MTV: Britney Singles That Never Were

Britney Spears And The Case Of
Never Releasing Your Album’s Best Song As A Single

Britney Spears is enjoying a career high at the moment. Her recently launched tour is playing packed houses and enjoying good reviews, her Femme Fatale album became her sixth to debut at No. 1 and the single “Till the World Ends” is arguably her biggest hit since “Toxic” – sure, she’s charted higher with “Womanizer,” “Circus” and “Hold It Against Me,” but name a recent Spears song that has garnered as much long-term buzz, radio play and critical acclaim as “Ends.”

So things are going well. But as a longtime Spears fan, we firmly believe they could be going even better. Why? Because she has somehow forgotten to release the best songs from her last four albums as singles. That’s why.

The latest single from Femme Fatale, “I Wanna Go,” is set to make its video debut on Wednesday. It’s a great track, there’s no doubt, and frankly, we were happily surprised she went with it over the will.i.am.-produced “Big Fat Bass” or the Bloodshy song “How I Roll.”But why not the trippy, beautiful Euro-synth dance jam “Trip To Your Heart”?

For a look at more non-single Britney greatness, read on.


“Breathe on Me,” In the Zone

Early in her career, Britney was all winks and playful nudges. Look but don’t touch. It wasn’t until 2003’s In the Zone that she brought the sex. And she’s never been hotter than she is on the Mark Taylor-produced "Breathe on Me." This thing is all swirling beats and pounding bass, the perfect soundtrack to a long night out on the dance floor. It was shocking to hear Brit Brit coo the lines "Ooooo, it's so hot and I need some air / And boy, don't stop cause I'm half-way there." Half-way where, Britney? (Wink, nudge) Wherever it is, we’re right there with you!


“Heaven on Earth,” Blackout

MTV News’ new girlfriend Kara DioGuardi co-produced this synth-heavy dance tune with a pulsating electro beat and catchy chorus – “Fell in love with you and everything that you are / Nothing I can do I'm really crazy about you / When you're next to me it's just like heaven on earth / Tell me that I'll always be the one that you want / Don't know what I'd do if I ever loose you / Look at you and what I see is heaven on earth." But Spears’ breathy delivery really hits it home. While it didn’t get the single treatment it deserved, it’s refreshing to know that it was Britney’s favorite Blackout track too.


“Unusual You,” Circus

In a weird way, it’s a ballad, right? It may not be conventionally slow, and yes there’s a definite pulse, but this moody Bloodshy & Avant tune is loaded with longing and heartbreak. “Unusual You” features the most compelling lyrics of any Spears song and represents one of the few times she’s addressed the private turmoil that culminated in a brief stay in a psychiatric facility in early 2008 with lyrics like “Did so many things when I was someone else / Boxer in the ring trying to defend myself.” Whatever it is, it’s perfection.

Source: m.mtv.com

Till The World Ends: The Video Reviews

RollingStone
www.rollingstone.com

The video for Britney Spears' new single "Til the World Ends" is basically a dance party set in a bombed-out city on the eve of some kind of apocalypse, which makes perfect sense. It makes a little less sense why only hot, model-looking people in high-end Mad Max gear have made it to see the end of world. Maybe this is a Darwinian thing -- only the foxy are strong enough to survive! Either way, this is a good, memorable video.


MTV
www.mtv.com

With Wednesday's release of Britney Spears' new video for "Till the World Ends," the pop diva showed she can dance her way through anything — even an apocalypse.

Now, although "Till the World Ends" takes place in the future, it's hard to watch it without feeling transported to the past. The edgy look, steamy scenes and pulsating dance moves take us back to Spears' 2001 hit "Slave 4 U." Some of the key elements of "Till the World Ends" mirror "Slave," from the videos' sweaty dance scenes to the sexy wardrobe changes to an almost identical scene in which Britney sits among a group of sultry dancers.

And this isn't the first time the princess of pop has paid homage to herself. Spears' over-the-top videos have typically featured some distinct elements: memorable story lines ("Toxic"), standout choreography ("Oops! ... I Did It Again") and midriff-bearing outfits ("I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman"). So we can't say we blame her for looking back.

