Circus is the sixth studio album by American singer Britney Spears. It was released to coincide with her 27th birthday on December 2, 2008, by Jive Records. Transitioning from the "darker and more urban" themes of her fifth studio album Blackout (2007), Spears wanted to make her next project "a little bit lighter". She recorded much of the album between March and September 2008, after being involuntarily placed under a conservatorship earlier that year, following her highly publicized personal struggles in 2007. As executive producers, Larry Rudolph and Teresa LaBarbera Whites enlisted Spears' previous collaborators such as Max Martin, Bloodshy & Avant, Guy Sigsworth and Danja, as well as new ones, including Dr. Luke, Benny Blanco and Claude Kelly. Their efforts resulted in a primarily pop and dance record, whose lyrical themes addressed fame, infidelity, and infatuation.
Deemed Spears' comeback record, Circus received generally favorable reviews from music critics upon its release; the production was complimented but lyrical content and Spears' vocal performance were met with ambivalence. A global commercial success, the album debuted atop the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 505,000 copies, becoming her fifth number-one album. Since then, it has been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). By 2009, the album had sold over four million copies worldwide. At the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, its lead single "Womanizer" was nominated for Best Dance Recording.
Circus produced four singles. "Womanizer" debuted at number 96 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and ascended to the top spot in its second week, registering the largest leap on the chart at the time. It became Spears' best-selling single in the country since her debut "...Baby One More Time" (1998). "Circus" debuted and peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100; consequently, Circus became Spears' first album since her debut ...Baby One More Time (1999) to have two top-ten singles. Subsequent singles "If U Seek Amy" and "Radar" peaked at numbers 19 and 88 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. To further promote the album, Spears embarked on the world tour The Circus Starring Britney Spears (2009).
Background and development Throughout 2007, Spears' professional endeavors were tremendously overshadowed by her personal struggles, including the aftermath of her vigorous partying and suffering from a nervous breakdown, during which she shaved her head to intense media scrutiny. Despite the difficulties, Spears released her fifth studio album Blackout–considered her best and most influential work by numerous critics–in October. However, it became her first studio album not to debut atop the US Billboard 200–debuting at number two–but nevertheless produced "Gimme More", Spears' first Billboard Hot 100 top-three hit since her debut "...Baby One More Time" (1998). Upon its release, Spears' publicized behavior began clashing with her image; Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said the album served as a soundtrack "for Britney's hazy, drunken days, reflecting the excess that's splashed all over the tabloids", while noting that the album had a coherence that the public Spears lacked.
In January 2008, Spears refused to relinquish custody of her sons to her ex-husband Kevin Federline's representatives. She was subsequently hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after police that had arrived at her house noted she appeared to be under the influence of an unidentified substance. The following day, Spears's visitation rights were suspended at an emergency court hearing, and Federline was given sole physical and legal custody of their sons. She was committed to the psychiatric ward of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and put on 5150 involuntary psychiatric hold under California state law. The court placed her under a conservatorship led by her father Jamie Spears and attorney Andrew Wallet, giving them complete control of her assets. She was released five days later, while the conservatorship would not be terminated until November 2021, following Spears' highly publicized battle against her father and others involved in the conservatorship. Soon after being placed under the conservatorship, work on Spears' sixth studio album commenced. Consequently, the release of "Radar" as the fourth single from Blackout was canceled so Spears could focus on Circus.
Recording and production
In July 2008, it was confirmed that Spears was in the process of recording her sixth studio album. "Radar" was originally included on Spears' fifth studio album Blackout (2007), and was recorded on November 8, 2006, the day after Spears filed for divorce from Kevin Federline, at the Sony Music Studios in New York City. Alongside the announcement of Circus came the additional confirmation of the involvement of producers Sean Garrett, Guy Sigsworth, Danja and Bloodshy & Avant. During its development, Garrett and vocal producer Jim Beanz complimented Spears's work ethic after her much-publicized personal struggles the previous year. Spears co-wrote four tracks on the album and worked to develop a more pop-influenced record with collaborators she had worked with earlier in her career. She stated that Circus marked the longest time she had spent recording an album, adding: "I think it is more urban [...] I'm writing every day, right here at the piano in this living room" and also described the album as her best work to date.
Producer Claude Kelly discussed the initial lack of concept for Circus, saying: "When I went in with [Dr. Luke] we knew we were going to maybe write something for [Britney], but there was no concept, it was just knowing her style and knowing what she does. Max Martin, who frequently collaborated with Spears on her first three studio albums ...Baby One More Time (1999), Oops!... I Did It Again (2000) and Britney (2001), wrote and produced "If U Seek Amy". The Outsyders, an Atlanta-based production team, produced the lead single "Womanizer", while Fernando Garibay worked on "Amnesia" and "Quicksand", neither of which made the standard edition track listing. Danja reported that he worked on tracks at the Chalice Recording Studios in Los Angeles, while Spears recorded them at the Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California. Canadian trio Let's Go to War co-wrote and produced the track "Mmm Papi". Guy Sigsworth, with whom Spears had previously collaborated with for her single "Everytime", produced two songs on the album: the ballads "My Baby" and "Out from Under", the latter of which is a cover song first performed by Joanna Pacitti for the soundtrack to the 2007 film Bratz. Lil Jon, Rodney Jerkins, Sean Garrett, and Taio Cruz announced they were working with Spears, though their songs were not included on the final track listing.
