Background
"Once and I were in the studio, he played me the music he was working on for, and we then based the song on what her life was like at the time and how people viewed her. It was a cool way to get people dancing and having fun, but also to have a slight message underneath of it all."
Producer Claude Kelly talks about the development, content and concept of the record.During the summer of 2008, it was confirmed that Spears was in the process of recording her sixth studio album. With the album's announcement 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 chose to write much of the material for 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 album's initial lack of concept saying, "When I went in with we knew we were going to maybe write something for, but there was no concept, it was just knowing her style and knowing what she does. Max Martin, who produced Britney's first hit "...Baby One More Time", produced "If U Seek Amy" for the album. The Outsyders, an Atlanta-based production team, produced the album's first single, while Fernando Garibay worked on two bonus songs for Spears. Danja reported that he worked on the tracks at Chalice Recording Studios in Los Angeles, and Spears recorded them at Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank; the Canadian trio Let's Go to War co-wrote and produced the track "Mmm Papi". Lil Jon, Rodney Jerkins, Sean Garrett, and Taio Cruz, announced they were working with Spears, though their tracks are not included on the official track listing.
Spears commented of the album's title, "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." The album shared a release date with the similarly-titled album The Circus by British group Take That. Circus was initially scheduled to be released worldwide on December 2, 2008, on Spears's 27th birthday. However, after unauthorized online leaks, imeem began streaming the album from their website on November 25.
Read more about this topic: Circus (Britney Spears Album)
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“They were more than hostile. In the first place, I was a south Georgian and I was looked upon as a fiscal conservative, and the Atlanta newspapers quite erroneously, because they didn’t know anything about me or my background here in Plains, decided that I was also a racial conservative.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)