week's chart. The new Billboard 200's top 10 will be revealed on Wednesday, Dec. 11.
The likely new No. 1 will be Garth Brooks' box set, "Blame It All On My Roots," which could sell upwards of 150,000. The six-CD/two-DVD set, which is exclusively sold through Walmart stores, debuted at No. 3 on this week's chart after less than four days on sale. It bowed with 164,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The package was released on Thursday, Nov. 28 (Thanksgiving day), and the most recent tracking week ended on Sunday, Dec. 1.
"Britney Jean" will also have to contend with the continuing success of One Direction's current No. 1, "Midnight Memories," and the Robertsons' "Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas" album.
If "Midnight Memories" declines by a typical 75% (or so) in its second week, it could sell around 135,000. The Robertson family -- of the hit TV show "Duck Dynasty" -- sold 136,000 of its album this week. As many Christmas albums are building in weekly sales now, the set could see a gain next week. Eminem's "The Marshall Mathers LP 2" is also in the mix. This week, it's No. 2 with 199,000.
Spears' last studio album, 2011's "Femme Fatale," debuted at No. 1 with 276,000. Before that, 2008's "Circus" opened at No. 1 with 505,000.
"Britney Jean" is Spears' eighth studio album. All seven of her previous studio sets have reached the top two rungs, with only 2007's "Blackout" missing the top.

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What is Britney hiding on "Britney Jean"?

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Britney Spears Says Her Public Breakup Left Her 'No Choice' On Britney Jean.
'It's not a secret, so why not write about it?' Britney tells MTV News about addressing her relationship head-on.
From the beginning, Britney Spears had said she had poured her heart and soul into her eighth album, Britney Jean, giving fans an unprecedented look at her personal life.
So why, after 15 years, did Britney decide now was the time to reveal all?
"Actually I really kinda had no choice," Britney admitted to MTV News at Las Vegas' Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, the home to her upcoming "Piece of Me" residency. "Because at the time I was going through a breakup that was kind of public, and everyone knew about it. And I felt like, it's not a secret, so why not write about it and say how I'm feeling about it and what it feels like?"
And writing about the end of her engagement to Jason Trawick is exactly what she did, resulting in an intimate 10-track experience for her fans, but helped the pop star deal with her own emotions.
"I feel like when you write you do depict from what you're going through in your life, and that's what I was going through at the time, so it just made sense for me, therapeutically, to write it out and get it out," Britney said. "You kinda of do put yourself in an exposed situation and you're putting yourself out there a little bit, but I feel like it's better to do that than keep it in."
Britney said she's just as excited to release her eighth studio album as her first since fans will see a different side of her not only lyrically, but sonically.
"I feel like I have more to say now, I'm older and I'm open to experiment with the album and work with different people and collaborate," she said. "And I just think the creative process is more indulgent, it's more fun."

Source: MTV

Is Britney Spears' 'Britney Jean' Really Her Most Personal Album? An Investigation

 

A deep dive into the pop superstar's eight studio albums shows where her newest ranks on a "personal" level.

When Britney Spears began setting up her eighth studio album, "Britney Jean," earlier this year, the word "personal" kept popping up. "I can't believe this is my eighth studio album and I know I keep telling you that it is my most personal record yet, but its true and I'm really proud of that," the pop star wrote about "Britney Jean" in a letter to fans in October. A week later, the album's second single, "Perfume," was unveiled, and unlike "Til The World Ends," the scorching second single of previous album "Femme Fatale," the mid-tempo cut looked inward, and saw the unflappable artist "try[ing] to act natural" and waiting for calls, like any mere mortal. Was "Britney Jean" going to be a daring look at an artist who had recently turned 30 but had already survived so much?
But just as that word, "personal," made fans salivate, the promise of an album-long autobiography has bewildered many who have heard "Britney Jean." "The hype about her most 'personal' album yet begins with the album title, 'Britney Jean' (RCA), which promotes a sense of intimacy that the songs never quite deliver," wrote Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune, while The Atlantic's Nolan Feeney writes that "the glimpses into Britney Jean Spears, the artist, are, frankly, neither interesting nor informative." These reactions convey a disappointment over false promises -- but to judge whether or not "Britney Jean" really is Spears' most "personal" album to date, one must dive back into her discography and see where her eighth album lacks on a relative scale. And that's exactly what we did.

