Britney Spears to release new album in early 2011

Britney Spears is set to release her next studio album in early 2011.

The singer has been working with US producer Dr Luke on the record, which will be her seventh full-length studio effort. Hollywoodreporter.com reports that the album will be released before the end of March next year.

"She's such an icon, I don't want to let anyone down," said Dr Luke, who has previously worked with Avril Lavigne and Katy Perry.

He added that he was "excited to be co-executive producing with Max Martin, the person who kind of invented Britney, and to make good music".

Swedish producer Max Martin launched Spears' career in 1998 by writing her debut hit '…Baby One More Time'.

Spears' new album will be her first since 2008's 'The Circus'.

I'm almost done with my new album and it will be coming out this March. I AM IN L-O-V-E WITH IT!

Lot of misinformation out there regarding the release of Brits 1st single. Don't believe everything you read....-Adam Leber, Manager

Unless of course it's an official announcement coming in January. STAY TUNED..... -Adam Leber, Manager

That said, the single is DEFINITELY coming in January. PS - Happy New Years people.-Adam Leber, Manager

Sorry guys, but never pay attention to unofficial announcements. Just trying to clarify. Please don't "hold it against me" -Adam Leber, Manager

This just in:




Remember when artists employed professional people to professionally make professional announcements on their behalf?

The first single, Britney's first since 2009 (and 30th overall) is called "Hold It Against Me" and is set for release next Tuesday. It will be interesting to see if any import CD singles will be issued for this, because frankly, I have no idea if such singles are still being released anywhere.

Britney posted the following on Facebook today:


For those of you keeping score at home, this will be Britney's seventh studio album.

For Immediate Release:
January 11, 2011


BRITNEY SPEARS SHATTERS RECORDS WITH
"HOLD IT AGAINST ME"


#1 On iTunes Songs Chart


Sets New One-Day Precedent As Single Tops Charts Within Hours Of Its Release


New York, NY - Perhaps USA Today sums it up best, "Spears' new single delivers enough dizzying dance-pop ecstasy to ensure another chart-topping ride..."


Following the digital release of "Hold It Against Me" on Monday, 1/10/11, Britney Spears shatters all previous records for the most number of spins for a first or one-day at both Mediabase and BDS, according to one of the radio industry's top analysts Kevin McCabe, founding principal of Musicrunch.


"Top 40 outlets across the country immediately put 'Hold It Against Me' in rotation and received instant-reaction airplay at America's most-influential stations including Z100 and WXRK in New York and KIIS and KAMP in Los Angeles," states McCabe.


Sharon Dastur, program director for New York's Z100, one of the top influential pop radio stations in the country says, "Ever since we played it yesterday, the reaction has been phenomenal. The audience loves it!"


In addition to the overwhelming fan response at radio, the sales story is also impressive; in less than a day of its release, "Hold It Against Me" is the #1 Song on iTunes.


Britney had 619 spins at Mediabase in what was only a partial day of spins for Monday, 1/10/11. At BDS, Britney had 595 first or one-day spins - also on a partial day's worth of airplay. Britney's big one-day powered her onto the BDS one-day building chart at 16* and perhaps even more impressive was her audience debut at 7*.


As expected, Spears is also a trending topic on twitter worldwide.

Does Britney's "Hold It Against Me" Rip Off the Bellamy Brothers?
Posted Tue Jan 11, 2011 1:29pm PST by Chris Willman in Our Country
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Does Britney Spears' new single, "Hold It Against Me," rip off the Bellamy Brothers' 1979 country classic, "If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body"?.

You bet your life..

Sorry, that's not an actual judgment call. It's just a reference to the fact that the Bellamys have previously admitted copping their famous line—"If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?"—from Groucho Marx, as heard on his 1950s TV series, You Bet Your Life..

But that didn't stop the brother act from expressing (or at least feigning) outrage at Britney's re-use of their signature lyric, which she slightly alters and renders as: "If I said I want your body now, would you hold it against me?" .

