My best friend was talking about “Femme Fatale” the other day. “Each song, individually, is FANTASTIC,” she said. “Overall they're all REALLY great. I do have a problem with the album though... it may be a small problem but... " We will return to that “but” later.
One thing is very obvious about Britney Spears’ new album “Femme Fatale” - its creators were obsessed by uniformity. Maybe they took careful note of the praise retrospectively heaped upon “Blackout” for being a genuine “album” rather than a bagful of assorted goodies like “Circus”.
Consistency here is achieved in various ways - one is the simple device of making no room whatsoever for ballads. Every track is for dancing. Another is to have a control freak knob-twiddler doubling as Executive Producer so nothing can interfere with his vision. And a third is to give every track - bar one - the same characteristic SOUND. And this turns out to be surprisingly important.
Where “Circus” employed 8 different mix engineers and “Blackout” employed 4, “Femme Fatale” uses the same one on 15 of the 16 tracks on the deluxe edition. Unsurprisingly, Will.He.Is had to do it his own way, but elsewhere, Romanian-born hit-assister Serban Ghenea reigns supreme. He’s Dr Luke’s regular mixer, but on “Femme Fatale” the tracks by other producers are also mixed by him.
Ghenea comments: "I love to blend the elements of different musical styles that may not normally exist together in order to create a new sound for the artist and make it their own. 'Artist A' shouldn't sound like 'Artist C' just because a producer or mixer has their own signature sound.” In other words, he’s aware of the danger that Britney, Katy and Ke$ha could end up as soundalikes. And, true to his word, blending of styles does take place, and the consistent approach he adopts makes some fairly disparate songs slot together quite seamlessly.
Whether Dr Luke was working by instinct or by some grand strategic plan, his vision for Britney seems to have been to configure her as an old-school artist working in a contemporary environment. The outworking of this is an album with all the up-to-date dance credentials and pop electronica in the world, but illuminated by nostalgic Euro-disco sounds and chord sequences, nods and tributes to half-remembered hits from the past, and lots of deja-vu moments. Many listeners may even hear echoes of earlier Britney songs and vocal treatments. And Ghenea holds it all together.
This isn’t a bad direction to take. For one thing, it means that “Femme Fatale” has a familiar, cuddly, embraceable charm that first engages you, then forever welcomes you back like an old and trusted friend. It also means songs with old-style melodic hooks instead of cheap gimmicks. Hooks like these can rescue a situation. For example, when “Seal It With A Kiss” begins, it seems like yawnworthy generic filler until you get to “...and seal it with a kiss, ooo ooo eee ooo!” and suddenly it’s elevated. Nostalgia uberfreaks will be pleased to know that a song called “Sealed With A Kiss” was a hit for Brian Hyland in 1962.
The thing that has annoyed me most about the other reviews I’ve read is that nobody wants to give any credit to Britney herself. It’s almost as if the ghastly realisation that she lip-synchs her live shows has mutated in the minds of some critics into “She can’t sing at all, even in the studio”. And this nonsense has rendered them completely deaf to something that’s really very clear - her vocals on this album are among her best on record, and are perfectly strong and assertive in their own right, as good as those of her peers, with no need for excuses. These aren’t the kinds of song that lend themselves to a Loletta Holloway-style gore-fest, so I don’t know what her critics were expecting.
As ever, Britney uses a different approach to singing each song, and it’s a fascinating study. Purring, snarling, laughing, wheedling, demanding, sometimes vulnerable, sometimes strong... she shows anyone with mature critical faculties that singing isn’t all about hollering out a song at the top of your lungs. Granted, though, there are a couple of occasions on which she resorts - perhaps unnecessarily, given the context - to her robotic voice, and that seems to be the only thing the bashers are able to hear.
