After recently winning 3 Video Music Awards, 2008 may mark the return of Britney Spears' music career! Check out her new single "Womanizer", off her upcoming album due out early December!

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Concerned friends and former associates of Britney Spears have started Be Proactive To Help, a movement to boycott Britney Spears' new album until she gets her life together. The group is also asking people to contact MTV, her record label, and her management to hold them partially responsible for Britney's bizarre behavior. E! Online reports:

Our message is simple," says one of the organizers of the Be Proactive to Help Website. "Don't buy her stuff until she's better." The MySpace-based page was created by people who used to work with Britney, including a bodyguard, backup dancer and makeup artist, as well as several old friends. "We've all hung out with Britney a lot," says our source. "We've seen her at her best and at her worst. And we aren't doing this to be mean. We're doing this out of concern, for herself and for her boys. They need a mother figure and right now, they don't have that."

I appreciate the thought, but I don't have some profound need to teach Britney Spears a lesson. I just kinda hate her. The liner notes could tell me my future or give me directions to a magic lamp and if somebody gave this CD to me as a gift I'd probably set them on fire.

Source: idontlikeyouinthatway.com

There's hardly been a media Blackout for Britney Spears' next album, especially after many of the songs purportedly recorded for it leaked onto the Internet. Just two days ago, Britney's label, Jive, announced it was moving up the release date by two weeks, from November 13 to October 30, due to those leaks.

But as it turns out, few of those tracks are on Blackout — most of the leaked songs may have been demos — and the album contains some of Spears' strongest material from these sessions.

"This is Britney's fifth studio record, and it shows a lot of growth as a performer," said the singer's A&R rep, Teresa LaBarbera Whites. "She was very involved in the songs and how they turned out. It's her magic that turns these songs into what they are."

Not to mention studio magic. "Piece of Me," Spears' mission statement of sorts, finds the singer so vocoder-ized that it's hard to tell where the real Britney begins and ends — which is part of the point. "I'm Mrs. 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,' I'm Mrs. 'Oh my God, that Britney's shameless," she "sings" while dissecting some of her own media coverage. She sings "you want a piece of me?" with moans and sighs, as if she's offering herself up on a platter, but then she tweaks the idea with a wink, suggesting she's "bad media karma" and that we're all going to suffer in the end. "Now are you sure you want a piece of me?"

"Radar" — produced, like "Piece of Me," by Bloodshy & Avant (the Swedish duo did "Freakshow" and "Toy Soldier" as well) — also tries for an electro/Eurodisco approach, but keeps Spears' vocals more in the foreground. Instead of emulating a video game, she's accompanied sparingly by sonar pulses and distorted synths to keep the sound dangerous, because she's on the prowl. "I got my eye on you," she speaks at one point. "I can't let you get away."

The uptempo "Break the Ice" might have been a stronger album leadoff track than "Gimme More" (see "Britney Spears Fans [And Haters] Weigh In On 'Gimme More' Video"), since she re-introduces herself at the top and apologizes for being gone for so long. "It's about two people, a girl and a guy," the song's writer, Keri Hilson, said, "and the girl is saying, 'You're a little cold. Let me warm things up and break the ice.' " Here, Spears' breathy vocals are layered, so that she's singing, "Hot hot hot — ahh," on top of the chorus, and stopping the song à la Janet Jackson to say, "I like this part. It feels kind of good."

The Giorgio Moroder-inspired "Heaven on Earth" is far more layered — which is a good thing, considering her vocals are especially airy here. Three different vocal lines take place over the throbbing beat, in a way similar to Moroder's signature song, Donna Summer's disco classic "I Feel Love." Reciting what she wants as a come-on in one line ("Your love, your teeth, your tongue"), she tells her lover sleepily to "lay your head on my chest and drift away," while simultaneously singing in a more bouncy style in a third lyric: "You've taken me so far away, one look and you stop time." It's one of the more complex tracks she's attempted, with whispers sneaking in and out of other lyrics so that two or three songs could be happening at once.

By comparison, "Get Naked (I Got a Plan)" is far more simple. Produced by Danjahandz (who also did "Gimme More"), it's simply meant to be an uptempo dance track. "My body is calling for you bad, boy," she sings amid squiggly synth lines as a separate male vocal line makes the song sound tipsy. "I just want to take it off," she sings in response. "She wanna dance, she wanna dance, she wanna dance," Danja said of that track. "That's all she want to say. She just wanted high-energy music, and that's what we did."

"No disrespect to Danja, but 'Gimme More' is definitely not the best joint," said Sean Garrett, who co-produced and sang on "Toy Soldier." "They just warming up. I got the 'Whoop!' It's starting this artillery style of heat. It's going to be hot."

Garrett said that while most of the album "is definitely dance," a lot of the songs are also talking about Spears' life, "how she feels, how she sees things. It's hard to stay in the pop world that long," he said. "Obviously, she has something special. She's just down-to-earth. She's her. She's not trying to be nobody else but her. And she makes mistakes — we all make mistakes — but you gotta love her. She'll have the world dancing for her, if you give her an opportunity to show what she's made of."

And according to the bouncy "Hot as Ice" (known as "Cold as Fire" to those who heard the leaked version), Britney is made of fire and ice. "I'm just a girl with the ability to drive a man crazy," she sings in a higher register, as if she's trying to sound like a little girl. "Make him call me 'mama,' make him my new baby." T-Pain, who arranged the song and provided background vocals, said Spears was ultra-professional when they recorded the track, even though she was in the midst of her purported "breakdown."

"I thought she was going to be sitting on the couch eating Doritos or nachos or something," he said, "but she came in, shook my hand, gave me a hug and went right in the booth. She got in there and put it down" (see "T-Pain Talks About Recording With Britney Spears: 'She Was About Her Business' ").

