Tuesday was an exciting day for music stores, as two of the most famous pop artists of our time released new albums. After their last record, "Never Gone," flopped, Backstreet Boys are attempting a comeback - again. On the same triumphant day, another infamous pop star released her newest album. Amid the divorces, hospital stays and diaper changing, Britney Spears managed to record a new album after a three-year hiatus from the business.
BSB's album, "Unbreakable," is true to form. It includes a series of catchy pop tunes coupled with intricate harmonizing between four male voices. That's right - four.
Kevin Richardson is absent from this album for the first time in the six studio albums BSB has recorded. He left the band to start a family after recently becoming a father, but it is rumored that he will be returning to the group for its next album.
The boys haven't entirely disappeared since their last comeback effort. Former heartthrob Nick Carter has managed to keep himself in the public eye between his reality TV show with his family on E! and his short-lived relationship with Paris Hilton. Despite such efforts, he never was as popular as rival boy band heartthrob, Justin Timberlake of 'N Sync. Creating the new album will definitely get Carter back in the media spotlight, but it's going to be a hard hit when BSB realizes that Timberlake as one-fifth of 'N Sync will still manage to outsell them.
The band did try to change its style slightly for this album, attempting to show a more mature side of the band. After all, Howie Dorough and Brian Littrell have reached the 30-year-old mark. All are in different places in their lives now, with Littrell as a husband and father, Dorough engaged and AJ McLean fresh out of rehab. Perhaps now a better classification for the group would be a "man band." Most people buy a new car or dye their hair during their mid-life crises, but these guys have created a whole new meaning to the word rejuvenation.
The pop-rock sound they were going for isn't entirely noticeable in the album, other than when it is incorporated slightly into intricate background music. At the end of the day, BSB is still a boy band, and their sound will always be cohesive with the pure pop genre.
Spears' album is also true to form: a lot of gimmicks, racy pictures, dance beats and a lack of vocal talent. Granted, singing was never really one of Britney's stronger points - she was all about presentation, with her aptitude for hot moves and good looks.
Though she proclaimed herself as "not that innocent" in 2000 with her release "Oops... I Did it Again," she managed to stay in the hearts of her fans until the spotlight of her last album, 2003's "In the Zone," faded.
Now, with the release of "Blackout," Spears' tarnished picture-perfect image will not help her claim fame. Her name has been plastered in headlines even after her music disappeared from the charts, from the birth of her children to her divorce. The world is all ears to what happens in the life of Britney.
Even on the day of the album's release controversy started, as she managed to upset the Catholic Church with the album's "inappropriate" pictures of her posing seductively in a confession booth. It seems that even if beautiful harmonies and vocal intonations come from the album, the response will be negative. People love to hate Britney.
The CD is all that could be expected of Spears. From catchy dance beats, repetitive lyrics and synthesized vocals, it's clear that computers did more singing on the album than she did. The single "Gimme More" that created such a wave after her horrific performance at the MTV Video Music Awards is a perfect representation of the album: sexy, sure, but repetitive and boring.
"Blackout" is doomed to fail. Clearly, Spears should have spent more time in rehab than in the recording studio. If she gets her life back on track, the release of an album by a newly empowered Britney will go over well with fans.
Short of 'N Sync, Spears and the Backstreet Boys were the biggest names in the '90s pop industry, but their comebacks are a little premature. With the reunion tour of the Spice Girls well underway, it's becoming clear that these '90s pop stars are trying to push their way back into the business. The only problem is that their fans are not ready for it.
Teenybopper music was one decade's mistake. Are we prepared to make that mistake again? Maybe in another 20 years it will be fun to buy tickets to a BSB reunion or a Britney Spears tour, but until then, let the '90s music stay in the '90s.