The running order of the 12 main tracks is well-chosen to give relief when it’s most required from Ghenea’s rather insistent bass-drum thumping on the many 4-4 stompers, but you wouldn’t want to be without at least some of the bonus tracks. As on “Circus”, they include some egregious, fascinating, standalone delights - yet even the bonus tracks fall within the embrace of the album’s signature sound.
And that brings us back to the “but” that my friend mentioned. Here it comes: “But even though each song is awesome... as a WHOLE, the album feels a bit... hmm... repetitive? Even a little boring, and I never thought I’d say that about Britney”. I can see her point. A few too many songs with monotonous or duotonous beginnings? I wouldn’t go as far as "boring" myself. Most of the tracks are now my little friends, y’see.
What we did agree on was this: “Women of sophisticated aesthetic tastes such as us would always want some light-and-shade, and with Britney you usually get it.” We didn’t get it this time, which is a shame. “Femme Fatale” contains just about as much variety as anyone could imagine, given its self-imposed constraints. I prefer the warmth, friendliness and fun of “Femme Fatale” to the bleakness of “Blackout”. But ballads are the windows into Britney’s soul, and I miss them.
Turning now to the individual tracks:
Till The World Ends
Co-written by Ke$ha, this uplifting, energising 80’s-style Euro-disco anthem has a repetitive verse but a soaring, melodic chorus with a chant that could be a cross between the Crazy Frog and a football chant, and gallops along to a thundering finale. Britney sings like a woman who has just rediscovered an appetite for life: “I can’t take it take it take it take NO MORRRRRE!!!” The production is competent, but somehow lacks impulsion at key moments. So it may be that the song doesn’t quite maximise its potential impact.
Hold It Against Me
This, the dramatically successful lead single from the album, also has a repetitive verse, and again the melodic chorus elevates it to a higher plane. Britney’s voice is somewhat more constricted than on “TTWE” but strong nonetheless, and the track is driven along by a pounding, grinding, heavy bassline. There’s a much-discussed dubstep instrumental break that may not have been 100% authentic but at least introduced dubstep to a wider audience.
Inside Out
One of the outstanding songs on the album, musically and lyrically, and one of closest to being a ballad. My best friend says she’s going to borrow from this text for her next break up! An extremely imaginative bassline dips and soars, wobbles, pulsates and goes almost subsonic. The production has great authority, clarity and space, and Britney’s vocal is distinct, open-throated and assertive: “So come on!!!” I would love for this track to become a single some day.
I Wanna Go
The fourth track sounds a little weak at first, after the brilliance of the third, but this is one of those songs where the hook keeps everything alive: “Shame on me-eee! [whistling]” At “I wanna go all the way” the chorus takes flight and somehow the second rendering of the verse seems more melodic than the first. Britney’s vocal is best-described as “coquettish” and the production amounts to little more than some standard-issue thumping.
How I Roll
An inspired piece of musical lunacy from Bloodshy and his Swedish pals provides a sharp contrast to the pop-rock beats that precede it, and is instantly memorable. The uncredited male duettist on the choruses could be better, especially at ending his words. Britney, her voice gentle and melodic, sings “You can be my thug tonight” and hostile critics accuse her of singing “fuck”. The track is an odd compilation of short segments, and the part that begins “shimmy shimmy” seems to come out of nowhere. But, amazingly, it fits. The instrumental tracks are predominantly piano, bass and percussion, and the production is sparse yet expansive, and very laid-back.
(Drop Dead) Beautiful
A hammer-heavy rhythmic thump-fest with a minimal melody that sneaks up on you with an ectoplasmic lack of substance. Britney, perhaps revealing some difficulty in engaging with such a slight piece of writing, slips into her most robotic mode so that, when Sabi takes her place to rap about vegetables, the substitution goes unnoticed by many critics. Highlights are the peal of girlish laughter and electronic “uh-oh!”
Seal It With A Kiss
The melody-averse verse seems worryingly similar to much that has gone before, perhaps leading to my friend’s allegation of repetitiveness. But then the hook comes along and changes everything, as explained above. The vaguely organ-tinged instrumental break is so minimal as to be surreal, but brings a strange sense of eerie calm to the center of the song. Britney is kittenish, staying just on the right side of robotic.
