10 Years Of 'Blackout': How Britney Spears Reinvented Pop Music Against All Odds

To say 2007 was a difficult time for Britney Spears would be a severe understatement. After leaving her husband at the end of 2006, she briefly became Hollywood’s new party girl before her life hit total chaos in plain view of the world.

A divorce, custody battles, rehab, firing her career-long manager, another go at rehab, giving her own mother a restraining order; a lot went on along with shaving her head, so forget about that meme.

Increasingly isolated and wildly unpredictable is by no means a healthy combination, however in retrospect it’s the combination that lead Britney Spears to make the best album of her career, Blackout.

An escapist album of relentless bangers tailored for the dance floor, the Princess of Pop deafened the noise of camera flashes and news reporters with 808s and throbbing club anthems about two seemingly simple joys in life: love and sex. Lots of sex.

“I’m tired of singing sad songs,” she confesses on the album closer ‘Why Should I Be Sad’, the most low-key track of the bunch and one of only two to directly address events in her personal life.

This solemn declaration comes after 11 songs that wouldn’t ever be characterised as sad. Characterised by her strength, cockiness, sex appeal, romance, sex drive and resilience, any listener unaware of the context would listen to these songs wishing to emulate the confident bad-ass behind the mic.

And for those aware of the context who may have pressed play expecting a collection of unfinished demos or worse, she shut them up in the first second of the album with three iconic words: “It’s Britney, bitch.”

Without any guidelines or pressure for a radio-made hit from management, Britney runs freely along the pulsating, futuristic productions of Danja and electro-pop duo Bloodshy & Avant, who had produced ‘Toxic’ four years prior.

Fully embracing the electronic sound she had flirted with previously on songs like ‘Over To You Now’ and ‘Girls and Boys’, she created a subgenre of her own with the unique incorporations of R&B, heavy synths and what can only be described as grimy dance music.

The hot and heavy tone of the record is so palpable it’s as though the music’s physical manifestation is the brick wall of an underground club: hidden in the dark, moist of strangers’ sweat, and vibrating from the speakers.

While many songs are unabashedly sexual (hello, ‘Get Naked (I Got A Plan)’),  the sensuality lies in Britney's incredibly versatile vocal performances and delivery.

Utilising the full range of her voice - the highs, the lows and the downright weird - the superstar was able to experiment with her voice more than ever before, both naturally and innovatively with the help of tech.

After being told early in her career to downplay the Southern soulful tones of her voice in favour for a more through-the-nose pop-friendly sound, the public had been accustomed to her somewhat limited abilities. However, on Blackout there was no limitations as far as what she would do vocally or sonically and this adventurous spirit in the studio birthed an energy so fierce that the music hits just as hard today.

AutoTune and vocal processing really hit the mainstream when Cher released her number one single ‘Believe’ in the late ‘90s, although it was mainly used for pitch correction rather than a way to manipulate the voice.

Britney pushed the limits of processing all across this game-changing in ways like pop had never heard before. From the helium heights of ‘Radar’ to full-blown distortion on ‘Freakshow’, we were introduced to new versions of the pop’s most distinctive voice ranging from robotic to totally unrecognisable.

The level of vocal manipulation quite literally reinvented the way vocals are treated in pop music and further to make great songs even better without relying on the help of others. Blackout being a one-woman show in this respect is a testament to her dedication, independence and drive during the making of the album. She wanted to create her own world and she wanted to do it herself.

Back in 2007 these claims would have been scoffed at, with the digitalisation dismissed as nothing more than a way to compensate for a lack of commitment or talent on her end, when in fact she was totally in charge.

Both the public and critics alike were quick to bash it at the time yet ten years later it’s almost expected from songs, whether it’s by rappers like Future and Lil Uzi Vert or virtually any pop singer in the industry.

This album’s influence - the heavy R&B, grimy electronica, limitless vocal treatment - was plastered over the radio almost immediately with the emergence of Lady Gaga and Ke$ha, as she was then. The latter’s music would likely have been very different had Blackout never been released and the success of songs like ‘Poker Face’ is certainly questionable.

Even now it can still be heard, like with Taylor Swift’s latest reinvention that’s soundtracked to a very bass-heavy brand of ‘dark pop’, as Blackout legend Danja recently noted.

The album’s most tender moment comes with the gorgeous centrepiece ‘Heaven On Earth’. Britney finds serenity on the supersonic disco track reminiscent of Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ as she blissfully sings about the depths of true - or blind - love.

Sandwiched between two bangers about banging, it’s a sweet fantasy that exposes the hopeless romantic in her that longs for the rush of love as well as lust.

Where Madonna’s Confessions On A Dance Floor was designed to play as one hour-long DJ set that became more personal as it went on, Blackout was very simply created with no other intention than to let Britney escape.

In turn, we have a much more intimate album than one that would’ve laid her woes on the table and we are lucky to have been able to use her utopia as our own escape for the past ten years.

At a time when Miss American Dream seemed to be at her worst, she only proved to us that she’s the best.

Words: Ross McNeilage

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WATCH BRITNEY SPEARS' 'RADAR' VIDEO BELOW