Circus
by Britney Spears
  • Record Label: Jive
  • Release Date: Dec 2, 2008
Metascore
64

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 22
  3. Negative: 1 out of 22
  1. Sputnikmusic
    90
    Circus is a top-rate pop album that, with a little bit of justice, will be afforded the same sort of longevity as her brilliant early singles.
  2. Billboard
    80
    The singer does double duty as a dance diva and brokenhearted balladeer. It's no easy feat, but when Spears shoves aside the tabloid trauma and hooks up with the right producers--on this album it's Guy Sigsworth, Danja, Dr. Luke and Max Martin--she is in a class of her own.
  3. Entertainment Weekly
    75
    Halfway through, Circus shifts from defiant booty calls to subtler material; suddenly, it's a first-rate electro-pop album.
  5. The A.V. Club
    75
    For better or worse, Spears is, as she says on the title track, "a put-on-a-show type of girl," and when she sticks to that credo, Circus works.
  6. Rolling Stone
    70
    The clubby, adventurous pop on her sixth album--her first since getting committed and losing custody of her kids--would have made a fine follow-up to 2003's In the Zone.
  7. The New York Times
    70
    Most of her new songs are crisp, cunning dance-pop with a touch of schoolyard singsong. Just before they grow mechanical, they’re zapped with new effects or catchy melodic interludes.
  8. Boston Globe
    70
    The fistful of dance tunes are fashionably stern, saddled with ominous strut and anonymous throb. But Britney is a palpable presence here, a flesh-and-blood singer.
  9. Vibe
    70
    Tipping a decade long residency within the music industry, Spears’ “comeback” is more so a restoration than a reinvention.
  10. Dot Music
    70
    If Circus had ended at eight songs, it would be a curveball pop classic but sadly--as with recent Beyonce, Alesha Dixon and Pussycat Dolls releases--the album bloats to twice that length.

Awards & Rankings

8
#8 Most Discussed Album of 2008
19
#19 Most Shared Album of 2008

User Reviews

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User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 638 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 528 out of 638
  2. Mixed: 42 out of 638
  3. Negative: 68 out of 638
  1. JamesB.
    Jan 5, 2009
    10
    I love it. Amazing!
  2. rxffy
    Dec 26, 2022
    10
    Her second best album (after Blackout), i grew up with “Womanizer” “Radar” and “If U Seek Amy”
  3. someonewhocares
    Sep 7, 2022
    9
    Circus proves to be way better than Blackout could ever be. Songs like "Mmm Papi", "Lace and Leather", "Womanizer", and "Circus", as well asCircus proves to be way better than Blackout could ever be. Songs like "Mmm Papi", "Lace and Leather", "Womanizer", and "Circus", as well as "If U Seek Amy", are quinessential Brtney Spears hits. The vocals are intensely autotuned and somtimes stiff, but who wouldn't already know that Britney isn't a singing person.… Full Review »
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