Britney's Comeback

Matthew Neff | Dec 15, 2008 | 6

photo taken from Britney.com

Yeah it happened. She came back and surpassed all expectations of what her first week album sales would be. Britney Spears has sold 505,000 copies of CIRCUS in the United States, making Spears the only act in Nielsen SoundScan history to have four albums debut with 500,000 or more. Britney's newest video for CIRCUS, her album's title track, premiered last week. Unless you are hiding under a rock you have seen her recent performances in Europe and in America promoting her album which was released on Dec. 2nd. She even had her own "documentary" on MTV.

I have waited to talk about all of this until there was enough evidence to support my opinion.

Click on READ MORE to see the video, live performances, and to get my breakdown on why she needs to fire her choreographer.

First of all-- Hats off to Britney's team for accomplishing the huge album debut confirming this as an official comeback. Now lets get to the good stuff--

So here is the video for CIRCUS.

The video conjures the old school Britney but lacks any of the charm that made us believe her. If you watched the documentary (mockumentary) then you are aware of the fact that she lives in an isolated world with little control over her life. Honestly, I did feel bad for her. She says she is a smart person but we all know better. If she truly were a smart person she wouldn't comply with the camera crew. If I were in her position I wouldn't let anyone ask questions the decisions I had made. I wouldn't sit there and pour my manufactured heart out for pity. It's not ladylike. We don't want a person as a pop princess. We want a fantasy.

So that's my two cents about her boo hoo sob and tears life.

The video--- is awful.

Why is it awful? I blame the choreographer, Andre Fuentes. Ok let's backup a bit.

The video is a spectacle. The production of it is quite amazing compared to the bare-bone videos that most artists are producing. I could have done without the awful green-screened lions and Britney pasted together. It just looked fake. Granted it didn't look as fake as Britney's face being pasted on a stand-in for the PIECE OF ME video. I loved the elephant shaking his head. It looks like he is shaking his head "NO" in response to a question about Britney's career, her choreography or even if her hair is real. There are so many options to what the actual question could have been. I won't share what my predictions are because this is a family blog.  

So back to the video--- There is even some dancing. Ok so maybe the dancing is boring, dull, and not by any means original. It lacks any of the spark that made us look at Britney in the past for pushing dance in the pop music market.  Usually artists at the same level of Britney will hire cutting edge choreographers to deliver exciting dance. Madonna, Janetand MIchael Jackson are always going to be known for their choreography. Many of their videos have created iconic dances that are often imitated when the song is played. Can you listen to THRILLER without busting out the dance break? Nope. Can you listen to IF and not bust out Tina Landon's choreo? Nope. The list continues on and on. Britney's early career has had a few of these videos. The video for CIRCUS will not be one of them. The video of WOMANIZER is also not going to be an iconic dance video. So who is to blame? My finger is pointing to Andre.

If you remember your Britney trivia you will remember that when she first popped onto the scene there was a major fashion trend involving platform sneakers. The Spice Girls were rocking them and so did Britney. Spears danced in all her videos and tours in a pair of sneakers. She was even endorsing Skecher's sneakers for a bit. Flash forward to the infamous VMA's performance. She is wearing heels and it's a mess. She has performed in heels before this but it was super simple choreo where she stood there and moved her arms. Flash forward one more year and we see the beginning of her publicity tour for new album, Circus. What is on her feet? Heels. To say that she is graceful in heels is the equivalent of saying that Balanchine was a go-go dancer. It's just wrong.

So her publicity tour stared  with this performance of WOMANIZER in Europe at the Bambi Awards in Germany. Here is the video:

The beginning of her in the silhouette is cute. She is standing around for most of the beginning. The camera crew must have known I hated the choreo because they tend to pull back super wide during any dancing. Gotta love those German's. At 2:03 she begins to walk across the stage. Is it just me or is she walking like Donald Duck? When she walks across she just stand in front of the giant metal ball from American Gladiators. Why did Andre feel that she had to walk across the stage to stand for no reason ? I have no clue. This performance is the worst choreographing she has ever had. Even the VMA performance was a better constructed piece for a live audience and for TV. This is just ZZZZZZZZZZZZ. The major complaint you might have read across the internet was, "Why is she just walking around?" I couldn't agree more. It's a snoozefest. Some people thought she was just nervous and she was holding back. This girl might have been nervous but she is Britney Spears. She isn't singing live. She has performed more times than I can count and she has toured all over the world to huge audiences. I blame Andre for the fact that this looks so bare and uninspired.

