In 2008, Britney was supposed to re-release Blackout instead of releasing a new album (Circus). What do you think of this idea and how should they have implemented it?

[FemmeFataleBrit]

Was she gonna release more singles? More music videos? More promotional performances? Maybe a tour?

I really want to know what the Blackout re-release would’ve looked like. Maybe they would’ve added more tracks (that remain unreleased today)!

Also, are you glad she did Circus instead? Was it good that she moved on from Blackout the next year?

[bitbitboi]

I never heard that before, source?

[blackingouthenegativity]

The Pre-Fame Monster standard was doing something like Rihanna did with GGGB, where she rih-released it with 3 new tracks.

IIRC, there is, or at least used to be, some sort of rule that dictates that more than 3 new songs would be a new album, but just 3 songs would make it be counted with the sales of the standard release. 

I wonder if she was originally planning to add unreleased tracks from the Blackout sessions or if the Circus tracks were born from recording for a rerelease. 

But yes, I do remember hearing rumors back in the day that Blackout was supposed to be re-released. 

[Jamie Lynn Forever]

Circus has so many fillers and forgettable songs imo, apart from like 5 or 6 tracks. 

I think a Blackout re-release could have been interesting, but i understand why they didn't continue , the music was good, but it's such a bittersweet album, probably full of memories for Brit. 

[SamanthaJadeFanGroup]

That would make sense since "Radar" was contracted to be a single and also it may have helped "Blackout" to go to #1 and not break her strike of #1 albums.

[rik]

I heard this too. I hear Mannequin was recorded the day of the 2007 VMAs although not sure how accurate this is. I’d assume she technically never took that big of a gap between 2007 and 2008 for recording, both pre and post conservatorship. She has good work ethic naturally and ofc her team forced her to record by 08. 
 

the rihanna good girl gone bad: reloaded concept is a good point. This format of re releasing an album was garnering popularity around this time. I’m sure they (the label and her team) wanted to move on from the era though. Britney also likely didn’t want to promote it any further after being forced on stage at the VMAs, and being harassed essentially into losing custody of her children. That isn’t to say she really wanted to move onto Circus, or that it was organically produced within a years time.

anyway, I doubt Britney herself was actually interested in another release of the album. I’m sure the idea of a re release was also scrapped for damage control reasons given the association of the era and her image at the time. She’s an album artist and the 10 year  anniversary of baby coincided with the Circus era not just by chance. They wanted an image “revamp” and return to the “prime” days (all while punishing her anytime she acted as she did during those days). It’s sick really.

[MonaLisasDoll]

I feel like they should’ve done the re release anyway and then use it as hype for Circus 

I actually had a whole concept for the rerelease era that would lead into Circus release in early 2009 but yeah i think that overall a whole new era was definitely beneficial for Britney but i still think re releasing Blackout and finishing off the era in summer 2008 with Radar. 
 

56 minutes ago, Rik said:

I heard this too. I hear Mannequin was recorded the day of the 2007 VMAs although not sure how accurate this is. I’d assume she technically never took that big of a gap between 2007 and 2008 for recording, both pre and post conservatorship. She has good work ethic naturally and ofc her team forced her to record by 08. 
 

 

Hmmm I’ve never heard that. I thought there was like a solid 3 month break in like spring of 2008 where she wasn’t doing much cuz she was literally in metaphorical but also literally prison (hence when Neyde was born lmao) I had always thought or heard that actual work of the album started in the summer which is why the album sounds kind of unfinished (because it literally is ; and it was rushed) 

 

[SJK]

Been a fan since day one. We’ve heard that some tracks from circus were penned for blackout but never heard of a re-release. 🤔

[e_ffen]

1 hour ago, MonaLisasDoll said:

I feel like they should’ve done the re release anyway and then use it as hype for Circus.

 

This is what I always wanted! They could have re-released Blackout on its first anniversary; 3 new tracks, a few remixes and a new cover. Release Radar as the final single with a animated video to finish off the Break the Ice storyline. Little to no promo, and then go big for Circus.

[studlygeorge]

The story was the re-release was meant to feature new tracks, remixes to those existing on the album, and a documentary about the recording of the album. I can’t necessarily provide a source, but this has been the consistent story for years that I’ve heard as a fan. As a matter of fact, someone recently suggested that the 2013 Danja remix of Hot as Ice might have been for the 2008 release, but that’s purely speculative.

Her team wanted to move on from the album as it was so closely associated with her “meltdown image”. Some say Kill the Lights, Blur, and Mannequin were some of the “new tracks” for the album. I also heard they wanted to release Pull Out, Hooked On, and other tracks that were apart of the original Blackout leak that didn’t make it onto the final album. Again, just rumors.

