(Kelly)
Album: Outrageous – Single / In the Zone
Many Britney Spears fans have a complicated relationship with “Outrageous.” The song a club-ready R&B and hip-hop inspired track with a persistent thumping beat and Middle Eastern influences infused throughout. Lyrically, Britney reflects on her own celebrity, a theme that would become the focal point of her follow-up record. The high point is its euphoric middle eight where Britney’s vocals soar in one of the album’s most transportive moments. Despite being tailor made for Spears, it’s hard to dismiss the fact that Britney herself was fairly vocal about not being particularly enthusiastic about the song. Its inclusion on the track list is rumored to have been a compromise by Spears with the powers that be at Jive, who were anxious to include the collaboration with the songwriter (and label-mate). In return, she retained more creative control over the rest of the album. If Spears had major issues with the song, she certainly sold it well with her sassy vocals and sexy and confident live concert performances. And the song is very danceable, though I actually think the “Junkie XL Dancehall Mix” included on the single and as a bonus track on Spears’s first greatest hits compilation is the superior version of this track. Nonetheless, the songs merits have a tendency to be eclipsed by the dark shadow of its problematic songwriter as well as the fact that Spears sustained an era-ending and career-altering knee injury during the filming of its video.
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