UK's Radio 1 Rates "Gimme More" 4 Stars + Review!

Posted October 21, 200717 yr

UK's Radio 1 Rates "Gimme More" 4 Stars + Review!

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BBC Radio 1 (The biggest radio in the UK) has just reviewed "Gimme More" (after it's debut today on the official UK chart at #3 on downloads alone) and rated it 4 stars!!

Seems like the media in Europe is pretty supportive (as they should be) of Brit unlike the situation in the US.

Originally Posted by Steve Perkins for Radio1

Lesser blogs than this one are full of entries telling Britney Spears what she should be doing with her life. That's their prerogative, of course, but it's of no interest to us, since it's generally a bunch of people advising a person they've never met on a situation they don't really know anything about. And also because inevitably they're more interested in the latest photo of her at Starbucks than the latest leaked demos from her new album. But I think I've stumbled on exactly what Britney actually should be doing, from a musical perspective at least, and it can be summed up in three words: "It's Britney, b**ch."

WHAM! I can't think of a single song that has ever taken less than one second to win me round; as statistics go, that's pretty impressive. But more impressive is if we take that as a statement of intent, of things to come. First of all, Britney is BACK, and second of all, she's taking no c**p from no one. As musical manifestos go, we're really not going to argue.

Of course, as brilliant as the first second of this song is, it does have another 4:03 (at least on the version I've got) to fill, and you can't just expect a brilliant beginning to carry you through a mediocre song. And while I'd go on record as saying this isn't quite the ball-busting, ass-kicking, take-no-prisoners comeback I was hoping for, it's still on the right road. It's got an attitude about it that shows she means business, and in quite a surprise to me, it's pretty sexy.

Britney's record with self-consciously sexy songs is a tad hit-and-miss: 'In The Zone' gave us the brilliant 'Breathe On Me', but also the frankly embarrassing 'Touch of My Hand'. Generally songs that sound like a sexual call-to-arms are her forte, because she's got a naturally low and husky voice which is made for that sort of thing. It's an admirable move for her, I think - especially when I imagine a lot of people would've suggested she go for something more girl-next-door to try to win back her old fans.

In fact, in general this song plays to Britney's strengths, requiring sultry rather than intricate vocals, and in any case the singing is almost secondary to the thumping bass and trickling electronica. Where it falls down is in the lack of a killer chorus (although the amazing bridge goes some way towards compensating for that) and the fact that it never really goes anywhere: as catchy as the staccato "gimme, gimme more, gimme MOAR, gimme, gimme MORE" is, it's no more or less insistent the first time you hear it than it is during the fadeout. And while I'm aware that this is still Britney Spears we're dealing with here, and that one should not expect a seven-minute emotional rollercoaster with realistic character development, I do want the song to take me somewhere, even if the road isn't especially bendy or bumpy.

Essentially, I had hoped to be blown off my feet by this single, but I also feared being crushingly disappointed. In the end neither of those were especially accurate and my mood-o-meter was hovering more around 'pleasantly satisfied', and I'm happy with that. Besides, if past experience is anything to go by, Britney always releases something slightly disappointing before bringing out the killer material (see also: 'I'm a Slave 4 U' and 'I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman' preceding 'Overprotected', and of course 'Me Against the Music' acting as the preamble to 'Toxic').

What I think we should all take away from this is that whatever else is going on, Britney can still deliver when she wants to. And importantly, this has got me very excited to hear the new album, and isn't that what lead singles are for after all?
To summarise: it's bold. It's brave. It's Britney, b**ch.