Blackout is the fifth studio album by American recording artist Britney Spears, released by Jive Records on October 26, 2007. Spears began working on this album as early as February 2006, exploring into electropop, synthpop and techno. The album has a more R&B/urban sound and recording with new producers such as Danja. Blackout was her first studio album in four years since 2003's In the Zone and is the first time Spears is the executive producer of one of her albums. The album's title refers to "blacking out negativity and embracing life fullyThe songs on the album are thematically focused on sex, love and Spears' relationship–struggle with the mediaBlackout debut at number two on the Billboard 200, becoming her first, and so far only studio album not to debut at number one, due to changes in Billboard structuring at the time. This caused controversy with some in the media, as the changes were only announced and subsequently put into effect half-way through Blackout's opening week.According to the IFPI, the album was 32nd in terms of units shipped by the end of 2007The album's first single, "Gimme More", peaked at number one in the Canadian Hot 100 and became a top five hit in twelve countries. The second single, "Piece of Me", reached number one in Ireland. The final single, "Break the Ice reached the top forty on the Billboard Hot 100, while all three peaked one in the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play. The album won the award for "Album of the Year" at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008. In November 2009, The Times named the album as the fifth runner-up in the '100 Best Pop Albums of the Noughties' In 2011, Rolling Stone magazine called the album "possibly the most influential pop album of the last five * 1 Recording and composition * 2 Release and promotion * 3 Critical reception * 4 Commercial performance * 5 Singles * 6 Track listing * 7 Charts and certifications o 7.1 Charts o 7.2 Sales and certifications o 7.3 Chart procession and succession o 7.4 End of year charts * 8 Awards o 8.1 2007 o 8.2 2008 * 9 Release history * 10 Personnel * 11 ReferencesIn February 2006, it was reported that Britney was "in the midst of recording her next album," which could possibly be released later that year. According to the People magazine article, Spears said her new music could "reinvigorate the current pop scene," which she said was "boring Three months later, Jonathan "J.R." Rotem was quoted as saying that Spears had "up-tempo club songs," and "relationship songs, and everything in between Rotem said in September 2006, "Our goal is to try to one-up it," referring to the hits on the radio at the time. "I can tell you there's some dance stuff; there's some slow, more introspective stuff; some club things," the producer said Britney Spears began working with Nate "Danja" Hills while she was pregnant with her second child. Recording began in Las Vegas and continued at Spears' home in Los Angeles. At least one track was recorded at KMA Music in Manhattan. Spears later revealed in a personal message on her official website that she planned to release her new album before the end of 2007 After various songs from Blackout's recording sessions were leaked onto the internet, it was announced in August 2007 that the Danja-produced "Gimme More" would be released as the album's first single "Gimme More" is an upbeat dance-pop song with influences of electro and funkThe song is constructed in the common verse-chorus form. The song opens with a spoken intro in which Spears says the line "It's Britney, bitch Although the song's racy lyrics appears to be about dance and sex, they are actually about the public's fascination with her private life, as noted in the lines "Cameras are flashin' while we're dirty dancin' / They keep watchin', keep watchin'". The chorus consists of the repetition of the hookline "Gimme gimme", that ends with a constantly pitch-shifted "More". The song closes with an outro by Danja in which he says the lines "Bet you didn't see this one coming / The Incredible Lago, the legendary Ms. Britney Spears / and the unstoppable Danja"Piece of Me" is an electropop song, performed in an insistent pop groove. The song is composed in the key of C# minor with a time signature in common time "Radar" is a midtempo electropop song running through a synthpop-oriented beat. According to Poppy Cossins of The Sun, musically the song has "a hearty helping of electronic R&B The synthesizers are distorted, emulating sonar pulses or the sound of a Doppler radarand have been compared to the synthesizers of Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" (1981)Break the Ice" is an electropop song, performed in a moderate pop groove and has elements of R&BBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney Spears
