I think people are just in general too hard on Britney to live up to the Madonna role
at the same exact point in time when Madonna did everything. In order to really understand the difference between Madonna and Britney, at least one of the most pertenant ones in this discussion right now you must appreciate how much
older Madonna was when she started her career compared to Britney.
Madonna was 25 years old when she started her career and when she started receiving even the tiniest bit of success. Britney was 17, a full eight years younger than Madonna when she started her career. When Madonna was singing about being on the Borderline of love, feeling Like A Virgin and a man being her Lucky Star she was the same age as Gaga and Katy Perry. By that age Britney had already released an album about coming of age, her own sexuality and a questioning of herself and her identity. So when you really compare them by the material they released by the time they released it, they are not that different.
Madonna didn't start to really deepen her identity and her persona until she was well into her 30's. That was when she started releasing mature, introspective works.
True Blue (1986) -- 28
Like A Prayer (1989) -- 31
Erotica (1992) -- 34
Bedtime Stories (1994) --36
Ray Of Light (1998) --40
Britney just turned 30 this past month, and it's not as if she has been artistically void of any kind of depth. Britney has already given two relatively deep records with her self-titled album and In The Zone, if she chooses to go any further I think this would be the time of her life when she chooses for that to happen.
Quote:
Originally posted by Blur
It was really the cliché album that showed contrived maturity in order to say " I'm sorry for having been a wh*re for most of the 90s, I've changed now I'm respectable ! ". I'm mean, the lyrics were straight out of a development personal guide! LMAO
And it worked !
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Well that's the thing Madonna realized that the second leg of her career was dying out. She couldn't subsist on what she was doing before with Erotica and Bedtime Stories her sex and relationship albums. She needed to find a way to break into a new gimmick, create a different persona of herself that was new and viable to consumers and she got that with a new self-aware album that delved deeply into her own psyche. It worked. She was able to add on another 10 years to her career by changing herself and her identity.
I would say Britney is currently at the same place in her career that Madonna was back in the early 90's with Erotica/Bedtime Stories. Britney was in her "apologizing phase" after her Erotica/Blackout era catastrophe so she has released Circus and Femme Fatale as a way to stay safe commercially and continue to pull in revenue after the product took a market dive during her excessive period.
This has left her to regress musically in terms of the substance and the subjects she sings about. That being said in terms of general sound Britney has always had the best producers and the most interesting sonic value or any popstar. I don’t think the problem with Britney is her music in terms of raw sound. She is very progressive and forward sounding, at times she is even a groundbreaking artist who popularizes trends. This from a woman who is more then a decade into her career long after the novelty should have faded.
I think the problem with Britney is personal growth in terms of lyricism. If she is going to show growth of any kind, in terms of subject matter it has to happen with her next musical release. I wouldn't mind at all if she finally changed her sound a bit to something more natural like I feel she has wanted to for awhile now. You can tell in interviews that she wants to record blues, rock and r and b kind of music. I don't know if this growth of hers will reach Ray Of Light quality or levels, or even if it needs to be that. But I think it's obvious that Britney needs a change. Her image and her sound need an upgrade and she needs to find a way to progress outside of dance-pop.