Circus

Good morning you dirty sons of bitches (which is, of course, a term of endearment meaning, "c'mon in friend" and "we" hope you are well today.")

I am super excited (holla) for several reasons... 1) Britney's new CD, "Circus," (holla) was released last week, 2) tickets for Britney's show went on sale this week (holla) and 3) I am going to the concert (holla) with a friend who is, well, just the most fun a person can be (holla). An excellent concert companion, I have no doubt. (I don't know why I keep writing "holla"? I'm not even really sure what it means?) HOLLA! (I can't stop writing that.)

Anyhoo, "Kev" and friend will be catching Britney's "Circus" tour on March 5th here in Atlanta. The CD, that I am listening to as I write this, is great. Besides, "Womanizer," other great tracks include "Mmm Papi," and "Unusual You." Enough of what I think - here's Wikipedia's take on the CD (and those people know everything, don't they?)

Have a GREAT Saturday everyone.

Kevin

Circus is the sixth studio album by American pop singer Britney Spears. The album was announced by Jive Records on September 15, 2008, and was released in the United States on December 2, 2008.

The first single, "Womanizer", became Spears's first number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 since her debut "...Baby One More Time", almost 10 years prior. The second single is the title track "Circus"

It was confirmed in May 2008 that Spears was "in the experimental stages of a new album." Spears's manager, Larry Rudolph, announced in a July 2008 press release that Spears would be "spending her summer in the studio, working on a brand new album [...] with a team of top-notch producers and songwriters, and we're very excited about what she's accomplished so far." In an August 2008 interview with OK! magazine, Spears said that the album is "more urban. I'm working with producers who are just amazing [...] There is this fresh new energy." "I'm writing every day, right here at the piano in this living room... This is my best work ever."

Shannon Holtzapffel, a dancer in the leaked video of Spears dancing to "Mannequin", told The Daily Telegraph, "When we were finished rehearsing, they'd take the CD and put it in a safe. I've never experienced anything like it before."

Rolling Stone magazine's fall music preview stated that Spears "has recorded some 30 tracks for her sixth studio album." Spears continued, "I came into the studio because I had some free time, but once I started working, I was like, 'This is cool!' It just happened."

In the United Kingdom, the album will be in direct competition with the new Take That album, titled The Circus, released on the same day. Take That's manager claimed the album's title choice was a coincidence, and that the band had worked "months in advance " and would not be changing the title.

Production
Danja and Bloodshy & Avant, who produced several tracks from Blackout, both announced independently that they were recording with Spears again. Vocal producer Jim Beanz told Us Weekly that he had also been in the studio with Spears. He said of Spears: "Everyone has personal stuff, but a true professional doesn’t bring it into the studio." Spears collaborated much on the album, saying, "The process was cool, because I got to write a lot of the songs, and in the beginning, I really took part in that. ... I experimented with a lot of the pop producers that I worked with on my earliest albums."

In her interview with OK! magazine, Spears revealed that she was working with Harvey Mason of The Underdogs. Spears commented, "I wanted to experiment with producers I haven't worked with much before, like the Underdogs, who have a Timbaland kind of sound." According to the Los Angeles Times, Guy Sigsworth - who previously produced the singles "Everytime" and "Someday (I Will Understand)" - spent time in the studio with Spears. Max Martin, who wrote Spears's first hit, "...Baby One More Time", has produced, what he calls, his "best work ever". Dr. Luke (who actually often collaborates with Martin) has produced songs for the album, including the title track,[24] with up-and-comer Benny Blanco. Nicole Morier, who co-wrote Blackout's "Heaven on Earth", wrote several songs with Britney in spring 2008; "Mmm Papi" and the European & Deluxe Edition bonus track "Rock Me In" came out of these sessions. Another notable collaborator is The Outsyders, an Atlanta-based production team, who produced the album's first single.

Critical reviews were generally favorable. According to Metacritic, which combines reviews from the nations top critics, the album has a 66% approval rating from critics and 8.8/10 from the general public.

The Sun newspaper in the U.K. had an exclusive preview of the album and were the first ones to post the world's first reviews of Circus. Of the track, "If U Seek Amy", "It’s a great track. A stomping robo pop number with clattering kettle drums and Brit being quite frank about the opinion she holds of herself". "Kill the Lights" was described as "a brilliant disco banger". The reviewer expressed the opinion that the album had similarities to Madonna's Hard Candy.