Likewise, Hilson said she was amazed at Spears' work ethic — considering she was very pregnant when they did "Break the Ice" and "Perfect Lover," which is just about what it sounds like. "It's just, 'I would be the perfect lover for you,' " Hilson explained.

"When we were arranging the vocals in the studio at her house," she added, "she was about eight months pregnant, and she was standing up in the vocal booth, just banging it out. Three weeks later, she had the baby."

Despite everything going on in her life during the making of Blackout, all of Britney's co-workers said she put the music first. That was a huge accomplishment in itself, said Pharrell Williams, who produced her closing track, "Why Should I Be Sad."

"She's going through a lot that people don't recognize," Pharrell said. "You got to understand, she was a child star and she's held on way longer than most people can. You got to understand the pressure. Her record is cool, but you got to give her a second to get things back together. You're seeing a reality show that no one's producing, that no one's directing, and that's a problem."

The album, though, had plenty of producers adding to the mix in many different ways. "There's plenty in there for people to love," Danja said. "Take your pick. If you're a fan of Britney, you're going to love it."

Blackout's track list, according to Jive Records:

1. "Gimme More"
2. "Piece of Me"
3. "Radar"
4. "Break the Ice"
5. "Heaven on Earth"
6. "Get Naked (I Got a Plan)"
7. "Freakshow"
8. "Toy Soldier"
9. "Hot as Ice"
10. "Ooh Ooh Baby"
11. "Perfect Lover"
12. "Why Should I Be Sad"

Britney Spears' wacky style is just one problem the troubled pop star is facing these days. Brit’s on-again, off-again rep, Leslie Sloane Zelnik, tells Life & Style that the release of Britney’s new album — which she seems to have been working on forever and was due out this fall — has been delayed until sometime in 2008.

“I put her on hiatus,” Zelnik says. “Brit’s album is pushed until ’08. If she has no album, there’s no reason to do anything. I’m representing her in theory right now. I said that since the album is pushed back until ’08, let’s go on hiatus until we have a campaign to do.”

A music-industry insider says the album is delayed because Britney’s struggling creatively. "I'm surprised the album wasn't pushed back to ’09 — everything's up in the air with the album right now," the insider says. "Jive [Records, Brit's label] hated the songs Britney was coming up with, except for a few. The executives are not happy. And she didn't want to listen to anyone. Everything was a problem for her. They wanted her to work with certain people, and she wanted the opposite."

Source: Life & Style Weekly

Dear Fans,
I just wanted to reach out to all of you and explain some of the things that I have been faced with recently.

It's so funny how many stories are put out there about people. It's like we all want our side of the story out there as well, but at the end of the day only a few people care to hear what is really going on since the bad is always so much more interesting than the truth. I don't know why, but this is so weird to me. I used to be angry at the tabloids for printing horrible things about me, but now I try to just be numb to what I see. I saw Tyra Banks once get really upset and cry on her show because they made her look fat. We all want a certain image of ourselves out there, and at some point we all do really care what other people think or we wouldn't be here.

Recently, I was sent to a very humbling place called rehab. I truly hit rock bottom. Till this day I don't think that it was alcohol or depression. I was like a bad kid running around with ADD. I had a manager from a long time ago come in and try to direct me and my life after I got my divorce. I was so overwhelmed I think that I was in a little shock too. I didn't know who to go to. I realized how much energy and love I had put into my past relationship when it was gone because I genuinely did not know what to do with myself, and it made me so sad. I confess, I was so lost.

This letter is to not place blame on anyone, although I do see the world with a completely different set of eyes now. Being in that vulnerable state and taken to dinners and parties with friends and finding out later you paid for everything was a huge learning lesson for me. I think the whole problem was letting too many people into my life. You never know another persons intentions or what another person wants. I feel I was too open and looking for answers when I had it all to begin with. I have had to cut so many people out of my life. It is so sad, because if anyone is a family person...it is me. When I was little I remember every night watching movies with my family and feeling so at peace. Dancing and singing all the time just like a little girl should. Now recently I find with my children that I want them to have that feeling all of the time. I am having to face a lot of things right now since I have children of my own. A lot of insecurities from when I was little are coming up again. It is like we are never good enough.

I know everyone thinks that I am playing the victim, but I am not and I hate what is going on right now so much. Maybe this is the reason for this letter...to maybe allow people to look at me differently. It is like when you are a real woman and say what you feel and how you think things are supposed to be, that people just say you are a "bitch."

I feel like some of the people in my life made more of some issues than was necessary. I also feel like they knew I was beginning to use my brain for a change and cut some ties, so they wanted to be in more control of my life than me. I think it is actually normal for a young girl to go out after a huge divorce. I think it was a bigger issue because I had not gone out in such a long time. I am 25 and I do still have a lot to learn, and I am going to make mistakes everyday, and I am sure every mistake I make will probably be on CNN or Good Morning America. I am only human people and I love you for still loving me.

I am sitting here at home and it is 6:25 and both of my sons are asleep. I am truly blessed to have them in my life. Everyday is so surreal. Life in general is so surreal and crazy.

I just hope this letter made some of you think a little bit more of me and where I am coming from. I just want the same things in life that you want...and that is to be happy. It is just so weird because everyone has their own perception of me and how they think I really am. It is so weird how stories are told. There is your side, my side, and the truth. Somebody has to figure it out. I guess we will never really understand or figure out life completely. That's God's job. I can't wait to meet him...or her.

Love, Britney

Quote of the month...
It is ok to disagree with people regarding certain issues. You’re not being true to yourself if you succumb to others opinions because you feel guilty.

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