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Date Posted: 18:18:26 11/25/03 Tue
Author: Rayj
Subject: Reviews

Brave new girl
Pop darling takes page from Madonna on new disc
By MIKE BELL -- Calgary Sun
Britney Spears is here to be used.

It's all in how you use her.

As a role model for young girls, Britney scores low.

As the subject of role playing in a Swedish brothel, she scores exceptionally high.

As a spokesperson for anything of value or meaning, Ms. Spears, with her wind-blown thoughts and stuttering "likes" and "ums," gets two thumbs down.

As a model for everything from Lycra and leather to Catholic schoolgirl uniforms, the thumbs come way, way up and she elicits her own stutters of "likes" and "ums."

And finally, as an artist, one who knows her craft and strives to capture and comment on the zeitgeist with insight and aplomb, she falls flat on her face.

But as an entertainer, someone who knows her place, knows her strengths and weaknesses and what people want from her, then surrounds herself with people who know exactly how to use her, Spears is in a league of her own.

In that regards, on her latest album, Spears, and those who use her, are definitely In the Zone.

RIGHT TIME ZONE

The album, which hits stores today, is without a doubt the best thing she has released in her four-disc career.

Granted, that's a pretty relative thing, as the Britney canon is as rich as a Bre-X sample. But even on its own merits, In the Zone is an entertaining, incredibly well-realized, sweaty, fun and eclectic dance record, that also has a certain amount of credibility and believability in its grooves.

It allows the performer to be the sister/whore/girl-next-door figure she's embraced at different points throughout her time on the world stage, raising temperatures with pronouncements such as "Oh, it's so hot and I need some air/And boy don't stop 'cause I'm half way there." And then, in the same song, Breathe On Me, she throws out -- seemingly out of nowhere -- "Monogamy is the way to go."

She didn't need to reinvent herself -- that was, in hindsight, the biggest problem with her last, more "mature" album Britney -- with one eye over her shoulder worrying about the new pack of Avrils. She just needed to repackage herself and choose collaborators (Moby, Cathy Dennis, Madonna, R. Kelly, and others) and material that were aware of the difference between the two.

INTO THE GROOVE

Fittingly, In the Zone kicks off with the (platonic) Material Girl team-up Me Against the Music, which finds the duo matching each other sass for sass over a punchy, well-produced dancefloor anthem.

It's fitting, because the rest of the record plays out like a good Madonna record and often sounds like one -- the exceptionally catchy Brave New Girl with its robo-vocal treatment sounds like it was stolen directly from Madge's Music -- with Spears half-singing, moaning and whispering amidst the masterfully slick melodies and beats.

MATURED SOUNDS

Other highlights include the infectious electro-pop sure-hit Toxic, the Ray of Light-like Touch of My Hand, the Caucasian dancehall number The Hook Up, and the nice 'n' nast-ay hip pop offering (I Got That) Boom Boom, featuring the Ying Yang Twins and a banjo sample that could spank a toothless grin on a hillbilly's face.

In all honesty, there are no real dogs on In the Zone.

It knows what it is and who Britney Spears is, and should help her further outlast the disposable pop star status, while offering happily vacuous listening for those who want to use her.

That is, if you use her as directed. http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusic/nov18_spears-sun.html

Music Review: Britney Spears' 'In The Zone'


By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY
The Associated Press
11/17/03 6:49 PM


It happens to all Barbies at some point. The little girls who once idolized them grow up and lose interest, leaving them on the shelf as a reminder of quaint, pre-teen days gone by.

Seeking to avoid that fate with her fourth album, "In the Zone," Britney Spears is now in search of a new, edgier identity. But while trying to recapture fans who have moved on to newer, edgier pop stars -- Pink, Avril Lavigne, even ex Justin Timberlake -- Spears ends up sounding more juvenile than ever.

The former Queen of Teen Pop, who on her last album reminded us that she was "not a girl, not yet a woman," is going out of her way to show us she's all grown up. We've seen the 21-year-old Spears undressed so often, it's become shocking to see a clothed Britney.

Add her lip-lock with Madonna, cigarette smoking and tales of wild party escapades, and the former Mousekeeter seems to have turned into a Girl Gone Buck Wild.

"In the Zone," being released Tuesday by Jive Records, is a celebration of her newfound freedom and debauchery, with Spears sounding like a college freshman who's just discovered the party house on sorority row.

"Passed out on the couch and yawnin', just walked in and it's three in the mornin"' she coos on "Early Mornin'," while on "(I Got That) Boom Boom," the Ying Yang Twins shout, "We fixin' to go to the club to get crunked with Britney!"

Too bad it's not as fun listening to this album as making it.

Though there are a few entertaining parts, the majority of the disc is pretty insipid. That's not any different from any other Britney album, but with all the heavy hitters involved -- including R. Kelly, Moby and Madonna -- this time the disappointment is more of a surprise.

Part of the reason why the album fails is because for all her proclamations about being an adult, Spears still sounds like she hasn't grown up very much -- emotionally, vocally and most importantly, artistically.

There are great, sensual, driving dance beats that pick up where 2001's "I'm a Slave 4 U," left off. But it's hard to get into the any of those grooves with Spears singing -- or more accurately, whispering -- like a little girl trying to act sexy. While Spears may not be the most talented singer, she still has some semblance of a voice, and comes off stronger when she tries to use it, like on the entrancing "Toxic" with its catchy string arrangement.

Instead, she resorts to moaning and heavy breathing on the bump-and-grind trance grooves "Breathe on Me" and "Touch of My Hand," a tender love story between a girl and her hand. The end result sounds artificial and forced.

But it's not always Spears' fault when the songs go bad. The R. Kelly-penned song "Outrageous" is outrageously silly. "Outrageous! My sex drive! Outrageous! My shopping spree! Outrageous! We're on a world tour!" Spears warbles, sounding like a "Saturday Night Live" parody, or maybe the theme song for Paris Hilton.

And Spears and Madonna generated more heat smooching on the MTV Awards than they do on the vapid "Me Against the Music," proving that simply throwing two superstars together isn't enough to make a hit.

There's also a sappy ballad, "Everytime," which is only worthwhile listening for tabloid fans playing pop psychologist, trying to discern if it's the epilogue of her much-dissected breakup with Timberlake.

Making the transition from teen star to adult performer is always a tricky adjustment, and plenty of singers have stumbled along the way -- we need only look back to Christina Aguilera's embarrassing peep video "Dirrty" to be reminded of that.

But Spears seems unable to make the leap from child's play to adult fare. She seems stuck in Barbie mode, unable to morph into a three-dimensional artist with anything more to offer than pretty poses.

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/entertainment/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0776_BC_MusicReview-BritneySp&&news&newsflash-entertainment

Britney Spears - In The Zone


Britney Spears
In the Zone
(Jive)


Just two years ago, Britney Spears was not a girl, not yet humping walls on a newsstand near you. But teen queens mature in dog years, and now that Hilary Duff is dangling her watch before the swing-set crowd, dear Brit can get down to the dirrty work. After a coolly received second album, a did-she-or-didn’t-she Durst dalliance, and an eternity of tabloid-hounded par-taying later, Spears is slapping on a headlamp and heading into the mines.


Get in the Zone’s first single, “Me Against the Music,” is a fine specimen of Britney 4.0—a fast-paced dance anthem, all grinding percussion shuttling through a traffic jam of synths. Most of the record’s up-tempo bangers trace the single’s footsteps, bopping raucously without slipping into chintzy faux rock or flavorless hip-hop. Gone are the spare Neptunes beats of Britney, replaced by a hectic sonic pileup. Spears hits pay dirt on “Toxic,” holding her own against a wall of drum breaks, strings, and James Bond surf guitar that warps and struts like it’s been fed into the Matrix.


