Snap Judgment: "Hold It Against Me" by Britney Spears
It's fitting that the latest provocation from America's sexpot sweetheart Britney Spears should surface the same week that both Jennifer Lopez and Gypsy Rose Lee are in the news. Brit's new single, "Hold It Against Me," has leaked a day before its official release. The song finds its plasticene soul somewhere between the soft sexiness Lopez employed in her vintage singles and the tough-minded wit of Lee's self-protective burlesque routines.
Think of it as a new version of the hard-soft dynamic employed by Nirvana. Instead of remaking rock by marrying punk's crashing chaos to invitingly Beatlesque melodies, Spears -- or really, her billion-dollar producers, Max Martin and Dr. Luke -- sustain her career on the cutting edge of dance-pop by blending the near-industrial beats and breakdowns of English grime music with a beatifically insipid chorus worthy of Martin's recently minted star, Taio Cruz.
How does this relate to Lopez and Lee? Both offer fine examples of what it takes to survive in the novelty-obessed pop world, a matter that's also long preoccupied Spears, and which must feel even more pressing now that the Louisiana-born proto-nubile is getting uncomfortably close to 30.
Lopez's musical efforts may have recently flopped, but her comeback via "American Idol," ramping up in light of the show's return on Jan. 19, reminds us that the right kind of female pop star -- the flexible type, with enough personality to keep her distinct from newer rivals but not so stubbornly committed to herself that a fresh context can't upgrade her -- can have a longer public life than anyone expected. And a just-published new biography of burlesque legend Lee again brings to mind the most salient fact about American sex symbols: Given the nation's repressed attitudes about genuine public displays of sensuality, the best method for mass seduction is a massive brain-tease.
"Hold It Against Me" hardly offers the most original come-on of recent years (or weeks, really; not with Katy Perry and Ke$ha bouncing around out there). But it's a classic. The song takes its title and lyrical hook from the kind of line Rose might have uttered, though it suggests a joke of Groucho Marx's, who'd wag his eyebrows at pretty female guests on the television program "You Bet Your Life" and say, "If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?" Howard Bellamy, a major Marx fan, took the sexual revolution to Margaritaville in the 1979 Bellamy Brothers hit based around the phrase, and the gentler elements of the Spears single have a similar soft-rock tinge -- it may just be studio trickery, but the chorus seems to substitute a flock of feather-haired warblers for Spears and her drawling sneer. (My excellent critical friend Maura Johnston has pointed out on the new website Popdust that the chorus' melody may be borrowed from the hard-to-take synth-pop chestnut "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" by Cutting Crew.)
Brit's sneer makes a slight comeback on the verses; Spears further proves her spiritual affinity for fellow trash icon Axl Rose when she turns the phrase "a little hazy" into a tiny heavy metal explosion. And then there are the breaks that come late in the track -- the places in a dance song where the beats turn around and take over, and which, in this particular effort, offer the promise of something more.
Finally trading in gloss for sonic adventure in the song's last few seconds, Martin and Gottwald slice and dice Spears's incitements ("drop it like a hood," she sneers, adding just a drop of hip-hop attitude to the mix) into a rapidly shifting mix of dry-ice synth lines and ammunition beats. Everything jumps. "Hold It Against Me" briefly transforms from the kind of pop smoothie whose invetable omnipresence will soon make us want to vomit into a hit that actually could take the charts somewhere new.
But it's just a couple of moments. The glove drops and Spears' latest routine ends. It's offered just enough to bring the paying audience back for more in March, when her seventh album hits retail. Nice bait and switch, Britney -- Gypsy would have been impressed.
-- Ann Powers
Photo: Britney Spears. Credit: Matt Sayles/Associated Press
wow..dis song is definitely goin to be a hit......and i tink after selling 100milion records worldwide she has nutting to prove to no1
Posted by: james | January 10, 2011 at 12:58 PM
Britney's new single is amazing.
She always brings the best music.
As much as I like singers like Katy Perry or Lady Gaga, Britney blows them all away.
She is a pop legend!
Posted by: John | January 10, 2011 at 01:05 PM
Britney Spears > ALL other artist!
2011 is BRITNEYs year!
Posted by: Suzzie | January 10, 2011 at 01:06 PM
The song is terrible.
Posted by: John | January 10, 2011 at 01:11 PM
"But it's a classic."
Something cannot be classic the day before it is released officially to the public.
classic: adjective
judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind
Do the editors provide dictionaries for the writers at the Times? Part of the job description of a journalist/editor should be to make sure words & their meanings are considered before being published.
Posted by: innercity | January 10, 2011 at 01:48 PM
Love Love Love her.....and I'm uncomfortably OVER 30. haha. Keep it up, sweetpea!
Posted by: REALbarbwire7 | January 10, 2011 at 01:52 PM
It is a fantastic dance track! Way to go Britney!
Posted by: Curtis Taylor | January 10, 2011 at 02:09 PM
Guys she did her part now lets do ours and buy it come midnight tonight lets maker her #1 :D amazing song and killer beat
Posted by: Joel | January 10, 2011 at 02:19 PM
song is cool.. go britney :D
Posted by: sam | January 10, 2011 at 02:37 PM
Pre - Federline, that would have been a tantalizing thought. Now, I see her with a shaved head, walking into a public restroom barefoot, and all the magic is gone.
Posted by: Rocco | January 10, 2011 at 03:01 PM
@innercity if you read the sentence you're referring to again, you'll see that Ann's usage of the word "classic" was referencing the line, "hold it against me," and not the song itself.
Posted by: Randall Roberts | January 10, 2011 at 03:22 PM
Very good dance track. I can't see how this song is not going to be a hit.
Posted by: Lanie | January 10, 2011 at 03:54 PM
That has to be the biggest piece of crap I have ever heard. Who would buy or even listen to this?
Posted by: Casey Kasum | January 10, 2011 at 03:59 PM
The song WILL be a hit. It's good!
Posted by: Lisa | January 10, 2011 at 04:14 PM
How much did Ann Powers get paid to write this review?
Posted by: jason | January 10, 2011 at 05:29 PM
@innercity: The author wasn't referring to Britney's song as a classic, but rather the line "would you hold it against me"..taken from a Bellamy Brothers song.
.. Part of the job description of a comment poster should be to make sure they know what they're talking about before attempting to bash the author.
Posted by: Re | January 10, 2011 at 08:39 PM
this isnt music,,its canned tech sound and no human voices in it...what a joke this is and as usual,,,these reviewers try and make it seem this song is so amazing and it is,,amazingly bad
Posted by: mark shapiro | January 11, 2011 at 09:57 AM
I can not belive how crazy everyone is going for this song. It sounds unbelievably generic! The only real good thing about it is the Dubstep middle 8, but even that is a clichéd slice of the genre .
The song just apes various dance styles of music-that have been around for a while in the Uk and Europe for some time- and combines it with generic lyrics. Hold it against me thus sounds like a bunch of rehashed ideas and nothing like the game changing single i was hoping britney would return with.
Glad to have you back though, Brit! Hopefully the album will hold better!
Posted by: divadevotee | January 11, 2011 at 10:54 AM
Was looking forward to it, but very disappointed after listening to it. She could do better, could she?
Posted by: Amy | January 11, 2011 at 02:52 PM
don't hold it against me, but i love this song!
Posted by: leeloo | January 12, 2011 at 05:50 AM