I’m psyched to introduce a new recurring feature here on Pretty Much Amazing, a little retrospective we’d like to call “Blinded By The Hype”. In Blinded By The Hype, we’ll take a look back at some of the most highly rated albums we’ve reviewed on this site, after some time has passed, to see if the albums were truly great or whether they were lifted up by buzz.
We’ve all been there – everyone you know is talking about the new album, the single is great, and after a few spins you’re convinced you’re going to love it. You make all of your friends buy it, you listen to it for a week straight, convinced that the album’s an instant classic. A comeback. A brilliant debut. The best album of the year. A couple months later, it’s collecting dust on your shelf, languishing in the dark recesses of your iTunes.
In today’s music world, music is released at a machine gun pace. It’s a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately type scene, and “lately” usually means this week. Rarely do we stop to smell the roses. Even good albums get overlooked as time passes. And we almost never – aside from year end lists – take a look backward. Hindsight is 20-20, and we’d like to apply that retrovision to set the record straight. Hence, Blinded By The Hype.
To start, since this is the first edition, I’d like to set some ground rules for what is eligible for Blinded By The Hype:
- 1. Only full albums will be re-examined. Tracks are finicky enough to review the first time, and how a single track fares over the course of a few months is more an issue of personal preference than quality. Album grades mean more, album spins mean more, therefore we’ll stick to albums.
- 2. Only albums that received 80+ grades will be re-examined. No point in re-opening old wounds. If it wasn’t good with the hype, it won’t be good without the hype. Sure, there are albums that get better with time. No doubt about that. But hype isn’t involved there – it’s tracks that are growers and lyrics that are layered. Totally different ballgame, we’ll stick to the initially well-received.
- 3. Only albums that are at least 3 months old will be re-examined. Hype is all about timing. When an album is released, there is an upswell of buzz that races around the blogosphere. Sometimes that buzz cycle extends for a couple months – there’s the leak, the first single, the release, the second single, etc. So we’ll wait until the dust settles before stirring things up again.
I’m making this up as I go along (like most things I do), so I reserve the right to break these rules at will, or add any other pertinent clauses. If you have an idea for how to make this segment better, please share it in the comments – constructive criticism is always well received.
Word. Without further ado, let’s get on with the first edition of Blinded By The Hype. The album? Britney Spears’ Circus.
Stats:
Artist: Britney Spears
Album: Circus
Release Date: November 28, 2008
Original Score: 9/10 (Note, this was before the current 0-100 PMA Rating Scale.)
THEN:
“…this album is going to blow people out of the water. It contains a an unprecedented mix of her old and new sounds, instead of the overproduced Britney we heard on Blackout, and even takes us back to her Baby, One More Time era in terms of production and vocals. Her choice to expand her production selection is what’s really going to make this album different from all the rest. With the right promotion and a well-rounded and produced World Tour, she’s cooking up all the right things for a successful comeback in the face of all who doubted she could ever make it. Ladies and gentlemen: the princess, or excuse me, QUEEN of pop, has returned.”
- Sean, Original Album Review
“Circus will become the album of the year. I never thought I would see the day Britney would be on top of the Music scene again, but it has come. Circus is Britney’s best album and could become one of the biggest pop albums in history!”
- Mark, Comment on Original Album Review
“I love this album! Thank you for giving it such a great review! BEST POP ALBUM OF 2008!”
- Ashlee, Comment on Original Album Review
NOW:
Don’t get me wrong, Circus is definitely not a bad album. It’s better than a lot of pop records that come out these days, and it certainly represents a comeback of sorts for the much maligned Britney. And we can’t really blame ourselves for getting wrapped up in the hype – that’s what people do, especially when a huge artist like Britney Spears releases a new album.
The reality is, though, Circus is a distracted and disjointed album that rides on the success of 5 massive singles. “Womanizer,” “Kill The Lights,” “If U Seek Amy,” “Circus,” and “Radar” are all gigantic tunes, some of which rank up with Brit’s best. A great set of five bumpers that will be enough to keep people spinning Circus in coming years.
