music megathread The making of the B7: Was Britney The Femme Fatale?

[WaterDiamonds]

Good morning ATRL, I'm excited to see you again with another Britney Mega Thread, it's been a while since the last one!

 

This time the topic will be centered about Femme Fatale, the iconic 2011 album that gave us unforgettable bars like "Steam it like a pot full of vegetables" or "Imma show you tonight that I'm a girl and you're a boy"; so fasten up your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride!

 

Just like the last time, I'm going to add some important context that will come in handy for the understanding of this thread for people who are not familiar with Britology... 

 

The year is 2008, we're in December, Britney had made her so-called comeback after the conservatorship was successfully established in February, and Britney is already rehearsing for her upcoming hot tour, that according to what was promised to her, it would be the last thing she'd had to do under the Conservatorship. 

 

(Keep in mind all of this was going on after releasing two of the biggest song of the year: Womanizer and Circus, along with the super-successful album with the same name)

 

Her management team at the time consisted of Larry Rudolph, who was brought back by Papa Spears after being fired by Britney in 2007 along with Adam Leber, who was a business pal of Larry that was a brand new addition; you might recognize his name if you're a Smiler or Harmonizer because he also worked for them at some point, remember those two bc they'll be mentioned later. 

 

Anyhow, moving forward, Britney starts the Circus Tour in 2009, and while touring in Europe during July, specifically while she was in Sweden, she confirms she's recording brand new material with Max Martin, which marks the parting shot of the Circus era and the beginning of a new phase in her career.

During her brief visits to Max Martin's studio Britney was rather productive as she recorded over 5 songs, those being 3, I Wanna Go, Criminal and Up N' Down, along with an unknown Rock song that we haven't heard yet, which allegedly is Friday I'll Be Over U by Allison Iraheta. (Also as a bit of trivia, Criminal and I Wanna Go were first registered as In Love With A Criminal and I-I-I Wanna Go-o-o, and those titles can still be found on ASCAP and BMI).

 

Despite those tracks always being intended for a future album, Britney ended up releasing 3 as the promotional single of her second GH album "The Singles Collection", which performed exceptionally well and gave her her 3rd #1 Single on the BBH100 barely a year after Womanizer, which only made her a more desirable target for songwriters at the time, proving that her Star Power wasn't yet fading, and obviously Britney's team noticed this extreme demand for new material and quickly the preparatives for a new album began, being seen at the studio in August with her A&R Teresa Labarbera Whites to record new material and discuss the direction of the project, that allegedly was going to be urban and hip hop influenced by Britney's request, but this idea never materialized into anything. Also, keep in mind, she'll be mentioned later again in one of the pivotal moments of the album's creation. 

 

Spoiler

Britney Spears making it into the studio during July and August of 2009.

 

But not shortly after this, behind the scenes, things were starting to get really dark... 

 

By January of 2010 Britney had lost her patience after being promised that after the Australian leg of the tour, her Conservatorship would've been dissolved before Christmas, which didn't happen and in fact, was extended for a few months; all of it led to her depression aggravating and triggered a big fight with her father, Jamie, that apparently got out of hand and he fired back with a psych ward threat if she didn't stop complaining, and Britney was so scared of his punishments that she managed to check in a hotel for a week away from him and only allowing visits of her mother Lynne, and a therapist.

 

Even though Britney's hopes of freedom were already crumbling, she remained relatively stable for the next few months, and she was spotted at the studio in many different occasions, and seemed to be doing lowkey fine until April, where she was seen arguing with her then boyfriend Jason Trawick on the car and crying, not shortly after, the same month she appeared with short hair that looked like it was chopped with scissors before being fixed for her Candie's photoshoot, apparently this incident was a result of a panic attack, which, contrary to popular belief, must have happened before the Disney Land trip.

 

Despite Britney's mental health deteriorating, her team was still fixated in putting out new music, with her A&R, Teresa LaBarbera (I told you guys to remember her name!) contacting a bunch of new songwriters to send her material, with Darkchild, Rusko and Tiësto being the first ones to confirm their involvement in the project. Despite an A-List producers army being built up, Britney's heart wasn't into music at the time as she was trying to find a way to escape her father's control.

