Entertainment

Britney back to the beat

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Since Britney Spears debuted a dozen years ago — a troubled blond bookmark between Madonna and Gaga — she has shadowboxed with sanity while enjoying pop hits and suffering misses. After a dozen years of erratic divadom, Spears rewards her die-hard fans with her seventh record, “Femme Fatale,” out Tuesday. Working with longtime producers Max Martin and Dr. Luke, it’s Spears’ most danceable album in years. Here’s how it breaks down:

1. “Till the World Ends”

The album opener’s title makes you expect apocalyptic menace, but the message Spears delivers is that life is a party, and she’s dancing until she’s drops.

2. “Hold It Against Me”

While this was the album’s lead single a month ago, it’s not the best. Interesting mostly because it embraces dubstep, the UK electronic dance style that rules this CD with overwrought bass lines and trance drums.

3. “Inside Out”

As the boo-hoo breakup song on a party album, this is the track on which we first hear Brit’s electronically un-enhanced natural voice. The melody is repetitious and mopey, but you have to love how the lyrics playfully recycle her ’98 love-hurts lyrics with: “Hit me one more time — it’s so amazing.”

4. “I Wanna Go”

For the full sexual charge of this dance-floor stomp, complete the title with her lyrics “all the way with you.” Her Auto-Tuned vocals, robo-cool at first, get warmer with a whistled chorus.

5. “How I Roll”

Even though Spears sings this take-me-to-the-party song in a tight three-note range, it’s a top track for the layered synthesizers, syrupy backing vocals, hand claps and an instrumental lead that sounds as if created by popping bubbles.

6. “(Drop Dead) Beautiful”

The vocals are as processed as Velveeta, and the lyrics are just as cheesy, as in: “Oh, your body looks so sick I think I caught the flu.”

7. “Seal It With a Kiss”

If there is one song that bridges the gap between Spears’ “Blackout” and “Circus” records, this is it. There’s sugar in the lyrics and a dark undercurrent of bass-heavy dance-pop.

8. “Big Fat Bass”

Black Eyed Peas leader Will.i.am, who wrote this for Spears, joins in with his froggy-bottom vocals. Unfortunately, a catchy chorus, stupidly simple lyrics and a Daft Punk melody add up to a hit.

9. “Trouble for Me”

It’s refreshing that Spears’ voice is again real here, it makes her boy-lust sound authentic.

10. “Trip to Your Heart”

On a record with a decidedly hard edge, this is the girlie-girl song that calls for unicorns and butterflies in the video. The singing is sweet and delicate, delivering cuddly lyrics such as “for tonight it’s just the two of us, dim the lights for the two of us.”

11. “Gasoline”

“Gasoline” bows to a retro Spears sound more fitting to her “Oops! . . . I Did It Again” era than this.

12. “Criminal”

A mid-tempo ballad about a good girl who digs a bad boy, featuring flutes and Spears singing in a breathy voice. It’s different from the rest, with a simple guitar-flute-drum arrangement.