#441: Britney Spears, "Blackout"
it's britney, b*tch--i'm back!!
My semester is over for the summer—which means I no longer have to spend any free time reading students’ essays. Now, I can spend my time walking around listening to Britney Spears and writing about it for you to read about in your email inbox! I’d like to think of this providing you with the virtual feeling you get when you open the mail and get an unexpected letter/card from a friend—although, this may also just wind up in your spam, which is okay too.
At first I was kinda bummed when the random number generator landed on #441 because I was worried it would be a somewhat “mid” album towards the bottom of the list of 500. But, I was stoked when I saw that I would be listening to Britney!
As a millennial, I would absolutely consider myself a Britney stan. I remember when I was a kid, I won a framed photo of Britney at a carnival by popping a balloon with a dart—truly my prized possession until the glass picture frame broke and I had to throw it away.
Anyway, I have very vivid memories of listening to “Gimme More” and “Piece of Me” in middle school—especially at those awkward and sweaty middle school dances. However, this fell in the period of iTunes where I would only buy singles or the hit songs from albums (for $0.99 or $1.29 depending on how popular they were), so those were the only two songs I actually knew from this album.
The Background Info:
This album was recorded and released in the midst of so much Britney publicity in the media. And honestly, she was going through such an impossibly and unimaginably hard time, I think this album is a perfect answer to the critics and paparazzi.
To place this moment in time: this album came out right around the time Chris Crocker posted the infamous "Leave Britney Alone" video—which sadly, we all recognize how accurate and important the ideas in this video are now.
While Britney was recording this album, she was pregnant with her second child. Shortly after her son was born, she was in the process of getting divorced from Kevin Federline (booooooo). Meanwhile, he was not allowing her to see her children.
All of this came to a head (literally) as she shaved her head during her nervous breakdown—which was very much publicized and lead to so much media scrutiny. I very vividly remember the photos of her shaving her head and the photos of her with the umbrella in magazines and on the news. Honestly, my grandma was even obsessed with talking about what was going on with Britney Spears. Looking back, it’s so fucked that these moments were so publicized.
Britney Spears was the executive producer of Blackout, and this is the only album to be executive produced by her. She began recording these songs when she was 8 months pregnant—and recorded the rest 3 weeks after she gave birth! Like, truly, what an absolute girlboss.
At one point on the Wikipedia page about Blackout it mentions that contemporary critics refer to this album as “The Bible of Pop.” And honestly, I truly can see that. I feel like after this album came out, every song on the radio sounded so much like the vibe Britney achieves in this album.
The Review:
I very much love pop music. I get so much joy from listening to pop music—especially early 00’s pop music.
Britney Spears has one of the most recognizable voices and sounds. Listening to this album brought me back to a very specific place where so many songs on the radio had this auto-tune/electronic sound. The era of T-Pain, Danity Kane, and Pink. It reminds me of making my parents listen to America’s Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest on the radio on the way to golf lessons.
My main takeaway from this album is that this album is there is an incredibly sexiness to this album—which is not necessarily a bad thing. I just wish I could go back in time to know what my 12/13-year old self was thinking when she first heard these songs.
As a disclaimer, I listened to this album on the train during the middle of the day, so maybe it wasn’t the best place or time of day to listen to an album that feels like it is best suited for a club or a late-night party.
I think Britney Spears is a true badass, and this album just solidifies my stance on this. This album is so unapologetically Britney.
Going back and looking at this album through the lens of our modern understanding of Britney Spears’ experiences, it speaks so much about how much shit she endured and how strong she is.
Will I seek out and listen to the album all the way through again? Maybe? Will I casually listen to some of these songs? Absolutely.
Rating: 3.5/5