The tracks surrounding those hype-worthy songs, spread across a seemingly randomly selected album and bonus disc, are less appealing. Some, like “Shattered Glass” come off as formulaic attempts to mirror previous successes. The beat, from Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco, is catchy enough, but the song is still missing something – emotion, drive, purpose. Instead of a dancefloor hit, it sounds like someone in the studio said “we need a song where Britney yells at a guy who broke up with her,” so they cranked out “Shattered Glass”. It features out of place falsettos from Brit and a few too many effects applied to her voice, and it ends with a shattering glass sound effect. Hmm.
Where “Shattered Glass” is at least formulaically listenable, songs like “Mmm Papi”and “My Baby” are not. In an interview with MTV, Britney said, “”The process was cool, because I got to write a lot of the songs, and in the beginning, I really took part in that.” Ironically, “Mmm Papi” and “My Baby” are the only two tracks on which Britney has writing credits on the album. The songs are gimmicky, uninteresting, and difficult to listen to more than once or twice. I challenge you to find someone who has listened to “My Baby” more than three times in their life. That song is quite literally the worst song I have heard in the last five years.
After letting some of the hype die down on this album, it’s a little easier to see the album for what it is – a pretty good pop album that follows the standard formula of filling space around singles with mediocre tracks. There are definitely a bunch of bangers on Circus, and it has certainly sold a lot of copies, but it’s not the silver bullet comeback album for Britney that everyone said it would be. It’s not her best, nor is one of the best albums of last year. After the dust has settled, I’d give it a 73.
Chris Barth is a columnist here at Pretty Much Amazing. You can read his more succinct daily posts at his music blog, The Stu Reid Experiment.
I really Love Britney she’s awesome =D and this album is amazing. i love the song shattered glaas the lyrics is really nice =)
well yah britney i nice i like her… well done this album is it best actually
i thought “out from under” and “unusual you” were pretty strong too though
Ok, so I don’t fall into Britney’s demographic by a long shot, LOL.
But man, “Out From Under” is a seriously sweet song. Very nice work Britney,
not sure who wrote this, but many kudos to them!
Wicked album!
http://opsiss.mybrute.com
While I agree w the top 5 tracks, all the filler statements are definitley true, If they would have replaced “my baby”, “mmm papi”, and “blur” with “trouble”, “quicksand”, and “amnesia” this album would have soared.
I also think that “Lace & Leather” doesn’t get the attention in deserves.
…and I fully agree that “Unusual You” is the BEST Britney track to date. That coming from a hardcore male fan that’s been listening since the beginning.
If you haven’t seen the concert you’re missing an amazing production. See you for the 3rd time in Chicago in September Britney
Brilliant idea.
Along with the tracks you’ve mentioned, I also really like the bonus track- Trouble! …as well as Unusual You.
this album did have a lot of hype around it, i agree. to some, it was her “comeback” album, and (ironically) to others it was a test to see whether britbrit could live up to the previous year’s “blackout” (probably her best-received album, despite the negative attention her personal life was attracting). Ultimately, i think “circus” delivered and lived up to the hype.
The practice of having a “5 massive singles” with a bunch of leftover tracks isn’t unique to pop albums. i can’t think of many albums–of any genre–that deliver 5 strong singles. “womanizer,” “circus,” “if u seek amy,” “kill the lights” (which should oBviously be the next single), etc make the album strong enough to stand on its own. That songs like “my baby” and “mmm papi” aren’t powerhouse singles seems like a moot point, IMO.
“I feel like unusual you is one of the best britney tracks shes ever made… and this is coming from someone who barely listens to britney! the first time i heard my friend play that track i was hypnotized by it. the beat, her voice, the flow is just so sexy! still one of my favorite “electro” feeling songs to this day”
Unusual you need some sort of fucking notoriety its great.
The album had the potential to be stellar, but a few dodgy tracklisting issues let it down. Mmm Papi and My Baby should have been left off, Radar left to shine in Blackout, and Trouble(!), Rock Me In and Amnesia made fully-fledged album tracks.
Circus and If You Seek Amy should not have been singles… Womanizer was a great lead, but it needed to be followed up by something better. Kill The Lights would have been killer. The daring third single? Mannequin. And then wrap up the campaign with Unusual You, the shining star of the album. It really is one of Britney’s most fantastic tracks, ever. It’s lack of release is as big a tragedy of And Then We Kissed basically being absent from her back catalogue.
Still a good album though. I love Womanizer, Kill The Lights, Shattered Glass, Unusual You, Blur, Mannequin, Rock Me In, Amnesia and Trouble. I even have a soft spot for Lace And Leather.
