Circus is Britney's sixth studio album. Looking to transition from her "darker and more urban" fifth studio album Blackout (2007), "Spears wanted to make her next project "a little bit lighter", incorporating electropop and dance-pop styles". Four singles were released from the album, two of which became international successes : "Womanizer", "Circus", "If U Seek Amy" and "Radar".
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It debuted at #1 in the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of over 505,000 copies, making it her fifth album to reach the top of the chart. The album topped charts in 9 additional countries. The record eventually exceeded sales of 4 million copies and 15 million digital tracks, in doing so it became Spears' best-selling album since her fourth studio album In the Zone (2003). With over 51,000 units sold, the album opened at #1 in the Canadian Albums Chart, her best sales effort since Oops!... I Did It Again, which sold 95,000 copies in May 2000. In less than a month, Circus became the ninth best-selling album of 2008, with 143,000 copies, and one of the top 10 selling digital albums of the same year with over 10,100 downloads.
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Circus has been described as a sequel to Spears's fifth studio album Blackout, taking influence from pop genres, including electropop and dance. She described the album as "lighter" than Blackout, which was more urban sounding. Its "fiery" and "confrontational" lyrics have been also compared to those of its predecessor. The album has been compared to the works of Janet Jackson, Eurythmics, New Order and the songwriting of Prince, Leiber & Stoller and Phil Spector. Circus incorporates themes that were acknowledged in Spears's earlier work. "Circus" and "Kill the Lights" discuss fame, which was previously seen in "Piece of Me", while "Womanizer" and "Shattered Glass" talk about a womanizing man.
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Upon its release, Circus received generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Circus received an average score of 64. Stephen Thomas Erlewine provided a favorable review, describing it as a "friendly remake of the hedonistic Blackout", but preferred its predecessor for being more "sleek or addictive" than Circus. Writing for Digital Spy, Nick Levine opined that Spears "sounds more confident" than she had on Blackout. Caryn Ganz from Rolling Stone opined that the "clubby, adventurous pop" included on the album could have been a satisfactory successor to her fourth album In the Zone (2003). Writing for USA Today, Steve Jones applauded Spears for being "resilient" and "[knowing] who she is as a singer" and not "[wasting] time searching for artistic direction or overthinking her appeal."
"Circus" the single was definitely released on December 2nd.
The album was released on 28th Nov. worldwide... but maybe in the US it was the 2nd yeah... I'm not sure tho.
"Circus" the single was definitely released on December 2nd.
The album was released on 28th Nov. worldwide... but maybe in the US it was the 2nd yeah... I'm not sure tho.