In 2008, Spears released her video for "Womanizer," which gave us a case of déjà vu, reminding us of her iconic "Toxic" clip. Borrowing a similar concept, Britney took on multiple personalities and sought revenge on a man who had done her wrong. However, the most jarring similarity was the wardrobe, or lack thereof. Spears played off the most memorable "Toxic" look — a nude bedazzled bodysuit — but took it one step further when she decided to bare all for "Womanizer."

Another recurring theme of Spears' videos happens to be a recurring theme in her real life: the constant media scrutiny. Spears has never hidden the fact that she's not a fan of all that paparazzi attention, and she playfully illustrated her battle with the photographers in "Piece of Me." But Spears' video résumé also finds her playing a variety of roles, from a young schoolgirl in "...Baby One More Time" to a bubble-gum-popping waitress in "(You Drive Me) Crazy," even a sexy flight attendant in "Toxic."

Earlier this year, the pop star reminded the world of just how memorable her music video catalog really is, when she surrounded herself with several of her classic video looks in "Hold It Against Me." The clip may have given viewers a glimpse of her past, but at the rate that Spears is going, it seems the best is yet to come.


Time Magazine
www.time.com

Britney Spears' new music video, "Till the World Ends," premiered online today. This time, the pop empress sets the stage in a bleak, dystopian future (December 21, 2012, to be exact; things changed that much?). In this setting, humanity's will to survive the End of Time manifests itself the only logical way it can: In dance.

The smash single, off her latest Billboard-topping album, Femme Fatale, is a thumping, Euro-trance inspired dance number heavy on the Auto-Tune, with a triumphant call-and-response chorus that's not so dissimilar from a number of today's top 40 tracks.

The difference here? Clearly, it's Britney herself. Her wardrobe shifts a few times — most notably at 2:40, where she first dons a Pariah-like red, studded bodysuit (a nod to "Runaway"-era Kanye?) — while everyone else contrasts her in pitch-black Rick Owens inspired throwaways (while still dancing like there's no tomorrow). The video's sweaty, at times blinding, yet undeniably enjoyable, adopting many of its key elements from Britney's coming-of-age "I'm a Slave 4 U." This time, though, there's buildings crumbling.

Watch till the end for a sort-of surprise ending that NewsFeed won't give away. But let's just say that there'll be dancing for another day.



Entertainment Weekly
www.ew.com


The latest video from Britney Spears, for pulsing single “Till the World Ends,” has hit the web, and it’s pretty much just what you’d expect if you’ve listened to the lyrics (or, you know, read the title of the song): a bunch of people dancing, umm, until the world ends. Or, actually, while the world ends?

The clip opens with a date flashing across the screen: December 21, 2012. Sound familiar? It’s the date that has been bandied around forever as the one which some sort of transformative, apocalypitic event will occur and basically blow the world to smithereens. (Remember the Roland Emmerich disaster flick?)

But in Britney world, while December 21, 2012, might be the day the world is ending, it’s also the day that she sends it out with an underground dance party. Need access? Just find the nearest manhole in the street and slither down to the rave she’s cooking in the sewers. Because, children, she’s going to be dancing “Till the World Ends” for a long time.


The latest video from Britney Spears, for pulsing single “Till the World Ends,” has hit the web, and it’s pretty much just what you’d expect if you’ve listened to the lyrics (or, you know, read the title of the song): a bunch of people dancing, umm, until the world ends. Or, actually, while the world ends?

The clip opens with a date flashing across the screen: December 21, 2012. Sound familiar? It’s the date that has been bandied around forever as the one which some sort of transformative, apocalypitic event will occur and basically blow the world to smithereens. (Remember the Roland Emmerich disaster flick?)

But in Britney world, while December 21, 2012, might be the day the world is ending, it’s also the day that she sends it out with an underground dance party. Need access? Just find the nearest manhole in the street and slither down to the rave she’s cooking in the sewers. Because, children, she’s going to be dancing “Till the World Ends” for a long time.

Before we go any further, take a gander at the video here:

Yesterday, I mocked Britney a bit when the teaser for this video came out, commenting that our beloved star was “bounce-dancing.” And sure, she does bounce-dance. A lot. But she does do a fair amount of what one might call actual dancing in this video. (Just to clarify, the reason that there is issue with her dancing these days is that it’s not as good as it once was. Period.)

And you know what, what she does here isn’t half bad! Those moments in that red catsuit-ish get-up near the end of the video are positively bouyant. And I think I even spotted a smile here and there from Spears, who looks rather dead behind the eyes most of the time. So that really warmed my heart.

