Comment: I like it.

"Boy you don’t try to front I-I-I know just just what you ah-ah-are."

I’m currently obsessed with Britney Spears’ song, “Womanizer.” It’s not even that good, but boy does it have a hook. It’s like a sickness. I can’t stop playing it over and over. This happens to me from time to time, but I’ve got it bad with this one. The song isn’t really anything new, but it is catchy as all get out, which means once it’s in your head, that’s it for the duration.

And others evidently feel the same way. It’s already inspired three covers on YouTube/Yahoo Music. And that’s just professional musicians. I’m sure there are more non-pro covers out there. If you want to have a good laugh, check out the version by “The All-American Rejects.” I didn’t know who they are (I’m old) but they do a great acoustic version of the song. In some ways, they transcend Britney’s version. The lead singer uses his range way better than she does. I know that she can actually sing, so it’s annoying to hear her lamely not-singing, all gussied up on her version. Lily Allen does a great version of it, too; you can actually hear her eyebrow raised as she sings.

There are plenty of cheestastic electro-effects and predictable back up vocals, and the lyrics aren’t anything to write home about (unless you’re in seventh grade) but Britney taps into something universal: the lothario who leaves victims of lust in his wake gets his comeuppance. (There’s a really lame pun about lollipops vs. suckers. Oh well.) It’s a great f-you song for high school girls. It’s the kind of song you expect from a performer even younger than Britney, who’s been married twice and has two kids. (Or maybe that makes it more apt?)

But when you think about it, she’s still a child. This is the person who said “hit me baby one more time” when she was barely out of braces and went on to sweat with a cobra on stage and make videos where all she wore was a translucent suit of diamond-like jewels.

Lest you think I’m being glib, let me say this: I have sympathy for Britney. Not as much maybe as that rabid fan on YouTube awhile back, but I honestly feel for her. Because her life has been under a microscope since before she hit puberty, and it seems clear from some of her behavior last year that she has some fairly significant problems of a mental nature. Not to be casting stones; I think it makes perfect sense that she had some sort of breakdown. She’s a kid in a woman’s body (which got dissed ferociously last year, and I’d just like to say for someone who had two kids she looked just fine, thank you very much). I hope she got some real help, and not some bullshit pseudo-therapist who was looking for fame or recognition. I really don’t know. She appears to be having a comeback.

And what I love is the moxie this woman has. In “Womanizer” she actually says “You say I‘m crazy? I got your crazy.” Damn straight, Britney. You went through a lot and you’ve come out (hopefully, anyway) the other side looking good and selling records, er, CDs, er downloads.

I watched the video of “Womanizer” and it’s pretty classic early-to-mid Britney. It’s your basic formulaic pop tart stuff: the requisite multiple identity/four costume-change and lots of herky-jerky dance moves in bad wigs. Britney has some racy scenes in a sauna that are arguably pornographic. There is NO evidence in this particular video that this woman ever bore children, FYI.

Anyway, I’m hooked on this song and I’m not sorry. I’m routing for Britney and her angry, sassy, catchy song.



PS-Re: lyrics: At the risk of losing what little street cred I had (umm, zero?), what the hell is a “re-up?”