'It's somewhat of a departure from what she's done,' Larry Rudolph says, comparing the album to Madonna's 1998 work.
By Jocelyn Vena, with additional reporting by Jim Cantiello
Britney Spears in her "Hold It Against Me" video
Photo: Jive
On Thursday, "Jersey Shore" star DJ Pauly D told us that Britney Spears' next album, Femme Fatale, is full of "club bangers." Her manager, Larry Rudolph, gave us even more specifics about the album when we spoke to him.
"In my opinion, this is her strongest album ever. It's somewhat of a departure from what she's done. It's more mature," he told MTV News about the March 29 release. "It's more of a dance record and this really is — and I was talking a lot about [director] Jonas [Åkerlund] and coming to Jonas because of 'Ray of Light' — and this really is Britney's Ray of Light album."
Åkerlund and Madonna famously reinvented the pop star into an earthly disco queen for her "Ray of Light" video in 1998. The Ray of Light album spawned a number of songs that were dance-floor hits as well as introspective. Madge worked on the album with Patrick Leonard and William Orbit. The album was recorded shortly after her daughter Lourdes was born, and while the lyrics are reflective, the sounds are electronic based.
While he didn't go into specifics, Rudolph did explain that the vibe of this first single and video may be a sign of what's to come on the album. "I feel like Jonas is a really good fit for her. They worked so well together so I gotta believe that they'll work again on this album project," he said. "I'm hoping that that happens and we do see more of that."
For Britney, working with Åkerlund was a passion project that, according to Rudolph, turned out to be an incredibly creative collaboration.
"She's always been a huge fan of his and his name has always come up. And there's always been something that stopped us from doing it, whether it be his availability or her timing, but we were really determined to make it happen this time," he said of hooking up with Åkerlund for the video. "He immediately had 20 different ideas and they got together and they talked about it and it took on a life of its own. We're really excited about it. In my opinion it's one of the top two or three videos of all time. It's a total departure for her. It's more mature. [There are] interesting things going on there that you have to dig deep to see."
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