Shortly after being honored at the 2011 MTV VMA, Britney Spears thrilled her fans by announcing that ‘Criminal’ will be the fourth official single from her ‘Femme Fatale’ album. The track follows ‘Hold It Against Me’, ‘Till The World Ends’ and ‘I Wanna Go’, which all peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.
Regardless of what song Spears chooses at this stage, the slow sales of ‘Femme Fatale’ remains a glaring point of concern. She has scored 3 top 10 singles, embarked on a heavily promoted US tour alongside Nicki Minaj and still benefits from strong support from Sony Music yet the album has sold less that 700K copies in the US since being released in March.
Furthermore, without being bolstered by timely remixes, Spears’ singles only enjoy momentary success on the charts and quickly fizzle shortly after being released. The simple explanation for this could be that the general public is losing interest in her as an artist.
In fact, it seems that Spears is becoming a singles act as her career progresses because of her attempts to please the club market as opposed to expanding her artistic depth. Interestingly, her Sony counterpart Beyonce has experienced a reverse phenomenon as she has generally distanced herself from the radio rat race and focused on musical growth, which caused her to become lose strength on the singles charts while still managing to sell albums albeit at a slower pace.
The next few years of both Spears and Beyonce’s careers will be rather interesting to observe. Each act has what the other lacks and can’t seem to find balance.
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I don’t agree. I think Britney’s problem is the fact that she simply cant so what she used to be able to do. As in put on an outstanding show. So ppl don’t care. Beyonce on the other hand has obviously been distracted and we now see why now. She’s pregnant. And even pregnant Beyonce puts on a better show then most. She could have made “4″ work but the lack of promotion is why it’s slacking in sales. Britney on the other hand can’t even walk a straight line let alot give a full interview without it being pre recorded. It’s time for her to retire. Her hearts not in it anymore.
As long as the video is hot, and she does some good live performances, the song will go top ten i believe.
** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8QOHQPAuC8&feature=feedu **
Yes,the public is losing interest in her.Another thing is that her album is dance pop,which isn’t considered much of genre.I’m not saying no dance pop albums can be strong,but her album basically relies on production,there is barely any musical or vocal strength or lyrical substance.It’s very reductive.And she can hardly give a good performance any longer.Too bad her fans still think she’s going to be the next Michael Jackson.
The video should be hott cuz she don’t gotta dance
I agree with everything you said except for the singles fizzling part. Are you serious? Till The World Ends and I Wanna Go have stayed in the Hot 100 for centuries now!
[...] appeal for a spread in the October issue of the UK’s Glamour magazine. The megastar recently confirmed that ‘Criminal’ will be the next single released from her ‘Femme Fatale’ [...]
[...] demeanor in favour of the edgy artwork of her ‘Criminal’ single cover. The megastar announced that the song is the latest official release from her ‘Femme Fatale’ album and it will [...]