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Date Posted: 18:30:53 10/09/03 Thu
Author: zonedout
Subject: Re: Britney Album info
In reply to: RJ 's message, "Re: Britney Album info" on 18:09:32 10/07/03 Tue

>Britney Inside Out

Derek Malcolm
Inside Entertainment


Thursday, October 09, 2003


I've never owned a Britney Spears album, never downloaded any of her songs and once I swiftly vacated a happening Toronto club when a Britney lip-sync contest broke out. So why, as I reach across the table and shake her hand before our interview, has my heart-rate just shot up?

It might have something to do with the August issue of W magazine, the one with page after page of sculpted Britney midriff, lacy bras and spandex. Or perhaps it's the girl-gone-wild rumours of cigarettes and alcohol, parties, Farrells and Dursts. Or maybe it's the 26 million albums she's sold, or the fact that she slipped Madonna the tongue on network television creating the sort of global hoopla that even MTV can only dream of. Or maybe it's because, love her or hate her, she ranks among the world's biggest superstars.

I tried not to think of these things when we sat down at the Trump Hotel in midtown Manhattan to discuss womanhood, being a role model and her edgier, steamier, new album, In The Zone, due to hit the streets November 18. When it does, this, her fourth outing, has a lot riding on it to be the disc that will pop the bubblegum image Spears seems so ready to move past.

"I wanted to do something that was moody and vibey and just really different for me," Spears says settling into her chair. Even though she's called on everyone from Moby and P. Diddy to Atlanta hip hoppers RedZone and Avril Lavigne's song chemists the Matrix to assist with production and writing duties, Spears insists that this time around she has a firmer grip on the controls.

"I think recording this record I really had a lot of time to do what I wanted to do," Spears says in her honeyed Louisiana accent. "I'm not really influenced that much by other people anymore and I kind of stick to my guns. I used to be kind of naïve about a lot of things and I think now I'm more aware."

Spears also admits to feeling a heightened level of comfort making this disc. "On other [albums], I mean, I had control, but it was such a fast process… I really wanted to pick and choose the tracks that I wanted, and have four or five different options and take two days to write some songs if I wanted to, you know?"

The result is a melodic collection of thumping, out-on-a-bender pop, filled with erotic innuendos, suggestive heavy breathing and perhaps a glimpse into the 21-year-old's 'party phase' last year. The album's first single, "Me Against the Music," is full of surprises -- it features a rap segment and has Spears reteaming with, you guessed it, Madonna.

The RedZone-produced song's tongue-twisting, aggressive 'take on the beat' lyrics have a Barenaked Ladies "One Week" feel to them, but without the cheese. "[The song's] about being in a club and losing yourself and being against the music and just having a good time," she says of the dance club anthem. One of seven songs on the 13-track album cowritten by Spears, "Me Against the World," is scheduled to make its video début on MuchMusic mid-October.

Wild club nights seem tame compared to her bold salute to self-gratification, "Touch of My Hand." Its dark, driving beat lends itself well to the behind closed doors,
what-a-girl's-gotta-do reaction to being single. The title says it all really.

Having cited Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey as major influences on earlier albums, Spears now tips her hat to such disparate muses as Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani and Madonna, who's airy "Erotica" gets a tap on the shoulder in the lusty "Breathe On Me." Lopez producers Bloodshy & Avant add a little Latin spice with the catchy "Showdown," where Spears, begging to be "unzipped," praises the wanton benefits of patching a lovers' quarrel. "Oh, yeah," she whispers. "That song's about… make-up sex."

On the uptempo, string-laden "Toxic," one of Spears's favourites, she sings of an addiction to a "toxic" lover. When asked about the provocative title, she coyly suggests that, "sometimes when you're in love with someone you get addicted to them." Result? "The relationship ended up not lasting."

Not only did the big MTV kiss accelerate the pulses of several million viewers, it left many wondering if Spears, comfortably nestled under Madonna's wing, will follow in the former Material Girl's footsteps as she continues to explore and express her newfound sexuality. "She's just an inspiring lady to be around," says Spears, sporting the red Kabbalah bracelet that Madonna gave her, of her mentor. "Usually, if you're going to meet a celebrity, you don't want to because you don't want to be disappointed, but I was like genuinely inspired when I was with her. I respect the fact that she's been able to reinvent herself all the time, you know?"

Spears' metamorphosis into a sexually aggressive adult is echoed in such songs as the sultry "Outrageous." If the comparatively mild "I'm a Slave 4 U" from 2001's Britney is any indication, one can only imagine the video for the R. Kelly-penned track as Spears purrs suggestively that her partner not quit on her because she's almost "there."

And what would a party-all-night album be without a hangover song? Moby describes "Early Mornin'," his collaboration with Spears, as "brooding," "atmospheric" and "sexy." Spears herself is a little less subtle: "It's about going out at night and feeling like s**t the next day," she told Rolling Stone.

The Sunday we're spending together just might be one of those days. As we sit in her hotel suite overlooking Central Park, Spears is feeling a little under the weather. She's arrived for our interview in her pyjamas (actually a long, pink nightshirt over jeans) and pink flip-flops. Her hair and makeup are done and she has a shock of orange streaking through her blonde locks. As we chat, her southern drawl is so soft I have to edge my recorder ever closer. Taking in her still-not-quite-a-woman cuteness, it becomes clear to me the huge difference between Britney Spears the "corruptible schoolgirl," the sex symbol, the international headliner, and Britney Spears the shy, 21-year-old former Mouseketeer, whose fantasy date is the same as most girls her age -- "Brad Pitt taking me to the movies and eating hot dogs, and then coming back to the hotel… and then a kiss," she sighs.

So how does she think she's changed since "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman"? "I think it's whatever your definition of what a woman is," Spears muses. "[You] probably know yourself a little better and it's a time where you feel very comfortable in your skin, you're ready to have kids and -- I think I have a little bit more growing up to do before I get there."

The differences in Spears in and out of the studio aren't lost on her colleagues. As Jive Records president Barry Weiss told W magazine, "Britney's a good girl but when the mike comes on in the studio she becomes a vixen. Music literally transforms her. It's a wild thing to watch." Nor is Spears herself unaware of the transformation. She's been a born performer ever since she sang "What Child Is This" in church when she was four.

Her live act has evolved a tad since then to include heaps of pyro, dozens of costume changes, smoothly choreographed dance numbers and, of course, miles of well-toned midriff. "I think that when I'm on stage I can use that time to express myself and that's the mood I'm in," Spears says. "I see all these people and I feel like being -- Yeah! you know? It's like you see a football player and they just feel like they can conquer the world. It's just a cool feeling."

The new album has already garnered some street cred from the likes of P.Diddy, who collaborated on the track "Brave New Girl." "As a performer, as an artist, as a songwriter, she ain't no slouch," Puffy told MTV. "She's being a trendsetter. She has many styles. You don't know how she's going to come and hit you next." And as the new album gets set to hit stores, Spears (who boldly avers, "I'm fearless") is ready to rise to the ultimate teen idol challenge of attracting a more grownup audience.

Ultimately, though, pop's foremost crowd-pleaser insists, "I'm not responsible for anybody, I'm not responsible for being a role model, only for my sister, you know? I just have to stay true to myself and do what's right for me and that way I think you get more respect. Everything will just fall into place if you do that. Hopefully."

© Copyright 2003 Inside Entertainment

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