Cyborg Songs in "Blackout"

Britney's Cyborg Songs

If there is a person I don't mention enough for class, it is definitely Britney. In Britney Spears' incredible new album BLACKOUT there are at least three songs that are cyborg related.

The song "Break the Ice" includes the line:
You got my heart beating like an 808

I think this is really interesting because it's not just a reference to music technology (that is, her pulse is like the beats produced from a drum machine), but could also be construed as a statement about celebrity. Britney's heart being like an 808 makes sense not just because she makes music, but also because of the cyborg otherness of her body as a celebrity. Her body, and you might say her suffering heart, is part of what makes the Britney Spears celebrity-machine keep rolling -- producing albums, wowing fans, employing various handlers, making appearances.

Another song from "Blackout" is "Ooh Ooh Baby" including lyrics like:

[Chorus]
Ooh ooh, baby
Touch me and I come alive
I can feel you on my lips
I can feel you deep inside
Ooh ooh, baby
In your arms I finally breathe
Wrap me up in all your love
That's the oxygen I need

You're fillin' me up [repeat a dozen times or so]
You're fillin' me up with your love

[Verse]
The more you move
The more I dance...

Like most pop songs, this seems to just be about sex, but it also introduces the idea of Britney's character (in the song) as being doll-like or an automaton. In this realm, Britney appears to need an outside force ("love?") to be animated, to become more human or real, and finally "breathe." She is a metaphorical marionette that needs to find a way to "come alive." In 2005, Britney had an album, that was never released, to be titled "Original Doll." I have always been under the impression that the title track for "Original Doll" was renamed and added to "Blackout" as "Ooh Ooh Baby." While I'm glad that the song made it onto the album, I wish that it hadn't lost its emphasis on dolls or the need to be animated.

One last example with cyborg elements is, of course, "Piece of Me" in which Britney's voice is practically obliterated and disappears into digitization. (I'm not complaining. I think it's an amazing song.) Is she talking? Is she singing? Is she a robot? Is it possible to perform this song live?

I like to think of "Blackout" as my personal soundtrack for Fashioning the Body.


(This post will eventually be followed by "Kylie's Cyborg Songs" which I wrote over a week ago, but I am yet to post.)
Submitted by christine on Thu, 11/15/2007 - 10:56am. christine's blog | login or register to post comments | printer friendly version