The actual Matrix songwriting team should be so lucky: Their ballad “Shadow” is a hollow yawn. Spears also missteps on the R. Kelly-produced “Outrageous,” a go-nowhere homage to living fabulously (the secret? Sexy jeans!) and the dancehall bore “The Hook Up.” But in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to her—like a ray of light. There’s more Madonna in Get in the Zone than there was in Britney’s mouth at the MTV Video Music Awards: “Breathe on Me” and “Touch of My Hand” borrow their shimmer, their discoid throb, and their self-confidence from the Material Girl’s recent work. This Spears is a slave 4 no one: She barks orders and she-bops herself to satisfaction. (“Imagination’s taken over,” she purrs, “the more I come to understand the touch of my hand.”) Still, the record’s biggest declaration of self may be the Moby-produced “Early Mornin’.” Over a lulling, circular bass line and morose flute sample, Spears crashes on the couch, trying to shake the residual fog of an obviously misspent night out, musing, “I can’t be like that anymore.” At these moments, Zone’s offhand mastery suggests that she may not have to.


Added: Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Reviewer: Caryn Ganz
Score:B-
hits: 86

'In The Zone'





When Britney Spears released Baby One More Time in early 1999, critics swore that she would not last very long. When Britney Spears released 'Oops I Did It Again' on May 16th, 2000, critics said it would be her last album. When Britney Spears released 'Britney' on November 6th, 2001, critics had given their all time low score for a Britney album, claiming that this was her fade-away LP. 52 million albums later, achieving in 3 years what took Madonna 10 years to achieve (in album sales), boy were they wrong.

Following the traditional path, or should I say, industry standard, the growth of Britney Spears as an artist would clearly be seen through the transition of her three past albums, as she moved from a Quarter 1 (Q1) release date for her first album to a Quarter 4 release on her 3rd album. Usually the business releases new acts on Q1, midlevel on Q2/Q3 and Superstars on Q4.

Breaking all possible barriers and obstacles that frictioned against her ever growing popularity, Britney Spears showed that she was here to stay. Does she have the greatest voice of all time? Not really...so what is it that makes Britney a phenomenom among her target audience of 12-26? Is it her looks? Her indirect innosence? or was it the fact that everybody slowly began to see how she tastefully started to contradict everything she once said she was not going to do, in turn turning everything she said therefore, into controversy? Was everybody hooked on the tease factor...or maybe the fact that, she would shock you when you least expected it? Hmmm...

We've all seen the latest TV-shows the media has produced, everything from an un-authorized Dateline production, labeling Spears as nothing more than a marketing doll, to shows like Diane Sawyer, where she would purposely ask Britney questions that would hit her heart, and make her cry....inevitable speaking...to deliver good television. So when will the world get enough and give up on trying to each get a piece of Britney Spears? When is it, that people will start recollecting that she's only a 21 year old girl, that has grown up next to cameras, paparazzis, managers, executives and private jets? Is it the fact that everyone expects top of the line, state of the art quality delivery, just because she's Britney Spears? Hmmm again....

Britney released her 4th album on November 18th, 2003, titled 'In The Zone'. Back in the old days, Larry Rudolph, Britney's former entertainment lawyer, now manager, said that when Britney would go into a recording studio, a dance session or perform infront of an audience, she would be 'In The Zone'. Three years later, on the first single off the 4th album....Britney sings 'I'm up against the speaker, tryin' to take on the music, It's like a competition, me against the beat, I wanna get in the zone, I wanna get in the zone', not to mention, that it also became title of the album.

Her 4th album is unlike any other and is by far the most expensive one she has recorded so far, with an endless amount of A-list producers involved, such as Moby, R. Kelly, P. Diddy, Redzone and The Matrix among others. This album definitely has something that none of her other albums have been able to portray, and that is flavor. Totally moving away from songs that you would hear as a 16 year old teenager in love writing a poem to your girlfriend/boyfriend (Dear Diary), Britney is totally out of the bubble gum pop scene, which she showed on her last album 'Britney' even though not totally pulling it off, until...this one arrived.

Something that I've heard all over, is that the new album is all about sex...and due to that....they connect 'sex' with a desperation of trying to sell albums, but they never point out the fact that this album is more about her as a person, both sensually and privately. No matter what Britney tries to convey when she purposely teases the media, by going half-way on her answers, and then changing the subject, all 21 year old girls out there will and should have a big thing clogging their mind; sex, relationships, intimacy, masturbation and of course boys. Even though some girls will not want to admit to it, it's still in their sub-consciousness, and if they say no, then I guess they're not human. Fact is, sex is what moves the world, rocks the boat and makes us wake up in the morning feeling like a million and one dollars.