 

Summer goes by, and we see Brit more and more in the studio, with rumors pointing out a single release by the end of August, but the album apparently wasn't progressing as quickly as it was expected and suffered it's first delay, which caused her A&R (now executive producer), Teresa to take action and organize a Writing Camp for Britney in Texas, to get good quality material to record fast and proficiently; and in September a team of the top producers in the game came to write for Britney, enlisting William Orbit, Danja, The Nervo Sisters, Eric Bellinger, Bonnie McKee, Coco Morier, Toby Gad, Neon Hitch, Claude Kelly, Pop & Oak, Heather Bright, Evan Kidd Bogart, Livvi Franc and Jewel to pen future hits for our Pop Princess, with Teresa saying that they were looking for songs in the same line as Unusual You, and electronic dance tracks with an edge and attitude... But things couldn't go that well without any drawback, could they?

 

Spoiler

Teresa's writing camp from September 23rd of 2010, in Granbury, Texas

 

The same month, Britney's conservatorship is officially made permanent despite all of her efforts to avoid it, which wrecked to such point that to make her productive and willing to work her handlers her into very strong medications to keep her numb and easy to handle, which was quickly noticed by the fans as she was acting robotic and her eyes lost all of her shine and her face swelled up, giving her the "Femme Fatale" era look. There are pictures of Britney picking up her sons at the daycare from the same day of the conservatorship hearing in which the judged ruled this decision where she can be seen holding back her tears, they always break me down just by looking at them :(

 

An almost zombiefied Britney was booked and busy recording the songs that were churned out of the writing camp at a very fast pace, so fast that you might think that she might have been able to put out the album by the end of the year... But no, here's when one of the most insane plot twists in Pop music happens, bet you didn't seen this coming: Beyoncé, now part of Columbia and looking forward to put out a new album, contacts Teresa to be her A&R because they know each other since the Destiny's Child days, and she wants her back with her because she is aware of her skills, but the thing is, Mamma Knowles doesn't wanna wait, she wants it NOW! So they make Teresa an irresistible offer in exchange to drop every project she had going on at the time to come back with her and also become the Senior Vice-President of Columbia, a deal that she obviously accepts; making most of the producers of the record migrate to Columbia to work on 4 and taking their songs with them.

 

So Femme Fatale now has no A&R, no executive producer and no new material for a lethargic Britney to record, she's in literal SHAMBLES!

 

Jive, her label, fearing losing momentum, assigned one of their A&Rs, Peter Thea (Who did basically nothing) as a replacement of Teresa, and then, in November, Dr. Luke and Max Martin were chosen as the executive producers along with her two managers Larry Rudolph and Adam Leber, who took the wheel as Britney is physically and mentally to do so. After this choice the album's direction shifted, keeping the core idea of making it an electronic music record, but adjusting it's sound to make it more palatable and safe for the general public, and discarding even more of the material that Britney had already recorded from the Teresa writing camp, with William Orbit complaining about it literally stating the following:

 

"The Britney thing. Look, I went to a writing camp at Teresa's. Had lovely time. Word got out. Assumptions were made. Dr Luke is exec produtive and he locks in locks out whoever he likes. And where B's at in all this? I surely don't know."

 

Some other producers who attended the Texas writing camp backed up his claims, which is just another confirmation that at this point the album was Dr Luke's playground, despite this the recording process wasn't wrapped up until a month prior to it's release, with Big Fat Bass being the last song made for the project, in February of 2011, and according to Luke, the album did not have a final tracklist by that point and many songs were on consideration, DESPITE ALREADY BEING OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED ON BRITNEY'S TWITTER ACCOUNT, which comes to show how rushed the project was.

 

Spoiler

Britney arriving to the recording studio in February of 2011, just a month and a half before Femme Fatale's release on March 29th.

