The Ryan Thomas Collection

December kicked off with Britney’s week of media dominance. Releasing a new album, new music video and tickets to her new world tour, Britney and her team left no stone unturned in capturing the attention of the country, and world, at that.

MTV broadcasted an hour and half documentary, “Britney: For the Record,” that followed Britney through September to November, working towards the release of her new album. The documentary proved to be rather candid and although Britney seems to accept the mistakes of her past, she did little to show that she is actually an intelligent leader of her team, and is indeed a puppet to her masters, including her father and her record label. Witnessing this documentary, one gets the perception that Britney stopped mentally developing when she gained her fame. She says she has grown up a lot in the past year, but the maturity of a world traveled, mother of two with enormous success has dared to display itself to the public. The interpretation here is that the crazy behavior witnessed in the past years is a result of her inability to mature past the age of 16, dealing with problems in life in ways a rebellious teenager would rather than a 26 year old, mother of two.

Another issue on the table here is the rapid release of this “comeback” album entitled CIRCUS. The album, released Dec 2nd, Britney’s 27th birthday, comes on the heels of her last album, BLACKOUT, released just over a year ago. This rapid succession of album releases has left the public little time to digest the previous album, let alone take in a new look. This “comeback” seems to be too much, too soon and a coerced act by either Britney’s record label or her father in attempt to keep her busy.

Evidence that this album, and now world tour, is coming too quick can be seen and heard in CIRCUS and its accompanying videos. The songs that fill the album lack a cohesiveness. With a heavily themed idea such as a circus, which inspires the album art and the second single’s video (which is for the title track, “Circus”), we don’t see it infiltrating a majority of the tracks. To have a single and an album utilizing such a strong theme, visions of a demented circus theme in the songs takes to mind. This can be seen in Britney’s latest video, but leaves the video for “Womanizer” out of line with the theme of the album. The latest live performances of Britney have the circus theme in full action, including her performance of “Womanizer” at the Bambi Awards in Germany. The fact that the video for “Womanizer” is as far from a circus as possible, it seems like there was a rush to get Britney in the public eye before a cohesive theme could be drawn. In sum, Christina Aguilera’s Back to Basics album and accompanying videos should have been used as a model for this album.

Musically, CIRCUS provides twelve tracks (minus the inclusion of “Radar”) worth of solid pop. Creatively, the album does not provide the usual sense of progress or change we have seen in Britney’s previous albums, including BLACKOUT. The fact that the track, “Radar,” made a mysterious second appearance on this new album shows the lack in progress and the quick rush to release a new album. “Radar” sits comfortably on both albums, which is the problem for a pop artist like Britney who should be keeping things a bit more fresh. CIRCUS could be considered a mild version of BLACKOUT. Simply having a song like “If You Seek Amy,” which has been pointed out it sounds like “F. U. C. K. ” when sung in the song, does not make the album “edgier.” It cheapens the album. After the year that we’ve all witnessed Britney make her way through, I’d expect an album with a bit more depth and bite to it. Had she waited one more year, the chances of that would have been increased. In the meantime, the solid hits of “Womanizer” and “Circus” shall suffice.

The lesson to be learned here is that doing it right is worth the wait and I would have preferred to wait another year for a more solid album, with a well thought out release. In the end, I bought a ticket to see her concert in April, so I guess you can keep a girl out of Louisiana, but you can’t keep a gay guy out of a dramatic circus production!

Popularity: 12% [?]

Politics have been flooding the news and this site. It’s time to take a break, sit back and just indulge in the fun that the pop world can provide. It is what it’s there for, right?

Britney Spears has embarked on her mission to reinvent herself as the not so crazy pop megastar she once was about four years ago, depending on who you talk to. I pinpoint her downward slope beginning when she hurt her knee during the filming of the “Outrageous” video.  It onslaught is irrelevant now. The important thing is that the end looks like it is in sight.

The latest music video added to Britney’s archive is for her latest single “Womanizer,” off her soon to be released album, “Circus.” The premiere was on Friday on 20/20 of all shows, with a disclaimer that the video may be inappropriate for some ages. There is nothing extremely provocative in the video to substantiate that for a 20/20 audience. The video presents images of a fit, healthy and vibrant Britney. Take a look at the video now and read the critique below:

“Blackout,” Britney’s last album, was released at the height of her erratic behavior. The behavior the world witnessed devalued the content of the album. The music now goes underrated, as the album is actually a great pop album, fitting comfortably in her discography, if not surpassing some other releases. However, we all know that “Video Killed the Radio Star,” and thus Britney’s music videos suffered for ”Blackout.” Do not be deceived by Britney’s wins at the MTV Video Awards last month. These wins were simply industry alliances working together to promote her new image and increase ratings for the award show. All can agree the video for “Piece of Me” is far from the grandeur witnessed in videos such as ”Toxic,” “Slave for You,” and “Stronger.” 

The music video for “Womanizer” will hopefully prove to set the tone for this new album and Britney’s efforts surrounding it, ala future videos, appearances and perhaps, a tour. Scenes of Britney naked in the sauna flicker with close up shots that show a Britney who is ready to go again. The dance moves in the office scenes are sharper than those scene in Britney’s less than satisfying “Gimme More” live performance. Viewers can see she is taking a sense of ownership in her latest video. The action moving the film along is reminescent of “Toxic,” ironically, her last exceptional video.

The fact that Britney is actually highly present, active and dancing in the video should hopefully prove that she is back on her career track, re-engaged and ready to go. Looking back on videos for “Piece of Me” or “Break the Ice” (a cartoon) off the “Blackout” album, we witnessed simplicity and simple production. Often there were points where viewers had to wonder if there were body doubles or computer generated images. The “Womanizer” video, on the other hand, is Britney doing what she does best, captivating audiences visually for something other than a tragic personal display with Starbucks/Cheetos in her hand.

The “Womanizer” video is rather clever in its use of imagery supporting the theme of the song, that being a womanizing man. No surprise. A good portion of the video are various scenarios where the female character is subservient to the male position, whether it be in the office or a server of the restaurant. These scenes set up a male character that holds traditional roles of hypermasculinity, a sense of entitlement over women; roles of power over women or simply using women.

The last fourth of the video changes course and actually objectifies the male character visually, which is still rarely done in modern media. The male character is placed as the subject of lust, as seen in the stills . Close ups of the male physique and people grabbing at him in an advantageous way, rather than a worshipping manner, push the male character into this objectified role. Women have typically been placed as the subject of lust in cinema and even television. Therefore, the male character is pushed into a traditionally feminine role.

These images pushing the male into the subject of lust are also intermixed with shots of Britney in the nude touching her body in the same manner we see the male touching himself. The montage of images asks the viewer to place both characters on equal standing. This can be seen in the last shot in the sequence to the side. Both characters of the film are nude, and subjects of lust. Do note that the male seems to have a more revealing placement in the shot, maintaining his new role in the video.

The conclusion of the video shows a sexual Britney taking on the final dominating role of three women grabbing at the male, fear in his eyes. He is the object at their will and he loses. Placing the male in this role does not happen enough in pop culture. Typically this imagery is seen within products of gay culture, which brings the question; is Britney asking for the gay vote of approval with this new video? Every diva falls and brings herself back up by definition. However, if the gay population doesn’t support the revival, can she be revived? I’m not ready to provide a vote of approval, but I will provide a vote of confidence.

Popularity: 9% [?]