music megathread Deep diving into the original B9: Would we have seen Britney in all her GLORY?

[WaterDiamonds]

Welcome fellow ATRL users! Since the Britney-Army's been kinda dead lately and we desperately need something to discuss, I thought it'd be a nice idea to talk about Britney's scrapped album that was in the works right before Glory, which some of you might know by the fan-coined name "Pretty World", a project that was set to be released in summer of 2015, but never came to fruition. Let's go!

 

First of all, let's contextualize things and pinpoint some people that will be relevant during the thread:

 

Let's pick things up from the Britney Jean era, everything is a hot mess, a mess hotter than the sun! Britney has virtually no control over her life, nor music, and decides to actively boycott herself in every concievable way, purposely singing horribly on the studio to make her takes unusable and delay an album with a direction that she didn't enjoy (which led to the infamous Myah disaster, all a desperate attempt to have some new material ready as a tool to promote her upcoming Piece Of Me Residency). Who were those in charge of handling this hellhole of an era, if not Britney, you might ask? Well, the executive producer of the album, Will.i.am (Who will be spared from more lashings from my behalf) and most importantly, the A&Rs, who were Adam Leber, Larry Rudolph (Her two managers) and the often overlooked Rani Hancock (Keep her name in mind, we'll get back to her in a second or two).

 

So, to sum things up, Britney's career is in the trenches from an artistic and commercial standpoint, which led to her people thinking "What is the most profitable thing she can do from now on?", question that was quickly answered by the mindblowing success of the Piece Of Me Las Vegas Residency, causing a complete shift of their priorities, focusing on her Las Vegas show over any new music related project, a lesson they learnt from Myah Jean's lukewarm sales and all the difficulties caused by B herself during the recording of the album; so in a certain way, she accomplished what she wanted, with no more forced studio sessions for another pre-fabricated album, despite being stuck in Vegas doing a show she wasn't enjoying at the time.

 

Now, time for a little timeskip all the way to the middle of 2014. 

Britney, being the unpredictable icon she is, decides all by herself that she wants to make new music, but in her own terms and without a defined deadline, and RCA, her label, not having anything to lose since they weren't planing on doing much promotion anyway, greenlights her proposal and assigns her one of their A&Rs for this new project, can you guess who? Exactly, Rani Hancock! So let's see what she's all about...

 

As I just stated, Rani was one of the A&Rs of RCA at the time, who had quite an insane streak of hit albums at the time, with As I Am by Alicia Keys followed by Kesha's Animal, Cannibal and Warrior, Adam Lambert's Trespassing, Miley's Bangerz and Hilary Duff's This Heart that would soon become Breathe In Breathe Out. Hilary's project apparently stuck with her, as she was the one who linked Britney and Duff's husband, Matthew Koma, together, and his tracks were some of the ones that she recorded first. According to Britney, the project's recording process began on september 5th of 2014, right after a Writing Camp was held to write material both for Britney and surprisingly also Ariana Grande, which funnily enough also ended up being for a scrapped 2015 album called Moonlight. 

Spoiler

Aspen Songwriting Camp, Held since the 4th of September of 2014 to write material for Britney and Ariana, reported by BMI.

 

People pictured from left to right: Nash Overstreet, Julia Michaels, Jessa Gelt (BMI), Andrew Gould (BMG), Jason Evigan, Breyan Isaac, Ilsey Juber, Leyla Kuday (DRS), Danny Parker, Barbara Cane (BMI), Andreas "Axident" Schuller.

 

 

After gathering some material from these sources (One of the songs born from that writing retreat was Liar), the main producers involved at the time along with Komma were Rock Mafia and The Invisible Men, as she had many sessions with them, and fun fact, they had Charli XCX making some demos for Britney as well!

 

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Despite all of this, she wasn't impressed with Rani's work, and two years later, in 2016, expressed that the A&R system she had going on at the time wasn't doing it for her. Even with a disfunctional A&R, the album was developing quickly, and the lead single of it was recorded in the september sessions; and yes, I'm talking about no other than PRETTY GIRLS, whose existence was confirmed as early as in december of 2014 by none other than Iggy Iggs, along with other collabs she did with her that we still don't know about, also, around that time, Tom's Diner was recorded for Giorgio Moroder's album.

 

 

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Min 1:20

 

Months after, in March of 2015 Azalea was yet again the one who confirmed Pretty Girls would be the first single of Britney's upcoming album; despite the skepticism that this claim recieves from the fandom, the tune really got such treatment, with an old fashioned rollout featuring a web redesign with brand new vectors and an unused personalized font, a live performance at an award show (which she hadn't done since 2011), special ubers playing the song in exclusive through L.A to create hype, a spot in her Las Vegas how's setlist and intensive radio play, which is basically the same treatment, if not better than Make Me's.

