Great songs, little growth

In 1999, Britney Spears was an emerging teen-star with a sugary persona. Since then, Spears has gone from the youngest music artist to receive a star on the Walk of Fame to bald divorcee and unstable mom and back again.

Spears’ latest album Circus shows this transformation more subtly. In October, “Womanizer,” the CD’s first single, made history by jumping from No. 96 to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in just a week.

There are definitely aspects of the pre-Vegas-elopement Britney in Circus. The pop singer’s strength still lies in her catchy, upbeat music and girl-power lyrics. All the standout tracks are ones that could be accompanied by some of Spears’ signature sultry, barely clothed dance moves.

Tracks like “Womanizer,” “Circus,” “Lace and Leather” and “Unusual You” have the potential to make anyone sing along and dance in their seat uncontrollably.

However, when it comes to Circus’ slower songs, it gets much easier to hit the skip button. This kind of music was OK coming from a 17 year old. But 10 years later a bit more depth and maturity should be expected.

The lyrics this time around may be a bit older and mature than “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” but, after all this time, that doesn’t quite cut it.

There is only so much you can do with pop music before it gets repetitive and all the songs begin to blend together. Circus by no means marks that point for Britney, but not everything works either.

As a comeback album, Circus does its job. It shows that there have been major changes in Spears’ life and that things are looking up again.