Ringleader, Celebrity or Queen, Britney's Back for Real This Time

Finals week and a failing computer made blogging damn near impossible last week, but fear not. I plan to make up for it this week, with at least one post tonight, and more coming in the next few days. Now, to my much-delayed review of Circus, Britney Spears' much anticipated second comeback record in as many years.

After leaving listeners scratching their heads with last years rushed, overproduced Blackout, Spears returns with the record she should have come back with. Circus is an honest, enjoyable listen that proves that Britney still has some talent lying around someplace. First single "Womanizer" is unabashedly fun and a return to the sex-driven pop that made Spears famous a decade ago. Circus looks, sounds and feels like what we should be expecting from a now 27-year-old pop princess of yore. The music is still brilliantly catchy, alluring to men and women alike (for varying reasons, mind you), and yet, you can still catch glimpses of how weary Spears is from the last few years. The token ballad "Out From Under" would fit in just as well on any previous Spears record, and "My Baby", an obvious tribute to her children, may not fit in with the rest of the album quite so nicely, but its no fault of Britney since its just as powerful a song.

That said, the album shines brightest when its fast and club-ready. The title track is the kind of song that proves folks like Avril Lavigne and the interminable Katy Perry owe us an apology for half-assing it. Likewise the already controversial "If U Seek Amy" (say that title very fast) probably has Lavigne and Perry cursing their songwriters for not coming up with something so brilliant and so raunchy first. All of the latent sex appeal that made Spears such a hot topic 10 years ago comes out of hiding on Circus as she stops giving a damn what critics and parents might say; she is one now, and she's just fine with what she's doing, thank you very much.

Overall Britney Spears delivers a shining moment in pop music in a year that's been marred with a bunch of would-be's trying to take her place. Katy Perry was just keeping the throne warm for a little bit, and Spears takes her place once more. Long live the queen.

Final Score: 8/10
Britney Spears - Circus

Back later this week with a much more timely review of the new Fall Out Boy record, plus my take on last week's GRAMMY nominations.

==TJ==