Britney Spears' 'Britney Jean': Track-By-Track Review

Check out Billboard.com's exploration of the most "personal" points of Britney Spears' enviable catalog, from her "…Baby One More Time" teenybopper days through her "Work Bitch" womanhood. Instead of being ranked on overall quality, each album is broken down by Spears' personal "career arc point" at the time of their release; the number of co-writing credits Spears had on the album; the overarching "personal" theme occupying each LP; the most revealing song on the track list; and the overall "Personal-ney" ranking of the album, with 1 being completely colorless and 10 being the best account of Brit's point in time at that release period. Does "Britney Jean" live up to the "most personal record yet" description? Read on to find out.  
 
…BABY ONE MORE TIME (1999)

Career Arc Point: Fresh-faced pop prospect. "Hello! My name is Britney Spears. I'm 17 years old, I'm from Louisiana, I was on 'The Mickey Mouse Club,' and I'd like to revolutionize mainstream music now," Spears seemed to be saying with a twinkle in her eye. Led by a gaggle of Sweden's finest pop producers and its now-iconic title track, "…Baby One More Time" introduced Spears as the female face of teen pop music, cozily pegged as the counterpart to exploding boy bands like Backstreet Boys and *N SYNC.
Britney Co-Writing Credits: One
Interesting "Personal" Theme: Puppy love. Nearly every song is about meet-cutes, break-ups and/or make-ups -- totally understandable for a teenager, of course. Sometimes she runs, sometimes she hides, sometimes the guy of her dreams drives her crazy, other times she has to dig deep into the bottom of her broken heart.
Most Revealing Song: "Email My Heart," in which Britney puts Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks to shame by condensing "You've Got Mail" into a four-minute ballad. It's not exactly "revealing," per se, but gaining some insight into Spears' Internet habits is certainly worth SOMETHING, right?
Personal-ney Level (1-10): 2. Although "…Baby One More Time" and its ilk endure as radio staples, even Spears would cop to her debut album lacking some space for her to convey her inner thoughts and desires. Those moments would come later, and she was undoubtedly aware of that.
 
OOPS!… I DID IT AGAIN (2000)

Career Arc Point: Zeitgeist-capturing superstar. Less than 18 months after the release of "…Baby One More Time," Spears had returned with another mammoth title track, and guided her sophomore album to a record-breaking debut sales week of 1.32 million copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Oops, America -- you have a new sweetheart. 
Britney Co-Writing Credits: One
Interesting "Personal" Theme: Nagging dissatisfaction -- and, yes, that stands even without the dubious cover of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" included. On "Don't Let Me Be The Last To Know," Spears is worried that her man's romantic innuendoes will not coincide with those three magic words; later, on "Can't Make You Love Me," the 18-year-old superstar is bothered by a crush's changed perception due to her newfound fame ("I'm still the girl you used to know… Oh baby, I will trade the fancy cars," she pleads). There is bliss on this album -- "When Your Eyes Say It" is basically Britney in her happy place -- but more conflict than one might expect.
Most Revealing Song: "Lucky." Speaking of dissatisfaction, why does she cry, cry, cry in her lonely heart? We never get the answer.
Personal-ney Level: 4. While Spears hints at her budding sexuality and burgeoning attitude, this is still a family-friendly affair with mere glimpses of the pop star's personality. On "Oops!," Spears claims that she's "not that innocent," but fans wouldn't really understand what she meant until the following album; in that interim, she notched not one but two provocative MTV Video Music Awards performances under her (non-existent) belt.
 
BRITNEY (2001)

Career Arc Point: Impossibly famous not-girl/not-yet-woman. Her bubblegum pop reign showing no signs of letting up, Spears became interested in moving beyond the genre, while also collaborating with superstar boyfriend Justin Timberlake, performing with pythons and dabbling in the film world (the 2002 release of "Crossroads" coincided with the single promotion of "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman").
Britney Co-Writing Credits: Four
Interesting "Personal" Theme: The awkward transition from child to adult -- "Feels like I'm caught in the middle," she laments on "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman." Aside from the lyrics, the music "Britney" reflects that struggle marvelously -- for every Neptunes-assisted pang of maturation like "I'm A Slave 4 U," there's a starry-eyed (and, arguably, naive) love song like "Bombastic Love," or a pop-rock breakup ballad like "Lonely." Despite the sexed-up image that Spears presented before "Britney's" release, the singer was still only 19 at the time of its release, and there are moments where it's clear that she's still getting comfortable in her new persona. Witness the giggle that she emits after realizing, "I should shake my thing," on "Boys." 
Most Revealing Song: "Let Me Be," a song about trusting a young adult to make her own decisions. "Think that you know me now, but you don't," Spears sings -- which is true, because at this point, she doesn't know herself yet.
Personal-ney Level: 8. From "Overprotected" to the JT collab "What It's Like To Be Me" to even "I'm A Slave 4 U," "Britney" demonstrated that, in her words, "I know I may be young, but I've got feelings, too." Spears' third effort is a clear document of what she was feeling as she sat atop the world.