Even with the album's glossy and maximalist production, it overrelied on background vocalists in some of the tracks, which can be explained by Britney not having time to revisit some tracks due to the uncertainty around which songs were going to make the cut and which ones wouldn't; and the fact that she was left uncredited as one of the writers of Don't Keep Me Waiting despite penning it's bridge because the booklet of the album was already being printed, and they didn't have enough time to fix their mistake and add her name to the credits trully makes you realize how fast things were moving in the Britney-world. After all of her efforts and two tough years of hard work and more downs than ups, Britney managed to record over 50 songs in the period of time comprehended between 2009-2011, and out of these 50 tracks, 18 made the cut, and only other 2 have surfaced online, those being Unbroken and King Of My Castle (The latter not even being planned for Femme Fatale but The Singles Collection Compilation) meaning that there's at least 30 vaulted songs that we might never hear. 

 

In conclusion, Femme Fatale was prematurely born out of a need to sell, not because of Britney's own wish to do music, but despite it's horrifyingly traumatic origins, it managed to become not only a staple of the early 2010s sound, but also the blueprint of Hyperpop with it's bubbly (almost effervescent) synths, meticulously computerized vocals and hedonistic sense of self; it just proves that as long as Britney is somewhere in there, her presence will always be felt, and that the music will act as a catalyst of the ideas that despite not being fully executed, are still in present, constantly fighting to be heard and seen, just like B herself.

 

By the way, if you haven't checked my thread about the making of the original version of Glory you might want to do it now, I revamped it with a little more info: 

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 02:00 PM by WaterDiamonds

[dumbsparce]

I had no idea about any of this lore. WoW! Keep up the good work.. cause lord knows how much you're gonna need it for what comes next 

[perfectillusion204]

1 hour ago, WaterDiamonds said:

along with an unknown Rock song that we haven't heard yet, which allegedly is Friday I'll Be Over U by Allison Iraheta. 

Omg stop, that is still one of my fav songs haha. If that's true I would die to hear Britney's version one day!

 

This was such a fascinating read, thank you! I was in middle school when FF was released and that was before I was super into pop culture, so I didn't know a lot of this happened.

[BraveNewSeth]

Despite how messy things in the background were, it's impressive that Team Con was able to churn out an album as solid as Femme Fatale. Because from the sound of things it could've easily become a BJ situation

 

2 hours ago, WaterDiamonds said:

but also the blueprint of Hyperpop

Also I wouldn't say the entire album is hyperpop adjacent, but How I Roll and Trip To Your Heart are absolutely early hyperpop songs and it's impressive that Britney was experimenting with that sound a good ~5 years before Charli XCX would release Vroom Vroom. 

[Jeremiah]

You did it! So happy you went with it 

 

Now, some points I feel like raising:

 

1. A&R/Exec-producer of the album

It's evident that Teresa LaBarbera was the original person in charge of the album. No doubt about that but I'm questioning the reasons of her departure and when it was definitive (I very much doubt Teresa would drop out just like that, specially after working closely with Britney on Blackout and Circus). As yourself brought up, she was hosting writing camps in late September 2010, and although it was officially announced in October 28 that Dr. Luke was assuming, there's this Billboard cover story from September 3rd that slips the info. Makes me wonder: did Dr. Luke come to replace Teresa? Did they work together first? How much of Teresa's involvement made it into the album?

 

Now, noticing after going through my archives, I ask: why was Teresa hosting camps as of late as September? It was rumored all through the year that Britney was preparing a new album and while they denied it for the most part, Adam Leber admitted in mid August that she was focused on finishing an album (context: she wasn't attending the Glee premiere).

 

How many stages did Femme Fatale go through?

 

2. "Rock album"

There's a long standing myth that Britney wanted a rock sound for the album. Where did it originate? I have yet to know. "Don't Keep Me Waiting" exists after all (which is interesting when you know that Darkchild was involved since 2009, but I'd say DKMW is from late 2010) as well as the "rock song" you mention, which is what I want to refer to. As far as I know, the "rock song" was teased by Ann Mincieli, an engineer/mixer who worked with Max Martin, on a now deleted tweet:

 

We know the 3/IWG/etc sessions were in mid July 2009 in Stockholm, while Ann's tweets are from August (Britney was in NYC then).

