• SPEARS BRITNEY BLACKOUT.

She may be bald, and her parenting skills may be more backwoods than the celebrity-obsessed would prefer, but when it comes to her profession (singing pop songs, for those who have forgotten) you've got to give Brit a break. Not because her previous records have been flawless--for all its first-listen appeal, Oops! I Did It Again will drive even the most tolerant pop fiend bats after two repeats, and it's hard for long-term fans to overlook the unfortunate "I Love Rock N Roll" off 2001's Britney--but because, despite all the personal tumult, she's feeling the music like never before. Blackout is not a brilliant record for its vocals, though they're good in the cooing, sex-kittenish way we've come to expect (check first single "Gimme More," a monstrously catchy dance-pop number, for the requisite moans and sighs). But it is brilliant. And though the Neptunes, Bloodshy & Avant, and Nate "Danja" Hills do their trippy, thumpy, raved-up thing successfully enough to make you think so, the brilliance isn't in the production only. The crackling "Radar" gets under your skin not just because of its club-ready beat, a familiar element on this disc, but also from Britney's deliberate vocal haze; here she is interpreting how she ought to sound against the heat of this track, and pretty skillfully--she goes for pure vibe, and she gets it. And while the words to the seemingly autobiographical "Piece of Me" are enough to pull you in themselves--here we get to hear Britney refer to herself as "Miss Bad Media Karma"--they get a little something extra from our girl's newly awakened sense of what makes a song flow; she has the good sense to squeal. Is she a credible role model? Certainly not. Is her music worth hitting, as the old song goes, one more time? Absolutely. --Tammy La Gorce