IN THE ZONE (2003)

Career Arc Point: Single, fully a woman, and ready to experiment. At 21 years old, Spears' pop legacy was already secure, and she effectively moved on from her high-profile breakup with Timberlake by… kissing Madonna at the 2003 Video Music Awards. Cut to: Timberlake's concerned reaction in the crowd!
Britney Co-Writing Credits: Eight
Interesting "Personal" Theme: Trying new things. For instance: there is definitely a reggae song on "In The Zone" ("The Hook Up"). The line "I don't really wanna be a tease/But would you undo my zipper, please?" exists on "Showdown." The Madonna duet "Me Against The Music" is immediately followed by the Ying Yang Twins collab "I Got That (Boom Boom)" -- which is followed three songs later by a song co-produced by Moby, and then R. Kelly pop ups two songs after that. We see a pattern here. "In The Zone" is a loose album that finds Spears swiping at various musical artifacts, and, for the first time, co-writing a majority of the material.
Most Revealing Song: "Shadow" starts the JT kiss-off parade, but the gentle piano showcase "Everytime" is the stunner. "Every time I see you in my dreams/I see your face, it's haunting me," Spears sings, before powering through the line, "I guess I need you, baby." Whereas Timberlake scorned Spears on "Cry Me A River," the pop diva embraced her weaknesses while working in an alien musical style.
Personal-ney Level: 7. "In The Zone" is all over the place stylistically, but the brushstrokes create a surprisingly balanced portrait of Spears when digested as a whole. The listener hears Spears deliver late-night exploits ("Early Mornin'"), a self-pleasure anthem ("Touch of My Hand") and even a clear-cut message of misbehaving on "Brave New Girl." Aldous Huxley would have approved of that title, and of this glimpse into Spears' ever-expanding world.
 
BLACKOUT (2007)

Career Arc Point: Mid-meltdown. The nearly four-year gap between "In The Zone" and "Blackout" is still the longest drought between albums for Spears, and in that period, the singer married Kevin Federline, gave birth to two sons, was heavily criticized for various parental choices, divorced Federline, shaved her head, and made multiple trips to treatment facilities. Spears performed "Blackout's" lead single, "Gimme More," at the 2007 VMAs, and the spectacle was perceived as a fiasco.
Britney Co-Writing Credits: Two
Interesting "Personal" Theme: Inviting the world inside her imploding private life. "Freakshow" spitefully tosses the voyeurs a "peep show" of Britney's world, while "Gimme More" acknowledges that "cameras are flashing" as she's writhing around. There's a ton of sex amidst the biting comments, but the uninhibited edginess on display almost feels like a direct result from Spears' crumbling public persona. She could not have sung a line like "I'm a freak and I don't really give a damn" (from the aptly titled "Get Naked (I Got A Plan)") on her first four albums, but on "Blackout," Spears has nothing to lose.
Most Revealing Song: "Piece Of Me"; the first minute alone might be the most revealing moment of Spears' entire career. "I'm Miss Bad Media Karma/Another day, another drama/Guess I can't see the harm/In working and being a mama/And with a kid on my arm/I'm still an exceptional earner/...And you want a piece of me," she seethes at the gawkers.
Personal-ney Level: 9. This is uncut, raw Britney Spears, and that honesty is one of the reasons why "Blackout" remains a fan favorite, in spite of the unhappy time of its birth. And to think: Danja, the album's key collaborator, once described "Blackout" as impersonal!
 