And the clip has other high points: I love what’s happening at about 1:50 when Britney is sitting amongst a posse of sewer dwellers, simply pulsing her shoulders, then flipping her hair. Then comes the best part: that tiny clap-clap-clap she owns, while standing amid the group of urchins. How hot is that? Totally in: tiny claps.

As I said above, this video is exactly what you’d expect for this song, and from Britney at this point in her career. She’s producing solid work that feels good, gets you moving for a second, but that you don’t linger over. It’s got stripes of Ke$ha’s trashtacular video for “We R Who We R,” which makes sense, since Ke$ha co-wrote this song. And did anyone else see a little bit of “Dirrty” in this vid, too? Thank goodness, though, that she’d done with that whole product placement thing she ratcheted up with “Hold it Against Me.” At least, for now.

'Femme Fatale' is basically brilliant

Story filed Thursday, 10 March 2011

So the recent history of Britney is a bit like this: recorded by a detached superstar at the height of some rather desperate lows, 'Blackout' quickly established itself as Britney's surprise masterpiece. Britney's next studio album was 'Circus'. Despite an amazing lead single 'Circus' sounded like the work of a popstar who was involved too much and too little at the same time, the victim of the sort of absent-minded hands-on approach that does more damage than good. 'Circus' was not the sort of album Britney Spears should have been making. It was, quite simply, not very good.

Well we had a listen to 'Femme Fatale' earlier. And here's the good news: 'Circus' feels like the work of a different artist. Here's the even better news: 'Femme Fatale' is another 'Blackout'. It's bursting with all that album's best bits - the slightly deranged production, the hard and dark spirit, the massive beats and the big tunes. And while it might be less of a surprise, as Britney is obviously pretty much back on top of things now, on first listen it might just be as much of a masterpiece. It's also a relief, because if 'Femme Fatale' had been a bit of a dog's dinner Britney-as-a-recording-artist would have been over.

To listen to 'Femme Fatale' we went over to Britney's label earlier tonight. The tracks only arrived in the UK at about 6pm, having been whizzed across the Atlantic via a spooky download link thing for internal use by Sony.

Here is what the album looks like on the Sony/RCA/Jive/whatever listening room computer thing.

For anyone amused by the apparently tokenistic dubstep breakdown in 'Hold It Against Me' - and the genre's trademark gloomwobble did rather seem to appear from nowhere then disappear back there just as abruptly - the big news from 'Femme Fatale' is that the foray into dubstep was more than just flirtation. There's dubstep in the DNA of this album. It's rarely as blunt as in 'Hold It Against Me' - there's no "ooh look at me I'm dubstep" showboating - and 'Till The World Ends' is a far better indication of the album's sound. With some exceptions, this is a heavy, dark and dangerous-sounding Britney album. It's a sound you'll hear in 'Inside Out', one of various songs leaked so far in clip form.


Even the will.i.am track 'Big Fat Bass', which sounded unbearable on first listen and seemed likely to reinforce will.i.am's reputation for turning in the worst tracks on otherwise amazing female-fronted pop albums - sounds great. We made notes on the songs one by one and had prepared the title 'Big Fat Pile Of Shit' in anticipation of this song starting but, halfway through, we'd crossed that out. It was surprisingly bearable partly because the second clip that emerged is a far better reflection of the track and partly because the rest of the album makes sense of it.

Lyrically - well, on the surface it's about what happens when you go out and what happens when you get back home, and beneath the surface it may well turn out to be that too. Pop right now doesn't really feel like it needs another set of songs about how great it is to a) go clubbing and/or b) have sex, and 'Femme Fatale' is preoccupied by both those topics, but it feels like Britney manages to sidestep the clublolz trap in the usually awful David Guetta sense or that sometimes awful Ke$ha sense. 'Femme Fatale' is an album with a perfectly defined sound and a clearly established personality. It's a club record in the same sense 'Blackout' was. It hangs together, it makes you feel like having a bit of a dance. It's playful. Gone are the slightly laboured, joyless moments of 'Circus'.