 

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Weren't these the cutest things ever? Love them so much ugh

The bulk of the album was actually recorded during the first months four months of 2015, and despite being first conceptualized by Brit as a Pop-Rock project, it quickly leaned into Bubblegum Pop, and as if that wasn't surprising enough Britney wanted to dip her Lousiana lily-white toes into PC Music and record the SOPHIE-penned track When I Rule The World, which sadly never happened bc of that girl who shall not be mentioned!

 

The album was set to be released in summer of 2015 a few months after Pretty Girls, as the production was almost wrapped up by the time of it's release in may, but after Britney became aware of it's tankery and all the hate it got made her self-concious (If only Katy Perry had these levels of self awareness...) and decided to switch things up by hiring a brand new A&R, Karen Kwak, to start over with different producers; which is kind of a similar situation as the of Femme Fatale when Teresa LaBarbera Whites, who was her A&R at the time, left Jive right before the planned release of the album back in August of 2010, taking with her many songwriters that were working for Britney and basically granting full control of the project to Max Martin and Dr. Luke since the new A&R Peter Thea was (and still is) a nobody, no shade.

 

So! June of 2015 is where the story of the B9 1.0 ends and the one of Glory begins, how poetic! Sadly, we don't have a confirmed tracklist nor the working title of the album, but we know that at least over 20 songs were specifically recorded for this album, as she stated she recorded over 50 tracks for Glory and the sessions prior to it, which out of those 50 only 20 of them were released, and from those 20 songs we surely know that two of them belonged to the B9 sessions (Pretty Girls and Swimming In The Stars). #Maths

 

To conclude, I'd like to point out that this project, even if scrapped and probably sort of messy, showed that Britney still had that passion for music flowing through her veins and an unbreakable spirit that was still deep inside of her despite 4 lethargic years of hazy numbness in her life; and proves that even at your lowest, when you least expect it, a muse comes and whispers in your ear: "It's Britney Bjtch!" just to remind you of who you really are. 

Edited November 9 by WaterDiamonds

[45seconds]

What an interesting read. No idea all of that was happening. 

[Katamari]

Why were they so confident in pretty girls  that's more promo than make me tbh 

[yonsé]

damn id love to hear this album.

 

pretty girls was so fun.

[yonsé]

4 minutes ago, Katamari said:

Why were they so confident in pretty girls  that's more promo than make me tbh 

because Fancy had just smashed the year before. they figured she could get her own. hence the charli sessions.

Edited October 9 by yonsé

[Theluckyone]

If pretty girls was anything to go by, I'm glad B9 v1.0 was scrapped. Glory served. 

[Cruel Summer]

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asif that wasn't surprising enough Britney wanted to dip her Lousiana lily-white toes into PC Music and record the SOPHIE-penned track When I Rule The World

This has never been too shocking to me because Britney's work has powerful influence on the hyperpop landscape  as a whole  I firmly believe that Femme Fatale in particular is an under-discussed source of several proto-hyperpop tracks. I would have loved to see a project from Britney that leaned harder into the genre as it developed - I don't think anyone could have done it better, and it could have been a smart way to turn public perception of her as almost a commodity on its head and provide some commentary on that, like Piece of Me did on Blackout (which is another album I've seen cited in the hyperpop lineage, but that one's more obvious).

[WaterDiamonds]

19 minutes ago, Theluckyone said:

If pretty girls was anything to go by, I'm glad B9 v1.0 was scrapped. Glory served. 

So far, all the songs we have heard from the album are nothing like PG but they're also by completely different producers, and even the other demos that the invisible men submitted have a different vibe, specially i hate you

[Josh]

24 minutes ago, Theluckyone said:

If pretty girls was anything to go by, I'm glad B9 v1.0 was scrapped. Glory served. 

Glory wasnt better tho not with hot garbage like Private Show

[WaterDiamonds]

3 minutes ago, Cruel Summer said:

This has never been too shocking to me because Britney's work has powerful influence on the hyperpop landscape  as a whole  I firmly believe that Femme Fatale in particular is an under-discussed source of several proto-hyperpop tracks. I would have loved to see a project from Britney that leaned harder into the genre as it developed - I don't think anyone could have done it better, and it could have been a smart way to turn public perception of her as almost a commodity on its head and provide some commentary on that, like Piece of Me did on Blackout (which is another album I've seen cited in the hyperpop lineage, but that one's more obvious).

Even during Glory there was still hope that Britney would dare to join the PC music scene with Secret and Trophy; but Charli already had Secret, and idk why Trophy was rejected.

 

Also, there's this one pitch demo that idk how to feel about bc it's corny yet so off the wall? 😭

 

[BraveNewSeth]

10 minutes ago, Cruel Summer said:

This has never been too shocking to me because Britney's work has powerful influence on the hyperpop landscape  as a whole  I firmly believe that Femme Fatale in particular is an under-discussed source of several proto-hyperpop tracks. I would have loved to see a project from Britney that leaned harder into the genre as it developed - I don't think anyone could have done it better, and it could have been a smart way to turn public perception of her as almost a commodity on its head and provide some commentary on that, like Piece of Me did on Blackout (which is another album I've seen cited in the hyperpop lineage, but that one's more obvious).

