Blackout

Japanese pressing of the 2007 release from the outrageous Pop diva features four bonus tracks: 'Outta This World', 'Everybody', 'Get Back' and 'Gimme More' (Paul Oakenfold Remix). Britney has earned every global award possible, made every major TV appearance, appeared on every magazine cover and truly defines Pop stardom. After an absence of four years, she is back doing what she does best...making great Pop music. Oh, and she's pretty controversial, too! Features 16 new Britney boombastic bombshells including the first single 'Gimme More'. Jive.

She may be bald, and her parenting skills may be more backwoods than the celebrity-obsessed would prefer, but when it comes to her profession (singing pop songs, for those who have forgotten) you've got to give Brit a break. Not because her previous records have been flawless--for all its first-listen appeal, Oops! I Did It Again will drive even the most tolerant pop fiend bats after two repeats, and it's hard for long-term fans to overlook the unfortunate "I Love Rock N Roll" off 2001's Britney--but because, despite all the personal tumult, she's feeling the music like never before. Blackout is not a brilliant record for its vocals, though they're good in the cooing, sex-kittenish way we've come to expect (check first single "Gimme More," a monstrously catchy dance-pop number, for the requisite moans and sighs). But it is brilliant. And though the Neptunes, Bloodshy & Avant, and Nate "Danja" Hills do their trippy, thumpy, raved-up thing successfully enough to make you think so, the brilliance isn't in the production only. The crackling "Radar" gets under your skin not just because of its club-ready beat, a familiar element on this disc, but also from Britney's deliberate vocal haze; here she is interpreting how she ought to sound against the heat of this track, and pretty skillfully--she goes for pure vibe, and she gets it. And while the words to the seemingly autobiographical "Piece of Me" are enough to pull you in themselves--here we get to hear Britney refer to herself as "Miss Bad Media Karma"--they get a little something extra from our girl's newly awakened sense of what makes a song flow; she has the good sense to squeal. Is she a credible role model? Certainly not. Is her music worth hitting, as the old song goes, one more time? Absolutely. --Tammy La Gorce