Some tracks are fast and some are slow but the nearest 'Femme Fatale'-era Britney gets to a ballad is closing track 'Criminal' (clip here) which has the flavour of 'American Life'-era Madonna - the 'Intervention' and 'Love Profusion' sort of sound. Flute (FLUTE) and guitar are high in the mix here but with hefty, whalloping beats. To these ears it's a darkly comic song about a guy who's basically awful ("he's a killer just for fun fun fun") and whose various character flaws are described all the way through the verses until the chorus arrives with "but... Mama I'm in love with a criminal, and this type of love isn't rational, it's physical; Mama please don't cry i will be alrgiht, all reason aside I just can't deny, I love that guy". Typing those lyrics out it looks a bit bad. But it sounds great. Really great. And when the middle eight swings around we're in classic - and by classic we mean the 'Oops!' album - Britney territory. Coming moments before the album's end it's a brilliantly timed glimpse of the traditional tuneage that put Britney at the top of pop over a decade ago. It doesn't sound much like anything else on 'Femme Fatale', but what's interesting is that it doesn't jar either. Her new album may be stuffed with fantastically aggressive robopop but, at the end of the day, Britney's still Britney.

We'll be able to discuss the album in more detail in coming days via a track by track sort of review but the key points from this overview are:

1. No crap songs.

And that, really, is all you need to know.

Usual disclaimers apply: we heard it all the way through once, it might sound less amazing on repeated listens but, equally, it might end up getting even better.

This hasn't been a very well written review so apols for that but finally, if you're still reading, we would like to say a thing. From what we've heard from this album (which is the whole thing, bar deluxe edition bonus tracks) and from what we've heard of the Lady Gaga album, they are entirely different bodies of work with entirely different influences and objectives from two entirely different artists at entirely different stages in their respective careers. Between them they offer a fantastic account of pop music in 2011 and should be viewed as complementary, not contradictory. There is room for both. Let's all just try to get along.

And on that note why not pre-order the album here or purchase 'Till The World Ends' here? "Because I am a fool" is the only possible answer.


Source

Hold It Against Me Video Analysis

Daily B: Britney Spears – Hold It Against Me
(Video Analysis)

Last night, Britney Spears released the highly anticipated video for her latest single, “Hold It Against Me,” directed by Jonas Åkerlund. This is an analysis.

ALRIGHT…

First off, the bad news: The editing is horrendously fast-paced, and undoubtedly the video’s greatest flaw. Much as with his videos for Lady Gaga‘s “Paparazzi” and “Telephone,” director Jonas Akerlund has fallen head-over-heels with the quick cut technique, as though attempting to increase the amount of frames per second more and more with each new clip. “Hold It Against Me” races from scene to scene at a dizzying pace. It’s frustrating, distracting and occasionally nauseating as a result.

UH HUH…

Which leads into the other problematic Akerlund trademark: The product placement.Too much. Way too much. From PlentyOfFish.com to Sony to Britney’s latest fragrance, Radiance (I have less of an issue with that last one), the clip is completely mired in clunky, obvious references to the products funding the production.

And while I realize that brand marketing continues to evolve with the digital revolution, there’s simply got to be a more subtle way to go about it without completely shattering the illusion of the world created within a music video. Sadly, these jump cuts entirely disrupt the flow of the video.

If I said my heart was beating loud…

The dancing: No, it’s not what it once was. And to be fair, there’s some justification for anger from the fans here. After all, the video’s choreographer, Brian Friedman (who I adore and admire completely) spent weeks raving to MTV about Britney’s energy and the challenging choreography–all the while suggesting a complete return to form.

In reality, the moves are only slightly above “3″-level difficulty and basically on par with the “Circus” routine–still nowhere near the almighty Oops… to In The Zone era. There does seem to be more of a passion or fire in her eyes at certain points, although she still remains hopelessly stiff and cold in others.

All that being said: What did you expect, really? She technically hasn’t danced–as in really, really danced, since 2004′s knee injury on the set of “Outrageous.” From “Do Somethin’” on, the energy has remained at a frustrating halfway point. By 2007′s Blackout, it was painfully clear that we were never going to see the fire of “I’m A Slave 4 U” again.

But that doesn’t mean that Britney’s any less of a pop star. For some reason, there’s this expectation that Britney Spears must always equate with heavy dancing. Lest we forget, there isn’t even a dance sequence within the video for “Toxic,” which is generally treasured as one of Britney’s finest video moments.

