Britney Spears Gets The ‘Glory’

Some Britney Spears pundits are calling her latest release, Glory, a comeback. However, it’s barely been three years since the release of her warmly received Britney Jean. Glory’s first week sales totaled 111,000 units (88,000 in traditional album sales), which earned her the No. 3 spot on this week’s Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart.  At 33 years old, Britney Spears has a pretty hefty discography but none of her albums have ever reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart. On Glory, she seems confidently sexy and cool. She really has nothing to prove at this point in her career. Well, then again, she may need to brush up on her next televised award show performance (see her 2016 VMAs set).

Songs like the kinky “Private Show” and the seductive “Invitation” proves that Britney clearly has one thing at the forefront of her mind. Sex. The lead single, “Make Me” finds her subdued than usual, yet still hot and bothered. She took a page from Janet Jackson’s book from her All For You album, when she first started doing a lot of those slow songs with low singing. Britney Spears is not one of the best singers, but she has found comfort-ability with her voice on Glory. Songs like “Clumsy” prove she hasn’t completely abandoned the bubble gum pop that made her famous.

Perhaps she’s living out teenage girl fantasies on the funky, guitar driven “Do You Wanna Come Over?” and the Caribbean inspired “Slumber Party”. Somehow, it works extremely well for her. The comical and cheesy “Just Like Me” sounds like a Gwen Stefani song gone bad. In fact, a good piece of the album has a bit of her flare woven in. Overall, the album isn’t bad. In fact, it’s many of the songs are actually enjoyable. “Change Your Mind (No Seas Cortes)”, for instance, gives her a more Latin inspired sound that actually suits her well. She obviously pushed the boundaries with her familiar sound here and stretched it. After all, she’s been doing it again and again for over 15 years now.

Also, here are 5 Britney Spears songs that we all love, but may be too afraid to admit.

5. Perfume:

This was arguably the biggest hit from Britney Jean. “Perfume” is also one of the most lyrically dense songs she’s ever released (“I wait for you to call/I try to act natural… I’ll never tell on myself/But I hope she smells my perfume”).  Her honest vulnerability and catchy hook was a breath of fresh air from her former pop hits.

4. If You Seek Amy

Yep, this song had nothing to do about seeking Amy. This is one of the many instances where Britney slammed her haters. “If You Seek Amy” was a blatant declaration that she didn’t care what other people thought about her. So clever and so dirty. You know you love it.

3. Womanizer

“Womanizer”, the runaway hit from Circus, found Britney Spears as more defiant than we had previously heard before. She calls out a guy that she knows is a bit of a player. Somehow, she managed an intriguing juggling act of being an astute, fierce and cocky woman all in one breath.

2. I’m A Slave 4 U

This Neptunes produced track was originally intended for Janet Jackson. She turned the song down and it became one of the biggest hits of Britney Spears’s career. Who could forget that huge snake wrapped her neck at the 2001 VMAs? This song is simply amazing, even today. Makes you wonder why she didn’t collaborate with the Neptunes much more often. The song, lifted from her Britney album, was definitely one of the high points of her career.

1. Toxic

This song is pure, sugary pop, but something about it feels so good. Perhaps it was the kick ass video that put the song over the top. Or perhaps Britney Spears was just the instrument to remind us that bad things always feel the best. Either way, “Toxic” will go down in history as one of her top fan favorites.