Jeans plastered on with a paintbrush. Definite cleavage popping out (oops, it happened again). Hair that looks attacked by a highlighter. The requisite cross necklace of a devout believer. Britney Spears strives to display the "perfect" juxtaposition of girlhood and blatant sexual innuendo - and this is just the album cover.
Britney Spears is a pop icon; there is no denying that, even if most listeners don't quite have the tastes of middle school-aged girls. And as a performer constantly marketing her image, Spears is overwhelmingly aware of that fact. "Britney" (could the album be more creatively titled?) works once again at appealing to the girlish fantasies and questions of pre-teen listeners.
Regardless of her dubious position as a skyrocketed star, Britney Spears remains a teen-ager. And as a teen, she's rebelling - against her role as an icon and against the idea that her listeners are little girls with unformed (bad) taste in music. "Britney" tries to be something that Spears really isn't - edgy and raw.
"I'm A Slave 4 U," the opening track on the album, epitomizes Britney's new attitude. She sings, "All you people look at me like I'm a little girl / well did you ever think it would be okay for me to step into this world?" OK, fine, so Britney Spears is craving respect from music critics that aren't still wearing Gap Kids. But there's one problem - she fails.
Most of the songs on the album have a much older feel to them, including "Boys," "Cinderella" and "I Love Rock 'N' Roll" (a cover of the Joan Jett classic). The beats are harsh and Britney's voice is scratchy and raw (perhaps she thinks this is sex appeal).
Spears ends up losing the one thing that she had working on her behalf - her ability to sell. Regardless of whether or not she likes it, "old-school" Britney had this magnetic pull for girls between the ages of 8 and 12, and she has just repelled the one audience she did have control over.
Yes, the subject matter seems appropriate for a middle school party: boys, overprotective parents (and society), more boys. But this is not music that can be hummed around the lockers, nor can kids dance to it on the cafeteria's linoleum "dance floor." In trying to be older and more musically mature herself, Britney loses her market appeal.
Two redeemable songs manage to surface - but these are only salvable in the sense that they hark back to the earlier version of Britney Spears. "Anticipating" is a cute (cheesy, but cute) tale of teenage woes and worries like driving with the top down and putting on lipstick in the bathroom. Definitely danceable, the song defines what we used to be able to expect from Britney.
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"I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman" belongs in the closing credits of a movie (and it probably will appear in Britney's 2002 teen drama). Sappy, heartwarming and actually realistic, the song tells the story of a girl towing the line between childhood and maturity. We've all been there and it's a worthy topic to sing about, but what's more, the melody is decent and almost pleasing. For an album with 12 tracks, should there really be a sense of relief and accomplishment when one of them is bearable?
Britney Spears is trying hard to follow in the footsteps of pop icons who managed to bridge popularity and real talent (i.e., Madonna). Overwhelmingly, she fails.
Oops, she didn't do it again. Other than the few songs that will get definite airplay and the promise of an upcoming movie, Britney Spears seems to fall short of the ridiculous, insane popularity she found with her first album. Maybe she was "Lucky" the first time, but she's lost that marketability now.
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