The fact that Britney Spears sings about sexual experiences on her album, but later says that she didn't write the song or can't really relate to waking up an 'Early Morning' after having a one night stand, might after all be a white lie, because she knows she always wants to leave something left for her audience to carry in their imagination. Point is, if you decide to sing about getting hot and heavy, having a one night stand, and the emotion and experience of masturbation, it's because you're in a stage where you've been there and done that, and anybody who feels like any of this does not make sense, should perhaps investigate a little further into the social patterns of today.

Violins, Middle Eastern Flavors, Asian Sounds and hard beats are heard all across the album. Just hearing the just mentioned sentence would make anybody think I'm talking about artists like Shakira who, has all of the above mentioned in her music. Nevertheless, Britney's album portrays exactly that, but instead, totally Britneyfied. Britneyfication, if you want to call it, the heavy breathing, the signature Britney sounds, the teasing background vocals, well, you know them all.

Britney's 4th album is not by any means groundbreaking, even though it's definitely her best and most complex one so far. Unfortunately, Britney was not given much room to display her vocal abilities, and was swarmed with computer generated 'Electronica' style transitions that are heard on such powerful tracks such as 'Toxic' which talk about one of Britney's latest no-nos, the cigarette, or perhaps, something more.....but I wasn't able to find any track on the album that gave me complete (no half-way) chills, such as for example OIDIA's 'Where Are You Now'.

Nevertheless, this album came packaged differently, it has more of a club feeling. Fans can finally drive on a busy street full of people with their top down or with their windows down, blasting Britney's new album, and you won't have people giving you weird or sad looks, cause guess what ! you're not blasting SodaPop or Oops! I Did It Again anymore !! Woah...what a rush.

'In The Zone' is definitely an album which will become more acceptable to listen to by people that don't usually go out and buy Britney records, as opposed to her first two albums for example, that were pretty much targeted to people who liked just that kind of bubble gum music. It definitely has a more universal feel, it's hip, it's in and it's grabbing the attention of people who would never have imagined they would actually be liking a Britney Spears track. This is more than a good sign for Britney, as she's heading to conquer new audiences, without really having to lose any.

Two of the last tracks on the album, 'Shadow' and 'Everytime' are the only two real ballads on the entire album. I've been pondering about the significance of 'Everytime'. See, on one side it shows true emotions that just need to be put out there, yet it gets sorta downgrading on the other side as it's been put as track 12 (of 13). The track is obviously about the entire breakup with Justin. What I mean is, even though the track carries significance, and should be listened to, the fact that Britney decides to put it as one of the last tracks on the album, also signifies a type of symbolism, showing that it's what she left behind. It's very hard to say which of the two ballads shows more power, but I will definitely go with Everytime, as it embraces the listener more with a piano, and a voice, telling a really sad story.

It's important to listen very very very carefully to what Britney sometimes hints at, because a reporter might ask her a question she doesn't want to respond to, but she will later indirectly hint at the answer to it anyway. Example, she's asked about 'Everytime' and if it's related to Justin, she decides to not really give an answer, making us wonder what's up. Later, she says that she wrote the song in Germany about 2 years ago. Hmm, so let's think, Germany, 2 years ago, oh, promotional tour in Europe for CrossRoads, right after Justin breaks up with her....*ding*...there you go. The fact that Britney loves to leave a lot to our imagination, is a cool marketing trick that keeps her humble and sweet, yet keeps her audience just wanting to know more and more, until she waits for the last minute, and then boom, she says it, or reveals it.

The tracks that stand out the most in the album (besides the first single) are Showdown, Toxic, Breathe on Me, Outrageous, Shadow and Everytime, the rest pretty much show her art which fulfills the album. But the ones I mentioned are what I believe should be potential singles.

The question that many of us have been asking ourselves is.....ok, she did it, 4th album is finally here, now, what's next after this one? I mean, think about it....she's done it all........what's the next era? is there anything else she can actually do to create the media frenzy she always does? The Justin relationship is over, she confessed she was not a virgin, she does not care about being seen smoking, and....she's already taken most of her clothes off for magazines. It's not a joke, for every album that goes by, the harder it is for re-invention, let's face that first and foremost.

