Britney Spears' "Blackout" to receive it's own book

[Justin Woodpond]

On 3/18/2021 at 6:20 PM, Lemon said:

I'm currently reading a book on Björk's "Homogenic" by the same publisher and it's quite good. The author couldn't reach Björk for comment but she talked with several of her collaborators, who say interesting things about it. Also, the way the author describes each song and the album is general is very insightful. So, I'm assuming the author of the book on "Blackout" will be talking to some of the album's writers and producers and who knows, maybe even Britney herself, and I'm expecting it to be a nice read. Not many writers have been able to capture Blackout's essence on written form, if that makes sense. I liked Pitchfork's review and how The Guardian's described it as a "diamond pressed from trash." Also Mark Fisher's take on it was pretty spot-on: 

 

So I'm expecting a fairly intelligent and well-written take on the album and I'm very excited. Also, this will NOT be a coffee table book, it will be an actual book.

“I liked Pitchfork's review…”

What review exactly are you referring to? There never was an official one to my disappointment.

Do you mean this article?

https://pitchfork.com/features/poptimist/6734-poptimist-10/

[Cheshire-B]

why is the cover so ugly ? 

[Justin Woodpond]

I hope it includes details of all the discarded demos   and Ne-Yo delayed recording sessions

 

[Justin Woodpond]

3 minutes ago, Cheshire-B said:

why is the cover so ugly ? 

Because the book series is for music consuenes and geeks, not necessarily for bottom pop fans or Britney fanatics. 

[Cheshire-B]

3 hours ago, Justin Woodpond said:

Because the book series is for music consuenes and geeks, not necessarily for bottom pop fans or Britney fanatics. 

well it can be any type of book it's not an excuse to be ugly 

the cover doesn't need to be ugly for the book to be seen as a serious one 

[Kletus]

it already has a book

[Justin Woodpond]

On 10/29/2021 at 12:43 AM, Cheshire-B said:

well it can be any type of book it's not an excuse to be ugly 

the cover doesn't need to be ugly for the book to be seen as a serious one 

It’s a music criticism, history and philosophy series, in which all covers follow a very similar design since 2003. There’s no changing that to appease Britney fans. Even it’s geeky name (331/3) which refers to the rotation speed of a vinyl LP, 33 + 1⁄3 RPM, remains the same.

I guess the cover is a subjective thing. I don’t mind it at as long as the content is stellar.

What kind of cover did you have to in mind anyway?

[plam]

What an achievement!

[frederiickx]

The cover is so ugly 

I might buy this because I feel like I need to have it tbh!

[frederiickx]

Someone @ me when this goes up on Amazon because I'm not paying the shipping 

[Lemon]

On 10/28/2021 at 8:52 PM, Justin Woodpond said:

“I liked Pitchfork's review…”

What review exactly are you referring to? There never was an official one to my disappointment.

Do you mean this article?

https://pitchfork.com/features/poptimist/6734-poptimist-10/

Yep that one. It is a review of the album, but presented as a column. Pitchfork back then was too snobby to review a Britney album. They did the same with Xtina's Back to Basics. They reviewed Justin's Future*** though, I guess a man is easier to take seriously.

[Justin Woodpond]

32 minutes ago, Lemon said:

Yep that one. It is a review of the album, but presented as a column. Pitchfork back then was too snobby to review a Britney album. They did the same with Xtina's Back to Basics. They reviewed Justin's Future*** though, I guess a man is easier to take seriously.

They are soo snobby. Pitchfork is mainly made up of white middle age men from Seattle, but, oddly the love Taylor Swift. I guess she’s seen more as a singer-songwriter than a glorified pop star.

The review article is interesting, and although overall extremely positive towards Blackout, it’s written with a certain snideness and feels almost unfinished.

[Justin Woodpond]

An off topic question about Blackout…

Why does “Why Should I Be Sad” get so much hate/negativity?

[mythology]

Beyonce could nevah

[mythology]

1 hour ago, Justin Woodpond said:

An off topic question about Blackout…

Why does “Why Should I Be Sad” get so much hate/negativity?

Because its slow and feels out of place with the rest of the tracklist.  This is the only song I consider filler in the whole album, but its an OK track.

[Cheshire-B]

On 10/29/2021 at 7:12 AM, Justin Woodpond said:

It’s a music criticism, history and philosophy series, in which all covers follow a very similar design since 2003. There’s no changing that to appease Britney fans. Even it’s geeky name (331/3) which refers to the rotation speed of a vinyl LP, 33 + 1⁄3 RPM, remains the same.

I guess the cover is a subjective thing. I don’t mind it atlas long as the content is stellar.

What kind of cover did you have to in mind anyway?

Oh I get the thing "same cover for all the book in the serie" it's actually very cool but they could have update it since 2003. 

Honestly when they announced the book I had in mind something simple like the full album cover on the book cover. Maybe reworking the background so it fits the shape of the book. 

But even as a design for a serie of books, which needs to work for every other artist/subject they write about, I think they could do something better. I think it looks empty right now, the red part. The same cover but with Britney's picture cut out and placed in the center, maybe even in b&w would have been prettier imo.