In The Zone Review : Spin Magazine

[xDANiELLEx]

I typed this up myself so if you pass this on please give credit to me, thanks you.



Just tow years ago, Britney Spears was not a girl, not just humping walls on a newsstand near you. But tenne queens mature in dog years, and now that Hilary Duff is dangling her watch before the swing-set crowd, dear Brit can get down to the dirrty work. After coolly recieved second album, a did-she-or-didn't-she Durst dalliance, and an eternity of tabloid-hounded par-taying later, Spears is slapping on a headlamp and heading into the mines.


Get In The Zone's first single, "Me Against The Music," is a fine specimen of Britney 4.0--fast paced danced anthem, all grinding percussion shutting through a traffic jam of synths. Most of the record's up-tempo bangers trace the single's footsteps, bopping raucously without slipping into chintzy faux rock or flavorless hip-hop. Gone are the spare Neptunes beats of Britney, replaced by a hectic sonic pileup. Spears hits pay dirt on "Toxic," holding her own against a wall of drum beats, strings, and James Bond surf guitar that warps and struts like its been fed into the Matrix.


The actual Matrix songwriting team should be so lucky: Their ballad "Shadow" is a hollow yawn. Spears also missteps on R.Kelly-produced "Outrageous," a go-nowhere homage to living fablously (the secret?? sexy jeans!) and the dancehall bore "The Hook Up." But in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to her--like ray of light. There's more of Madonna in get In The Zone, than there was in Britney's mouth at the MTV Video Music Award: "Breath On Me" and "Touch Of My Hand" borrow their shimmer, their discoid throb, and their selfconfidence from Material Girl's recent work. This Spears is a slave 4 no one: She barks orders and she-bops herself to satisfaction. ("Imgination's takin over." she purrs, "...the more i come to understand the touch of my hand.") Still, the record's biggest declaration of self may be the Moby-produced "Early Morning." Over a lulling, circular base line and morose flute samples, Spears crashes on the couch, trying to shake the residual fog of an obviously misspent night out, musing. "I can't be like that anymore." At these moments, Zone's offhand mastery suggests that she may not have to.

Grade: B-
See also: Madonna, Ray Of Light

[khabn43]

I wanna hear it!

[Alyric]

:eek:
Ok I think Im loosing it, did Britney Spears just get a B-? He** has frozen over.

[TouchOfMyHand]

Considering Spin gave Stripped a C+ it's a great review.

[BritBrit]

see also : madonna ray of light....wow i hope its that good..im sooo excited it's almost here:D

[Sweet*n*Sexsi]

Originally posted by TouchOfMyHand
Considering Spin gave Stripped a C+ it's a great review.

That's true cuz Stripped rocks!! :D

After reading what that dude wrote I was surprised he gave her a B-. He wrote nothing good about the cd yet he gave it a decent "grade"..weird :p

[Dancing Queen]

Woah, B-

That's great

[sexy_tozzi]

Originally posted by Sweet*n*Sexsi
That's true cuz Stripped rocks!! :D

After reading what that dude wrote I was surprised he gave her a B-. He wrote nothing good about the cd yet he gave it a decent "grade"..weird :p


seriously!! hes like this album is a waste of time and its so boring and then hes like b- hes so weird!! that is a good grade!!!
hes so weird!!lolol

[Shorty_UK]

I love Stripped so if ITZ got a higher grade I cannot wait to hear it:)

[Sweet*n*Sexsi]

Originally posted by sexy_tozzi
seriously!! hes like this album is a waste of time and its so boring and then hes like b- hes so weird!! that is a good grade!!!
hes so weird!!lolol

lol He is weird!! He literally said that every song sucks :p

[KittyCA]

Originally posted by Sweet*n*Sexsi
That's true cuz Stripped rocks!! :D

After reading what that dude wrote I was surprised he gave her a B-. He wrote nothing good about the cd yet he gave it a decent "grade"..weird :p

The rather weird thing is that in the Stripped review, they were saying amazing things... and then give it a C-? It makes no sense. The reviewers at Spin Magazine act like idiots.

Spin's review of Stripped:

Christina Aguilera
Stripped
(RCA)

For a while, it looked like a Celebrity Deathmatch for the ages: Christina Aguilera (half-Latina, half-suburban Pittsburgh, armed with Mariah-grade pipes and plenty of 'tude) versus Britney Spears (the quasi-innocent Louisiana Lolita whose breakout single "...Baby One More Time" beat Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle" to market by about eight months). But while Britney torched her candle at both ends--two follow-up albums, a movie, a tony Manhattan restaurant--Christina lay relatively low, or as low as one can lie while wearing fishnets and a pink frizz-'fro wig. She flipped her hits en español on 2000's Mi Reflejo, joined Missy Elliott's freak chorus on a hit remake of "Lady Marmalade," and plotted her next move.


