The music is a glittery grab bag of things: super-sleek club-pop (some of the best Spears has done), crass commercial tripe and, for some strange reason, a nauseatingly sappy ballad.
"Her brand and celebrity are far more than just her music," says David Johnson, president of Strategic Vision, a marketing and public relations firm in Atlanta. "If her music is a hit, it will just increase [the public's] fascination and her celebrity."
Spears' image has always been driven by her music, beginning with the naughty Catholic school girl character in the 1999 video for " ...Baby One More Time." Mixing childhood innocence with grown-up sexuality, Spears was a pervert's fantasy come to life as she twirled around in low-cut clothes. But early on, the hits ("Oops I Did It Again" and especially the brilliant "Toxic") nicely bolstered her somewhat disturbing persona.
But now that her coquettish mask has been snatched away, revealing a troubled young woman underneath, the escapist club songs go down differently. A sense of paranoia and defensiveness now permeates the music.
Circus kicks off with the first single, the new-millennium disco thump of "Womanizer." That relentless number is followed by the stuttering, slightly noisy title track and the swaying ballad "Out From Under," which strongly recalls early Madonna. Those cuts (and the ones after it) pale in comparison to "Kill the Lights," an exceptional dance tune on which Spears musters some palpable attitude. Her breathy vocals sashay through the web of swishing and buzzing synths, underpinned by a metallic, palpitating beat.
The sound is a finer extension of Blackout, but with a more convincing vocal from Spears. She unintentionally solicits snickers as she attempts to croon on "My Baby," a drippy ballad that's presumably dedicated to her children. But it's completely devoid of any emotion. Although the production is soft and stripped-down, Spears sounds more robotic and processed here than she does on the heavily synthesized dance numbers.
But Circus takes a nasty nosedive with "If U Seek Amy," whose stomping sound is a blatant rip-off of Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl." Not known for showing any sense of decorum, especially these days, Spears is downright vulgar on the chorus. She actually spells out what the boys and girls want to do to her. Undoubtedly, the cut is a deliberate trashy move to get folks talking about the album. But it's really unnecessary. Given the magnitude of Spears' tabloid life, people are going to talk about every move she makes. A new album just gives the press and bloggers another reason to pick apart one of pop's most fascinating subjects.