The fact that people from all over the world will never get enough of what stands behind the name of Britney Spears, is definitely an understatement. Britney, no matter how much criticism she gets for her lack of vocal talent, has something, that no other artist out there has, let's just call that something 'it'. She's an 'It girl' and that basically means that, she has something about her, that is too hard to explain, and too hard to really see, but what more can you really say than the fact that hey, she's Britney Spears !.

Britney was the first one of her kind, she came out with an image, with a story and with an 'inspiration laser gun' that she went out and used to shoot at millions and millions of female fans that with time would relate to her because of her upbringing, her 'down to earth persona' and her values. Britney hit it so big and was known at first as the girl from the south, a former mouseketeer, who was brought up in a small town, and who had the outmost Christian values in her upbringing. Everybody knew that, everybody saw that, and everybody respected that.

So what happens as time goes by? All of what she originally said and stood for, began to get twisted around....some of the stuff was broken, and all she could say was 'Ohh, I didn't see what the big deal was', obviously knowing how big of a deal it was. But hey, people always wonder what it is about Britney Spears that has given her the power to completely dominate her niche, and it's pretty simple. Reality vs. Fantasy, where and when do you know when something is real, and when something is manufactured, or put out there as an enhancement of reality, which in turn makes it Fantasy? How do you know what to believe, and how do you know whether what you see on TV is really what it truly shows it is? It's intriguing, and it all adds up to the fact that Britney Spears is fascinating, and will always be.

As long as Britney continues to rock on with her persona and image, whether it's going up on stage and doing a number which involves her tearing an outfit apart (public Britney) or showing her more intimate side by crying on Primetime TV or getting emotional over a fan when receiving a poem (private Britney), she will always continue to make people want more, be even more interested, and become even more hooked. And as for the press, who will most likely continue to slander her, well hey, what are you going to do.....no matter WHO YOU ARE, as long as you're at the top wearing an Elvis crown, there's ALWAYS going to be somebody, trying to bring you down, either because they want to be just like you, or because they don't like the control you're getting, or because they simply see you as a threat, it's human nature and dude, that's that.

'In The Zone' displays Britney's maturity showing she's not a girl anymore, but a woman. She is clearly showing that she has nothing to hide anymore and that whatever you thought she wouldn't, she did.

World of Britney.com gives 'In The Zone' 4 out of 5 stars. We're taking one star off simply because we feel that Britney did not fully show her vocal potential on this album, and we hope that in the future, she will.

Britney Spears
In the Zone


our grade
B+
buy the CD!

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Artist / Band: Britney Spears
Record Label: Jive Records
Release Date: November 18, 2003

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our Review:
Finally, a Zone diet you can stomach. As expected, Brit's latest trip has the chart-topping basics: Sean Paul-style dance hall on "The Hook Up," prom piano ballads like "Everytime" and dirty south crunk by way of "(I Got That) Boom Boom," featuring the Ying Yang Twins. And while we weren't feeling her collaboration with Madonna for the lame first single ("Me Against the Music"), Britney really excels by embracing Madge's Ray of Light future-pop style. Tracks like "Breathe on Me," "Touch of My Hand" and the Moby-produced trance number "Early Mornin' " have a seductive shimmer that the belly-baring babe keeps pumped of breathy talk, come-hither groans and other vocal gyrations. Between talking all sexy and stuff and carrying on about hitting the town, Brit proves she has grown up and is quite her own woman now. Better yet, she finally delivers an album that's more fun than filler.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Britney Spears
In the Zone



Jive
Release Date: 11/18/2003

Now quite a woman, a pop superstar feels herself, literally and figuratively
Reviewed by Mim Udovitch


Britney Spears doesn’t have to pretend she’s a virgin anymore, and on her fourth record, she takes full advantage of that freedom. The most loveable and still the biggest former teen-pop superstar almost can’t help making music that is at least in some small way delightful. Though you can’t tell it from the lackluster first single, “Me Against the Music,” featuring her erstwhile makeout partner Madonna, In the Zone has its share of delights.

As Stripped was for Spears’s fellow former Mouseketeer Christina Aguilera, this is a record of personal liberation. Spears has been in the news not only admitting to having sex, but also drinking, smoking, breaking up with Justin Timberlake and possibly hooking up with Fred Durst.

