Britney Spears

Provided Britney Spears can keep herself out of jail or rehab, she’ll be able to take some satisfaction in pulling off a big comeback with “Blackout.” Spears’s first new album since 2003’s “In The Zone” attempts to put aside recent troubles and defiantly declare that none of it matters. While “In The Zone” was a statement of independence from her handlers and the constraints of teen pop, “Blackout” confronts listeners with a new complexity and renews Spears’s position as a member of pop royalty.

Unlike the publicity storm created by the Britney-Madonna kiss in 2003, Spears’w universally panned appearance at this year’s VMAs captured all the wrong kinds of attention. “Blackout,” then, is faced with a challenge: it has to win fans back or at least attract a new demographic of followers.

Each track seems acutely aware of this pressure. “Blackout” is a coherent attack on the paparazzi, media, and K-Fed. Spears displays a concerted self-confidence that imbues the album with intensity and energy. Most tracks have a heavily electronic sound, but are more substantial than earlier efforts by Spears.

The listener is rewarded with a wide range of beats and vocal retouching that represent significant growth on the part of Spears—or at least the album’s most prolific producer, Timbaland protégé Danja.

The album is acutely aware of Britney’s recent absence from the pop music scene and the tracks that funnel Spears’ frustration and anger are the strongest. In “Piece Of Me,” Spears laments her overexposure since she broke into the music scene at the age of 17. Instead of asking for sympathy, Spears challenges her critics if they really “want a piece” of her. Her recent and serious confrontations with the law and the media force listeners to take the message of “Blackout” more seriously.

The strongest tracks on the album are “Toy Soldier” and “Hot as Ice,” both because of their infectious lyrics and gratuitous braggadocio. “Toy Soldier” declares that the “new Britney is on a mission” to find a man “like a princess s’posed to get.” And if Spears hadn’t made it clear yet, she describes herself as a “living legend” on “Hot as Ice.” While not terribly profound, the album is a refreshing return to the dance genre at which Spears has always excelled.

“Why Should I Be Sad” is the album’s last—and most emotionally revealing—track. It’s slower, it’s closer to her old sound—and it’s clearly directed at KFed. Spears reflects on her pain before declaring “it is time to move along.” The song ends optimistically, as does the album.

Of course, in real life, a judge in Los Angeles will be the one to decide whether those hit-and-run charges stick, and whether 2007 will be Spears’s comeback year. But “Blackout” demonstrates that Britney wants to be known for making pop, and not her parenting skills (or lack thereof). With a new direction and sense of self, “Blackout” shows Spears is ready to move on.

—Staff reviewer Eric M. Sefton can be reached at esefton@fas.harvard.edu.