Poor old Britney Spears hasn’t exactly had a good time of it lately, what with her recent lackluster MTV performance and dubious appearances all over the tabloids. Blackout, her fifth studio album, is being touted as a bit of a comeback album, the title allegedly alluding to how she is "blacking out" all negative media coverage and focusing on getting back to form. Backed by an array of superstar beatmakers--Bloodshy & Avant, Pharrell Williams, T-Pain, Danja--Blackout presents a soundtrack that brims with trashy new-wave ‘nowness’. Tunes veer from the highly infectious "Freakshow" and "Toy Soldier" to the unconvincingly lascivious "Get Naked," "Ooh, Ooh Baby", and downright uninspiring ("Radar" and "Hot As Ice")--with some inroads into dirty disco ("Heaven on Earth") along the way. The tunes aren’t bad, but the brittle, robotic soundtrack does start to feel dated and dull, especially when Britney’s vocals are so intensely processed they feel equally starchy and disinterested. Comeback album it may be, but "Blackout" doesn’t point towards any clear future for Britney--nor for pop music in general. --Danny McKenna
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