If I was aware that you gave that piece of trite, mumbo-jumbo, lame music a “9/10″ I would have never looked at this blog again. Managing a record store, I obviously had to listen to this junk, I know the songs well and they all sound like the same Black Eyed Peas, buzz sounds, dance beat with a ton of effects and background vocal tracks nonsense that all these pop girls put out. It’s terrible and easy to dismiss as anything that Miley and the rest of the tween sect do. It’s worse though because Britney is in her late 20’s and has yet to show any type of progress. I would say , out of a 100 (wtf), I would give this a 35, at best!
Please stop reviewing this junk , if you actually want some credibility as a website. What’s next, the JONAS BROTHER VS N’SYNC DEBATE….oooooo…..risky!
You made a good point with the age comment.
Especially with “If You Seek Amy,” which, I’m sorry, was just too young for her. She may have been able to make it work on some level, but it seems that she didn’t realize singing such a cutesy/gimmicky tune, you have to deliver it with some humor. She missed the silly, playfulness the song could have had with a more tongue-in-cheek delivery. She just comes off sounding like a drunk chick trying a little too hard to make the point to everyone that “all of the boys and all of the girls” want to do her (keeping it G-rated for the younger readers). Totally off-putting.
Okay, I’ve put all the effort into analyzing Britney Spears’ “music” than I ever wanted to.
(Don’t hurt me!)
I’ve been a big Britney fan ever since “…Baby One More Time” came out; and while I may not be as enthusiastic about her as before, you can still me consider me as part of the so-called Britney cult. There is no doubt in my mind that she makes pop music exciting, and that is why she is still relevant.
Kudos for realizing the hasty judgment that you made in rating “Circus”; because if that album got a 9, “Blackout” should be given a perfect 10. I concur that “Circus” is by no means a bad album; it’s just that we know that Britney can churn out better pop songs, as with the case with “Blackout”. Sadly though, it’s the one where Britney’s most uninvolved. Still, I kinda wish “Circus” came out before “Blackout”, but this time with the focus, and then we’d really have a comeback because simply put, “Blackout” was (and is still) banging. Had that album been released in Circus’ age and time, it would have given Lady GaGa’s “The Fame” a run for her money, even if radio would swallow the GaGa. Britney has never been a radio darling.
Anyway, moving on with “Circus”, what I like about the album though is that Britney was able to successfully marry her old and new sounds to create a satisfying modern pop album. It’s not without its flaws though; the stronger tracks makes the weaker tracks REALLY weak. In this listener’s ears, the fillers would be: “My Baby” (For me, it’s not the worst song ever BUT it does get the title “Worst Intro Ever”. I mean Jesus, starting out with a squeaky vocal and the cheesy lyric “Tiny hands…” is NOT the way to go.), “Blur”, and “Shattered Glass”; all of which would not grow on me. The average ones are “Out From Under” and “Lace and Leather”; these are the ones I can actually listen to but I mostly skip on to get to the better songs. All the rest for me are killers. Yes, even “Mmm Papi”. That song is SO Britney; it’s the questionable but quite enjoyable track. It is Circus’ “Soda Pop”, “Brave New Girl”, and “Hot As Ice” if you will.
You’re mostly on point with the revised score. But lower than Little Boots? I know it’s only by a point but “Hands” was disappointing. You should consider that as a special case for “Blinded by the Hype”. Her EPs were much better. I’m sorry, I just can’t help but compare.
I deleted “My Baby” right away. I don’t know if I ever listened to it all the way through.
I considered doing the same thing to “Mmm Papi,” but it’s just too hilarious. I like to listen to it when I’m drunk.
Besides those songs, I listen to everything else pretty regularly. I listen to Blackout more, of course, but I think is pretty good considering how quickly it was thrown together.
i think Amnesia is the most overlooked song of the past year
exactly !
i love that song “amnesia” too !
oh and i completely freak out and just HAVE to dance when i hear “Mannequin”
that was brutal, but even then you’re being too nice. Womanizer sounded like an 80’s whitney reject song. I think the industry was just giving her the benefit of doubt on this album due to how far she lowered the bar with Blackout!