[femmefataledoll]

Yeah this was the rumour at the time but I think they made the right decision to go ahead with the Circus era instead. Blackout was unfortunately too associated with everything that had happened :( 

[jonloch1]

I heard that ages ago too.. im sure i heard as well Kill The Lights and Mannequin i think was meant to be on Blackout

TBH i think it was the right decision to release a whole new album as suppose to a re released. Like @femmefataledoll said. Blackout was too associated with her breakdown in 2007 and i remember she did minimum promo for Blackout but she did a radio interview for it and it was obvious in her voice she still wasnt well and she was behaving funny, i remember it was clear she was in a room with people and she was laughing at them and not really paying attention to the interviewer, and the interviewer asked her about if she was doing more promo and a guy went 'this is it' and she and people around her laughed. i found the interview on youtube and you can tell shes not in a good place. Having said that, im re listening to the interview and my jaw just dropped, i cant believe Ryan Seacreast asked about her kids and how much she was going to see them! How disgusting he even asked her that!   whereas on the Circus era, she looked and sounded in a better place than she did then. so maybe she just wanted a new clean slate in 2008 and release a brand new album as oppose to re release an album that she released when she was obviously still not well

 

[overprotected_leo]

Source? Reported 

Hahaha I think that wasn't the case, cuz they for sure didn't want a dark theme album for the big comeback 

[samwoods321]

I always think of that as one era anyway kinda like the bomt/oops era re charged 

[blackingouthenegativity]

54 minutes ago, jonloch1 said:

I heard that ages ago too.. im sure i heard as well Kill The Lights and Mannequin i think was meant to be on Blackout

TBH i think it was the right decision to release a whole new album as suppose to a re released. Like @femmefataledoll said. Blackout was too associated with her breakdown in 2007 and i remember she did minimum prodmo for Blackout but she did a radio interview for it and it was obvious in her voice and she was behaving funny, i remember it was clear she was in a room with people and she was laughing at them and not really paying attention to the interviewer, and the interviewer asked her about if she was doing more promo and a guy went 'this is it' and she and people around her laughed. i found the interview on youtube and you can tell shes not in a good place. Having said that, im re listening to the interview and my jaw just dropped, i cant believe Ryan Seacreast asked about her kids and how much she was going to see them! How disgusting he even asked her that!   whereas on the Circus era, she looked and sounded in a better place than she did then. so maybe she just wanted a new clean slate in 2008 and release a brand new album as oppose to re release an album that she released when she was obviously still not well

 

See what annoys me about this interview is that Sam Lutfi clearly woke Britney up and blindsided her with the interview. She was not prepared for it at all and there obviously was no negotiating done beforehand as Ryan Seacrest was a total **** and asked her tough questions just minutes after she woke up.

[ZoneGirl]

I remember speculation about a Blackout re-release, but I don't know that that was ever confirmed beyond being a rumor. 

14 hours ago, Rik said:

anyway, I doubt Britney herself was actually interested in another release of the album. I’m sure the idea of a re release was also scrapped for damage control reasons given the association of the era and her image at the time. She’s an album artist and the 10 year  anniversary of baby coincided with the Circus era not just by chance. They wanted an image “revamp” and return to the “prime” days (all while punishing her anytime she acted as she did during those days). It’s sick really.

I think this is probably a pretty accurate assessment.

[jonloch1]

15 minutes ago, blackingouthenegativity said:

See what annoys me about this interview is that Sam Lutfi clearly woke Britney up and blindsided her with the interview. She was not prepared for it at all and there obviously was no negotiating done beforehand as Ryan Seacrest was a total **** and asked her tough questions just minutes after she woke up.

does anyone know what time it was where Britney was? was it really late at night or early in the morning?? TBH I always thought it was because she was so drugged up on her meds at that time she didnt even know what the hell she was doing most of the time 

[BoyDeChanel]

1 hour ago, Leodance said:

Source? Reported 

Hahaha I think that wasn't the case, cuz they for sure didn't want a dark theme album for the big comeback 

 

15 hours ago, bitbitboi said:

I never heard that before, source?

"Blackout" was to be re-published on June 17, 2008 with new material, taking advantage of the promotion of "Radar". The Spanish website ProMusic (which is related to many record labels) declared on December 24, 2007: "A special edition of the last acclaimed album of Britney Spears, 'Blackout' will be released! It will include the original album, plus 4 new tracks, remixes and a DVD on the production of the project. It will be released on June 17, 2008."
The site said later (January 9, 2008) that the re-release of "Blackout" has been postponed to October 28, 2008. The producer Dallas Austin said in a chatroom (June 2008) that "Blackout" was about to be released before Britney's sixth album, but plans for this were skipped beacuse Britney's team decided to begin to focus on a brand newproject all over again in order to end permanently the "Blackout" era due to too much negativity.

[THE BAJAN VIBE]

It was a marketing thing. Blackout was linked with a dark era/image. Her team wanted to 'clean' everything so they could bring a clean image for her, to make a comeback. Machine went ON. I mean, the money machine.

[BoyDeChanel]

16 hours ago, blackingouthenegativity said:

The Pre-Fame Monster standard was doing something like Rihanna did with GGGB, where she rih-released it with 3 new tracks.

IIRC, there is, or at least used to be, some sort of rule that dictates that more than 3 new songs would be a new album, but just 3 songs would make it be counted with the sales of the standard release. 

I wonder if she was originally planning to add unreleased tracks from the Blackout sessions or if the Circus tracks were born from recording for a rerelease. 

But yes, I do remember hearing rumors back in the day that Blackout was supposed to be re-released. 

I agree about Good Girl Gone Bad being a standard for re-releases at the time, but Blackout was supposed to have 4 new tracks + remixes.

Possible contenders were probably:

- Out from Under (demo by Joana Paciti was released in late 2007 on a Bratz OST, songwriter confirmed the demo was always meant for Britney)

- Mad Love (songwriter confirmed it was recorded in 2006 and considered for Circus)

- Kill the Lights

- Blur

- Trouble (shares same songwrites with Radar)

- Phonography (shares same songwriters with Radar)

- Womanizer