This is the remix : Britney releases a surge of remixes

So, in Britland...after the release of her critically praised "Femme Fatale," Britney Spears is riding high on its success and doing things that um, SHE NEVER DOES. Such as teaming up with other female artists and doing features. In the day age of the collabo, Spears has rarely done features and this spring we've got two big releases.

First up the remix of "S&M" with Rihanna. When this came out, RiRi fans and Brit Brit fans well, their heads basically exploded.





Initially Brit Brit received a scathing attack for her "nasally" vocals in which haters basically decried "She sounds like Tommy Pickles!"

Okay she does a bit. But, her voice has always been paper thin with a touch of Southern drawl, does anyone else remember how "Hit me one more time.." sounded like?
Coupled with the fact that the producer of this remix seemed to autotune her vocals so much, it's kinda like what they didn't think she could handle singing her parts? Because Rihanna's vocals in comparison are overtly loud.

I've never been a fan of "S&M" because the jarring "na na na come on" felt too much like a battle cry that someone would use to wake you up. "SOLDIERS NA NA NA COME ON!" It was too much for me. The good thing about this remix is that, I do find Britney's little girl vocals to sort of not add to the craziness of the song. The production of this song is everywhere, I'm suprised they didn't add cowbell. It also needs to say that this song really does showcase that Rihanna has some vocal delivery even I'm not a fan of her music. The lyrics to "S&M" still remain largely too me waaay too simplistic for a subject matter like this, but hey that's pop music for you.

Thus bringing us to the other "WTF IS GOING ON?" moment, Britney teamed up with It-girls of the moment Nicki Minaj and Ke$ha. Like OMG. WTF.



Before I jump into this review, I want to state that both covers of these singles are absolutely terrible. Absolutely. What the hell????
You can autotune but you can't photoshop??


ANYWAYS...

I personally loved the original "Til the World Ends" I thought it sounded very now, very urgent and immediate. Britney's vocal sound good, like she actually didn't phone them in (hurr hurr). So, I had some lukewarm feelings once I heard about the remix specifically because I thought BOTH Nicki Minaj and Ke$ha would be too much in the production mix. You know like that old saying too many chefs in the kitchen? Too many pop darlings in the studio?> ***crickets**

I digress, the remix is VERY good. Nicki Minaj has dropped most of her annoying vocal pyrotechnics and did a straight flow. You have to wonder who she's dissing in her rap as the rap has nothing to do with a. dancing until the world ends. Basically it's an "OMG IM DOING A RAP FOR BRITNEY SPEARS DIE!!!!" ...sort of things.

Interestingly, Ke$ha's vocal involvement is pretty low. YAY. I mean, Oh. She's relegating to singing the hook which to me was a very smart move on the behalf of Dr.Luke (her producer by the way). So minimizing her to singing the hook worked out pretty well as you only get a smidgeon of Ke$ha's stop-rap vocal interaction and it sets it up for Britney to do basically the only singing in the song. The remix is a bit break down, heavier construction of the earlier version. This, was another wise move by Dr.Luke instead of hitting listeners with not only three different vocal acts, he basically slowed it down to give each a chance to live in the song as opposed to you know, a screaming match. You know how divas can get.

Both singles are good for dance clubs, but, Im going to give "Til the World Ends" the stamp of approval. Wise choices, cool handed Dr.Luke.