the chorus is AMAZING
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Wednesday, 20 July 2016 20:08 (seven years ago) link
whoa this is sensational
― Evan R, Thursday, 21 July 2016 14:23 (seven years ago) link
holy shit that's what g-eazy is though? he's like the worst possible cross between mack miller and wiz khalifa
― Evan R, Thursday, 21 July 2016 14:24 (seven years ago) link
g-eazy is disgusting
― based stress reduction (crüt), Thursday, 21 July 2016 14:25 (seven years ago) link
g eazy has some decent guest verses but this is a bad match for him
― J0rdan S., Thursday, 21 July 2016 14:38 (seven years ago) link
I can't get past the cynicism of having first iggy then g-eazy on a britney spears song, it's as if team britney is saying "britney can't carry a song by herself anymore, but her market can't have a RAPPER rapper, if you're picking up what I'm putting down"
― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Thursday, 21 July 2016 14:43 (seven years ago) link
yeah seriously
― dyl, Thursday, 21 July 2016 15:58 (seven years ago) link
like, a portion of the stations they're hoping will play this song edited ty dolla $ign off "work from home" even tho his guest vocals on it aren't rap
― dyl, Thursday, 21 July 2016 16:01 (seven years ago) link
that's pop radio in 2016 though, a big racial hedge
― maura, Thursday, 21 July 2016 16:51 (seven years ago) link
New album Glory out on the 26th. Hopefully she can stick to the good album bad album pattern that she's been following since Blackout and make this another great one. I'm also hoping Pretty Girls isn't anywhere near this.
It's a shame Make Me doesn't seem to be doing anything, I keep going back to it a lot. It didn't even make the top 40 in the UK.
― Kitchen Person, Wednesday, 3 August 2016 22:28 (seven years ago) link
I don't understand why the video hasn't been released yet. She's lost momentum now and the song has dropped in a week from #17 to #52 in the US.
― art baengels (monotony), Thursday, 4 August 2016 04:05 (seven years ago) link
i don't think it was promoted in the UK.
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 4 August 2016 09:16 (seven years ago) link
I read that she'd scrapped the video which is obviously a terrible move. It should have been out last week.
― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 4 August 2016 13:36 (seven years ago) link
well that's two singles i like
*gets hopes up*
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Thursday, 4 August 2016 14:57 (seven years ago) link
the new one sounds like ariana grande's first album
― J0rdan S., Thursday, 4 August 2016 15:10 (seven years ago) link
yeah it does!
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Thursday, 4 August 2016 15:20 (seven years ago) link
When I get Make Me stuck in my head it keeps turning into Desire by Jessie Ware.
― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 4 August 2016 15:33 (seven years ago) link
i appreciate that she didn't sing "private show" completely straight but unfortunately her voice sounds very unpleasant on it
― dyl, Thursday, 4 August 2016 16:43 (seven years ago) link
really like the new single
― woke-ing class zero (s.clover), Saturday, 6 August 2016 02:40 (seven years ago) link
Make Me video is out, unfortunately it's a bit of a mess https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etfJCm0nfr4
― art baengels (monotony), Saturday, 6 August 2016 03:20 (seven years ago) link
Apparently some of the original David LaChapelle directed video has already leaked online. I haven't seen any of it but people are saying it's a lot better and her fans are now demanding it gets released. The whole thing is a complete mess but it is getting more attention for the song which is good to see.
― Kitchen Person, Saturday, 6 August 2016 03:39 (seven years ago) link
the lachapelle video involves Brit throwing a tv out of a window. it's amazing
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Saturday, 6 August 2016 03:54 (seven years ago) link
this is like gimme more meets a magic mike-ized x factor
― maura, Saturday, 6 August 2016 14:56 (seven years ago) link
So, Glory turned out to be a great record. Brilliant production and probably her most varied set of songs. Man On The Moon is the best song she's done since Blackout. There aren't really any songs I don't like on some level. It's great to hear having so much fun again. Can't believe this is the same person that put out Britney Jean a few years ago.
