Pop Music Notes

It’s the talk of the blogosphere, so of course I’m going to jump on the bandwagon. Britney Spears…brilliant or batty? I mean, by all rights, “Womanizer” should be a no-brainer. Given her track record with men in the past five years, you would think this song would connect, and apparently it does for some folks. The track is Most Increased Plays at Pop Radio this week, debuting on the Top 40 Airplay chart all the way up at #26. That’s really impressive when you get right down to it. It almost grabbed Most Added again this week, if it hadn’t been for Knuckledrag coming out with their new “Gotta Be Somebody” also. And now it’s #1 at iTunes, ensuring a pretty high debut next week on the Hot 100. It should easily debut in the Top 10, instantly making it one of her biggest records of this decade. [Note: the song actually debuted this week at #96, based on airplay alone. More on that in the next entry.]

So what’s my beef? Well, frankly, I just don’t get it. The actual music is actually very good. Love the beat, and the clubbish sound is very current. On the lyric side, there are some pretty clever word choices that would normally add to the appeal of the track. It’s that damn chorus thing that knocks me off balance. We get it, he’s a Womanizer, but by the end of the song, shouldn’t you have sympathy for the “victim”? Personally, I think she probably deserves getting dumped, if this is the way that she communicates. “Dinner time, dinner time, come and get it, dinner time!” That would get on my nerves, too!

“Blackout” was a pretty brilliant record in several ways. While Britney’s discography is littered with catchy tunes, the caliber of material on her last record was more consistently high than any other release in her nearly 10-year-old career. So to lead off the follow-up with a song that’s as weak as this is seems like a miscalculation to me. But what do I know? It’s a hit no matter how you look at it. I just hope that the rest of the material on “Circus” avoids the lyrical aspects of “Womanizer”, and sticks with the solid dance/pop music that we’ve come to know and appreciate.