Greatest Hits: My Perogative - Album Review

Some basic stuff: Released on November 1st, 2004, less than a year after her last studio album. The album debuted in the top 10 in the U.S., peaking at #4. To date, it has sold over 1 million copies in the U.S. and over 6.5 million copies worldwide (source).

Tracklisting as it appears on the European edition.

1. My Prerogative – Originally a Bobby Brown song, Bloodshy & Avant produced this cover, which is one of her best. The production is clearly and B&A affair, with the rhythmic, organic sound of “In The Zone” with a Bollywood-inspired tone and their classic synths with some guitar accents. Britney adds some opening lines to the song, but once it gets into its full groove, the lyrics only change to be from a woman’s perspective. This song is attitude done right, and she usually does bring it with her covers, but she makes It personal with her opening lines “they say I’m crazy, I really don’t care…they say I’m nasty but I don’t give a damn”. The production on her vocals is sexy, there’s really no other word for it, whether singing over a vocoder or matching the jazzy tone of a sax, it’s infectious. – 10/10

19.  I’ve Just Begun (Having My Fun) – Britney Spears co-wrote this number with Michelle Bell, Bloodshy & Avant members Christian Karlsson, Pontus Winnberg and their frequent collaborator Henrik Jonback. Originally recorded for "In The Zone", the song was a digital download bonus track for purchasing the album at Walmart stores and before the release of her "Greatest Hits", it was available on iTunes as a promotional single, check the cover art here. The track is fun, as the title suggests, “I’m just a crazy kind of girl, I’ll tell it to the world” she says with her naturally deep vocals. The song is probably the slowest of the 3, but it’s still an up-tempo record that makes you wanna tap your foot to the hard, industrial beat. – 8/10

20. Do Somethin’ – Co-written by Angela Hunte, Henrik Jonback, Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg, with the latter two producing as Bloodshy and Avant, this song served as the second single off the album except in the U.S., and was pretty successful, becoming a Top 10 single in the U.K., Europe and Australia. Musically, this is the most exciting track from this album, featuring more electronic synth work from the duo than they had previous released, and it’s filled with humming, buzzing, clanging and flickering, not to mention shattering glass. While previous songs have had glimmers of Britney rap-singing, this track has her full on rapping on the verses, and man does she have attitude, alternating between sticky sweet and tough as nails. This is also the first track where she utters a real profanity, if you can say it on TV, it doesn’t count, and she goes for the big F-bomb. – 9/10

*Chris Cox Megamix – While the album may be a testament to her singles over the span of her career, this 5 minute megamix is a shorter way of experiencing many of them in one fell swoop. This mix is genius, it strips the production from the vocals of her hit songs, and then weaves them together in a way that is both enticing and compelling. It makes you want to move and doesn’t stop delivering the punches, building, and building without slowing down. – 10/10

Overall: - While the album may not seem like it would be an important one, it was extremely important. Coming off of “In The Zone”, Britney was in her full-artistic-peak, and the sound of her previous album and the 3 new songs on this one would prove to be an indication of the sound she was heading towards on her unrealized 5^th album, “Original Doll”. For better or worse, she abandoned that plan and another album wasn’t seen for another 3 years. That said, 4 albums in, she was justified in making a Greatest Hits album, total, she had released 18 singles, all of which made the tracklisting, so in essence, it’s a Singles Collection pt.1, but it’s a necessary album that defined the end of an era, not only as a marker for her newfound sound, but also as a marker for the end of success coming easy to her. From this point on, anything she produces musically is known as a comeback. - 9/10

Highlights: Chris Cox Megamix

Fun Facts: Originally titled “Hits” with 4 new songs instead of just 3, possibly “Chaotic”. All 3 new songs are correctly labeled as “Previously Unreleased” as they were recorded for inclusion on “In The Zone”

Sources: Album booklet, single back covers, YouTube and Unreleased Britney Spears.