Do I wish she danced again? Yes, of course. Do I know why she’s not dancing like she used to? No, I don’t. But is that going to stop me from liking her? Not even slightly. I’ve accepted that the “I’m A Slave 4 U” Britney is a thing of the past–10 years, to be exact. Time has passed, and Britney’s artistry has changed. Accept the new, or cling to the past and remain bitter–the choice is yours.

If we could escape the crowd somehow…

But onto the plot, which is where the video’s director truly shines: Much as with Lady Gaga’s “Telephone,” Akerlund has turned what was initially a song about getting hay-zay in the club into an incredibly rich mini-epic with a far more intriguing plot-line.

Pop often gets a bad rap for being superficial, but I think there are plenty of intricate themes being explored in this clip. There’s so much going on–the paint splattering, the videos playing, microphone wreaths and epic battles–that there’s plenty of room for interpretation. Here’s mine:

A legend crash-lands on Earth. If you’d like to play along, it’s the alien pop star from “Oops!…I Did It Again.”

She’s immediately put to work, which explains the meta aesthetic–it’s a video within a video. She is the pop product, and this is the production. To a certain extent, the many product placements featured toward the beginning of the video serve to bolster this idea, bombarding the viewer with this constant notion of consumption.

We find Britney quickly rising in the Matrix-live television room, lifted on high in that gorgeous white dress surrounded by her greatest achievements. This is the representation of her meteoric rise to fame, as well as the public’s perception of the superstar. She is the supreme pop princess, gorgeous and angelic.

But as the video progresses, she begins to crack. She goes a little “cray-zay.” Trapped in the middle of the microphone wreath that surrounds her (perhaps symbolic of the media scrutiny that’s followed every inch of Britney’s career), she starts to unleash the tiger–teeth bared and fingers clenched.

Back to the white dress, and the dancers suddenly come flying out from under her dress, blind and scurrying. The wheels come unhinged, and–after a particularly ghoulish Joker-esque smile–she truly loses it. The paint begins to fly from her own fingers, coating everything she’s ever done.

To me, it’s the representation of Britney’s well-publicized breakdown–the tarnishing of her career in the eyes of the public as her handlers run awry while left to her own devices.

As she unravels publicly, we start to witness the internal duel–a fight between two Britney Spears. It’s representative of the inner demons she encountered during the breakdown, but–at the risk of jumping to conclusions, I think it might even touch on something far more personal.

Though it’s never been officially confirmed, there’s been more than enough speculation (not to mention the textbook behavior displayed during the Blackout breakdown era) to suggest that Britney is in fact bipolar. This duel might just be the perfect representation of her struggle to overcome her own darkness.

(I understand that I may be entirely off base with this, so please…don’t hold it against me.)

And then comes the fall. She hits the ground, splattered and broken–as do the dueling personalities. This is rock bottom (January 2008?)–the point of (seemingly) no return.

And yet, all is not lost. Writhing on the ground, she slowly regains her footing along with the two dueling Britneys, who seemingly come to a ceasefire in their own battle. We’re immediately led to the final dance sequence–ending with a triumphant Britney standing victoriously with her head held high. She’s back.

It’s the rise, the breakdown, and the comeback. It’s beautiful, it’s tragic–it’s the life of Britney Jean Spears.

If I said I want your body now…

In all honesty, I don’t see anything boring or generic about this video. It’s completely open to interpretation (down to that ominous question mark at the very end of the clip!), and much more entertaining, visually appetizing, personal and thought-provoking than most of what Britney’s produced in the past five years. In fact, it’s one of her best videos yet.

For fans and haters alike yearning to see a return to a 21-year-old Britney, prepare to be disappointed–that Britney doesn’t exist anymore. There’s much more to her artistry than a bared midriff and fierce choreography at this point in her career. She’s not always going to be sexy, and she’s not always going to be a dancer–she’s an entertainer, and the ultimate definition of a pop star.

This is next level. This is the future. This is Adultney.

But that’s just speaking from a rational standpoint. As for a review in stan terms?

BOW THE FUCK DOWN, SHEEPS. GODNEY HAS RETURNED.


www.muumuse.com

Hold It Against Me: The Video Reviews

RollingStone
www.rollingstone.com

After a seemingly endless stream of teaser clips, the full music video for Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me" has finally arrived. The video, which was directed by Jonas Åkerlund, is a mix of everything we've come to expect from Britney -- sexy costumes, elaborate choreography, good-girl pouting and bad-girl strutting -- pushed way over the top. It's a total visual assault, complete with a futurist set and exploding pyrotechnics.