 

She also posted on Facebook: "Me and Max Martin are working with her on a bunch of new songs for her Album and End of Year box set!" (Source) - (Were all the songs for The Singles Collection then? Were they doing songs for both projects?).

 

Anyways. What's interesting is that Ann tweeted again a year later:

 

If you remember right, Britney covered Alanis Morissette's song "You Oughta Know" in selected dates for the Circus tour, the first being September 5, 2009. Soooo, could have the "rock song" been "You Oughta Know" all along?

 

3. "Rushed album?"

That's interesting. Ever since Dr. Luke was announced, it was reputed that the album would come out before March 31, 2011, as it was the end of Sony's fiscal year. "Big Fat Bass" was indeed recorded in February 2011, and I think there was even more people pitching songs at the time (Fredwreck, Dallas Austin), but they were probably just open last potential inclusions, as Dr. Luke was done with his material in December and the album was on final steps:

 

 

[Slap]

Love these threads thank you sis, I am fascinated by this era and there was so much wrong with it. The body doubles in the first two music videos were also a sign that she just wasn't into it. It felt like a heartless album except for the bonus tracks to be honest and you could tell at the initial promotional performances she was not in a good place at all. 
 

With this and Britney Jean it seems Glory was one of the only albums during the conservatorship where she was wanting to do it.  

[XtinaStripped]

Love this. Thank you.

[stephen1108]

I was good friends with a Darkchild writer back around that time, and they told me the titles of the songs they worked on with Brit months before we knew about them. 
 

"Don't Keep Me Waiting" was one, but there's two more that DC did we never got. "Push My Detonator" which was described as being similar to Telephone production wise, and another one called "Dirty White T-Shirt". I think there could have been one more, but I don't remember the name right now.

 

hopefully they leak one day, I'm confident they exist because I know firsthand who this person is and they are legit. 
 

edit: I knew about "He About To Lose Me" also, because while this individual didn't work on the track, they made the recommendation that Britney record that song 

Edited Sunday at 05:26 AM by stephen1108

[geddymonster]

Also the added layer that JIVE folded into RCA in the middle of the era.

[loveisdead9582]

11 minutes ago, geddymonster said:

Also the added layer that JIVE folded into RCA in the middle of the era.

Is this maybe how Luke took over the album?

[geddymonster]

Just now, loveisdead9582 said:

Is this maybe how Luke took over the album?

No, the album was done under JIVE. RCA didn't take over until "Criminal" was released as the fourth single.

[loveisdead9582]

10 minutes ago, geddymonster said:

No, the album was done under JIVE. RCA didn't take over until "Criminal" was released as the fourth single.

Ah gotcha. 

[Jagger]

Her best album. Hands down 

[Frozen99]

love these threads, thank you sis for informing and reliving  sad we didn't get britney's original idea. i remember the song 'sorry adam' was such a ******* banger, FF could've been so much different (better)

[MaxMartin]

9 hours ago, WaterDiamonds said:

Good morning ATRL, I'm excited to see you again with another Britney Mega Thread, it's been a while since the last one!

 

This time the topic will be centered about Femme Fatale, the iconic 2011 album that gave us unforgettable bars like "Steam it like a pot full of vegetables" or "Imma show you tonight that I'm a girl and you're a boy"; so fasten up your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride!

 

Just like the last time, I'm going to add some important context that will come in handy for the understanding of this thread for people who are not familiar with Britology... 

 

The year is 2008, we're in December, Britney had made her so-called comeback after the conservatorship was successfully established in February, and Britney is already rehearsing for her upcoming hot tour, that according to what was promised to her, it would be the last thing she'd had to do under the Conservatorship. 