According to Nick Levine of Digital Spy, it has many similarities to her last studio album, although she sounds more confident and there is less reliance on the vocoder. "Out From Under" was described as "a teary eyed ballad...that's really quite lovely".

Billboard Magazine gave a very postive review of "Circus." It states "From the synthy open of "Womanizer" to the regretful ache spurring "Blur," "Circus" gives Brit pop a whole new meaning" and goes on to say "she is in a class of her own."

The Rolling Stones gave the album mostly positive reviews calling it one of her best work giving it 3.5 out of 5 stars, they stated the main track [Circus] is a stomping song, and many of the other songs are also great and really shows what Britney could really do.

However, The Hartford Courant did not feel that it was her best performance, writing "It's too bad the best songs here don't really match up with her best performances, but that's nothing new for Spears."

Slant Magazine gave an unfavorable review as well, writing that Circus "doesn't quite feel like a comeback", while The Guardian felt that the album was "substantially less edgy and exciting than its predecessor." Allmusic was in a similar agreement with The Guardian, writing that the album "never feels as sleek or addictive as its predecessor."

Boston Herald stated that "there’s nothing that deep on “Circus.” Nor anything that catchy." and that "When “Circus” stiffs, the Britney brain trust will look to 2009 for another comeback....."

Commercial
The album sold 219,000 copies in its first day of release in the U.S. The album and titled song peaked at number one on the "U.S iTunes Top 100 Albums" right after they're midnight release, making Spears the third artist and first female artist to have an album and a unreleased single song on top of both charts.

In France the album sold 18,319 copies in its two first days of release debuting at number five in the French Weekly Album Charts. In Ireland, it premiered at number two beating Take That which release their album with the same name. In Mexico it debuted at number one in both the international and national charts, this marked Spears return to the top spot in that country since In the Zone in 2003.

Promotion
In order to promote the album Jive Records set up a hotline where fans could leave a message for Spears, with some of the callers receiving a return phone call from Spears. Some tracks off the album were previewed via the website of the New York radio station WKTU and Amazon.com.

MTV aired a 90-minute documentary titled Britney: For the Record on November 30, 2008. The show was about her return to the pop music spotlight. Spears's official website will be releasing a series of posters to promote Circus.

A celebration, Britney's Greatest Fan Contest & Birthday Celebration, was held outside the Virgin Megastore in Times Square in anticipation of the release of the album, which lasted until 1 a.m. during the release day.

A pre taped holiday greeting from Spears was shown during the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree on December 3, 2008.

Live performances
Spears's live comeback began on November 6, 2008 with a cameo appearance at the Dodger Stadium show of Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour. Midway through "Human Nature", Spears joined Madonna on stage.

The week before the release of the album saw a string of performances in several different countries. On November 27, 2008 Spears performed "Womanizer" live at the Bambi Awards in Offenburg, Germany, where she received an award for "Best Pop International Artist". The following day, Spears again performed the song live on French show Star Academy.In addition, she performed "Womanizer" on The X Factor, in the United Kingdom, on November 29, finishing the European pre-release promotional tour. Her performance on The X Factor was watched by 12.8 million UK citizens, becoming the most viewed episode in the show's history.

On December 2, Spears celebrated her 27th birthday on Good Morning America with a performance of "Circus" and "Womanizer" at the Big Apple Circus.

It was reported by Daily Mirror on September 13, 2008 that Spears will be performing at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas on New Year's Eve to promote her new album."[

The Circus starring: Britney Spears
Shortly after the New York radio station Z100 played her new song, "Womanizer", Spears made a surprise appearance on the show and announced she would be going on a worldwide tour in spring of 2009 to support the album, and that rehearsals would begin in January for a March start.[53] The last confirmed stop for the U.S. portion of the tour is Rosemont, IL on April 28, 2009.[54]Spears signed a deal with live entertainment company AEG Live to produce the tour.[55][56] Wade Robson will be directing the tour and choreographing a third of it.[57] It has been confirmed that Britney will perform at the The O2 in London on the 3rd and 4th June 2009.[58] Spears announced on Good Morning America that her concert tour would begin in New Orleans on March 3, 2009.[59]