Appropriately, she has made a (literally) heavy-breathing record — the hard-candy, primary-color vocals of …Baby One More Time and Oops!…I Did It Again are rarely heard on these tracks. But when they are — on the Newish Wave “Brave New Girl,” the album’s most explicit declaration of independence — they’re as zesty as ever. For the most part, however, Spears pants, moans and even raps over a smorgasbord of club beats, and there’s absolutely no “oops” about what she’s doing.

Furthermore, there’s nothing ambiguous about what zone she’s in: “I don’t want to be a tease/Undo my zipper, please,” she sings on “Showdown,” one of the record’s numerous lyrical references to her hips, her ass and her low-rise jeans. Spears is growing up, and if she’s a little too abrupt about it in places — “We’re going to the club to get crunk with Britney,” the opening line of “(I Got That) Boom Boom,” featuring the Ying Yang Twins, does not fall naturally on the ear — she does it with style and a lot of dirty giggling.

Two of the best tracks are the ones on which she takes the biggest musical risks. Listening to “Early Mornin’,” an ode to 5 A.M. debauchery produced by electronica chrome-dome Moby, is like calling the Britney phone-sex line without a per-minute charge — a sensuous, swaying beat accentuated by a wash of strings that comes and goes like a slow inhalation. “Outrageous,” an R. Kelly club number, has a hot, odd compulsion and lyrics that are practically big-pimpin’, Spears-style: “Take trips around the globe/Tints on the Jeeps so nobody knows/It’s so hot got ya comin’ out of your clothes.”

Stylistically, In the Zone recalls various stages of Madonna — there’s a hint of “Oh, Father” on the better of the record’s two ballads, “Shadow” (cowritten and produced by Avril Lavigne hitmakers the Matrix), and a little bit of Erotica’s sweaty, layered funk throughout.

As a career move, though, it’s closer to Janet Jackson’s Control — a transition from pop poppet to adult woman, living large and in charge. Because Spears was the biggest teen dream, she was also the one most saddled with the imperative of repeating commercial successes by repeating their formula — an up-tempo pop-and-ballad one-two punch coupled with a safe, coy, generous, videogenic appeal that together made her a superstar, with 26 million sales of her first three albums.

Unlike her parent-friendly past work, this is neither safe nor coy. “Breathe on Me” starts with Spears declaring that she’s halfway there, and concludes with her letting her lover know he doesn’t even have to touch her, he can just (in a reference to Lauren Bacall’s career-making line in the World War II romantic thriller To Have and Have Not) put his lips together and blow. Both “Touch of My Hand” and “Girls and Boys” are about masturbation.

Spears has her hand not only on herself, but also to some extent on the wheel — she has cowriting credits on nine of the record’s 13 tracks, which is, to do some fancy math, nine more than she had on her debut (as well as eight more than on her sophomore effort, and four more than on her previous release). Even more telling, she’s no longer working with producers like Sweden’s Max Martin, the type known for leaving little for the artist to do other than lay down her vocals.

This I’m-coming-out record is an unhesitant move from songs of the heart to songs of the groin, for which “I’m a Slave 4 U,” the first single from her previous release, 2001’s Britney, was a tentative test balloon. The girl who started her career looking up at you from her first album cover with a Crest-fresh smile and her knees together now has her legs open wide — and, on more than one occasion, something all her own between them. You can’t get any more in control than that. No longer a girl, freed from slavery, now fully a woman, she makes a pretty convincing mistress.



Britney Spears
'IN THE ZONE'





Released on Mon 17 Nov 2003
Label : Jive
Britney Spears artist area


In about a hundred years, some academic genius will write a dispassionate and wildly intelligent analysis of the late 20th and early 21st century which recognises the vital importance that pop music - the most inventive and creative art form of that time - played. And in this book there will be a chapter entitled, simply, 'Britney Spears - why?'

It will begin with acknowledging the brilliance of 'Oops! I Did It Again', a wonderfully clever song, and compliment its charming (though disturbing) twin, 'Baby, One More Time'. It will also recognise the fact that, in pop, vocal talent was not considered essential for success, though Britney's asthmatic-with-emphysema technique was uniquely horrible.

