The BRITNEY review

Over here at Shennantics, let me prep you: We are on Team Britney.

Back when she was suffering from the basic non-stop harassment of the paparazzi, we believed that Britney would one day, and that one day would come, that she would be on the top of her game.

Fast forward through the dark sexy pop of "Blackout," and the immediate perfection of "Circus" with it's paranoia sheen, we get to Britney's post-comeback album: Femme Fatale.

Femme Fatale, is Spears seventh studio album and it was majorly hyped up by cryptic tweets of who would be producing it, to teaser videos for the flagship single for the insanely catchy "Hold It Against Me."

And now, Spears has finally given fans the manic "Femme Fatale." With producers Max Martin (longtime producer), Dr.Luke (Ke$ha) and Will.I.Am, its kinda obvious that the princess of pop has picked the who's who making club pop for this generation.

Is this a bad thing?
Christina explored a similar tactic on last year's quick fizzle "Bionic" and it was a mess. However, Britney is not Christina and I don't get why the two were EVER compared. Christina is an amazing vocal performer, but if you want sexed up entertainment with purring ...you go to Britney.

The reason why Christina's "Bionic" may have flunked was because Christina's voice is a little too strong to be digitally hacked into pieces without leaving a sour sound on the ears. Britney has never been praised for her vocal prowess, in fact, she's got a thin register, but despite its thinness, Britney's southern "oh bay buh bay buh" is now part of pop culture. On "Femme Fatale" Britney's thin voice is gleefully bleeped, slowed down, sped up to almost incomprehensible effects. But it works.

The album preys on the claustophobic production of today's dance pop. "Hold It Against Me," is almost threatening with it's jackhammer synth. "Til the World Ends," is a better Ke$ha then Ke$sha. The album explores what's hot in the dance world, even as Britney delivers perhaps one of the best songs on Femme Fatale the slow and choppy "Inside Out," or the addictive "Gasoline."

Yet, Britney doesnt stumble on Femme Fatale, its her producers. With a voice that is basically primed for anything some of the production choices are questionable. Will.I.Am's "Big Fat Bass," would have been almost perfect had the Black Eyed Peas frontman and avid supporter of destroying things had not participated in an uninspired dumb rap. It's almost as if he rapped just for the promotional gimmmick.

Then, as the album closes we're treated to the odd Ren Faire inspired "Criminal." It sounds way too contrived to be delicate, and Britney's sex kitten vocals don't really help the song. She can do a ballad, this isn't one of them.

Yet for a couple of mistakes here and there, "Femme Fatale" is almost flawless as a pop album. It's catchy. Upbeat. Uptempo. Full of neutral lyrics, sexed up lyrics, questionable puns. Best of all, it's built on what Britney is pushing nowadays the Britney brand.