This is straight facts. How I Roll and Trip To Your Heart were way ahead of their time, and judging by some of the other Bloodshy pitch tracks we know about, it seems like Britney really wanted to dive deeper into that sound for Femme Fatale. HIR was even one of Britney's favorites from that album. 

[WaterDiamonds]

38 minutes ago, Katamari said:

Why were they so confident in pretty girls  that's more promo than make me tbh 

Even Jlo enjoyed some moderate success thanks to Iggy a year before with Booty, so they thought a collaboration with miss Azalea would be an easy way of getting her a hit... And it clearly wasn't the case, so it made RCA give up on her and reduce even more the budget of upcoming promo campaigns 

[Vixen Eyes]

There was a rock album??? We LOST

[Raichu]

16 minutes ago, WaterDiamonds said:

Even during Glory there was still hope that Britney would dare to join the PC music scene with Secret and Trophy; but Charli already had Secret, and idk why Trophy was rejected.

 

Also, there's this one pitch demo that idk how to feel about bc it's corny yet so off the wall? 😭

 

Honestly the melody in the verses is nice but like you said its really corny, and even more importantly its kinda just ***** I'm Madonna 2.0

[WaterDiamonds]

9 minutes ago, Vixen Eyes said:

There was a rock album??? We LOST

Pop-Rock, she wasn't leaning all the way into rock and it was more like Brit-pop, the unreleased Youtopia is a good example of the sound I'm talking about, I doubt she did something that was guitar heavy 

[BraveNewSeth]

1 hour ago, yonsé said:

damn id love to hear this album.

 

pretty girls was so fun.

We have a couple songs from the early B9/Pretty World sessions that have leaked. Check out Exaholic and I Can Bang by Rock Mafia and Youtopia by Matthew Koma if you're curious. 

[Scandalous]

if only they chose a better song than Pretty Girls to lead it with we may have actually gotten this album  

 

although i was happy with Glory, i was actually just revisiting it a few days ago and while it's still a fun album it just feels like dated Justin/Julia music and doesn't have a lot of Brit's touch on it. would've been fascinating to hear more in the When I Rule the World direction.

 

all the britney lore is so disappointing, between this and Original Doll she had so much potentially great music that she had a lot of input in that we never got to hear

Edited October 9 by Scandalous

[BrattyBottom]

Private Show - the best song she's ever done 

[JDC]

At least we got Glory which is a good album, even tho any album would be an improvement after the Britney Jean mess... Pretty Girls was a cute single but far from a lead single to kick a whole era, so I'm not sure about the quality of that lost album

[Jeremiah]

3 hours ago, Katamari said:

Why were they so confident in pretty girls  that's more promo than make me tbh 

They actually weren't that much. If it wasn't for Iggy pushing for it, it would have been scrapped I just know it

[Jeremiah]

2015 was supposed to be her "droplets" era (Selena copied ha!). Britney said it wasn't her priority to put together an album and Larry said they'd just put out singles for the meantime. Pretty Girls flopping thankfully killed the plans, plans they weren't committed either way as Iggy cried for months to get the song out and then cried again because they refused to properly promote it.

 

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However, Spears and Planet Hollywood are currently in negotiations about extending the show another two years through 2017, so a new full-length album may still prove harder to squeeze in. "Right now we're just concentrating on putting out a few great singles as they come," says Spears' manager Larry Rudolph. "We're not really talking seriously about a new album yet. Albums just aren't as important in the digital age as they used to be. Britney will get to one eventually, but not right now."

Source: Billboard (March 2015)

 

I once saw a breakdown of when Glory's songs were recorded. Not sure how accurate it was but it fitted with other receipts. For example, "Liar" is for sure a 2014 song and so is "Clumsy", I think.

 

Edited October 9 by Jeremiah

[LittleCupid]

1 hour ago, BrattyBottom said:

Private Show - the best song she's ever done 

*one of the best.

[BlueBlue]

I remember when Iggy said its going to be a lead from new Britney album and I waited in 2015 for it. The times when Iggy feature was considered a hit potential only 10 years ago and feels like 100. Well PG was fun mess and I liked that but Glory was so much better 

[Trash]

The early Glory leaks (Exaholic, Dance your F**k off, Youtopia) aren't good tbh, I'm glad we got the final product as it is. I'd be more interested in anything from the original Femme Fatale concept.

 

This was however a great read 

 

Any idea to where does her version of Sucker for Pain lands in between eras, was it meant for Glory? 

[ChooseyLover]

Thank God for Glory, but I know that deep down I would have found a way to love this album too.

 

Pretty World would have been an upgrade from Britney Jean too imo.