― Kitchen Person, Sunday, 21 August 2016 05:34 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, this album is shockingly great.
― self-clowning oven (Murgatroid), Sunday, 21 August 2016 08:24 (seven years ago) link
gotta echo what's said above; there's not a stinker in the bunch
― j. winters (josh), Sunday, 21 August 2016 21:44 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, I've been listening to this all day. Such a brilliant record. She sounds so confident again. Britney Jean was obviously awful but this is way ahead of Femme Fatale which I always loved. There's just so much going on and you can actually hear her voice and personality all over these songs.
― Kitchen Person, Sunday, 21 August 2016 22:19 (seven years ago) link
and the songs take many unexpected left turns!
― j. winters (josh), Sunday, 21 August 2016 22:24 (seven years ago) link
lolling @ how "Better" is such an obv "Lean On" rip
― self-clowning oven (Murgatroid), Sunday, 21 August 2016 22:30 (seven years ago) link
this album is fucking phenomenal
― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Monday, 22 August 2016 22:59 (seven years ago) link
Yes.
― Tim F, Tuesday, 23 August 2016 01:56 (seven years ago) link
I pretty much love everything about this album.
― Kitchen Person, Tuesday, 23 August 2016 01:58 (seven years ago) link
"Better" is amusing but I particularly like the production on "Love Me Down" and "If I'm Dancing", the latter of which recalls Switch and Dillon Francis at their best IMO.
She also sounds like a dozen different singers on this album!
― Tim F, Tuesday, 23 August 2016 02:15 (seven years ago) link
guess I have to download this before bed *sigh*
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 23 August 2016 02:18 (seven years ago) link
It's a brilliantly produced album. So far from the cheap and hollow sounding Britney Jean.
Yeah, her voice is all over the place. I really liked Femme Fatale but she mostly sounded really detached on those songs. Here she sounds so invested and like she's having more fun than she's had since In The Zone.
― Kitchen Person, Tuesday, 23 August 2016 02:20 (seven years ago) link
Yeah it reminds me of In The Zone quite a bit, the sense of her playing with different characters and styles, rather than projecting either a specific persona (Blackout) or an absence of same (everything since).
― Tim F, Tuesday, 23 August 2016 02:28 (seven years ago) link
Favourites on first listen (on a flight) were If We're Dancing and Clumsy (!!!) I dunno about no stinkers but it's so pleasantly surprising after Britney Jean and Pretty Girls
― art baengels (monotony), Tuesday, 23 August 2016 02:48 (seven years ago) link
Oh I also forgot the last song which is sung I think entirely in French??!?! so great
― art baengels (monotony), Tuesday, 23 August 2016 02:49 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, that's a great way to end the album. If We're Dancing is one of my favourites. Man On the Moon, Slumber Party, Invitation, Just Like Me and Hard to Forget Ya are all up there too.
― Kitchen Person, Tuesday, 23 August 2016 02:55 (seven years ago) link
If I'm Dancing is the best Britney Spears song I've ever heard in my life.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Friday, 26 August 2016 05:03 (seven years ago) link
ah, I just listened to a few songs and was wondering where some of the tracks mentioned here were : they're only on the deluxe version !the track in french is quite wtf... but it's pretty cool (although I don't understand everything she says... and I'm french !).first album from her that I care enough to listen to since Circus (which I didn't like much, especially following the great Blackout).
― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, 26 August 2016 12:51 (seven years ago) link
i'm starting to suspect there's an inverse correlation between cover art and album quality: 'britney jean' had her best cover art in years, and the music was terrible; 'glory' has an embarrassingly shoddy and half-assed cover, and the music is great!
― the jackal-snouted problem man (reddening), Friday, 26 August 2016 14:50 (seven years ago) link
Glory's cover is roughly the same as Femme Fatale's, isn't it ?Funny, I just looked at all the covers and up to In the zone she looks like the young Britney then suddenly from Blackout on, it's grown up Britney (although on Britney Jean she seems younger than on the previous ones).
― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, 26 August 2016 15:33 (seven years ago) link
this album ruleswasn't a fan of britney jean but thought perfume and passenger were p great
― nxd, Saturday, 27 August 2016 13:20 (seven years ago) link
really love Man on the Moon
― ufo, Saturday, 27 August 2016 14:54 (seven years ago) link
I only started listening to current pop stuff recently after 15 years of ignoring it completely -- after doing a very detailed assessment and comparison of the various artists came to the conclusion Britney is by far the best pop star we have. She is the most consistent, basically, to my criteria. I can't stand to look at her but her voice is so strong, character-wise. She's like a candy-coated cartoon or something (so is Eminem!), a quality that comes through particularly strong when her voice is double-tracked. Her voice absolutely flourishes in different contexts and this is her greatest strength. She's second to none as a singing voice-actor. Her seeming artistic apathy is also a strength, in a curious way. She just does her job, and well!
She has a terrible reputation, and seems to have had traumatic fame experiences or something. I don't really know the details. Anytime I mention that I adore her brand of minor key dance-pop people look at me like I smell bad. There seems to be some kind of group-think conspiracy vis-a-vis whether she can really sing or not, which makes no sense at all to me. It seems to me the lady can sell a song in her sleep, no matter how dumb it is. Maybe you don't like her voice, but to deny the one talent she absolutely has? Weird. Backlash or jealousy, I don't know. It's curious. She is certainly strategically aimed at the lowest common denominator, and highly visible, so I sort of understand it.
I was looking forward to this album and now that it has arrived, I feel pretty spoiled by it. I expected it to be thoroughly irredeemable like the last one (I'm a big fan of the single "Pretty Girls" though) and was pleasantly surprised to find she almost sounds like the kind of artist that has a vision here (though not an ambitious one!) The songs are dumb as ever but also just as catchy and wonderful. About ten excellent hooks are all jumbled up in my mind right this moment, competing for my memory's attention. I don't remember which songs they are from. My favorite is the bonus track with the thrumbed Spanish guitar where part of the chorus involves her rhythmically intoning the nonsense words "seas of Cortez" or something. The french song just sounds like an updated take on a Francoise Hardy chanson, and I'm okay with that. The third song sounds like Stax/Volt -- a Carla Thomas kind of thing is what I am hearing. It is cute. There are two songs where she prominently drops F-bombs, and they are cute/silly, but the cursing is absolutely essential to the songs themselves and it works. Numbers 11 and 12 I like least, but they still have their moments of exceptional excellence.
The album overall is very shrewd. Whoever executive produced it earned his no-doubt huge paycheck, the thing is slick and unified, all the songs seem of a piece even though on close inspection they couldn't be more varied in style. I hear a lot of echoes of other pop stars and songs, but all filtered through the creature that is Britney Spears in 2016 and they completely become her own. I for one am glad the only ballad is the single, I am not big on ballads. The rest of the album is all energy and invention and colors and sugar-rush manic pop. The production is relatively subdued, the percussion in particular is mixed well in relation to her voice, which is single tracked more often then usual this time around. The whole thing is coated in a very strong digital delay/reverb or something and the overall effect of the album is that of an MTV-flavored dream. The album title and artwork are the worst thing about this by far, thankfully!!! I can't even begin to imagine how they arrived at Glory as the title of this just plain fun album of expertly polished and performed and completely, totally, unambitious pop ditties.
― liam fennell, Monday, 29 August 2016 13:03 (seven years ago) link
great review, partic for someone who hasn't listened to a pop record in a decade and a half!
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Monday, 29 August 2016 14:15 (seven years ago) link
I pretty much hated her VMA performance and the song she did, which was my first exposure to it.
― Don't boo, vote (DJP), Monday, 29 August 2016 17:17 (seven years ago) link
yeah, exceptionally boring. the whole VMA show was as terrible as I expected
― akm, Monday, 29 August 2016 17:23 (seven years ago) link
"make me" is my favorite song of the year (despite g-eazy). haven't seen the performance though. that they apparently slip into "me myself and i" is enough to ward me off
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Monday, 29 August 2016 17:24 (seven years ago) link