People
www.people.com

The wait is over!

The video for Britney Spears's new single, "Hold It Against Me," premiered Thursday night at 9:55 p.m. ET on MTV and on the Web.

And Britney fans should be pleased! The pop star looks as delicious as ever as she writhes around futuristic settings in microscopic shorts and red, sequined shoulder pads.

The best part of the video, which was directed by Jonas Akerlund, is a full-action fight sequence with edgy camera work against jumpy bass riffs. (The worst part is all the product placement!)

Close to the end of the video, Britney whips her long, blond hair back and forth and beats herself up until collapsing in a giant wedding dress while colors shoot out of her fingernails.

"Hold It Against Me" will be on Spears's upcoming album, Femme Fatale.

Lady Gaga better bring it.


Access Hollywood
www.accesshollywood.com

The pop princess debuted the music video for her new single, “Hold It Against Me,” on MTV and Vevo.com on Thursday night — and the sexy singer definitely brought her A-game!

In the video – ripe with fast cuts and multiple glaring product placements (including her fragrance Radiance, Makeup Forever, Sony and the online dating site PlentyOfFish.com) — a lean, glammed-up Britney is seen prowling around the futuristic space, surrounded by various TV equipment and rocking a white bridal-esque gown, before slowly ascending toward the ceiling. Brit then shows off her famous abs in her signature white midriff-baring crop-top and her itty-bitty denim cut-off shorts.

Next, it’s a Britney-on-Britney catfight as the singer appears to wage war on… herself (in stilettos, or course), before shooting neon-colored paint at the surrounding TV monitors from her fingertips, flinging color all over her formerly pristine white gown (think: Willow Smith’s “Whip My Hair).

Brit also rocks a black leather mini-dress for the video’s high-energy dance sequence.


MTV
www.mtv.com

It's not a stretch to call "Hold It Against Me" the most anticipated video of Britney Spears' 11-year career; after all, how many of her clips were preceded by a two-week teaser-thon that drove tens of millions of video streams and fans to the brink?

It's too soon to tell where the video will settle into Ms. Spears' pantheon of visually innovative music videos: pop-culture touchstone like " ... Baby One More Time" (the schoolgirl outfit) or "Oops! ... I Did It Again" (the red-leather catsuit), the darkly foreboding "Everytime" or über-sexy "I'm a Slave 4 U." Either way, it manages to outgun all those clips — and pretty much everything Brit's done since her 2007 Blackout album — in terms of sheer spectacle, while, at the same time managing to display an amazing amount of restraint.

Because while it covers similar themes of many of her videos — the constant spotlight under which Brit lives her life (see "Piece of Me," "Circus," "Womanizer," etc.) "HIAM" feels less heavy-handed. Sure, there are cameras, TV screens and microphones surrounding Spears at all times, but they're merely set pieces. We get the idea without having said idea shoved down our throats.

And much of the credit for that is due to director Jonas Åkerlund, who bathes Britney in a shimmering light, wraps her in a towering gown and eventually covers the entire set in DayGlo liquid spilling out of Spears' fingertips. Sure, there are also plenty of dance moves and special effects, too, but because of Åkerlund's deft, downright organic touches, "HIAM" also feels oddly elemental. The dress (from which she births her dancers), the fluid that flows from her fingertips, the softness of her hair and makeup — it all envelops the video's harsh, technological framework. There is a warmth to it, a heart that beats beneath the shiny veneer. And for a futuristic space-odyssey dance fantasy, that's saying something.

There are also the personal touches too: Check the monitors playing Britney's older clips, but most of them are doused in liquid and cast aside. And when coupled with perhaps the video's most organic moment — at clip's end, when Spears, covered in amniotic fluids, curls up in the fetal position — you get the feeling that "HIAM" also seems to contain messages of rebirth, re-emerging and beginning anew.

Yes, Britney also looks plenty hot, and the dance moves are sure to displace a hip or two, but at the end of the day, what puts "HIAM" on the pedestal of Spears' all-time best clips are the human touches. It looks great and it's certainly the biggest-budget thing she's released in a long time, but it's also restrained and controlled — still under the spotlight, but reborn and ready for the fight. There's genuine art to it, which makes it both beautiful to look at and powerful. She's not wearing a schoolgirl outfit or leaping out of airplanes, but she doesn't need to; not anymore. So while it's too early to know whether "HIAM" will be your Britney favorite just yet, give it a few years — you might be surprised by how well it sticks.


