Glory (Britney Spears album)

Background and recording

In August 2014, Spears announced she had renewed her contract with RCA, and that she was writing and recording new music. The recording process for the album took two and a half years and "30-40" songs were recorded for the record. Six months into the recording of the album, Spears was dissatisfied with the results. Karen Kwak was then brought onto the record as executive producer following the release of "Pretty Girls" and helped Spears find "the most fun people to write with". Kwak wanted to recall the sounds of Spears's albums Blackout and In The Zone for Glory, and chose producers based on this. Kwak said of the album: "Britney pursued the songs she wanted to do for herself. She came up with concepts and melodies. It's her baby." In an interview with Billboard in March 2015, Spears said that she was working on a new album "slowly but surely."

In April 2015, Matthew Koma confirmed he had worked on material for the record, none of which made the final cut. In June 2015, Spears was pictured working with Sam Bruno, however, none of this material ended up on the record. In July 2015, Spears was pictured working with writers Chantal Kreviazuk and Simon Wilcox alongside producer Ian Kirkpatrick; in that same month, DJ Mustard announced that he was working on the album, later revealed to be "Mood Ring" which was recorded the previous month. Spears was also pictured working with producer Alex Da Kid in July 2015, however, his contributions did not make the cut for the album. In October 2015, Spears was pictured working in the studio with Burns and Mischke. Later that month, Spears teased the title for "Just Luv Me". In November 2015, Spears was pictured working in the studio with Justin Tranter and Julia Michaels.

In March 2016, Spears said that she was "being more hands-on" with the album and that it is "the best thing I've done in a long time," though she noted that she did not know when the album would be finished and that she was "not rushing anything [...] so that my fans will truly appreciate it." The final track recorded for the album was "Love Me Down". On August 3, 2016, Spears unveiled the name and cover of her new record, confirmed the release date, and announced that her new song "Private Show" would be instantly available for download to those who pre-ordered her album on Apple Music. On Most Requested Live with Romeo, Spears revealed that it was her son who chose the name of the album.

Composition

Since the beginning of the album's recording process, Spears insisted that she wanted to do something different with the project and take a "left turn." During a Tumblr Q&A with fans in July 2016, when asked about the style of the album Spears responded with "I'll just say this... We really explored some new things." On August 5, she revealed in a phoned-in radio interview on the segment On Air with Ryan Seacrest that the album "took a lot of time, but I think we brought it to a level where I was really, really happy with what I had; it's cool, it's really different [...] there are like two or three songs that go in the direction of more urban that I've wanted to do for a long time now, and I just haven't really done that."

Promotion

On August 3, Spears appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, pranking Jimmy Kimmel with an impromptu bedside performance of "Make Me..." alongside male dancers. On August 5, Spears was interviewed for the radio program On Air With Ryan Seacrest, where she discussed the development of the album. On August 16, Spears announced that she would be performing "Make Me..." at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards. The performance was announced following the cancellation of two Britney: Piece of Me show dates that were initially scheduled two days prior to the awards. The performance was her first at the VMAs since her 2007 performance of "Gimme More". On August 24, Spears was interviewed on BBC's Scott Mills. On August 25, Spears appeared on the "Carpool Karaoke" segment on The Late Late Show with James Corden where she sang along to "Make Me...", "Oops!... I Did It Again", "Womanizer", "Toxic" and "...Baby One More Time". On August 29, the day after the VMAs, she was interviewed on the Elvis Duran and the Morning Show and the Zach Sang Show. On September 1, Spears appeared for the first time in fifteen years on the Today Show for an interview and to perform "Make Me..." and "Do You Wanna Come Over?". On September 7, Spears appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where she went with Ellen to the mall and distributed signed copies of Glory. On September 24, Spears performed at the 2016 iHeartRadio Music Festival at the T-Mobile Arena, which aired on The CW. On September 27, Spears performed at the Apple Music Festival in London. On 1 October, Spears appeared on the The Jonathan Ross Show for an interview and to perform "Make Me...", marking her first performance on British TV since 2008. On December 2, Spears performed at 102.7 KIIS FM's Jingle Ball. She received a birthday cake and performed "Slumber Party" with Tinashe. A day after, she performed at 99.7 NOW's Triple Ho Show. On December 10, Spears performed at the B96 Pepsi Jingle Bash.

