Britney Spears – Blackout [Orange Vinyl LP]

Britney Spears – Blackout [Orange Vinyl LP]

Details

• Format: Vinyl LP, Album, Reissue, Limited Edition, Stereo, Explicit
• Catalogue Number: 19658779151
• Barcode: 196587791513
• Genre: Dance-Pop / Electropop / Contemporary R&B
• Label: Jive Records / Legacy Recordings / Sony Music
• Originally Released: 30 October 2007
• Reissue Released: 28 April 2023
• Vinyl Colour: Opaque Orange
• Condition: New & Sealed

Description

Blackout is Britney Spears' fifth studio album — released on 30 October 2007 on Jive Records — and by near-universal critical consensus, the finest album of her career. It arrived in the most difficult personal circumstances of her public life, yet emerged as a record of complete artistic authority: a dense, forward-looking piece of dance-pop and electropop production that sounded unlike anything else in mainstream pop at the time of its release and has only grown in critical stature across the decade and a half since. Rolling Stone named it one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (ranked at number 493 in the 2020 edition); Time named it one of the 100 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2023; NME placed it at number five in their list of the 100 Best Albums of the 2000s. It reached number two on the UK Albums Chart and number two on the Billboard 200, and has sold over three million copies worldwide.

The album is remarkable not only for its quality but for its genesis. Spears served as executive producer — the only time she has held that credit on a studio album — and assembled a production team of extraordinary quality, including Danja (who produced over half the record), Bloodshy & Avant, The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams), and Sean Garrett, with guest vocalists Keri Hilson and Robyn contributing to key tracks. The result was the first mainstream pop album to incorporate significant dubstep and Euro disco elements alongside its dance-pop and electropop foundation — a production approach that would only become industry-standard three to four years later. Lead single "Gimme More" — released August 2007, reaching number three in the UK and number four on the Billboard Hot 100 — opens the album with a minimalist, stuttering groove that remains one of the most distinctive pop productions of the decade. "Piece of Me" — released as the second single in November 2007, reaching number two in the UK — became the album's most acclaimed track, a sardonic commentary on tabloid media intrusion that won three Grammy Awards in 2009 including Best Dance Recording, making it the most Grammy-decorated song of Spears' career.

The album's remaining ten tracks maintain a standard rare in contemporary pop. "Break the Ice" — an animated video release, number three UK — is a taut, crystalline piece of R&B-influenced electropop; "Radar" is a glossy, immediately accessible piece of dance-pop that became a favourite among critics and fans alike; "Heaven on Earth" is an atmospheric, slow-burning piece of electronic production that demonstrates the album's range; "Freakshow", "Toy Soldier" and "Hot as Ice" sustain the album's momentum across Side B with distinctive energy; and the closing "Why Should I Be Sad" — featuring a Pharrell-produced melancholic ballad — brings the album to an unexpectedly tender conclusion. Taken as a whole, Blackout is a record that rewards attentive listening with production detail and structural sophistication entirely concealed by its glossy surface.

This 2023 Jive Records / Legacy Recordings reissue — part of the comprehensive simultaneous vinyl reissue of all eight of Britney Spears' studio albums — is pressed on opaque orange vinyl in a picture sleeve. A limited edition pressing.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Gimme More
2. Piece of Me
3. Radar
4. Break the Ice
5. Heaven on Earth
6. Get Naked (I Got a Plan)

Side B

1. Freakshow
2. Toy Soldier
3. Hot as Ice
4. Ooh Ooh Baby
5. Perfect Lover
6. Why Should I Be Sad

Credits

• Britney Spears – Vocals, Executive Producer
• Danja – Producer
• Bloodshy & Avant – Producers
• The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams) – Producer
• Sean Garrett – Producer
• Keri Hilson – Featured Vocals
• Robyn – Featured Vocals
• Label – Jive Records / Legacy Recordings / Sony Music