Britney Spears, 'Circus'

The buzz: In the wake of a major meltdown, Britney Spears began blazing her comeback trail on last year’s “Blackout.” Despite some chart success and critical acceptance, Spears’ momentum was derailed by a miserable, much-hyped performance on MTV and her inability to tour due to a busy schedule of custody battles and psychiatric evaluations. For “Circus,” she’s on the road again, and has reunited with a familiar army of collaborators, including Max Martin (“…Baby One More Time”), Danja (“Gimme More”) and Bloodshy & Avant (“Toxic”).

The verdict: After sounding and looking like she was phoning it in for the past few years, Britney has her mojo back. “Circus” rehabilitates her musical relevance, and though she’ll never be America’s Sweetheart again, this disc should give Spears a chance to repair her public persona.

There’s a fun swagger to her new dance-pop tracks—led by the relentless throb of lead single “Womanizer” and the bawdy, bratty “If U Seek Amy.” Spears is generally best when she keeps her songs universal—the world has surely reached its quota of songs about being famous—but a few revealing tracks cut a little deeper and are among the “Circus” standouts. The ambient pulse of “Unusual You” affords the former Mouseketeer a chance to be romantic and vulnerable without feeling mawkish while the regretful R&B tale “Blur” offers a snapshot of Britney’s lost years (“Can’t remember what I did last night/ Maybe I shouldn’t have given in but I just couldn’t fight”)—and provides her voice a rare chance to come through the mix unadulterated.

Still, there’s too much overall use of the robot voice and Spears’ ballads remain unbearably soggy, particularly the motherhood ode “My Baby.” The dreadfully vampy “Mmm Papi” should have been replaced by her playful, Gwen Stefani-channeling “Amnesia,” which only appears as a Japanese bonus track. But even at the height of her success, consistency was never a Spears hallmark.
 
Did you know? She’s sold more than 83 million albums in the past decade, but “Womanizer” marks Britney’s first No. 1 single on the Hot 100 chart since “…Baby One More Time.”

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