Hits 39/Shameless 09: Britney's Back!

Taken from her forthcoming album Circus, due out in early December, "Womanizer" is the return-to-form that Britney promised us last year with the ill-fated "Gimme More" video/performance and Blackout album. While she had the music ready for a big return, her head was all over the place and it didn't go down quite as planned. Now, though "Womanizer" as a song can't really stand up to "Gimme More" or "Piece Of Me," it is an insistent pop track that makes the best of her vocal abilities and backs it all up with an unmissable, if repetitive, title hook. The video completes the package to great effect. Her best since "Toxic," helmed by that video's high-profile director Joseph Khan (who also directed her classic "Stronger" clip). Reuniting her with her big-budget, entirely over-the-top pop persona of years long past, it sees her playing several racy alter egos (including one fully nude one) to the womanizer who did her wrong. It's worth watching and hearing, and definitely makes me excited for her real comeback. While waiting for Circus to drop, check out some of my favorite classic Britney tracks below (a miniature greatest hits from her heyday to the present). Now that she's cleaned herself up and gone back to being "classy sexy," maybe it will be a bit less of a guilty pleasure to listen to her. Then again, there are many reasons why Britney Spears belongs in the Shameless section... Also featured are three more noteworthy remixes of the single (another one was featured earlier), picked from the huge flood that are starting to come out.

LINK: "Womanizer" on YouTube.

UPDATE: The links have all been taken down thanks to a DCMA complaint that Blogger received about some of the songs (I'm not sure which). Sorry for those who missed out, and to whoever was understandably pissed that I posted the songs up. For future reference, I can be reached directly via email to take down tracks and will do it immediately. To preview the tracks that I mentioned, check out this blog on Hype Machine.

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