Party On!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
am I the only one that likes “rock me in”? I dont think I’ve ever listened to all of “my baby”. so bad. and phonography is cheesy. it’s like let’s see how many different things related to technology we can think of. mind roam, ringtone, handsfree, Bluetooth, k seriously we got it. “Circus” is the only song on this album that really got my attention. and it has a great video. “if you seek Amy” never caught on with me. I just don’t get it. I can’t decide whether I should be ashamed to admit this or not but I don’t think I’ve even actually listened to every song. I give it a 75. a few catchy fancy songs that stick for a month or so but I can’t help but feel embarassed for Britney on at least 1/3 of the songs… and that’s never a good sign.
I’ve gotta say that I agree wholeheartedly with this second review….I was listening to the album in its entirety the other day and it’s just not that amazing.
Then I listened to Blackout and danced around my apartment for hours….at least Blackout was clear on what the producers were leading Brit into- a nonstop dance party of sexy songs with amazing beats.
While I think this is a good idea to review past albums, I think you were unnecessarily harsh on ‘Circus.’ The album is a gold mine of songs!
While I do feel the album is disjointed as far as a “collection of songs.” Each individual songs are insanely good!
The four, not five, singles “Womanizer,” “Circus,” “If U Seek Amy,” and “Radar” are wonderfully delightful! And, have been, major successes for Britney especially “Womanizer” and “Circus.”
The three songs she has writing credits for “Mmm Papi,” “My Baby,” and “Mannequin” are very bright and feature some insightful lyrics with the exception of “Mmm Papi.”
I think in your plight to perhaps satisfy some unhappy readers (indie-heads) or what-have-you, you’ve looked over just what is so special about this album.
It’s her greatest hits without the old school hits. She went all the way back to her “…Baby One More Time” days and worked with an array of producers. It’s something ‘Blackout’ was missing. Diversity.
I’m still holding out hope that “Kill the Lights” will be the fifth single. Let us dream!
“My Baby” is my guilty pleasure, I even get teary eyed when I hear it sometimes. DON’T JUDGE ME! Lol
But this album isn’t that bad. It served it’s purpose
of reintroducing Britney back into the public. My Brit top 6:
1. Blackout
2. In the zone
3. Circus
4. Britney
5. Oops
6. Baby one more time
i’ve listened to “unusual you” on a regular basis since the album came out, it is FANTASTIC!
It’s a good track.
I feel like unusual you is one of the best britney tracks shes ever made… and this is coming from someone who barely listens to britney! the first time i heard my friend play that track i was hypnotized by it. the beat, her voice, the flow is just so sexy! still one of my favorite “electro” feeling songs to this day! other than that i do agree that the album was extremely over hyped and whoever told britney that “my baby” was a good song should be murdered…oh and mannequin is pure hotness. =)
my baby and out from under are bad.
britney needs to learn to NOT record ballads
but i love mmm papi! and phonography should have been on the standard version of the album.
i think i could have done without radar being repeated, lace & leather, and blur
unsual you is definitely a stand out track for me
so agreed i can’t stand my baby!!!
& mmm papi is just lame!!
Are you kidding me? The ‘fuck me’ thing was the only fun par of the song – it got old after two listens! And Circus was never an especially good song. Womanizer and Radar however, do live up to the hype.
I feel like the BEST and most INTERESTING tracks lie in these tracks co-written by Britney. Obviously minus My Baby – yuck.
Mmm Papi and Mannequin are easily the best songs on the album. Papi? Due to that it’s fucking INSANE, instead of “Ooo look at my legs and butt, it’s Britney bitch, I’m the ringleader! Blah blah blah… Fuck me!”, which seems to the more common thing lately. A long example but yeah – Mannequin is just.. icy monster Britney. I love it, and I feel that there is more truth in Mannequin than any other song on the album.
Except perhaps, My Baby. But still. Ew.
Simon. I wish I could give some sort of award for this comment.
Hey,
I liked it. Except I know a bunch of people who like her song My Baby . lol. . . Sad but true…. You know, If the lyrics weren’t so bad, it’d be a fantastic Britney ballad.
you should do this re-reviewing more often… i like it… plus i agree with what you said…
Oh and nice re-reviewing idea : )
I agree mostly, it’s a strong collection of individual songs which don’t QUITE flow together.
She was writing credits on Mannequin too, as well as one of the bonus tracks.
Good catch! Thanks.
wow, that was pretty brutal. well-done