Trip To Your Heart - Composition

Composition

"I wanted to make a fierce dance record where each song makes you want to get up and move your body in a different way. That’s what I want from the music I listen to. This record is for the clubs, or something you play before you go out at night."

Music writers noted electropop and dance-pop styles on the album. Music journalist Jody Rosen wrote of the album, "Conceptually it's straightforward: a party record packed with sex and sadness". Spears described Femme Fatale on a Twitter chat as "moody, edgy pop with A LOT of energy" with "a few mid-tempos that could be considered ballads". The album was compared to that of Spears' previous albums, In The Zone, Blackout (2007) and Circus. Although Spears was criticized for her lack of involvement from the album's production and writing, she wrote the song "Scary", produced by Fraser T Smith, which is included in the Japanese deluxe edition of the album. The album opens with "Till the World Ends", co-written by Ke$ha, was described as an uptempo dance-pop and electropop song, with an electro beat and elements of trance and Eurodance. The song opens with sirens and a "sizzling" bassline. Critics complimented the songs "anthemic nature" and "chant-like chorus". The second track and lead single "Hold It Against Me" is a dance-pop song which features industrial beats, a dubstep-influenced breakdown and employing elements of grime and a final chorus with elements of rave. The lyrics portray the singer seducing someone on the dancefloor, while the chorus revolves around pick-up lines, with Spears singing, "If I said I want your body now, would you hold it against me?"

Spears was complimented by critics for "stepping into new territory and pushing the boundaries of dance pop once more." The third track "Inside Out" is an electropop song. It features themes of dubstep and R&B, complimented with "earth-shattering synths". The song was praised for its intricate production and has been compared to her earlier work on albums In The Zone (2003) and Circus (2008), and it has been compared to that of Madonna's Ray of Light (1998) and Music (2000). Spears crescendos "Baby shut your mouth and turn me inside" during the chorus section, and then goes on to "Hit me one more time it’s so amazing” and "You're the only one who's ever drove me crazy" referencing her first singles "...Baby One More Time" and "(You Drive Me) Crazy". "I Wanna Go", the fourth track, is a dance-pop and Hi-NRG song, that includes elements of techno and a heavy bassline. The song contains a whistled melody. In the chorus, she stutters "I I I wanna go O O / All the way / Taking out my freak tonight". The "builds and breaks" were compared to her album Blackout.

"How I Roll" is the fifth track, produced by Bloodshy, Henrik Jonback & Magnus, where Spears "pirouettes from a gulping in-and-out breath effect" and described as a "bubbly, playful pop song". Spears' voice is heavily altered, with her voice being put through many distorters, filters, and blenders. The song uses a constant rushed handclaps. The sixth and seventh tracks "Drop Dead (Beautiful) " and "Seal It With A Kiss" were commented as "fillers", However, "Seal It With A Kiss" was complimented as "genuinely exciting" with Williams Hernes of Rolling Stone adding " dropping a dubstep break on "Seal It With A Kiss." I love it when the avant-garde seeps into the mainstream." "Big Fat Bass" is Femme Fatale's eighth track, and while it "sticks to dancefloor essentials", the song was described as an "unfortunate collaboration" with will.i.am. It was noted as being catchy, but repetitive. "Trouble for Me", track number nine, features a pre-chorus filled with "melting, wheezing synths". Spears' voice has been autotuned, but her voice was described as "raw" and the tones and wines as "sexy" and "one of a kind". "Criminal", the last track on the album's stantard edition, is a guitar-driven midtempo song, which incorporates a folk-style flute melody. Erin Thompson of the Seattle Weekly said the song "takes a breather from aggressive, wall-to-wall synths, driven instead by a steady guitar rhythm and an oddly Asian folky-sounding flute melody." In the verses, Spears sings about being in love with a bad boy and outlaw, in lyrics such as "He is a hustler / He's no good at all / He is a loser, he's a bum, bum, bum, bum" and "He is a bad boy with a tainted heart / And even I know this ain't smart". During the chorus, she pleads to her mother not to worry in lines such as "But mama im in love with a criminal" and "Mama please don't cry / I will be alright."