Entertainment

CD[reviews]

Britney Spears

By Ron Rollins

Friday, December 12, 2008

pop

Britney Spears

CIRCUS

It's really not fair to say that Britney Spears is back with "Circus." She was actually very nicely back with her previous disc, "Blackout," but nobody noticed, was all.

Which was too bad, because "Blackout" was a terrific, energetic and exceedingly listenable collection of sexy dance tracks.

With the great producer Danja mostly at the helm, "Blackout" showed Spears off for the first time as something we hadn't seen before: An adult who had put her cute-teen ways behind her and was going straight for a no-nonsense, grown-up sexpot image.

Take exception if you like, but it was frankly the first time she had acted age-appropriate in her entire life as an entertainer, if you think about it.

Unfortunately for her, the album got buried beneath all of the mega-hype about her personal troubles. Now that things seem to have calmed down somewhat — that, or the celebrity press has lost interest; hard to tell, actually — it's easier to apply fresh ears to her work.

If you do that, you might enjoy what you hear. "Circus" picks up where "Blackout" left off, and even reprises one of its tracks as a bonus, in the apparent hope of getting folks interested in looking back to that album.

The beats are tight and danceable, snugly wrapped around Spears' breathy voice in a way that makes it sound bigger than it really is.

Sexy? You bet — in fact, it's downright naughty at times, and sounds a lot like a younger, more peppery version of Madonna's recent disco-ball work. This is what she should've been aiming toward all along, if she wants to keep extending her 15 minutes, and get folks to think of anything other than her tabloid headlines.

OK, good luck to that — but at least she's trying.

Grade: B+

iPod picks: "Circus," "Womanizer," "Blur"

— RON ROLLINS