Britney Spears: Circus

The showbiz-circus theme of Britney Spears' sixth

album is as unsubtle as the big top itself, but there are few performers for

whom the metaphor is so apt, both in her personal life and on record. Spears

specializes in the sort of songs dominated by smoke and mirrors, and when

ensconced within those trappings, she reaches the highest heights of shiny

dance music. Hence, Circus is exhilarating when Spears is at her most

artificial, but it stumbles under some misguided attempts at sentiment.

More than on last year's flat-sounding Blackout, Spears sounds like she's

put some real effort into her Circus performances. While her vocal range remains as

limited as ever, she displays an interesting ability to disappear into various

personae: She snarls and barks to an aggressive beat on the paparazzi-taunting "Kill

The Lights," pouts and chirps through the endearingly silly "Mmm Papi," and

takes the virgin/whore character she's been perfecting since her 1999 debut to

glorious new levels of innuendo on "If U Seek Amy." (Say the title aloud.) None

of these personas or subjects are unusual in pop music, but Spears' enthusiasm,

signature nasal coo, and odd hiccup-y pronunciations make it all seem uniquely

her.

Someone so obviously comfortable and capable

within the realm of spectacle should probably stay away from attempts at

sincerity or introspection, yet Circus turns out a couple of schmaltzy ballads

overseen by producer Guy Sigsworth. Slowing it down has never been Spears'

strong suit—though the R&B-laced; slow jam "Blur" finds an interesting

middle ground—but the ballads, "Out From Under" and "My Baby," are about

five years out of date, and her vocals seem anemic and distracted in spite of

the confessional lyrics. For better or worse, Spears is, as she says on the

title track, "a put-on-a-show type of girl," and when she sticks to that credo,

Circus

works.