Public image is vital to pop stars, but few stars have been so inextricably tied to their image as Britney Spears. Think back to "...Baby One More Time" -- it has an indelible hook but what leaps to mind is not the sound of the single, but how Britney looked in the video as she pouted and preened in a schoolgirls' uniform, an image as iconic as Madonna's exposed navel. Every one of Britney's hits had an accompanying image, as she relied on her carefully sculpted sexpot-next-door persona as much as she did on her records, ...
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Public image is vital to pop stars, but few stars have been so inextricably tied to their image as Britney Spears. Think back to "...Baby One More Time" -- it has an indelible hook but what leaps to mind is not the sound of the single, but how Britney looked in the video as she pouted and preened in a schoolgirls' uniform, an image as iconic as Madonna's exposed navel. Every one of Britney's hits had an accompanying image, as she relied on her carefully sculpted sexpot-next-door persona as much as she did on her records, but what happens when the image turns sour, as it certainly did for Britney in the years following the release of In the Zone? When that album hit the stores in 2003, Britney had yet to marry, had yet to give birth, had yet to even meet professional layabout Kevin Federline -- she had yet to trash her girl-next-door fantasy by turning into white trash. Some blamed Federline for her rapid downward spiral, but she continued to descend after splitting with K-Fed in the fall of 2006, as each month brought a new tabloid sensation from Britney, a situation that became all the more alarming when contrasted to how tightly controlled her public image used to be. The shift in her persona came into sharp relief at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, as she sleepwalked through a disastrous lip-synch of her comeback single "Gimme More," a disaster by any measure, but when it was compared to such previous meticulously staged VMA appearances as her make-out with Madonna in 2003, it made Britney seem like a lost cause and fallen star.All this toil and turmoil set the stage for her 2007 comeback Blackout to be a flat-out train wreck, which it decidedly is not -- but that doesn't mean it's a triumph, either. Blackout is an easy album to overpraise based on the lowered expectations Britney's behavior has set for her audience, as none of her antics suggested that she'd be able to deliver something coherent and entertaining, two things that Blackout is. As an album, it holds together better than any of her other records, echoing the sleek club-centric feel of In the Zone but it's heavier on hedonism than its predecessor, stripped of any ballads or sensitivity, and just reveling in dirty good times. So Blackout acts as a soundtrack for Britney's hazy, drunken days, reflecting the excess that's splashed all over the tabloids, but it has a coherence that the public Britney lacks. This may initially seem like an odd dissociation but, in a way, it makes sense: how responsible is Britney for her music, anyway? At the peak of her popularity, she never seemed to be dictating the direction of her music, so it only stands to reason that when her personal life has gotten too hectic, she's simply decided to let the professional producers create their tracks and then she'll just drop in the vocals at her convenience. Even the one song that plays like autobiography -- "Piece of Me," where she calls herself "Miss American dream since I was 17" and "I'm miss bad media karma/another day another drama," complaining "they stick all the pictures of my derriere in the magazines," as if she wasn't posing provocatively for Rolling Stone as soon as "Baby" broke big -- was outsourced to "Toxic" producer/writers Bloodshy & Avant, who try desperately to craft a defiant anthem for this tabloid fixture, as she couldn't be bothered to write one on her own. Instead, she busies herself with writing the album's two strip-club anthems, "Freakshow" and the brilliantly titled "Get Naked (I Got a Plan)" (surely the successor to such trash-classics as Soundmaster T's "2 Much Booty (In Da Pants)" and Samantha Fox's timeless pair of "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)" and "(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Stay On"). Every piece of gossip in the four years separating In the Zone and Blackout suggests that her head is in the clubs, yet it's still a bit disarming to realize that this is all that she has to say. Britney may not have much on her mind but at least she pockets so...
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Add this copy of Blackout to cart. $3.48, very good condition, Sold by Cozy Book Cellar rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Bellingham, MA, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Zomba Recording.
Add this copy of Blackout to cart. $4.95, good condition, Sold by ARC Foundation Thrift Store rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Ventura, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Jive Records.
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Seller's Description:
Good. YOUR PURCHASE BENEFITS THOSE WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES TO LIVE A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE. Case has some wear, disc looks good, artwork has a hole in itYour purchase benefits those with developmental disabilities to live a better quality of life.
Add this copy of Blackout to cart. $5.59, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Ruby rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Sony BMG.
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Very good. Providing great media since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Cases may show some wear. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Blackout to cart. $5.92, fair condition, Sold by EB-Books LLC rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Rockford, IL, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Jive.
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Fair. Orders ship SAME or NEXT bussiness day! ! The item has obvious and significant wear but is still operational. Item may arrive with damaged packing or be repacked. Signs of wear can include aesthetic issues such as scratches, dents, worn corners. The item may have identifying markings on it or show other signs fo previous use. 100% money back guarantee. 100% satisfaction GUARANTEED!
Add this copy of Blackout to cart. $6.49, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Movies rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Sony Legacy.
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Very good. Providing great media since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Cases may show some wear. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Blackout to cart. $6.99, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Emerald rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Jive Records.
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Very good. Providing great media since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Cases may show some wear. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Blackout to cart. $6.99, very good condition, Sold by HPB Inc. rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Jive Records.
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Very good. Providing great media since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Cases may show some wear. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Blackout to cart. $8.48, like new condition, Sold by Broadband ERA rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from BEAVERTON, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Jive Records.
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Fine. Disc, artwork and case in excellent condition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed. Orders received before 3PM PT typically ship same day. All profits support the non-profit community. Free upgrade to First Class shipping.
Add this copy of Blackout to cart. $9.65, very good condition, Sold by JOHNSANDERSBOOKS rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Holsworthy, DEVON, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2007 by Jive.
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Very good in very good packaging. Originally released: 2007. Cat # 88697190732. The plastic case is intact. The artwork is complete. The disk may have minor marks. Sent within 24 hours. Ref: C1339.
Add this copy of Blackout to cart. $10.00, like new condition, Sold by ARI Garage Sales rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Orlando, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Jive Records.
