Quindecim

Issue date: 12/10/03 Section: Arts and Entertainment

Britney Spears´ fourth album, In the Zone, is an extensive exploration of her sexuality.

Britney Spears is brilliant. Her manager, her publicist, her songwriters, and all other members of the Britney squad are simply brilliant. Britney Spears has transformed from an awkward, mousy-haired teenager into a sexed-up, sex kitten dancing like a sex-obsessed stripper to songs with explicit sexual themes - all while retaining a fan base of millions.

Incredibly, Spears has crossed the line from virginal to totally sexual without being branded a whore by the media and her fans. While overnight, Christina Aguilera became a dirrty chap-wearing singer, Britney Spears gradually evolved towards the extremely personal and, yes, sexual content of her latest album, In the Zone.

After Spears' 2001 declaration that she was "not a girl" but "not yet a woman," it became clear that she was ready to cast off her pigtails and Catholic minis in place of the edgier, however sophomoric, themes of 2003's In the Zone.

While the content of In the Zone was almost expected, the incredibly infectious hooks were not. Who knew that, without Max Martin and her Swedish dream team of perfect pop-song writers, Britney Spears had the ability to construct beats and vibes with enough punch to keep a dance-floor grooving?

In the Zone provides bass-booming songs that allow Spears to moan about her "boom boom," a one-night hook-up and her outrageous sex drive.

It is evident that with In the Zone, Spears wants to shock, to appall, to create nervous giggles, but above all, she just wants to move your body - is that too much for a 22-year-old millionaire to ask? I didn't think so. Now, in the words of Madame Spears, let's get outrageous.

The first single off In the Zone, "Me Against the Music," pulses with quickly spoken lyrics and a throbbing backbeat. It is clear that Spears feared being forgotten after her sixteen-month musical sabbatical, and so she brought in her new best bud Madonna to draw media attention to the single.

Madonna's voice does not enhance Spears' own, adding an odd and unnecessary component to the otherwise perfect club song. During the bridge, Madonna drags the pumping song down by displaying her notoriously awful vocal stylings. Yet even Madonna's grating voice and Spears' breathy moans do not detract from "Music"'s positive, multi-layered beats. A single, however, should represent an entire album and "Music" does no justice to the hip-shaking fun that follows.

"(I Got That) Boom Boom" is another collaboration among an album filled with them. The Ying Yang Twins persistently and annoyingly holler "Get on the floor and shake that ass!" Perhaps Spears thought that the rappers would give her some sort of hood credence, for they certainly add no musical enhancement to the dance/hip-hop beat of "Boom Boom."

During the chorus, Spears declares "I've got that boom boom that you want," causing me to wonder: Just what "boom boom" do I, or any other listener, want? I guess it's just another part of Spears' sexual glossary. In the song, Spears experiments with sounds other than bass-beats, such as a booming drum and a surprisingly catchy banjo riff.

"Breathe on Me" and "Early Mornin'" are unexpectedly infused with trippy, ambient beats. After I got over the initial shock of hearing something so gloriously different than Spears' previous efforts, I found the songs to be a sign of Spears' musical growth.

Moby's influence is evident on the entrancing, chill-out vibe of "Early Mornin.'" "Breathe on Me" showcases Spears' breathy vocals and has sexual undertones, but is a much more effective and classy track than the crude "Showdown." In "Showdown," Spears groans "Would you undo my zipper, please/ I see your body rise, rise/And when you come, don't get too hot, butterfly."

With its brilliant variety of rhythms, sometimes quick and edgy and sometimes smooth, the song may have been my favorite if it had different lyrics. I don't need to hear what a pop idol says during sex.

It's easy to be blatant, but in "Breathe on Me" Spears is more creative with the lyrics, singing, "It's not complicated/It's just syncopated/Two bodies synchronizing." Unfortunately, most songs are as overtly sexual as "Showdown."

In the song "Touch of My Hand," Spears completely ruins innovative and elegant rhythms by singing about the joy that she gets from masturbating. The song's rhythms have an Asian influence but Spears kills their beauty, singing about living "Another day without a lover/The more I come to understand the touch of my hand/I'm into myself in a most precious way."

Every time I skip over this song, the only song on the album that I don't listen to, I wonder what her mom thought when she heard it for the first time. I am not sure whether I should feel sorry for Spears or disgusted, but I can be fairly sure that that mix of pity and revulsion is a common feeling for all who listen to "Touch of My Hand."

Britney Spears' fourth album is a stellar effort that uses Spears' strengths to create a disc filled with original and incredibly infectious beats. No one claims that Spears' fans appreciate the singer/siren for her vocal talents, but rather for her magnetism as a performer and pop icon.

In the Zone does not try to promote Spears as the next Whitney Houston - there are only two excruciating ballads - but allows the singer to convey her dynamic personality through Jamaican dance-hall, synthesized techno, sugary pop, and some mighty dirty lyrics.

The downside of In the Zone is Spears' extensive exploration of her sexuality, littering an otherwise brilliant album with sexual innuendos, none of which are at all clever. If the listener can tune out the lyrics and simply listen to the rhythms, then In the Zone is brilliant. Like I said, Britney Spears is brilliant.

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