The latest album from the ever-resilient Britney Spears, Femme Fatale, was released on Tuesday, March 29, 2011. With the singles “Hold It Against Me” and “Till the World Ends” already available and well-received by the general public, it is likely that Femme Fatale will provide listeners with an out-of-this-world musical eargasm.
Experimenting with dubstep in “Hold It Against Me,” Euro-pop in “Trip to Your Heart” and bass-heavy beats like “Big Fat Bass,” this album transcends new boundaries for Spears as an artist and for pop music as a whole. After an excruciatingly long touring period in 2009, Spears deserved a hard-earned break, but instead chose to return to the spotlight in preparation for her seventh studio album. Working with various producers and hit makers like Max Martin, Dr. Luke and Billboard, Spears has outdone her previous efforts ten-fold.
Femme Fatale is the kind of music you’d want to listen to while getting ready for the night, blasting during an intense cardio sesh at the gym and definitely while dancing out on the floor at a club. Though her last album Circus was not regarded as a flop by having substantial sales, hardcore fans were disappointed with a majority of lackluster songs and subsequent lack of publicity; but it is safe to say that Femme Fatale is nothing short of perfect.
The new album is reminiscent of her past knockouts, In the Zone and Blackout; dance albums with fun, fresh and seductive songs. It would be a stretch to consider Femme Fatale a concept album, but there is an over-arching theme of the empowered and confident Spears-spotting-guy-she-likes and the ensuing process of how to attain him.
While it was hyped that Spears would be working with will.i.am, the track he produced and collaborated on, “Big Fat Bass,” is the only song that doesn’t seem to fit with the sound of the album. Something unusual that Spears incorporates into this CD is the addition of a featured LA rapper, Sabi, on “(Drop Dead) Beautiful.” Opening the album is the dance anthem, ‘Till the World Ends’ with its catchy battle cry of “whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh” which encourages listeners to “keep on dancin’ till the world ends.” The combination of the infectious whistling, beat and lyrics like, “I wanna show all the dirt I got runnin’ through my mind” makes “I Wanna Go” a definite highlight of Femme Fatale.
In the ninth track, “Trouble For Me,” Spears displays a vocal prowess that has been overlooked for quite some time due to the typically overt manipulation of her voice. Every femme fatale needs her own “Criminal,” the last track of the album, in which Spears states, “Mama I’m in love with a criminal/ And this type of love isn’t rational, it’s physical.”
As Spears proclaimed in a recent interview with OUT Magazine, “The bitch is back and better than ever!” Spears announced that she will be touring this summer.
