Blackout 33 1/3 AMA (ask me anything) with author Natasha Lasky

[NatashaL]

Hi! I'm Natasha Lasky, and I just wrote a book about Blackout for Bloomsbury's 33 1/3 series, putting it in conversation with the rest of Britney's career, the context of the time, and the trajectory of pop music and fan culture more broadly.

Would love to answer any questions about the book and talk about all things Britney/the pop bible.

I'll come back on Wednesday and respond to your questions! 
 

 

[Jordan Miller]

Feel free to ask your questions, Exhale! I chatted with Natasha for this book (and am included in it ). She has a ton of knowledge. Excited to see how this goes. 

[PokemonSpears]

[Kletus]

WHY DIDN'T SHE INCLUDE SUGARFALL?

[blackingouthenegativity]

WHERE IS THE ORIGINAL GIMME MORE VIDEO?

[KrisJ]

What’s your favourite song off the album and why is it “Break the ice”? 

[jordeezy river red]

Is "Rebellion" discussed in the book? If so, were you able to discuss this track with anyone involved in the creation?

[gar]

Piece of Me lyrics - any input from Her?

[DignifiedLove]

In my OPINION — Blackout is overrated, dated af and sounds like the offspring of what Justin Timberlake, Paris Hilton and Nelly Furtado were doing in 2006. The only timeless tracks are the singles and that’s about it considering over half of the album sounds rushed and/or one-dimensional. Freakshow, Get Back and Perfect Lover are cute, but other than that — too many disposable tracks! And it’s not that it’s a bad album but a lot of it is almost unlistenable in 2022. Oops!… I Did It Again, Britney and In the Zone are MILES better but it isn’t politically correct to say so, at least not yet.  Also, so many demos/unreleased tracks that had potential to make Blackout a near-to-perfect pop album were cut. Kiss You All Over, Let Go, Untitled Lullaby, Sugarfall, All That She Wants, Dramatic and many others. Blackout deserved to be raw and vulnerable but instead, we got nothing but a lot of meaningless s**-pop with overprocessed vocals and robotic productions. And unless you listen to the likes of Charli XCX, Slayyyter and Kim Petras, no one is citing the album as an influence.

[sodapopbritney]

9 minutes ago, Joshyworld said:

Blackout is overrated, dated af and sounds like the offspring of what Justin Timberlake, Paris Hilton and Nelly Furtado were doing in 2006. The only timeless tracks are the singles and that’s about it considering that half of the album sounds rushed and/or one-dimensional. It’s not that it’s a bad album but a lot of it is almost unlistenable in 2022. Oops!… I Did It Again, Britney and In the Zone are MILES better but it isn’t politically correct to say so.  Also, so many demos/unreleased that had potential to make Blackout a near-to-perfect pop album were cut. Kiss You All Over, Let Go, Untitled Lullaby, Sugarfall, All That She Wants, Dramatic and many others. Blackout deserved to be raw and vulnerable but instead, we got nothing but a lot of meaningless s**-pop and overprocessed vocals with robotic sounds. And unless you listen to the likes of Charli XCX, Slayyyter and Kim Petras, no one is citing the album as an influence.

I agree more unreleased songs should’ve made it, but blackout deserved all the credit it gets and more even just for bringing dubstep to mainstream pop. No one else was doing it and a couple years later it was everywhere 

[blackingouthenegativity]

18 minutes ago, gar said:

Piece of Me lyrics - any input from Her?

Same with Why Should I Be Sad... it says written by Pharrell, but it seems to be about an ex who might have mooched off of Britney

[outtathis]

Was there any song that Britney really wanted to put on the album but in the end was left out? What was the reason?

[rik]

1. Did britney ever acknowledge the original doll concept during the recording sessions of Blackout?

2. Was Sippin On actually proposed and recorded by Britney for both In the Zone and Blackout? 
 

3. Were there any songs Britney didn’t want on the record? 

4. Are the original and unreleased Blackout recordings with Notes explored at all in the book?

5. Why were the Neptunes only able to produce one track for this album? Were more Neptunes tracks proposed? 
 

6. Whats the deal with the last minute Billboard charts change the week Blackout came out? Was this as strategic as fans suggest?

7. Is there any information or interviews with people working on the M&Ms tour?

8. How did Heidi Montag manage to get her hands on the Dramatic demo?  Is Britney aware of her version of the  leaked recording? 
 

9. Were any features considered for the record at any point during production, and if so who?

10. Will your book get into the 2007 VMAs performance and what went wrong with the rumoured Chris Angel appearance?

11. any information on the original concept for the Gimmie More video?

Thanks so much @NatashaL 

[Bigno]

Hi there, Natasha. Thanks for your time and generosity. How do the alleged Original Doll album and Blackout interweave, if at all? Was there any song that was supposed to be in the OD and was possibly used or served as inspiration for Blackout? Is there any connection, continuation or is it a total break from one sound, vision to the other?

[aoki.loid]

was blackout supposed 2 have it’s own tour 😨

it just overlapped with the circus tour

[MasterMindz]

I preordered it! Cant wait!

Are we ever going to get the second part of the Break The Ice Video? 

[WilderWein]

46 minutes ago, Joshyworld said:

Blackout is overrated, dated af and sounds like the offspring of what Justin Timberlake, Paris Hilton and Nelly Furtado were doing in 2006. The only timeless tracks are the singles and that’s about it considering that half of the album sounds rushed and/or one-dimensional. Freakshow, Get Back and Perfect Lover are cute, but other than that — too many disposable tracks. And it’s not that it’s a bad album but a lot of it is almost unlistenable in 2022. Oops!… I Did It Again, Britney and In the Zone are MILES better but it isn’t politically correct to say so.  Also, so many demos/unreleased tracks that had potential to make Blackout a near-to-perfect pop album were cut. Kiss You All Over, Let Go, Untitled Lullaby, Sugarfall, All That She Wants, Dramatic and many others. Blackout deserved to be raw and vulnerable but instead, we got nothing but a lot of meaningless s**-pop with overprocessed and robotic vocals. And unless you listen to the likes of Charli XCX, Slayyyter and Kim Petras, no one is citing the album as an influence.

what a rude negative uncalled for useless comment on a thread where we are meant to ask questions for those interested. just **** off then. 

[Jordan Miller]

The comments already

I see some sweet comments / questions and one very wrong opinion

[DignifiedLove]

9 minutes ago, WilderWein said:

what a rude negative uncalled for useless comment on a thread where we are meant to ask questions for those interested. just **** off then. 

Be nice. Don’t derail the thread. It’s solely my opinion which we are all allowed to have. I just hope to live for the day where albums like Oops, Britney and ITZ will get the recognition that Blackout has and continues to receives.

[DignifiedLove]

1 minute ago, Jordan Miller said:

The comments already

I see some sweet comments / questions and one very wrong opinion