Big Fat Bass
Another eccentric moment, this time from Will.I.Am. The bass isn’t particularly deep, and it doesn’t seem any bigger when we’re assured that it is, but it’s still pretty big, and bombastic, and domineering. The highly melodic verse section beginning “You see me down on the floor” sounds like something stolen from a 70s hit by Earth Wind and Fire, right down to the harmonies. For some reason, Britney appears at first to be singing “I can be your trouble” but later it’s definitely “treble”. There’s a weird tap-dance while the kick-drum is awaited, then finally the bass does go deep and many elements come together in a rollicking conclusion.
Trouble For Me
Big nostalgia. This track sets off sounding exactly like an out-take from a much, much earlier Age of Britney, perhaps around 1999. Her vocal sound is even more of a throwback. The song itself is great, with a tune that the milkman could be whistling after one hearing, but the production undersells it, feeling uninspired and dragged down further by the brutalist thumping rhythm sound.
Trip To Your Heart
Forget anything you may have heard about certain tracks on “Blackout”, this is a real Giorgio Moroder-inspired disco number, with a beautiful, flowing, old-school melody. It would have been a smash in 1977. The electro-thump is more muted and muffled here, and instead the song is poked and prodded along by stabbing, jagging synth figures to left and right, while Britney’s soft, sweet, tuneful vocal sits serenely in the middle. For me, this is one of the highlights of the album and - unsurprisingly - it’s down to Bloodshy and his chums again.
Gasoline
Another great melody, with intelligent lyrics full of gasoline metaphors like “My heart only runs on Supreme” - I wonder how many young pop kids know what that means! The tune demands a wide vocal range from Britney, and her high register “you’re setting me on fire” is gripping. Her “hey yeah” punctuations are a real deja-vu moment but it’s hard to say exactly where we heard it before.
Criminal
Dare I utter the word “Gaga-esque”? I can imagine her singing it. But what that sounds like in my head is very different with Britney’s voice. She sings it both beautifully and convincingly, with much yearning, vulnerability and anxious emotion. That is her outstanding gift among her peers. “Criminal” is an extremely well-written and structured song; it’s one of the slowest on the album and - not by coincidence where Britney’s involved - one of the best.
Up ‘n’ Down
Back to a bygone age again, this track is built around one of the most familiar and heavily-used chord sequences in all of the history of dance music. And, of course, there’s that nostalgic charm again - but blended with modern programmed studio electronica. The rhythm is springy and subtler than it seems, and highly danceable.
He About To Lose Me
Rodney Jerkins contributes a beautiful song that brings out the best in Britney. She seems, amazingly, to revert to her pre-Jive voice - natural, unaffected, sweet of tone, open-voiced, with lovely vibrato applied to selected lines. Again it’s one of the slower, more thoughtful songs, and one of the most emotional moments on the album. Wonderful!
Selfish
I don’t know how this one sneaked under the wire and got into such high-quality company. Despite its “boom boom baby” hook, it really isn’t much good. It drives along with an athletic muscularity, a heavily percussive kick drum and some nice electric guitar, but that’s all.
Don’t Keep Me Waiting
Rodney Jerkins again, with another one of the album’s great moments - this time, real traditional rock with a backbeat instead of the all-pervasive pogoing rhythm we’ve been cursed with since the Stones released “Satisfaction”. “What the HELL?? I’m standing outside...” Britney gets into the mood, and “hell” sounds such a funny word in her mouth. Towards the end, her “don’t keep me waiting” sounds as if it’s accompanied by a hound-dog barking (OK, I know it isn’t but a girl can dream...)! And the whole thing thunders unstoppably towards the end of the album. A fitting finale, and one that shouldn’t have been relegated to the bonus tracks!
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