If Britney Spears’ media saturation was any indication, we were in for something good.
Six magazine covers in less than two months. MTV and VH1 specials. A gig hosting “Saturday Night Live” and an upcoming interview with Diane Sawyer. Impromptu strip shows (all the way down to her red-sequined bra!) and, of course, The Kiss. The Lucky girl was back from her “hiatus” – and how.
If hype equals quality, then In The Zone, Britney’s fourth album released Nov. 17, should have been a flawless example of pop perfection.
Unfortunately, such is not the case. In The Zone capitalizes on the 22-year-old (just-turned this Tuesday!) superstar’s phenomenal sex appeal and market-savviness. But it just misses the mark on what Britney and her publicists hoped for – a sure step from the world of teenyboppers into the world of club goers and party girls.
There are certainly enjoyable moments of pure, Sweet Tart sugary goodness (think “Hit Me Baby One More Time”) and new, experimental sex-appeal (á la “Slave 4 U”). No one would deny this effort far surpasses Britney’s poor attempt at thoughtfulness – 2001’s self-titled Britney. That album, which was saved only by the aforementioned beats of “Slave 4 U” and few other glimpses of artistry, claimed to be the pop tart’s first, if tentative, step into adulthood.
In The Zone feels like it’s a better fit for that classification. Enlisting the help of mogul producers such as Matrix (who helped launch everyone’s favorite anti-Britney, Avril Lavigne), R. Kelly and Moby, Britney explores uncharted territory on several tracks. The album is full of dance beats, scandalous lyrics and unexpected collaborations.
At some points, you might even call the album unique. After “Early Mornin” – a pulsing ode to hangovers (“Passed out on the couch at dawn”) that Moby helped put together – “Toxic” bursts in with screeching, dramatic violins. This track, one of the best of 14, feels like it’s made for Britney with its catchy chorus and sexy strings.
On “Touch of My Hand,” Britney – who kept people on the edge of their seats for years speculating about the state of her virginity – extols the wonders of self-pleasure.
She giggles when asked about the song in interviews, but the song seems to be a better version of “Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman” from Britney. “I’ve just discovered / imagination’s taking over / Another day without a lover / the more I come to understand the touch of my hand,” she croons, making sure people remember that this young girl is just coming into her own as a sexual creature. (If this is just the beginning, what could possibly come next? – which is the same question people once asked Madonna.)
But the sugar-high strip show isn’t consistent throughout. Some lyrics are truly outrageous – like those on the R. Kelly track of the same name. On “Outrageous,” Britney sings about “jumping over the drama” (presumably she refers to J-Tims) and relishing her outrageous “sexy jeans,” “sex drive” and “shopping spree.” All against a background that draws significantly on Middle Eastern notes and rhythms.
While this Britney fanatic wishes the song was meant to drip with irony, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
The two ballads on the disc are lyrically lacking. “Maybe I had just a glimpse of your soul / Or was that your shadow I saw on the wall?” she asks. The synthesizers behind her voice do nothing to elicit the emotion that her voice (which she recently admitted was inferior to some other performers, namely fellow-phenom Christina Aguilera) fails to produce.
“Everytime” is her less-effective answer to Justin’s ultimate breakup song, “Cry Me a River.” It sounds like she just wants to get her two cents in when she laments, “My weakness caused you pain.”
The media hoopla was certainly not unwarranted. In the Zone is a valiant – and at times, successful – attempt to make waves and tread new waters. And certainly, having the world’s top pop authority (who made her name more by pushing the envelope than by massaging her vocal chords) in her corner can’t help Britney. She should take Madonna’s advice on the radio-happy “Me Against the Music” and lose control.
She’s much more interesting when she does.
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