Spears performed Womanizer again in France on Star Academy. Here is the video:

The camera crew in France did an excellent job of capturing the performance. The beginning of this performance is stupid because if the guy were a womanzier wouldn't he have to be with more than one woman?  He is with one chick and two circus freaks grab them apart. I makes no sense and doesn't set up the song. There are many more ways to set up this number and this one is just pathetically naive. So the silhouette of the number starts and it's clear that Britney doesn't know she can be seen. She fixes herself and then steps into place. That should teach everyone a lesson. If you start on stage and the music starts you HAVE to stand in your position and wait without moving or adjusting yourself. The choreo for the dancers in front of the screen is.......... lame.  Britney's costume is soooo much better. The red pops. The black outfit from the first performance just blended in. Please make sure you check out the front attitude at 1:37. Can we talk about that ugly foot she has at the end of that leg? Talk about an ugly biscuit! Andre should have let her know to watch how she brings her leg down. The sad fact that Andre Fuentes is a teacher in L.A. is just going to perpetuate the myth that all L.A. teachers have no talent. She needed to sustain her muscle control on the descent. She also should have had a prettier foot but you can't make scrambled eggs from rocks. The standing around is really annoying in this performance.

She didn't need full out choreo. but she did need some movement guidance. There is also no sense of direction with the creation of this performance. It's vague. It's solely relying on the album's title. I am not saying that presenting a circus theme needs to produce the reinvention of the wheel. However, this is a performance for Britney Spears. The wheel needed to be reinvented. They are dressed like members from the Pulse's faculty ad mixed with the wardrobe from Madonna's last two tours. The worst part is the song is about a man being a "womanizer" and I don't get that at all from the narrative. I also don't get the hamster ball. What is the trick to it? Isn't a circus about performing a trick?  Upon closer inspection of this performance I have come to the realization that I really don't like it. I don't know if you readers out there were getting that point. I have been kind of vague. I have seen better choreography from mediocre studios while judging competitions. Check out the backup dancers at 2:42-2:49. Are you kidding me with that choreography? What a joke!

Now the third European performance from England's X Factor:

This is definitely the most boring of the three Europeans performances.  I will leave it at that.

So crossed over the pond to celebrate her birthday with a performance at Good Morning America on December. 2nd
She performed under the Big Apple Circus' tent at Lincoln Center. Her first performance was for her new single, Circus.

It opens with the standard fare of circus acts. Then the animal train car is exposed. I will admit that this prop is cute. It's poorly used. It just sits there. It could have been used so much better. This choreography is just as boring. Did you notice that they used the same costumes from the WOMANIZER performance in France? Is the Spears camp being environmentally friendly or just cheap? Thoughts?

Here is my main problem with this performance. The whole setup is in a circus ring yet the dancers only face in one direction. Sticking with a theme Britney walks and walks and walks all around the stage. She is actually quite brilliant in her ability to play to different cameras in one performance. Now if she could only get a choreographer that had the same ability.

The last crossovers that the fire thrower and the jugglers make is more detrimental to the performance than the awful choreography. It doesn't bring the end to strong finish. It weakens it. If they had to do something with that music it should have just been a close up on Britney's face in a pose or even (drumroll please...........) the animal train car actually moving out of the circus.

Later on the GMA's she did her tired old Womanizer routine:

Are you bored of this yet?! I was bored with the first one. It's sad that it's the same routine. On the flip side, at least they cut the hamster ball. It's obvious it was cut because it couldn't fit not because someone finally came to their senses and decided it was, in fact, a stupid idea.  There are other slight changes to the mix of the song and to the staging. It's not an improvement. It's just stripped down a little bit. We live in a digital age. We can see performances on the internet moments after they are performed. Why did Europe get the fancier version of this performance? Why did she tame it down for the US broadcast? Why was a performance tamed down on the day of the album's release? The performances should have built up each time leading to the GMA performances.

The rumor in the air is that Wade Robson will start rehearsing with Britney in January for her tour. I am hoping this means that Andre is filing in the unemployment line. I also hope that all the preexisting choreography for this album is throw out, stepped on, and burned. It's unclear at this point if Wade is just directing the tour. I am hoping he does more than just direct. It's the "comeback" that I am waiting for. The choreography "comeback" needs to happen. It's sad to say but Beyonce's "Single Ladies" is beating Britney in the choreography department.

If Wade doesn't choreograph then we might be treated to more of this mess:

Choreography by Andre Fuentes

Choreography by Andre Fuentes

and for those of you craving a mess full of drama then here ya go:

Choreography by Andre Fuentes

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