{"id":41819,"date":"2009-12-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/blackout-2\/"},"modified":"2009-12-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-12-20T00:00:00","slug":"blackout-2","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/blackout-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackout"},"content":{"rendered":"

Released during her bipolar multimedia meltdown, Blackout <\/i>is the only Britney Spears album not to go straight to #1. That\u2019s not to say it doesn\u2019t have its fair share of #1 dance singles. \u201cGimme More\u201d and \u201cBreak The Ice\u201d bear that distinction, as well as the song that directly addresses Britney\u2019s ongoing battle with the paparazzi, \u201cPiece Of Me.\u201d It\u2019s also the first Britney album that breaks from the pop tradition, fully embracing the beat-heavy electronic sound that is tailor-made for the clubs all over the world.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Britney\u2019s personal favorite cut, \u201cRadar,\u201d appears for the first time on Blackout<\/i>, though it didn\u2019t become a hit single until it appeared again on the 2008 follow-up, Circus<\/i>. Virtually the entire first half of Blackout <\/i>is groundbreaking stuff for the now-infamous singer, especially the incredible track \u201cHeaven On Earth.\u201d The interesting thing about that song, as well as the fun \u201cOoh Ooh Baby,\u201d is that it was produced by new American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi. Things do get a little rough in the album\u2019s second half, however, especially on the slower tunes at the end. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Furthermore, Corte \u201cThe Author\u201d Ellis ruins \u201cGet Naked\u201d with an inanely obnoxious backing vocal, while bonus track \u201cOutta This World\u201d adds completely nothing with its inclusion. And though Britney tries to be self-deprecating with a wink and smile on \u201cFreakshow,\u201d the execution leaves something to be desired. In short, like its author, it\u2019s a repetitive mess.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Britney wisely limits the bulk of the production duties to two in-demand production teams, Bloodshy & Avant and Danjahandz. There\u2019s an erratic hip-hop number produced by Bloodshy & Avant called \u201cToy Soldier\u201d that picks up where Gwen Stefani\u2019s \u201cHollaback Girl\u201d left off, but aside from the catchy percussion, Britney\u2019s vocal performance is unnecessarily whiny. Why producers insist that she continue to sing through her nose is something I\u2019ll never understand.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Though the material on Blackout <\/i>is largely one-note, it is a note that we haven\u2019t heard from Britney Spears before. The experiment proved successful from an artistic point of view, so much so that they decided to duplicate (and actually perfect) the formula for Circus<\/i>. Maybe there\u2019s a daring creative individual beyond the Barbie doll persona after all. It should be interesting what Spears & Company come up with in the next decade.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Better lyrics that aren\u2019t so repetitive are desperately needed for Ms. Spears to grow further as an artist. Over the last ten years, her voice has <\/i>deepened, which should prove to be an essential ingredient in making the ballads more effective. So far, though, it\u2019s been the dance songs that we have come to expect from her and it\u2019s probably doubtful her fans will be open and patient enough to sit and chill to one of her slow songs. That being said, Britney\u2019s youth is certainly an asset, so she should be able to churn out records as good as Blackout<\/i> for many years to come.<\/o:p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":30174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6340],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-41819","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-britney-spears","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41819"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41819"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}