Britney is crazy, discuss

So, I'll cop to it. I follow this whole Britney thing. It's interesting to me, not only in a celebrity trainwreck way, but in the aspect of "this is why we need universal healthcare and a better mental health system". I think everyone would agree that when someone displays the kind of manic, bizarre behavior Ms. Spears has been famous for, that person's loved ones should have some recourse to commit that person to treatment, even if it's just long enough for a professional to say "not crazy, just weird".

In the interest of my curiosity, I listened to Brit's latest opus, "Blackout", today and I came away with a few thoughts I'd like to share:

1- It's not bad- It's actually kind of interesting. If (and stay with me on this) she was Lou Reed, this would be her "Metal Machine Music". It's full of squawks and atonal vocals and layers of computerized sounds that, all told, are aggressively non-musical. Lay a few tracks of shredded guitars and you have the album Trent Reznor wish he made.

2- It's a cry for help- Sonically- The other impression I get from the layers and layers of sound is that it kind of sounds...crazy. Like the inside of a schizophrenic's head. Voices shift up and down unnaturally and overlap each other as non-musical noise competes in the background. Add that to the fact that, like most contemporary music, it's compressed within an inch of its life so all the sounds are mashed together without any dynamic tension.

3- It's a cry for help- Lyrically- The overwhelming theme on this record is Britney hates the press and loves the bars. But taken in another context, there could be some real depth here (stay with me...)

Gimme More- Cameras are flashing/while we're dirty dancing/they keep watching/they keep watching. Paranoid much, Brit?

Piece of Me- She repeats the title over and over until its less a threat than a desperate cry for attention.

Why Should I Be Sad- Should I get bad or sad/who knows. And we call that Bi-Polar Disorder.

In any case, "Blackout" is not the piece of hot garbage I expected it would be, though I would probably think much less of it were it not for the lens it provides into the mind of a sad, sick young woman who's breaking down before our eyes.