In the fashion of her 12-times platinum debut, “Oops!… I Did It Again” is a slick creation that has nothing to do with the girl behind the music. Not a beat here is left to chance: no one line can be interpreted as “telling” or any particular intonation as revealing. It’s all in fun, at least for the listener who doesn’t have to sing of prepubescent crushes while on the verge of turning 20.
The new, improved Britney is a little sexier than the one we just got to know. She still holds tight to the cotton-candy image, but now cranks ups the vixen appeal, trading her Catholic-girl’s-school skirts for tight leather pants. The former Mouseketeer sings the saucy “What U See (Is What U Get)” with a knowing hiss, then turns cuddly soft for the blushing “One Kiss From You.” She teases a boy in “Stronger,” seductively claiming “I’m not your property,” then turns into a weepy wallflower for “Can’t Make You Love Me.”
With her nasal warble, Spears never really sings like cutesy peer Christina Aguilera, but she makes up for her lack of range with plenty of throaty moans and layers of backing vocals. Her voice is not the problem–after all, lots of pop vocalists can’t sing these days. Instead, it’s the songs, or lack thereof, that turn out to be the pin in the balloon. There isn’t a truly catchy tune here, which is sort of the whole point of a Britney album. Unlike her Jive label mates the Backstreet Boys, whose year-old hit “I Want It That Way” is still in America’s collective conscience, Spears was given dragging, somber ballads and stiff, awkward dance numbers. “Oops!” doesn’t need to be a sonic masterpiece, but it should at least provide enough oomph to fuel a slumber party or after-school dance.
Perhaps the Britney Team realized they were missing the mark and came up with a solution: if you can’t write a hit tune, then simply buy one from a more talented source. A breathy, drum-machine-powered cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” is the most amazingly misguided moment here. The lyrics have been changed to protect the innocent from the Stones’ references to cigarettes and girlie action: “When I’m watching my TV/And that girl comes on to tell me/How tight my skirts should be/She can’t tell me who to be/ I’ve got my own identity” (supplied by handlers, who will also, presumably, decide just how tight Britney’s vinyl red bodysuit should be). Perhaps all the funds doled out for the rights to “Satisfaction” resulted in less money to mix the poor album. Thin production and outdated effects (hip-hop beats 101, jumpy keyboard circa Janet Jackson’s “Control”) make “Oops!” sound, like, so 10 years ago. Spear’s only attempt at songwriting is stuffed at the back of the album. In “Dear Diary” she sings: “Today I saw a boy, and I wondered if he noticed me/No one in this world knows me better than you do, so diary, I confide in you.” Clumsy and insecure, it doesn’t stand a chance next to the chosen moneymakers “Oops!” and “Satisfaction,” but it’s the only song that gives listeners a chance to connect with the girl behind the impossibly tight smile.
Britney Spears’Oops!…I Did It Again’ Jive