 

(Keep in mind all of this was going on after releasing two of the biggest song of the year: Womanizer and Circus, along with the super-successful album with the same name)

 

Her management team at the time consisted of Larry Rudolph, who was brought back by Papa Spears after being fired by Britney in 2007 along with Adam Leber, who was a business pal of Larry that was a brand new addition; you might recognize his name if you're a Smiler or Harmonizer because he also worked for them at some point, remember those two bc they'll be mentioned later. 

 

Anyhow, moving forward, Britney starts the Circus Tour in 2009, and while touring in Europe during July, specifically while she was in Sweden, she confirms she's recording brand new material with Max Martin, which marks the parting shot of the Circus era and the beginning of a new phase in her career.

During her brief visits to Max Martin's studio Britney was rather productive as she recorded over 5 songs, those being 3, I Wanna Go, Criminal and Up N' Down, along with an unknown Rock song that we haven't heard yet, which allegedly is Friday I'll Be Over U by Allison Iraheta. (Also as a bit of trivia, Criminal and I Wanna Go were first registered as In Love With A Criminal and I-I-I Wanna Go-o-o, and those titles can still be found on ASCAP and BMI).

 

Despite those tracks always being intended for a future album, Britney ended up releasing 3 as the promotional single of her second GH album "The Singles Collection", which performed exceptionally well and gave her her 3rd #1 Single on the BBH100 barely a year after Womanizer, which only made her a more desirable target for songwriters at the time, proving that her Star Power wasn't yet fading, and obviously Britney's team noticed this extreme demand for new material and quickly the preparatives for a new album began, being seen at the studio in August with her A&R Teresa Labarbera Whites to record new material and discuss the direction of the project, that allegedly was going to be urban and hip hop influenced by Britney's request, but this idea never materialized into anything. Also, keep in mind, she'll be mentioned later again in one of the pivotal moments of the album's creation. 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Britney Spears making it into the studio during July and August of 2009.

 

But not shortly after this, behind the scenes, things were starting to get really dark... 

 

By January of 2010 Britney had lost her patience after being promised that after the Australian leg of the tour, her Conservatorship would've been dissolved before Christmas, which didn't happen and in fact, was extended for a few months; all of it led to her depression aggravating and triggered a big fight with her father, Jamie, that apparently got out of hand and he fired back with a psych ward threat if she didn't stop complaining, and Britney was so of his words that she managed to check in a hotel for a week away from him and only allowing visits of her mother Lynne, and a therapist.

 

Despite Britney's hopes of freedom already crumbling, she remained relatively stable for the next few months, and she was spotted at the studio in many different occasions, and she seemed to be doing lowkey fine until April, where she was seen arguing with her then boyfriend Jason Trawick on the car and crying, not shortly after, the same month she appeared with short hair that looked like it was chopped with scissors before being fixed for her Candie's photoshoot, apparently this incident was a result of a panic attack, which, contrary to popular belief, must have happened before the Disney Land trip.

 

Despite Britney's mental health deteriorating, her team was still fixated in putting out new music, with her A&R, Teresa LaBarbera (I told you guys to remember her name!) contacting a bunch of new songwriters to send her material, with Darkchild, Rusko and Tiësto being the first ones to confirm their involvement in the project. Despite an A-List producers army being built up, Britney's heart wasn't into music at the time as she was trying to find a way to escape her father's control.

 

Summer goes by, and we see Brit more and more in the studio, with rumors pointing out a single release by the end of August, but the album apparently wasn't progressing as quickly as it was expected and suffered it's first delay, which caused her A&R (now executive producer), Teresa to take action and organize a Writing Camp for Britney in Texas, to get good quality material to record fast and proficiently; and in September a team of the top producers in the game came to write for Britney, enlisting William Orbit, Danja, The Nervo Sisters, Eric Bellinger, Bonnie McKee, Coco Morier, Toby Gad, Neon Hitch, Claude Kelly, Pop & Oak, Heather Bright, Evan Kidd Bogart, Livvi Franc and Jewel to pen future hits for our Pop Princess, with Teresa saying that they were looking for songs in the same line as Unusual You, and electronic dance tracks with an edge and attitude... But things couldn't go that well without any drawback, could they?

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Teresa's writing camp from September 23rd of 2010, in Granbury, Texas

 

The same month, Britney's conservatorship is officially made permanent despite all of her efforts to avoid it, which wrecked to such point that to make her productive and willing to work her handlers her into very strong medications to keep her numb and easy to handle, which was quickly noticed by the fans as she was acting robotic and her eyes lost all of her shine and her face swelled up, giving her the "Femme Fatale" era look. There are pictures of Britney picking up her sons at the daycare from the same day of the conservatorship hearing in which the judged ruled this decision where she can be seen holding back her tears, they always break me down just by looking at them :(

 

An almost zombiefied Britney was booked and busy recording the songs that were churned out of the writing camp at a very fast pace, so fast that you might think that she might have been able to put out the album by the end of the year... But no, here's when one of the most insane plot twists in Pop music happens, bet you didn't seen this coming: Beyoncé, now part of Columbia and looking forward to put out a new album, contacts Teresa to be her A&R because they know each other since the Destiny's Child days, and she wants her back with her because she is aware of her skills, but the thing is, Mamma Knowles doesn't wanna wait, she wants it NOW! So they make Teresa an irresistible offer in exchange to drop every project she had going on at the time to come back with her and also become the Senior Vice-President of Columbia, a deal that she obviously accepts; making most of the producers of the record migrate to Columbia to work on 4 and taking their songs with them.

 

So Femme Fatale now has no A&R, no executive producer and no new material for a lethargic Britney to record, she's in literal SHAMBLES!

 

Jive, her label, fearing losing momentum, assigned one of their A&Rs, Peter Thea (Who did basically nothing) as a replacement of Teresa, and then, in November, Dr. Luke and Max Martin were chosen as the executive producers along with her two managers Larry Rudolph and Adam Leber, who took the wheel as Britney is physically and mentally to do so. After this choice the album's direction shifted, keeping the core idea of making it an electronic music record, but adjusting it's sound to make it more palatable and safe for the general public, and discarding even more of the material that Britney had already recorded from the Teresa writing camp, with William Orbit complaining about it literally stating the following:

 

"The Britney thing. Look, I went to a writing camp at Teresa's. Had lovely time. Word got out. Assumptions were made. Dr Luke is exec produtive and he locks in locks out whoever he likes. And where B's at in all this? I surely don't know."

 

Some other producers who attended the Texas writing camp ,backed up his claims, which is just another confirmation that at this point the album was Dr Luke's playground, despite this the recording process wasn't wrapped up until a month prior to it's release, with Big Fat Bass being the last song made for the project, in February of 2011, and according to Luke, the album did not have a final tracklist by that point and many songs were on consideration, DESPITE ALREADY BEING OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED ON BRITNEY'S TWITTER ACCOUNT, which comes to show how rushed the project was.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Britney arriving to the recording studio in February of 2011, just a month and a half before Femme Fatale's release on March 29th.

Even with the album's glossy and maximalist production, it overrelied on background vocalists in some of the tracks, which can be explained by Britney not having time to revisit some tracks due to the uncertainty around which songs were going to make the cut and which ones wouldn't; and the fact that she was left uncredited as one of the writers of Don't Keep Me Waiting despite penning it's bridge because the booklet of the album was already being printed, and they didn't have enough time to fix their mistake and add her name to the credits trully makes you realize how fast things were moving in the Britney-world. 

 

In conclusion, Femme Fatale was prematurely born out of a need to sell, not because of Britney's own wish to do music, but despite it's horrifyingly traumatic origins, it managed to become not only a staple of the early 2010s sound, but also the blueprint of Hyperpop with it's bubbly (almost effervescent) synths, meticulously computerized vocals and hedonistic sense of self; it just proves that as long as Britney is somewhere in there, her presence will always be felt, and that the music will act as a catalyst of the ideas that despite not being fully executed, are still in present, constantly fighting to be heard and seen, just like B herself.