As an artistic statement, Aguilera's second proper album, Stripped, is all over the place--it's a move toward hip-hop, it's a move toward rock, it's ghetto, it's Disney. But above all, it's a declaration of independence, and it proves that if Aguilera ever really squared off with her fellow ex-Mouseketeer, she'd kick Britney's ass. Just look at the way she snaps back at the men in her life. Over the midtempo groove of "Can't Hold Us Down," a sisters-doin'-it-for-themselves duet with Lil' Kim, Aguilera suggests that Eminem "Must talk so big / To make up for smaller things." Then on "I'm OK," she calls out her dad as a wife beater--"Bruises fade, father," she scolds, "but the pain remains the same." Her role model here, of course, is Pink, who got some grown-up props by airing similar family trauma on last year's Missundaztood. Linda Perry, who helped orchestrate Pink's jagged-little-pill rebrand, produces several tracks here, including the blazing "Make Over," where Christina comes out screaming "bull****" at some unfaithful dude for "all the years you violated me."


These surprisingly personal confessions, of course, are offset with some less surprising Divas Live schmaltz, like the swoony Celine-for-teens ballad "A Voice Within." But for the most part, Stripped is Aguilera telling us what a girl pop star really wants: to be free with her body, her art, and her heart. And whenever the content veers close to affirmational talk-show territory, Aguilera drops a sex bomb like the Redman duet "Dirrty" or the sweaty "Get Mine Get Yours," where she commands a partner to "work me like a 9-to-5." Ladies and gentlemen, the genie has left the bottle.


^ That review was alot more postive than Britney's... yet Spin grades it lower? Again, it makes no sense.

[speedyforme]

it all depends on the person and stuff....reviews are never consistent...plus, im sure we should all learn that there is no critic that is right..

[TouchOfMyHand]

Originally posted by Sweet*n*Sexsi
That's true cuz Stripped rocks!! :D

After reading what that dude wrote I was surprised he gave her a B-. He wrote nothing good about the cd yet he gave it a decent "grade"..weird :p
Actually there was quite a bit positive in the review. :) And a better grade than Stripped, wow.

Get In The Zone's first single, "Me Against The Music," is a fine specimen of Britney 4.0--fast paced danced anthem, all grinding percussion shutting through a traffic jam of synths. Most of the record's up-tempo bangers trace the single's footsteps, bopping raucously without slipping into chintzy faux rock or flavorless hip-hop. Gone are the spare Neptunes beats of Britney, replaced by a hectic sonic pileup. Spears hits pay dirt on "Toxic," holding her own against a wall of drum beats, strings, and James Bond surf guitar that warps and struts like its been fed into the Matrix.


The actual Matrix songwriting team should be so lucky: Their ballad "Shadow" is a hollow yawn. Spears also missteps on R.Kelly-produced "Outrageous," a go-nowhere homage to living fablously (the secret?? sexy jeans!) and the dancehall bore "The Hook Up." But in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to her--like ray of light. There's more of Madonna in get In The Zone, than there was in Britney's mouth at the MTV Video Music Award: "Breath On Me" and "Touch Of My Hand" borrow their shimmer, their discoid throb, and their selfconfidence from Material Girl's recent work. This Spears is a slave 4 no one: She barks orders and she-bops herself to satisfaction. ("Imgination's takin over." she purrs, "...the more i come to understand the touch of my hand.") Still, the record's biggest declaration of self may be the Moby-produced "Early Morning." Over a lulling, circular base line and morose flute samples, Spears crashes on the couch, trying to shake the residual fog of an obviously misspent night out, musing. "I can't be like that anymore." At these moments, Zone's offhand mastery suggests that she may not have to.

Grade: B-
See also: Madonna, Ray Of Light

3 more weeks! :)

[Marina]

I'm sick of reading reviews, I wanna hear the damn album already! Thanks for posting though, lol.

[sofia22]

t4p

[Nick_Is_Sexy]

Thanks for posting. I'm so excited :D

[nmpv4176]

That reviewer's review was good, but it seemed so uneven with how he wrote it. I am shocked that he didn't like the R. Kelly song or the Matrix's offerings on the album. But what he wrote just gave me an idea of what the album's going to sound like when it comes out on Nov. 18th. He said that some of Britney's album sounds like Madonna's latest album. Look, Britney admires Madonna, looks up to her as a trendsetter and influence, so it's obvious that she will include that influence on her album. He could have praised her for taking chances and shedding off her former teen image. He seemed to have one step on "Baby One More Time" and one step on "Me Against the Music" in that review. He needs to accept Britney Spears' newer and wilder image now.

[pwbk]

This album is VERY good. I have an advanced copy of it. So much of it is so NOT Britney that I'm surprised she was able to pull it off. Don't get me wrong, I've always been a Britney fan. I watched Baby One More Time when it debuted on MuchMusic and was obsessed from the start. But Britney's more than just a voice on this album. She works with the music, as opposed to trying to sing over it like she normally does. I'm currently listening to Toxic for the 10th time in a row and I'm still in love with this song. Here's my breakdown of yeah, meh and blah.

Yeah
-------
Toxic
Brave New Girl
Breathe On Me
Early Mornin
Me Againist The Music
Touch Of My Hand

Meh
-------
Everytime
I Got That (Boom Boom) (reminds me of Bubba Sparxxx)
Outrageous

Blah
-------
The Hook Up (sounds like R. Kelly's 'Snake')
Shadow
Showdown

Oh, and don't ask how I got an early copy or the RIAA will hunt me down. And no, it wasn't Kazaa.

[felizx]

Originally posted by pwbk
Oh, and don't ask how I got an early copy or the RIAA will hunt me down. And no, it wasn't Kazaa.
LOL :rolleyes: :o