Britney Spears - Whiteout (2007)

In November 2003, while promoting her fourth studio album 'In the Zone', Britney Spears told Entertainment Weekly that she was already writing songs with Henrik Jonback for her fifth studio album, and was also hoping to start her own record label in 2004. When asked about her next album, she said she had been experimenting in her home studio with live musicians, stripping down her sound and playing the piano, and that she wanted the album to represent her Louisiana roots. However, her personal life was very turbulent at this time, giving birth to her second son Jayden James in September 2006, and then filing for divorce from Kevin Federline in November, citing irreconcilable differences. This was finalized in July 2007, but during her divorce her partying and public behavior drew attention from the worldwide media, ending with her suffering a nervous breakdown and shaving her head, which caused intense media scrutiny. Once she'd recovered she returned to her music, and while recording of the album had begun in 2006, she met J.R. Rotem in Las Vegas and enlisted him to work with her after hearing Rihanna's 'SOS'. She also worked with Keri Hilson, Jim Beanz, Corté Ellis, and Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg, known as Bloodshy & Avant, and they recorded about two dozen tracks for possible inclusion on the album. 'Blackout' was set to be released on 13 November 2007, but Jive Records announced on 10 October that the release date would be moved up two weeks, to 30 October, due to unauthorized leaks. The following day, Zomba Label Group filed a lawsuit against Perez Hilton, claiming he illegally obtained and posted on his gossip blog at least ten songs and unfinished demos of the album. The following month, The District Court judge dismissed the case with prejudice, and the album was released on 25 October 2007. On its release, 'Blackout' received mixed to positive reviews from music critics, with one calling it a seamlessly entertaining collection of bright, brash electropop, although there was no getting away from the fact that her off-disc life was both a distraction from, and enabler for, this album. As we know from the court case, there were a number of unused songs and demos floating around, and most of them have now appeared online, so here are fourteen of the best, which can make up a companion album to 'Blackout', which I've called 'Whiteout'.

Track listing

01 State Of Grace
02 Love 2 Love U 
03 All That She Wants
04 Let Go
06 When U Gon' Pull It
06 Rebellion (interlude)
07 Sugerfall
08 This Kiss
09 911
10 Kiss You All Over
11 Little Me (Just Yesterday) 
12 (What You) Sippin' On
13 Pull Out