New album "Glory": Britney's back, bitch!

Today sees the release of "Glory", the ninth studio album by the "Princess of Pop" Britney Spears. After many scandals, breakdowns and average music, there is now a ray of hope.

Fans made long faces when they listened to the albums "Circus", "Femme Fatale" and above all "Britney Jean": some good songs, but far too many fillers. "Britney Jean", the album from 2013, is Britney Spears' worst-selling album to date, with critics slating the album. It is miles away from Britney's 1999 debut album "...Baby One More Time", one of the 25 most successful albums of all time worldwide.

All the greater should be the joy of the fans now. Britney announced her ninth album "Glory" at the beginning of the month and it was released today. It's clear from the first listen: Britney Spears is back.

The track "Invitation" opens the album. It gives a first insight into what you can expect from the entire work: Modern pop with R&B and electronic influences and Britney's voice, which is kept sexy as usual, sometimes even breathy through a song. The first track in particular is calm, Britney sings about blindfolds and how she wants to show her world.

"Glory" deals almost exclusively with sex

One theme runs through the entire album: sex. In the track "Do You Wanna Come Over?", for example, she sings: "All you want is what I want. And what I want is me." The theme is also a recurring theme in "Make Me", the album's lead single, and in "Private Show".

The American is thoughtful in the fourth song on the album: "Man On The Moon". A modern take on Britney's song "Lucky" from 2000, Britney sings about the man she misses. With an optimistic note: "When the darkness comes, love will rise again. I'm dreaming of you here, waiting for my man in the moon." Cute, isn't it?

A better Selena Gomez

Track no. 5 is the highlight of the entire album: "Just Luv Me". The calm electropop song sounds like a better "Good For You" by Selena Gomez and would actually have fit perfectly on Justin Bieber's latest album "Purpose". And here again: the song is sexy, Britney sounds sexy and sings again and again: "Just love me, just love me".

Fans of Britney's club bangers such as "Till The World Ends" or "Work B*tch" will get their money's worth with "Clumsy". The song's drop could become a big fan favorite: When Britney says the catchword "Oops!" and the pop house beat hits, it's great cinema.

The deluxe tracks are a must

It's worth buying the deluxe version of "Glory". The five additional tracks - 17 instead of 12 - are anything but stopgaps and can even be described as further highlights. Worthy of special mention here are "Change Your Mind (No Seas Cortes)", a summery pop song with guitar sounds, and "Better", a pop song with tropical house elements. No wonder: it was co-written and produced by BloodPop, one of the contributors to Justin Bieber's "Sorry", among others. Even though the title may sound good at first, it's also about sex: "When you know someone and they know your body, it's so much better."

All in all, Britney Spears delivers a modern pop album with sophisticated songs on "Glory". Similar to "Britney Jean" and "Femme Fatale", she could have taken the safe route and delivered solid, well-known pop, but that's not the case here: with "Glory" Britney has dared to try something new, similar to the albums "In the Zone" and "Blackout". Britney is back, bitch!

https://open.spotify.com/album/2J4MY6zdu4wzkMbweSziND

On Monday night, Britney Spears will perform "Gimme More" at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York for the first time since her miserable and unforgettable VMA performance in 2007. On September 27, she will be at the Apple Music Festival in London, and Britney Spears can still be seen at her often sold-out Las Vegas show "Piece Of Me" until February.

She also took a seat on late-night show host James Corden's "Carpool Karaoke" yesterday. You can see how that turned out in the video here: