On November 29, 2006, Britney Spears went to CVS in Malibu, California. What seemed like a typical paparazzi photo session for Ms. Spears, who was fresh off the announcment of her divorce with Kevin Federline, turned out to be the biggest clue towards what would appear on her much anticipated post-breakup album. As Britney was exiting her car and heading into the pharmacy to pick up her groceries, she was holding the holy grail of Britney recordings: a jive acetate CD-R labelled "Songs as of 11/14/06 - Not Final" It wasn't until later that Britney fans were able to use CSI technology to enhance the photographs and decode the tracklisting, revealing the titles of Blackout recording session demos (some of which still remain unreleased). Now, let's take a look back at the songs that Britney held in her hands that night, likely not realising the huge impact that the collection would have on music.
Check out all of the information compiled about this legendary set of demo recordings, in Part One in a series of ONTD Originals dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Blackout!
01. "Gimme More" (Danja)Status: Leaked August 30, 2007 (Final Version)
The first track on the album would eventually become the first track to be released, and also served as the opener for Blackout. Although it seemed incredibly fresh in late August 2007 when it leaked, Britney had actually cut the vocals over a year prior to the release, recording when she was seven months pregnant with her second heir, Jayden. Britney's demo version of the song has never surfaced, but there is a fanmade remix featuring T.I.'s verses from his single "Bring 'Em Out" that is often (incorrectly) believed to be an official release.
02. "Pull Out" (Sean Garrett & Lil Jon)
Status: Leaked October 17, 2007
This is one of the tracks that was left on the cutting room floor during the 2006 Blackout recording sessions, but was clearly up for consideration given it's spot on this official Jive Records branded sampler. There isn't much to say about the song, it's repetative and the vocals are weak.
03. "Break The Ice" (Danja)
Status: Leaked September 3, 2007
Break the Ice was clearly a hit, even in demo form. It has gone on to become a track that is highly celebrated by Britney fans, and a highlight performance in her Las Vegas residency show. The demo version that was first recorded featured less experimentation, and the instrumental post-bridge featured less effects and didn't have any cat meows. An even rougher version of the eventual single was leaked a few years later, which features a spoken word intro by Britney about eating ice.
04. "Outta This World" (Danja)
Status: Leaked October 5, 2007
Outta This World is probably the highlight of Keri Hilson's career: a spoken word intro to a Britney Spears demo that was removed from the final release. The song is cute, but nothing extrordinary and certainly not on the same level as other Britney ballads. Once Britney recorded more songs and the album direction started to become clear, it's easy to see why this cut didn't quite fit on the final tracklist (it got the "Target Bonus Track" treatment)
05. "Get Back" (Danja)
Status: Leaked October 5, 2007
Track #5, Get Back, was a name that Britney fans were aware of long before the actual album leaked. When shooting the Gimme More video in July 2007, many media outlets reported that the song getting the visual treatment was called "Get Back" (TMZ, The Daily Mail). Thus, many fake Britney snippets were dropped on the internet, claiming to be the actual song. One of the more convincing clips lasted 25 seconds and featured the "video game" sounds that were rumoured to be part of the official track.
However, when the full song leaked in early October, the clip was proven to be a scam. Instead we got something much better. However, once a front runner for the lead single, the song was eventually demoted to "Japanese Bonus Track"
06. "Ooh Ooh Baby" (Fredrick & Kara DioGuardi)
Status: Leaked October 5, 2007
Before judging American Idol, Kara DioGaurdi had an even better job: working with THE American Idol, Britney Jean Spears. The original demo is quite similar to the version included on the final album, with cleaner production and less of Kara's background vocals.
Kara talked about the recording process with Access Hollywood, shortly before the album was released.
07. "Catch Me If U Can" (Danja)
Status: Britney Version Unleaked
This is one of the 3 1/2 songs that has yet to leak, keeping Britney fans on the edge of their seat for the past ten years. However, it is possible that the song on this demo CD eventually became the 2008 single from M. Pokora. Interestingly enough, the version on Porkara's 2008 album MP3 doesn't credit Danja anywhere in the liner notes, and instead lists the producer as Timbaland, further fueling popular ghostproducer rumours.
08. "Kiss Me All Over" (Sean Garrett)
Status: Leaked September 15, 2007
One of the fan favourite demo recordings that didn't make the final cut, the full version of Kiss You All Over features guest vocals from producer Sean Garrett.
However, it is not likely that the song was intended to feature his vocals at all. Instead, it has been rumoured that Britney never finished recording her vocals for this track, and the alternate leaked version of the song with out the producer was as far as the recording process went. There are instrumental breaks and background vocals randomly placed all over the Britney solo version, which helps explain why this fantastic record didn't make the final cut.
09. "Everybody" (J.R.)
Status: Leaked September 3, 2007
Although this track was on the November 2006 demo cd, it's existence was mentioned much earlier. In a May 2006 profile of J.R. Rotem for the now defunct calendarlive.com, Everybody was described as a club banger "that borrows liberally from an '80s mega hit in much the same way "SOS" is structured around a recognizable chunk of Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" — Spears croons about carnal desire and dance floor bump 'n' grind in a breathy lower register." As it turned out, that mega hit was Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by the Eurythmics.
However, sometime within the year and a half between the recording of Everybody and the release of the final album, Everybody was also recorded by the Disney girl group, The Cheetah Girls. But, Britney took back the track (very Haley Duff vs. Paris Hilton of her) and threw added it to the Japanese edition of Blackout as the final bonus track. In 2010 the Cheetah Girls version leaked online, which you can listen to below.
10. "Get Naked" (Danja)
Leaked: October 6, 2007
This Britney classic, which ended up on the album, remains very similar to what was eventually released. One difference: the explicit "crazy as a motherfucker" lyric remains uncensored in the demo.
11. "State Of Grace" (Lisa Greene & Steve Anderson)
Status: Leaked August 17, 2007
Although State of Grace has become known as one of the the signature unreleased Britney Spears ballads, writer Lisa Greene said that it just "wasn't meant to be" even though "Britney sounded great on it." This makes sense, given the eventual direction that Blackout went in
Fans can now hear the final version of the song, with a twist. French artist Christophe Willem recorded his own version in his native language, titled "Entre nous et le sol" (which was released as a single in 2009) that you can listen to below:
12. "911" (J.R. & Kara DioGuardi)
Status: Leaked October 7, 2011
This track avoided the massive Blackout leaks in 2007, but eventually surfaced 4 years later in another large Britney leak (Britmas 2011!). The eventual leak of this Blackout era classic gives all fans hope that another Britmas could be around the corner, with more unreleased goodies from 11/14/06 demos!
13. "Crucified" (J.R. & Kara DioGuardi)
Status: Unleaked
This one hasn't leaked yet, and it's become one of the most wanted Britney tracks by her fans.
14. "To Love, Let Go" (Devo Springsteen: Track, Britney: Lyrics)
Status: Leaked October 6, 2007
Although in producer Devo Springsteen was telling people to check out Britney's new album in a 2007 interview, none of his tracks made the final cut. Instead, his songs remained unreleased until the eventual leaks during the Blackout era. His ballad "To Love, Let Go," which ultimately didn't fit the Blackout sound, is still viewed by fans as one of the better Britney unreleased records.
15. "No Title" (Devo Springsteen: Track, Britney: Lyrics) [Untitled Lullabye]
Status: Leaked August 23, 2007
One of the first leaked tracks from the Blackout sessions, Untitled Lullabye had many Britney fans worried that the new album was going to be bad. However, with the release of Gimme More a week later, fans were able to rest easy. The dark ballad would not have fit well on the final tracklist, but fans are happy we got a chance to hear a more personal side of Britney during this guarded phase of her life.
16. "The Face" (J.R. & Britney Collaboration)
Status: Unleaked
Another unleaked track with very little information surrounding it.
17. "Rebellion" (Scott Storch: Track, Britney: Lyrics)
Status: Incomplete Version Leaked, Final Version Unleaked
The final track in the collection seems to be the one that is most likely to keep fans up at night. Ever since she posted a clip of the song on her official website in 2006, the Britney Army has been praying for the final version to leak. Instead we have a looped version of the song, made from the clip. There has been a lot of folklore surrounding Rebellion, such as a song writer being murdered to keep the song under lock & key, or Jive destroying every copy of Rebellion. For now, it still remains unheard by the general public.
BONUS FACTS
- When the songs leaked, many were labelled with incorrect titles due to the person leaking the songs not having a tracklist. For example, Break the Ice was called "Been A While", "Ooh Ooh" Baby was called "Fillin' Me Up" and Get Naked was called "We Can Do It." Many fans believed that these titles were original working titles, but the tracklist that is provided on the 2006 Demo CD show that the titles that made the album were always what the songs were refferred to as.---
- Britney was actually filmed listening to the CD in her car on January 5, 2007, on her way to Shutters on the Beach hotel. In the video below the tracks "State of Grace" , "To Love, Let Go" "Untitled Lullaby" and "Rebellion" can be heard as she flips through the tracks on the later part of the CD while sitting at a red light. Once she arrived at the hotel, she took a handful on unlabelled discs with her in order to avoid the tracks being stolen from her drop top.
Stay tuned for Part 2: Album Promotion, coming soon as a part of the Blackout X ONTD Original celebration!
Photo Source
Sources (by Track #): 1)12)13)1, 24)15)1, 26)1, 27)1 8) 1, 2 9) 1, 210)111)1, 212) 113) N/A 14) 1 15) 1 16) N/A 17) 1
Bonus Fact Video Source
Additional Source: Me, Britney Spears historian
What are your fave unreleased Britney songs, ONTD? What would you like to see in a future Blackout X post?