"Hey, Brit, if I said you ripped off our song, would you hold it against me?" said Howard Bellamy. Added brother David, "If you listen to the lyrics of Britney Spears' new single, you'll find some major similarities... She's a talented gal. But professionally, well, in all honesty, we feel completely ripped off. Where's the originality?".

Naturally, the statement released by the Bellamys' Nashville publicist includes nary a mention of how the phrase in question wasn't original to them, either..

In an interview with Songfacts a few years ago, Howard Bellamy was open about the source of the famous quote. "I have to give credit for that line to Groucho Marx," he said then. "Groucho used to have a show on TV when we were growing up... He'd have guests on, and different quiz questions... He'd use that line occasionally and say, 'If I said you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me?' and shake his cigar and kind of raise his eyebrows.".

We can only hope Britney's upcoming video for "Hold It Against Me" includes her shaking a cigar, so she can prove she ripped it off from the same source the Bellamy Brothers did. .

Although the Bellamys' statement seems a little disingenuous in its claims for originality and omission of Groucho, there's no doubt that, in adopting Marx's old catchphrase into a song, they were being less un-original than Spears is. It's probably true that anyone under 30 who doesn't come from a country-loving family has never heard the phrase before. But certainly almost anyone over 35 or 40 has, and not even just country fans, thanks to the title's ubiquity in popular culture in the early '80s..

It may not count as plagiarism, but even after a few decades, you're still kind of surprised that anyone would have the chutzpah to go there. For anyone in middle age or older, hearing a song with that as its lyric hook, it's as if someone wrote a new song called "(I Don't Have Any) Satisfaction" or "Janey Got a Glock" or "Hi, Jude." .

Or as if they wrote a new song called "California Girls" or "I Kissed a Girl." Oh, wait....

There does seem to be a bit of a pattern emerging in the Dr. Luke/Max Martin camp, where everything old is new again, when it comes to appropriating familiar old titles or lyrical hooks. Dr. Luke has said in interviews that he's not that much of a lyric guy, so it seems entirely likely that Katy Perry was responsible for borrowing those earlier titles—and that Britney had this one pop into her head, after almost certain exposure to it growing up in the South..

No one is likely to ever confuse the songs in or out of a court of law, since "Bellamy Brothers" and "dubstep" aren't often mentioned in the same breath. Somehow, we suspect the bros are a little less offended and more bemused than they come off in their statement. But we're glad to know they have "no beef" with Brit-Brit, because we'd hate to see the mustachioed "Let Your Love Flow" dudes caught up in a drive-by..

Britney Spears' 'Hold It Against Me' Debuts Atop Hot 100
Britney Spears becomes just the second artist in the Billboard Hot 100's 52-year history to debut multiple songs at No. 1, as "Hold It Against Me" blasts in at the summit.

Spears previously launched at the apex with "3" the week of Oct. 24, 2009. She joins Mariah Carey as the only acts to arrive at No. 1 more than once. Carey made such grand entrances with "Fantasy" and "One Sweet Day" in 1995 and "Honey" in 1997.

"Hold It Against Me" is the 18th song to debut at No. 1 and the first since Ke$ha's "We R Who We R" the week of Nov. 13, 2010.

The track is Spears' fourth No. 1 on the Hot 100. Prior to "3," she reigned with her debut single "...Baby One More Time" (two weeks, 1999) and "Womanizer" (one week, 2008).

"Hold It Against Me" starts atop Digital Songs with 411,000 downloads sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. As previously reported, the sum marks the highest debut frame by a lead female artist, besting the 325,000 shifted by Taylor Swift's "Today Was a Fairytale" the week of Feb. 6, 2010.

On Radio Songs, "Hold It Against Me" begins at No. 23 with 45 million first-week audience impressions, according to Nielsen BDS. The song's No. 23 entrance is the chart's best since Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body" began at the same rank the week of March 1, 2008.