Album Review: Britney Spears "Femme Fatale"

Britney Spears may not be the heavyweight she once was, but--at least to an extent--the one thing we can still count on from her is to deliver hot music. With her seventh album Femme Fatale, she ventures into the electro side of things both musically & vocally--& once you're able to accept the changes, it ain't so bad.

1. "Till The World Ends": I've really come to quite like this one. The end is better than the beginning, but Ke$ha did a nice job with it! 4.5/5

2. "Hold It Against Me": Another one that had to grow on me, the album's lead single isn't Britney's absolute best work, but Dr. Luke & Max Martin are certainly on top of their game with it. 4/5

3. "Inside Out": Hands down, best song on the album. Whatever she was aiming to accomplish by heading in this direction musically, she did it here. 5/5

4. "I Wanna Go": This really is a great pop song. Definitely single-worthy. 4.5/5

5. "How I Roll": One of the album's weaker offerings. It's missing a little of the energy that surrounds it. 3.5/5

6. "(Drop Dead) Beautiful" (ft. Sabi): Infectious! That Sabi is a curious character, but this is one of the better tracks. 4.5/5

7. "Seal It With A Kiss": A pretty good song. Fairly status quo-ish. 4/5

8. "Big Fat Bass" (ft. will.i.am): Certainly better than the Peas' material has been as of late. Silly, but in a good way. 4/5

9. "Trouble For Me": Not terrible, but there's nothing too unique about it either. 3.5/5

10. "Trip To Your Heart": The cutesiness of this one is mostly lost on me. 3.5/5

11. "Gasoline": This is one of my favorites. A very cool jam! 4.5/5

12. "Criminal": Another interesting track. A solid way to wrap things up. 4.5/5

Overall, a solid foray into the electro arena for Brit-Brit. I will mention that among the bonus tracks on the deluxe edition, "Up & Down" is the standout. One thing about Femme Fatale is that Britney's vocals are more digitized than necessary & while that may go along with the over-production of the album as a whole, her sounding more like a human than a robot wouldn't have been so bad. That said, most of this album has become a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, so... not bad, Britney!

Rating: 4/5 Stars