When Britney Spears first arrived on the music scene in 1998, her debut album, Baby…One More Time was a hit. 3 years later, she released her self-titled third album, Britney, in 2001. The album is full of catchy pop songs and hot dance tracks (thanks to The Neptunes), and is an pretty good album overall.
Spears collaborated with producers, The Neptunes on dance track, I’m A Slave 4 U, which was also the first single off the album. I love the beat on this song. Spears’ vocals are a bit whiny (as they usually are), but the song is fun to sing along with and is the perfect song to dance to. In Overprotected, Spears is frustrated with people who are treating her like a child. The song starts off with Spears singing, “Say hello to the girl that I am/ You’re gonna have to see through my perspective/I need to make mistakes, just to learn who I am/And I don’t wanna be so damn protected.” The sound is more edgier than some of her previous songs, and that makes it one of my favourite tracks on the album.
Lonely sounds like it would’ve came off of Janet Jackson’s Velvet Rope album. Anyway, this track isn’t one of the best, but it’s OK. It has a edgy, rock/pop sound to it, and Spears even curses (well, it’s blurred out, but still!). I don’t like I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman. First of all, the title is sooooo long, and that annoys me. Second, it’s a ballad, and Spears’ ballads are usually pretty bad. I’m sorry to say this, but girl can’t really sing. And her voice is better suited for fast, up-tempo tracks, but in a ballad, it’s more obvious that she can’t really sing, and then the whole song sorta sucks. Besides Spears’ lack of vocal talent, I just don’t like this song. It’s a sappy track about growing up, and it’s sweet and all, but just really, really boring.
Boys is another Neptunes-produced track, and I like this one too. Again, the beat (which consists of rhythmic clapping) is awesome, and this is another great dance track. Spears goes “sexy” on this song as she sings about meeting a boy in a club, and “gettin’ nasty”. One of the best tracks on the album. Anticipating reminds me of something that would be on Janet Jackson’s All For You album. Am I seeing a theme here? Maybe it’s Janet and not Madonna, that Spears is trying to emulate. Anyway, this is a breezy track about a night out with the girls. I wouldn’t say that I really like this song, but I wouldn’t skip it either, so my feelings about it are pretty neutral.
On every Spears Spears album (and yes, I own them all. Stop laughing) there is at least one remake. I don’t know why the remakes are included on every album- because Spears usually does no justice to the original- but I Love Rock N’ Roll is probably the best remake she’s done. Of course, nothing can compare to Joan Jett’s original version, but Spears’ isn’t half bad. Amazingly enough, it’s the lyrics that I like about Let Me Be. Spears’ songs usually don’t have profound, or even very interesting lyrics, but this song is an exception. My favourite lyrics here are, “You try to read me/You try to figure out/You try to breath me/But you can’t blow me out.” Spears even co-wrote this track (she also had a hand in writing Lonely, Anticipating, Cinderella, and That’s Where You Take Me).
On the other hand, Cinderella SUCKS. It’s not as bad as Bombastic Love (more on that later), but it’s pretty bad. I’m not sure if it’s the horrible lyrics (which are so bad, that I refuse to type them), or the music, but this song is bad. Producers Max Martin and Rami can be blamed for this mess. Speaking of which, Bombastic Love (or as I like to call it, One Of The Worst Songs I’ve Ever Heard In The History Of Pop Music -yeah..it’s really that bad!) is an atrocity. The title (“Bombastic Love”- what the hell?), the lyrics, the music- it all SUCKS. This song doesn’t even make any logical sense….it gives me a headache to even think about it. I want to meet Max Martin and Rami just so I can slap the sh*t out of them for making this piece of crap. I don’t understand- they produce the majority of pop music that we hear on the radio, and sometimes it’s good, and other times it’s just CRAP, like this song.
That’s Where You Take Me is a mid-tempo track, about some amazing guy that Spears is in love with. Since she co-wrote this song, I guess she was thinking about Justin Timberlake. Awww. (Of course, this song was made when they were still together).
The album ends with What It’s Like To Be Me. Wade Robson and Justin Timberlake team up again for this track (they also collaborated on several tracks for *NSYNC’s album, Celebrity). It actually sounds like a track that’d be on Celebrity, and since I love that album, that’s a good thing. This song is pretty good- Timberlake even beat-boxes towards the end.
While I love Britney Spears, I don’t love this album. Britney has its good moments, but there are a lot more subpar and flat-out awful moments that make it an uneven album. Maybe her next release will be a bit better.
Rating: 
Track List
1. I’m a Slave 4 U
2. Overprotected
3. Lonely
4. I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman
5. Boys
6. Anticipating
7. I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll
8. Cinderella
9. Let Me Be
10. Bombastic Love
11. That’s Where You Take Me
12. What It’s Like to Be Me
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzybwwf2HoQ]
*This is a brittpinkie “classic” review. I have edited this review for content and formatting, though retained my original opinion of the product.