Songs of the week: It’s a Britney overload
There is something to be said for lowering your expectations towards an upcoming release. Unless of course, that upcoming release is something Cheryl Cole has meddled with, in which case it doesn’t matter how low your expectations are as you will always be disappointed.
I have been hugely scathing about the new Britney album Femme Fatale up until this point, but all that is about to change. Having actually heard it, there are at least three good songs on it, two that I can sit through but wouldn’t put on out of choice, and the rest are the expected standard of mediocre. So now I can downgrade my attitude towards the project to ‘mildly scathing’.Get the ticker tape parade ready.
The artwork still sucks, and the fact that seven of the twelve tracks are on a par with being force-fed processed cheese slices doesn’t make it an always pleasant experience. I can’t work out what’s going on with Britney’s vocals on this album – I know it’s not exactly been autotune free up until now, but they’re so overproduced and mechanical at times on Femme Fatale that it’s uncomfortable to listen to.
But the positives. The three highlights are: Inside Out, ‘Til The World Ends and I Wanna Go. ‘Til The World Ends works so well as an album opener; it’s all about the last verse when the track explodes in your ears. It’s a shame this got rush-released after it leaked because it’ll be ignored by everyone bar a certain demographic online, but at least there’s a legal alternative to the illegal downloads.
Inside Out (above) is one of the better stabs at Britney doing dubstep. Of course it’s dubstep in the way that Fall Out Boy are rock, but that’s to be expected. It’s about break-up sex, and seems to feature a keytar at the end. THIS SHOULD BE THE NEXT SINGLE.
I Wanna Go is a bit more like the Britney days of old – I could imagine this track fitting in quite well on Blackout. I could definitely live without the whistling which has an air of DFS advert about it. And if that isn’t enough for you, it was produced by Max Martin who has ushered us through some of Britney’s finer moments as I am sure you are well aware.