Then the writer will turn to the hit album 'In The Zone', and explore it as a metaphor for creative bankruptcy, quite the most lifeless and unloved record to be released by an artist of Spears' global stature. It will question why even one solitary individual purchased this insult to pop, when the same funds could easily have purchased tATu, Eminem or even Kylie.

There will be a fascinating discussion of whether Madonna's appearance on the brilliantly titled but deeply dreary 'Me Against The Music' was a postmodern prank designed to make all sane listeners think "actually, 'American Life' was pretty good, after all".

The book will explore the fact that while her ex was effortlessly making pop music sound as essential as oxygen, Spears produced an album that made the listener ache with the sheer toil and furrowed-brow hard work of it all. Exotic Indian strings, 'urban' raps, dirrty words - the sound of an artist flailing for credibility and failing resoundingly.

Turning to the inevitable subject of sex, the writer will question how Spears deluded the world into finding her simpering little girl act attractive. On the evidence of the coy, affected ode to masturbation, 'Touch Of My Hand', Spears has the sexual charisma of a cauliflower. As for the erotic-as-genital-warts 'Outrageous', with its cheap, tinny production - it would take a rather senile and unworldly old lady in Tonbridge Wells to find this even diverting, let alone shocking.

In the name of fairness, it will be noted that 'Toxic' and 'Showdown' could well have been good pop songs in the hands of any other singer than Spears. However, this is scant reward from a production team that includes Moby, R Kelly and Guy Sigsworth, and suggests that these three thought very little of Spears' talents.

The kind conclusion will remind the reader that Spears was very young at the time, and clearly working in a field where she had absolutely no talent or instinct. She isn't to blame for trying her luck. It's the world that indulged her folly who were the fools.


BRITNEY SPEARS
Album Title: In the Zone
Producer(s): various
Label/Catalog Number: Jive 82876-53748
Release Date: Nov. 18
Source: Billboard Magazine
Originally Reviewed: November 29, 2003


Ms. Spears has been causing quite a commotion in the media of late. She wants the world to know what it feels like for a girl (in the spotlight) who is entering womanhood. Simply put, Spears, 21, wants nothing more than the freedom to express herself. "In the Zone" is Spears doing just that. Certainly the singer's most grown-up recording, the dance/electronic-leaning collection is a cross between Madonna and Kylie Minogue—at their most sexy. In the hot "Showdown," Spears sings, "I'll let you touch me if you want/I see your body rise, rise." Consider this Spears' own version of the Zone diet. Other choice cuts include the scorching dancefloor jam "Breathe on Me," the woozy "Early Mornin' " and the tender "Everytime." Tracks like "Shadow" and "The Hook Up" do not fare as well. Still, "In the Zone" hits more than it misses.—MP

THE ROLLING STONE REVIEW






Say goodbye to Britney the virginal tease, and say hello, bay-bee, to Britney the freakazoid. None of that "not yet a woman" stuff this time around. There's no question that Spears wants In the Zone to be erogenous, so she lays on the heavy breathing and offers herself for hookups on and off the dance floor. Madonna shows up in the album's first song, "Me Against the Music," as if endorsing Spears' foray into come-hither posing and club-land beats. Nearly every song on In the Zone is a brittle, programmed rhythm track. This time, Spears promises to follow through on her come-ons: "I'll let you touch me if you want," she husks in the clever pop-dancehall "Showdown."
High-risk behavior is fine with Spears. In "Brave New Girl," she borrows Madonna's "Material Girl" to praise a girl who goes out to get picked up. Spears succumbs to sexy guys in "The Hook Up," "Breathe on Me," "(I Got That) Boom Boom" and "Early Mornin'," which has throbbing Moby production. And if there's no lover available, there's always "Touch of My Hand," an ode to masturbation.

But the harder Spears tries to be Madonna or Janet Jackson, the less convincing she is. Her voice is so processed, its physicality almost disappears. R. Kelly can't resist mocking her in his "Outrageous," letting her boast about "my sex drive" and "my shopping sprees" with equal emphasis. In the Zone offers strip-club, 1-900 sex, accommodating and hollow. Beyond the glittering beats, Spears sounds about as intimate as a blowup doll.

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