Dripping In Smiles

Britney Spears “Private Show”

Britney Spears has been mainly singing like a horny cyborg for nearly a decade, a move that originated in necessity circa her public breakdown album Blackout but has persisted as an aesthetic choice ever since. It suits the sort of electro pop that she’s focused on over the years, and can be read as a commentary on the public perception of her as a zonked-out yet hypersexualized person who has lived most of her life as a heavily mediated product. Less charitable people would say that it makes up for her limitations as a vocalist, but I think “Private Show” ruins that argument. Her voice is processed but she’s singing the hell out of the song, and veering into an adventurous R&B space that has more to do with Beyoncé/Destiny’s Child or TLC than anything Max Martin has ever done. The lyrics aren’t especially noteworthy – it’s basically her singing about doing stripper moves for her dude, which seems like exactly what you’d expect of her even if she’s never done it before. But the track, which is produced by T-Pain protégé Young Fyre, is exceedingly slinky and falls in the same odd zone between classic soul and clipped robotic pop as her vocal performance. It’s traditional but slightly off, and makes something that might otherwise seem a bit trashy sound genuinely sweet and wholesome.

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