 

By the way, if you haven't checked my thread about the making of the original version of Glory you might want to do it now, I revamped it with a little more info: 

 

 

 

 

please never stop making these threads

[Innocencelost]

thank you for your dedication, keep it coming!

[campelo]

big fat bass and how I roll are underrated gems 

inside out and seal it with a kiss should have been replaced with up n down and he about to lose me

drop dead deserved to be a collab with ciara or the pussycat dolls (who open for her at the circus tour)

 

[Bubble Tea]

Fascinating thread. Thanks for the intel! Even though I've always loved the album and thought it was full of pops, it did always feel incredibly manufactured and soulless. There's no artistic drive, consistent theme, narrative or purpose, it's just bops for the sake of bops and the title "femme fatale" barely has anything to do with anything. The desperate attempt to make it relevant on the tour videos was pithy. 

 

Anyway, ultimately a sad story about Britney being exploited and forced to work incredibly hard, forcibly medicated and having her name stamped on the cover of this huge messy project.

[B-Luke]

Thank you so much for this fascinating read  I never realized how rushed this era actually was but how (relatively) well the music still was assembled so people barely noticed. I actually remember this part:

 

Quote

Summer goes by, and we see Brit more and more in the studio, with rumors pointing out a single release by the end of August, but the album apparently wasn't progressing as quickly as it was expected and suffered it's first delay, which caused her A&R (now executive producer), Teresa to take action and organize a Writing Camp for Britney in Texas, to get good quality material to record fast and proficiently; and in September a team of the top producers in the game came to write for Britney, enlisting William Orbit, Danja, The Nervo Sisters, Eric Bellinger, Bonnie McKee, Coco Morier, Toby Gad, Neon Hitch, Claude Kelly, Pop & Oak, Heather Bright, Evan Kidd Bogart, Livvi Franc and Jewel to pen future hits for our Pop Princess, with Teresa saying that they were looking for songs in the same line as Unusual You, and electronic dance tracks with an edge and attitude... But things couldn't go that well without any drawback, could they?

Wasn't the lead single rumored to come out on August 29, 2010, or something? Something about this date feels connected to a Britney single for some reason lol. I was so excited for her next era back then. Actually looking back at it now, it did take some time to brew.

[Rev8]

Nnnn not Beyonce ('s mom) taking her A&R (or Luke kicking her out)

I remember Bey calling one of Britney's people, that worked on Circus (tour??), for the ST album? And was really essential for the whole era

So Bey really had it going good for her

 

 

ot

Interesting how I had several Brit stans attack me for saying you could already see that Britney was being affected by the conservatorship with the 3 M/V

she started looking good with IWG and Criminal again tho ..guess they eased up on the medication there..

 

 

[Nashe]

Thank you! 

[Joesuxx]

Just want to give an honorary mention for the use of dubstep on this record. It was in its infancy and predominantly over seas. She's often cited as the first major mainstream artist to go that route and then all of a sudden everyone was at it. For better or worse. It just goes to show she's always remained ahead of the curve in some respect. 

[WaterDiamonds]

7 hours ago, geddymonster said:

Also the added layer that JIVE folded into RCA in the middle of the era.

Yeah, it was announced in June that Jive, Arista and J records would merge with RCA at some point of 2011, but it didn't happen until October 7th (The same day she released B in The Mix Vol. 2) and by that point I don't think it affected much the era tbh, all the singles were already released by then and the tour was about to end as well

[WaterDiamonds]

11 hours ago, dumbsparce said:

I had no idea about any of this lore. WoW! Keep up the good work.. cause lord knows how much you're gonna need it for what comes next 

Idk if I'll ever do Britney Jean bc the information is soooo limited, all we have are pictures of her entering and leaving studios 

[shyboi]

this was amazing, real insider lore 

 

i wonder how the album would've sound it Beyoncè never stole Teresa? what a crazy twist 

 

gonna read the glory one next, thanks so much!