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Britney makes a ‘return’

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By Melissa Ruggieri

Published: December 4, 2008

I've heard a lot of confessions this week.

Confessions from guy friends whose musical tastes usually tend toward rugged, manly stuff, like Springsteen and AC/DC.

Confessions from girl friends whose only use for flirty pop music is the thundering mix used at the gym.

They're all sheepishly acknowledging the same thing: their re-ignited infatuation with Britney Spears.

It's a Britney world this week:

Sunday's debut of MTV's unflinching documentary, "Britney: For the Record," which drew an audience of more than 3.5 million.

The Tuesday release of "Circus" (the same day as her 27th birthday).

The ab-baring "Good Morning America" performance.

The arena tour announcement (March 24 in D.C.).

The news from Yahoo! that Spears topped the 2008 list of its most popular search topics.

Barack Obama was also on that list. He was third.

No matter your feelings toward Spears' music, it seems almost heartless not to be rooting for her now.

In the past two years, she's gotten divorced, shaved her head, gone a bit nuts ("People thought I was going crazy, but, I mean, people shave their heads all the time," she said to MTV), hooked up with some sketchy characters, had her kids taken away and basically, as she says flatly: "I had totally lost my way."

Because Spears bristles at the notion of this being a comeback she never really went away, she reminds us in the MTV doc, and who can really argue that point? we'll just call this Britneypalooza a return.

And you know, even though the missteps are already there -- British tabloids have been gleefully eviscerating last week's appearance on their "X-Factor" show and she appeared a bit underwhelmed about everything on "Good Morning America" she's doing an OK job getting her endless train wreck of a life back on track.

Obviously, the point of "Britney: For the Record" was to get the cynics to wave their white sympathy flags. And , with scenes of Spears constantly biting her nails, murmuring about how her life has no excitement and passion anymore and, most affecting, with tears welled in those big brown eyes, sniffling, "I'm sad," it works.

Of course she chose this life, and of course there are plenty of benefits that accompany it.

But watching her live some of it, you can't help but feel a pang of compassion for a person who can't even get out of a van in New York, while flanked by beefy security, to go shopping.

Or drive away without fans and paparazzi chasing on bicycles, pounding on her car windows and purposely trying to cause an accident.

Really, the only pop idol who instigates this type of insane and, frankly, puzzling -- pandemonium during a simple trip to Starbucks is Madonna (if Madonna drank anything as normal as Starbucks).

So now, Spears has rediscovered her dance moves and her curves and industry experts say "Circus" should sell 300,000 to 400,000 copies this week -- solid numbers during the record industry's dismal downturn.

That indicates the fans are still there to some extent.

But what about the music? Is "Circus" a career-defining return?

Not really, though the chorus of mega-hit "Womanizer" is an (adult) playground chant that burrows so deeply into your brain, you forget about it until it starts knocking around at 4 a.m.

There is also plenty of snap and crackle in the spinning synthesizers of the title track and in Spears' spitting -- and understandable -- disdain of the paparazzi in "Kill the Lights."

She also still does coy well in "Lace and Leather" you can almost hear the pout -- and the woozy music underneath "Blur," a hazy recollection of a one-night stand, suits her almost a little too well.

But after a few too many tracks of the vocoder in overdrive ("MMM Papi" is particularly grating) and double-tracked vocals ("Unusual You"), "Circus" starts to feel like a retread of every slick, superficial late-'90s pop album.

Considering the craziness of her life lately, this album was an ideal opportunity for Spears to turn confessional.

Apparently, she's ready to let her guard down on camera, but not yet on record.

Makes sense, since she's still not sure how to be a singer, but somehow, regardless of the turmoil, she always manages to be a celebrity. On TV (and such) "Britney: For the Record" is now available for online viewing at www.mtv.com. The documentary also re-airs on MTV: Today: 10 a.m. Tomorrow: 5 p.m. Saturday: 11 a.m. Sunday: 8:30 a.m.