Singles

"Make Me..." was released as the lead single for the album on July 15, 2016. It was described as a "slinky" mid-tempo R&B song and features the vocal collaboration of American rapper G-Eazy. An accompanying music video for the single premiered on VEVO on August 5, 2016. The single debuted and peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her sixth-highest debut on the chart and 34th "Hot 100" entry.

A new version of "Slumber Party" featuring Tinashe was released on November 18, 2016 as her second single. A music video also premiered the same day. The single debuted at number 86 on the Billboard Hot 100 issue dated December 10, 2016. It is also her 35th Hot 100 entry.

"Private Show" was released as the first promotional single along with the pre-order on August 4, 2016. The song shares the title of her latest fragrance. The song was written by Britney Spears, Carla Williams, Tramaine Winfrey and Simon Smith. "Clumsy" was released as the second promotional single on August 11, 2016. The third promotional single "Do You Wanna Come Over?" was released on August 18, 2016.

Critical reception

Glory received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 71, which indicates "generally positive reviews", based on 14 reviews. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine rated the album 3.5 out of 5 stars, and called the album's sound "daring and mature", but criticized "Private Show", calling it "the album's only bona-fide misfire." In a positive review, Maura Johnston from The Boston Globe described the album as one with "an unbridled energy" that "operates on its own terms." Neil McCormick from The Daily Telegraph praised the production on the album, and noted that "every track sounds like a single". In a mixed review of the album, Jon Parales from The New York Times claimed that the album was "one-dimensional", but noted her as sounding like she "has emphatically returned to the foreground." Mesfin Fekadu from Associated Press noted Spears "has taken note and jumped on the bandwagon [of R&B]" but claimed that the songs were not "authentically Britney." In contrast, Nolan Feeney from Entertainment Weekly characterized the songs on the album as sounding "like glimpses of the real Britney—her musical tastes, her voice—imperfections and all."

In particular, Spears's vocals were generally praised. The Los Angeles Times described the vocals as a "vast improvement" over those on Britney Jean, remarking that "the very performed nature of the singing [...] makes Glory such a good time." The Boston Globe remarked that Spears was "throwing herself fully into her vocal performance" on the album and The New York Times described Spears as sounding "more involved, more present, than she has in a decade." Rolling Stone positively compared Spears's vocals to those on In the Zone, noting "she hasn't played around with her vocals so cleverly since the "Toxic" days." Entertainment Weekly described the album as "her most engaging vocally" in a decade and noted Spears as sounding "more present and enthusiastic than she has in years." In a similar sentiment, Idolator described Spears as sounding "more lucid, engaged and front-and-center than she's been in years." Slant Magazine credited Spears with a "willingness to stretch vocally and explore new sonic terrain", but also remarked that at times, this "highlight[s] her shortcomings".

Year-end lists

Glory was included in year-end lists of best albums by several publications.

Commercial performance

Glory debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, selling 111,000 equivalent-album units in its first week, with 88,000 coming from pure album sales. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Glory debuted at number two and number one, respectively, becoming her highest charting album in those countries since Blackout (2007). In Germany, the album debuted at number three, becoming her highest charting album there in 13 years, since the release of In the Zone (2003). In Italy, the album debuted at number one, becoming Britney's first album to reach the top of the Italian album chart. In Japan, the album peaked at number 19 on the Billboard Japan Hot Albums chart. In South Korea, the album debuted at number 26 on the Gaon Album Chart and at number 3 on the international version of the same chart. The album also charted within the top ten of charts in 24 various international countries.

Track listing