in which the author risks his indie cred

If yesterday you were to tell me that behind that ridiculously hideous and almost comical album cover there was, you know, decent music, I would have laughed my ass off. But after listening to the free stream on mtv.com, my thoughts have significantly changed - even after the meltdowns, the trainwreck performances, the horrible video, Britney Spears has somehow, in some way, released a good, arguably really good, album. Given, it's pretty much the producers' show here, as it's obvious to even the most uninformed listener that Spears' vocals have been heavily modified, but it never was her voice that brought in the legions of fans. All I and pretty much everyone else asks for from Britney are, um, hot beats and catchy hooks ("Piece of Me" is fucking awesome!), and on that she delivers, on an album that could potentially herald a comeback for the much-maligned star. As for how she will handle said potential comeback, I have no idea, but there's no doubt that it will prove to be infinitely entertaining.

Also, I just now realized that I've written significantly more on Blackout than I did on In Rainbows, but, I mean, it wasn't like my expectations were anything but extremely high for the latter, and there's no doubt that they delivered. So whatever.