HuffingstonPost
www.huffingtonpost.com


Britney's Beautiful Jonas Åkerlund-directed Breakdown

A little after 9:55 p.m. EST Thursday, my Twitter news-feed flash-flooded into a sea of foreign (to those living in Medieval Times...) hash-tags like #HIAM, #HIAMVideoPremiere, #FemmeFatale. Which could only mean, the one and only Britney Spears (Oops!) did it again. After fourteen tepid, smoke-and-fog teasers, the highly-hyped Jonas Åkerlund-directed music video for her hard-thumping club banger of a single "Hold It Against Me" finally premiered.

I've so far refused to read full-length reviews, because the general consensus via Twitter caused me perpetual eye-rolling. Example: Mr. Perez Hilton/gaga-for-Gaga fan tweeted to "Britney" his disappointment regarding her lack of dancing. As per usual, fans remain trapped in a pre-Britney buzz-cut, "Best of..." music video collection replete with red catsuits, school-girl garb collection and frenetic pelvic thrusting dance routines -- a time wherein the pop princess was seemingly on top of the world. Um, let's not forget that she was also eighteen and giggling while claiming she'd be a virgin until marriage in Pepsi-sponsored press conferences. Times have changed.

What I'm trying to say is, at 29, "Hold It Against Me" very well may be Britney's most personal, mature and greatest work of art yet. Yes, you read it right. A-R-T (sans the ludicrous product placement). The video kicks off with a meteor racing towards earth. The explosion is Britney, showing off her midriff to a slew of flashing cameras and dancing on a lit sound-stage surrounded by half-naked, writhing male dancers. Typical Britney. But then the chorus starts and Britney, in a flowing wedding dress, is hauntingly elevated into the air with surrounding futuristic screens basically playing, yep, a "Best of..." Britney video collection. With her golden locks and caked-on makeup, this is a return to the old, squeaky-clean Britney. This is how fans wish to remember her pre-babies/divorce/rehab: our beautiful and perfect pop princess, celestial, flying free and on top of the world and looking down on little ol' us. But I can't help but notice Britney's sad, soulful eyes, her subtext screaming to the cameras, "I'm not a Slave 4 U, I won't gimme you more, I'm no longer a girl, but I'm a woman with real life issues who sometimes tours the world and breaks records. You want a piece of me? Take your best shot. Here I am."

Other up-to-interpretation scenes reveal a Britney surrounded by a wreath of microphones (she's always gotta be "on!", the microphones are her shadow), and Britney battling (in fancy stilettos) a look-a-like. But there's no winner (she's her only competition, the only one standing in her way is herself a la Black Swan). She eventually comes "back to life" on stage for the confetti-exploding, choreographed closing scene celebration, which presents a return to old school Britney (Look, she's dancing in a cute Britney outfit! She fell and got back up! Another "comeback"!)

But the most moving part of the entire five-minutes comes during the dub-step breakdown, in which neon paint shoots from Brit Brit's finger tips, covering the screens projecting her immaculate, former self and drenching her pristine white wedding dress. Uh oh! Britney is going "crazy" again and her kingdom of followers (in this case, the probably Terence Koh-inspired identical figures without eyes who struggle aimlessly under her billowing dress) have lost, and are lost, without their Queen.

So, this is why I have no problem with the lack of hard-hitting choreography in this music video. The video, to me, quite complexly represents something quite simple. Although uber-fans (okay, or just me) playfully refer to her as Godney, she's oh-so-human. The once picture-perfect pop star has returned and is offering fans the new, worn-and-torn and yes, stronger than yesterday Britney.

A recap. She lands on earth, it explodes. She flies in the air like an angel with her mega-fans dancing blindingly underneath her. She can't always handle the pressure of living up to her greatest hits constantly following her and the world wanting a piece of her. She battles herself, falls down, gets back up, and we all watch in anticipation and obsession while switching on the record button. But everything's gonna be okay. Because she's Britney, bitch, a Southern gal with big dreams who stole and broke the world's heart. She needn't give an elaborate explanation for this video. It is what it is: Britney at her most authentic, the sometimes frappuccino guzzling (and a bit hay-zay) pop icon. Take it or leave it. But don't hold it against her.