Britney Spears Glory

Britney Spears’ level of involvement is one of the least essential elements of a Britney Spears album, but the singer sounds a bit more present on Glory than she has on some of her later albums. She even infuses many of the songs with the goofy, playful personality that comes out when she’s allowed to be herself in interviews and onstage. Of course, the real heavy lifting comes from the various writers and producers enlisted by Spears and her team, and they create a solid range of 2016 pop styles for Spears to sing over, including sultry R&B (“Just Luv Me,” lead single “Make Me …”), big, club-ready dance-pop (“Clumsy”) and ’90s nostalgia (the Spice Girls-esque “Hard to Forget Ya”).

As a singer, Spears sounds a little less overly processed than she has in the past, and she puts in what sounds like real effort on lively, upbeat songs like “Private Show,” “Slumber Party,” “Clumsy” (with its very Britney exclamation of “oops!”) and the catchy, energetic “Do You Wanna Come Over?” Spears’ Vegas show has succeeded in large part because she seems like a fun person to hang out with, and as disposable as it might be, Glory manages to capture that same sense of silly fun.