Glory

Chaotic EP Glory is the ninth studio album by Britney on August 26, 2016, through RCA Records. After renewing her contract with RCA, Spears began work on the album in 2014. Lacking a deadline for completion, she continued work into 2015 and 2016, which—according to Spears—provided her the opportunity to create one of her favorite albums in her catalogue.

“Make Me…” served as the lead single for the record, being released on July 15, 2016. The single debuted and peaked at number 17 on the US Billboard Hot 100. “Slumber Party” was released as the second single and peaked at number 86 on the Billboard Hot 100. Glory was further promoted with three promotional singles—”Private Show”, “Clumsy”, and “Do You Wanna Come Over?”—which premiered in the weeks before its launch. Britney promoted the album with television appearances and televised performances, including the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards.

To the date, Glory has sold over 650,000 copies worldwide and 250,000 in the United States.

Album Details

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.

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.”

“‘Pretty Girls’ wasn’t original. Britney wanted to do things that were fresh and unexpected this time. There was never a moment where she was given a song, and anybody said, ‘This is a hit. You have to sing it’. Britney pursued the songs she wanted to do for herself. She came up with concepts and melodies. It’s her baby. It’s like being an athlete. If you’re doing it that much, you’re getting yourself into shape. She was always ready to work during the album sessions, and it was very important to her to be done by a certain time so she could pick up her boys from school.”

 — Executive producer Karen Kwak describing the recording process of Glory

Track listing

  1. “Invitation”
  2. “Do You Wanna Come Over?”
  3. “Make Me…” (featuring G-Eazy)
  4. “Private Show”
  5. “Man on the Moon”
  6. “Just Luv Me”
  7. “Clumsy”
  8. “Slumber Party”
  9. “Just like Me”
  10. “Love Me Down”
  11. “Hard to Forget Ya”
  12. “What You Need”
  13. “Better”— Deluxe Edition bonus track
  14. “Change Your Mind (No Seas Cortés)”— Deluxe Edition bonus track
  15. “Liar”— Deluxe Edition bonus track
  16. “If I’m Dancing”— Deluxe Edition bonus track
  17. “Coupure Électrique” — Deluxe Edition bonus track
  18. “Mood Ring” — Japanese Edition bonus track only

November 16, 2016 reissue

  1. “Invitation”
  2. “Do You Wanna Come Over?”
  3. “Make Me…” (featuring G-Eazy)
  4. “Private Show”
  5. “Man on the Moon”
  6. “Just Luv Me”
  7. “Clumsy”
  8. “Slumber Party” (featuring Tinashe)
  9. “Just like Me”
  10. “Love Me Down”
  11. “Hard to Forget Ya”
  12. “What You Need”
  13. “Better”— Deluxe Edition bonus track
  14. “Change Your Mind (No Seas Cortés)”— Deluxe Edition bonus track
  15. “Liar”— Deluxe Edition bonus track
  16. “If I’m Dancing”— Deluxe Edition bonus track
  17. “Coupure Électrique” — Deluxe Edition bonus track
  18. “Mood Ring” — Japanese Edition bonus track only

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 ShowOn 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 ShowOn 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 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, 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.

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. As of July 2017, Glory has sold over 250,000 units in the United States. 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. After Spears’s tour in Korea, the album rebounded on the Gaon International Chart and reached the top of the chart, higher than its debut position. The album also charted within the top ten of charts in 24 various international countries.

On August 27, 2016 O Globo reported that “Glory” has sold more than 20,000 physical copies in just one day and was certificated as Gold.

To the date, Glory has sold over 650,000 copies worldwide.

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 Globeremarked 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”.

Album Shoot & cover

The photoshoot for the album was made by Randee St. Nicholas. This was a last minute decision.

Originally, David LaChapelle was in charge of the photo shoot for the album, as well as the filming of the music video for “Make Me”, the lead single. However, during the shootings of the video there was a big disagreement between David and Britney’s team, which caused him not only to resign as the director of the video, but he also forbade the team to use the photos he had taken.  In consequence, Britney had to hire Randee St. Nicholas at the last minute to record the video clip and make a new photo session. Both were made the same day.

Both, the cover of the album and all the photos used, received a lot of criticism because they look like screenshots of the “Make Me” video.

The only official photo we have of the original shoot for the album, is the cover of “Make Me”, which had already been published before all the problems occurred.

 


Gallery Links:
Photoshoots > 2016 > Randee St. Nicholas

Stream the album on Spotify

 

 

Glory : Japan Tour Edition

On May 31st, 2017, Britney released a special limited edition of Glory in Japan tiled “Glory : Japan Tour Edition”. The album has two discs: one with Glory (that includes the Japanese bonus track “Mood Ring”), and the 2nd is the Piece Of Me setlist, which includes her greatest hits. Of course,  the second disc doesn’t includes the songs of “Glory” because it would not make sense to repeat them twice on the album.

The album was released to promote Britney’s tour in Japan that year.

Track listing

Disc 1

  1. Invitation
  2. Make Me… (Feat. G-Eazy)
  3. Private Show
  4. Man On The Moon
  5. Just Luv Me
  6. Clumsy
  7. Do You Wanna Come Over?
  8. Slumber Party (Feat. Tinashe)
  9. Just Like Me
  10. Love Me Down
  11. Hard To Forget Ya
  12. What You Need
  13. Better
  14. Change Your Mind (No Seas Cortes)
  15. Liar
  16. If I’m Dancing
  17. Coupure Electrique
  18. Mood Ring

Disc 2

  1. Work Bitch
  2. Womanizer
  3. Piece of Me
  4. Me Against the Music (Dragon Man Mix)
  5. Gimme More
  6. Everytime
  7. …Baby One More Time
  8. Oops!… I Did It Again
  9. Boys
  10. Get Naked (I Got a Plan)
  11. I’m a Slave 4 U
  12. Freakshow
  13. Do Somethin’
  14.  Circus
  15. If U Seek Amy
  16. Breathe on Me
  17. Touch of My Hand
  18. Toxic
  19. Stronger
  20. (You Drive Me) Crazy
  21. Till the World Ends

Stream it on Spotify