Music and lyrics
Circus is predominantly a pop and dance record, described as a sequel to Spears' fifth studio album Blackout (2007). Spears described the album as "lighter" than the urban-oriented Blackout. The album has been compared to the works of Janet Jackson, Eurythmics, and New Order, as well as the songwriting of Prince, Leiber & Stoller and Phil Spector. It incorporates lyrical themes previously acknowledged in Spears' work: "Circus" and "Kill the Lights" discuss fame, much like "Piece of Me" (2007), while "Womanizer" and "Shattered Glass" talk about a womanizing man. Circus opens with its lead single "Womanizer", which features synth sirens with a repetitive chorus, and lyrically discusses a cheating man; it was described by Spears as a "girl anthem". "Circus" addresses her feelings as an entertainer and performing, highlighted in the lines "All eyes on me in the centre of the ring just like a circus / When I crack that whip everybody gonna trip just like a circus". Its electronic dance elements were compared by PopJustice to those of Spears' earlier single "Break the Ice" (2008). The ballad "Out from Under" incorporates acoustic guitar backings, while "Kill the Lights" is a dance-pop track speaking about Spears's conflict with paparazzi. "Shattered Glass" utilizes dark electronic beats and details a non-repairable relationship. "If U Seek Amy" integrates "glam-rave" elements with traditional pop styles; it gained controversy for its double entendre, where the title sounds phonetically like "F-U-C-K me".
The electropop track "Unusual You" deals with a woman finding unexpected love. It has been compared to musical themes from the 1980s and 1990s, and has been noted as a "pulsating ballad", with the song also drawing comparisons to the "shimmering waterfall mood first popularized by Janet Jackson". "Blur", which features Spears singing in a lower register, sees the inclusion of urban influences, and lyrically recalls the morning after a party: "Can't remember what I did last night/I gotta get my head right, where the hell am I? Who are you? What'd we do last night?"; it drew similarities to Spears' song "Early Mornin" from In the Zone (2003). "Mmm Papi" draws elements from a 1960s go-go rock guitar, as well as Latin pop and dancehall themes. Despite its "fun" nature, it was criticized for appearing to "revisit the Lolita persona of "...Baby One More Time". It has been suggested that its lyrics deal with either Spears' father Jamie or paparazzo and Spears' ex-boyfriend Adnan Ghalib. "Mannequin" is a trip hop-influenced dance-pop track; while being noted for its "risky" and "futuristic" nature, it has also been suggested that Spears' vocals sound "lifeless". "Lace and Leather" is an electro-funk track which gained comparisons to "Control era Janet Jackson", Prince, and Vanity 6's works from the 1980s, and featured a then-unknown Kesha as a backing vocalist. "My Baby", described as having a "faux-Janet Jackson vocal", was written by Spears about her two sons Sean Preston and Jayden James Federline. Circus closes with its bonus track "Radar", an electropop and Eurodisco song featuring distorted synthesizers emulating sonar pulses, which received comparisons to those of Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" (1981). In its lyrics, Spears lets the subject know he is on her radar, while she lists the qualities the man has.
Title and packaging Spears commented on the title of Circus: "I like the fact that you're always on the edge of your seat when you're at a circus. You're never bored [...] You're just really engulfed in what's going on around you. And you want to know what's going to happen next." Spears also revealed she titled the album Circus due to her life being "a circus" at the time. The album's cover artwork and booklet images were photographed by Kate Turning and feature Spears in circus-styled settings. Spears revealed the album's cover alongside its track listing via her official website on October 31, 2008.
Release and promotion
In September 2008, it was announced Circus would be released on December 2, Spears' 27th birthday; it shared its release date with the similarly titled album The Circus by British group Take That. However, following unauthorized online leaks, imeem began streaming Circus on November 24. To promote the album, Jive Records set up a hotline where fans could leave a message for Spears, some of which received a return phone call from her. Some songs were previewed through the website of the New York radio station WKTU and Amazon. MTV aired a 90-minute documentary Britney: For the Record on November 30, documenting her return. In February 2009, Jive's official website held the "Global Fan-Fiction Contest", which required participants to submit a 200-word story based on one of the album's tracks. The public was allowed to vote for their favorite short story, which would be produced into an animated music video. The winning story was based on the song "Kill the Lights", and the video premiered on July 27.