LP Review | Britney Spears - In The Zone

Britney Spears

In The Zone

Jive Records

Release date: November 14, 2003

By Shawal Ras
Follow @shawalras

Late 2003, pop princess (and future queen), Britney Spears, released her fourth album, In The Zone. The album, regarded as her sexual awakening primer and the complete transformation into adulthood, sees Spears leaving her pop roots and venturing into a more urban niche with her music experimentation.

At the age of 14, thanks to the naked-and-covered-in-diamond image of Spears in ‘Toxic’, I bought my very first CD. Oh yes, I still remember how I dragged my daddy to take me to the city just so I could buy this record. Sure, the first single, ‘Me Against the Music’, didn’t do any justice to the album, but the follow up single, ‘Toxic’, eventually got me interested to dive into Britney's fandom.

For me, In The Zone is the most underrated record released by Ms. Spears (well, apart from Blackout). The album discusses few themes, including love, hopelessness, sex and masturbation, and musically, this is probably Spears’ most diverse album to date: from reggae to hip hop to oriental-influenced sonic, In The Zone marks as her best album to date. To tell you the truth, the 90’s version of Britney is too much pop for my liking.

Some of my favourite tracks in this LP are including ‘Toxic’, ‘Early Mornin’, ‘Touch Of My Hand’, ‘The Hook Up’ and ‘Everytime’. Even the remix version of ‘Me Against the Music’ is wayyyy better than the original! But the crème de la crème of this album is the fourth track, ‘Breathe On Me’, which is still my favourite Britney’s song to date (and it will forever inscribed on my iPhone – it’s a must have!). The way she oozes sex appeal and constant moan make me sweating and kinda horny.

This year marks In The Zone’s 10th anniversary and I do hope Britney will venture into this area again soon. She sounds uber confident in this, and despite what the critics are saying about her “distant” vocal, I’m digging this one better than the twang she did in ‘… Baby One More Time’ or the EDM-based songs she recorded for both Femme Fatale and Britney Jean.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.