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ALBUM REVIEW
Britney Spears - Blackout

The last couple of years have been about as kind to Britney Spears as allied forces have to Iraq. Divorces, car crashes (figurative and literal), ill-considered haircuts, binge weekends away in Malibu; all have taken their toll on the one-time pop princess.

Which makes it all the more important that ‘Blackout’, her first collection of new material in four years, should be at least halfway decent. 2007 Britney needs a relevant, smash hit-sounding, filler-free album with which to re-establish her flagging career.

Happily, that’s exactly what she’s got: ‘Blackout’ is not only Britney Spears’ best work, but also one of the best pop records to emerge in the last two years.

Its overseers (although the album bears the legend ‘EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: BRITNEY SPEARS’, it is doubtful how much time she actually had for such duties) can be proud of their smash-and-grab magpie act, having successfully lifted left, right and centre elements of the most successful mainstream music.

The Timbaland-tinged groove of comeback single ‘Gimme More’ is replicated on ‘Get Naked (I Got A Plan)’ (both tracks come courtesy of Mr. Mosley’s protégé Danja); ‘Piece Of Me’ sounds like Britney covering a lost Robyn track; while ‘Radar’ resembles Gwen Stefani and Outkast getting sample-happy with ‘Tainted Love’.

What is important amidst all this production pilfering is that you never once doubt you are listening to an album by Britney Spears. Her trademark vocals are everywhere, giving voice to funny, fly, self-referential lyrics and sounding truly confident in the music.

Music which, it has to be said, is bloody exciting. Pulse-quickening pop (‘Heaven On Earth’, ‘Ooh Ooh Baby’) sits alongside menacing dubstep (‘Freakshow’), and by the time you reach the raging machinegun snares of ‘Toy Soldier’ you’ll be in urgent need of a darkened room in which to lie down.

Suddenly, “the legendary Britney Spears” sounds less like cringeworthy hyperbole, and more like an astute prediction of things to come.

9/10