CIRCUS (2008)

Career Arc Point: Full-blown comeback mode. Quickly following her last album with more bleary-eyed dance cuts pegged "Circus" as something of a sequel to "Blackout," but Spears' sixth LP was a clear-cut attempt to shift focus away from the still-sordid stories of restraining orders and custody battles, and to revive the Britney brand.
Britney Co-Writing Credits: Four
Interesting "Personal" Theme: The shackles of entertainment. Before Lady Gaga's "The Fame," there was Spears' "Circus" meditations -- inviting all eyes upon her on the title track, and sneering, "You don't like me, I don't like you, it don't matter/Only difference, you still listen, I don't have to," on "Kill The Lights." The defensiveness from "Blackout" is still present, but this time, Spears is accepting her position and trying to mold it into a benefit.
Most Revealing Song: Maybe "My Baby," Britney's ode to her children, but "Blur" is a more candid confessional: as Danja's springy production staggers onward, Spears blinks in confusion and tries to remember what she "did last night." The song can be taken literally as an account of a one-night stand, but can also be interpreted as Spears' cloudy memory of a horrendous personal stretch.
Personal-ney Level: 5. "Circus" has its share of autobiography, but it's not quite as cohesive of a statement from Spears as its predecessor. Songs like "Shattered Glass," "Womanizer" and "If You Seek Amy" are all highlights of Spears' career revival but don't exactly shed light on the person performing them.
 
FEMME FATALE (2011)

Career Arc Point: The survivor. Far enough removed from her personal struggles that they required no lyrical acknowledgement, the keys to "Femme Fatale" were bestowed to Martin and Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald, who fueled the album up with dance-pop smashes and stomped on the gas pedal.
Britney Co-Writing Credits: Zero
Interesting "Personal" Theme: Dancing! Until the world ends, to be specific! There are some narrative motions on "Femme Fatale," and enough "bad boy" stories ("Inside Out," "Trouble For Me," "Criminal") to make Taylor Swift jealous, but for the most part, Spears just wants to find a male partner with whom she can share the dance floor. 
Most Revealing Song: Ace third single "I Wanna Go," with its deadpan verses exquisitely depicting Spears' naughtiness. "Lately, people got me all tied up/There's a countdown waiting for me to erupt/Time to blow… out…," she sings, on one of the album's more provocative lines.
Personal-ney Level: 3. It's a step above the cutesy "…Baby One More Time" era in terms of personal revelation, but only slightly. There's a reason that "Femme Fatale" features no writing credits for Spears -- she left the album in the hands of a team of songwriting maestros, and commanded them to come up with some burners. They did, and "Femme Fatale" soars, but certainly not as a tell-all.
 
BRITNEY JEAN (2013)

Career Arc Point: An icon taking time to reflect. "Britney Jean" serves as a full-length bridge between Brit's balancing act on a multitude of platforms (the "Femme Fatale" tour, "X Factor" judging stint and hit Will.i.am collaboration "Scream & Shout") and her debut on the next one (her Las Vegas residency).
Britney Co-Writing Credits: All 10 songs! And all four of the deluxe edition songs!
Interesting "Personal" Theme: Insecurity. "Perfume," which was co-written by Sia, is the obvious siren of uncertainty (and a handy fragrance tie-in), but tracks like "Til It's Gone" ("Cause you came/And you gave me a place/Place to lay all my pain/Why'd you take it away?" she asks) and "Passenger" ("Don't know the way ahead of me/One day at a time is all I need," she admits) also find Spears confessing that she still doesn't have all the answers.
Most Revealing Song: "Alien," an interstellar tale of loneliness locked inside a pop pulsar co-created by William Orbit. This type of honesty -- being unsure of where to belong, feeling like a "stranger in a crowd" -- can be read as commentary on the dissolution of Spears' relationship with fiancee Jason Trawick, and sounds refreshing as "Britney Jean's" album opener.
Personal-ney Level: 6. Songs like "Alien" and "Perfume" serve as something of red herrings on a surprisingly short affair -- in between the momentary admissions are booming sex jams ("Body Ache"), standard breakup ballads ("Don't Cry") and a sister-sister duet, the Jamie Lynn-assisted "Chillin' With You," that sounds oddly abstract. Compared to something like "Blackout" or "Britney," Spears' latest does not fully shed light on its author's current mindset. But "Britney Jean" also possesses its merits and personal pauses -- some that take a few listens to catch. It's Britney (bitch), and she's going to make you work (bitch) for a piece of her in 2013.

SOURCE: Billboard

(December 3) "Britney Welcome To Vegas Party" in Las Vegas

In Vegas! Celebrating #BritneyJean & #PieceOfMe with my new Vegas family. :)
— Britney Spears (@britneyspears) diciembre 4, 2013