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Radar (song)

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This article is about the Britney Spears song "Radar". For other uses of "Radar", see Radar (disambiguation).
"Radar"
Song

"Radar" is a song performed by pop singer Britney Spears and was recorded for her fifth studio album Blackout. It is also included as a bonus track on her sixth studio album Circus. On May 7, 2009 it was announced on Spears' official website that "Radar" was released as the fourth single from Circus.[3]

Single release

"Radar" was confirmed as the fourth and final single from Blackout on May 3, 2008 by the production team The Clutch. On June 11, 2008 Jive Records announced that the release of "Radar" had been cancelled since Spears had begun recording new material for her sixth studio album Circus.

2008

In 2008, a promotional CD was sent off for international airplay and "Radar" was then included in playlists for Australian, New Zealand, Finnish, Swedish, Polish, Irish, and British radio stations. The song began to prove popular in their request shows and led to heavy rotation. Although not officially released as a CD single at the time, it charted in several countries due to airplay and strong digital sales.[4] Its highest chart position was number eight on the Swedish Top 60 Singles Chart.[5] The song also appeared on different U.S. Billboard component charts around the same time Blackout charted on the Billboard 200.[6] Now that "Radar" is officially going to be released, the actual 2008 radio promo has become an extremely rare collectors item for fans.

2009

"Radar" was officially released to U.S. radio stations on June 23, 2009. It has received airplay prior to that date, and was early listed on the U.S. Billboard Pop 100 Airplay.[7] In Australia and the UK, the track has already started receiving airplay again, and will be officially released in the UK on August 10, 2009.[8]

Structure and lyrics

Written by Christian Karlsson, Pontus Winnberg, Henrik Jonback, Balewa Muhammad, Candice Nelson, Ezekiel "Zeke" Lewis and Patrick "J. Que" Smith and produced by Bloodshy & Avant and The Clutch, "Radar" is similar to Spears' Grammy Award-winning single, "Toxic", both of which incorporate influences of electropop, synthpop, and dance. In MTV's review of "Blackout", "Radar" was described as:

... an electro/Eurodisco approach, but keeps Spears' vocals more in the foreground. Instead of emulating a video game, she's accompanied sparingly by sonar pulses and distorted synths to keep the sound dangerous, because she's on the prowl. 'I got my eye on you.' she speaks at one point. 'And I can't let you get away.' [9]

Critical reception

The track received mostly positive reviews. Blender magazine gave the track a positive review, stating it has a hook "most pop stars would kill for."[10] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic, an online music database, considered it "relentless," and was chosen as one of the album's highlights.[11] Allmusic chose it as a track pick from Blackout.[12] The Hartford Courant called it a "killer track" and considered it "club-ready" and "crackling."[13]

Music video

File:RadarVideoBritney.png
Spears in the music video for Radar.

The music video was shot on May 27 and 28, 2009 at the Bacara Resort & Spa just north of Santa Barbara, California.[14] It was directed by Dave Meyers[15], who previously worked with Spears on her music videos "Lucky", "Boys", and "Outrageous". The video was leaked onto the internet late June 2009.[16] The video was officially released on July 2 on Spears' official Vimeo account and website.[17][18]

Plot

The premise of the video deals with Spears being torn between two men - her boyfriend, and another man she meets during the video, who appears to be "on her radar".

The video begins with Spears driving up to a large mansion, which turns out to be a Polo club. As she walks up to the front doors, she is greeted by her boyfriend. The two walk into the polo club, where Spears' eyes meet with another man's eyes. Her boyfriend catches the other man watching her and becomes suspicious. The video then shifts to Spears walking through the mansion alone, later entering a balcony where she sees the other man once again, playing polo, and watches him through a pair of binoculars. Her boyfriend later enters the balcony and gives her a necklace, unaware that she is watching somebody else. The next scene shows Spears walking down a staircase to a room where the other man is changing. Spears hides behind a wall and proceeds to secretly watch him from a distance. Various shots of the video show Spears singing in her room wearing a large diamond ring, along with a horse being groomed. During the polo match scene, her boyfriend and the other man are on separate teams and dual eachother during a game. Spears is in attendance and is dressed in fancy, old fashioned attire. In the first break of the game, the other man sits down for a rest. Spears looks at him and tells him 'I got my eye on you, and I can't let you get away'. After the final match, it appears her boyfriend's team wins the game, showing him and his teammates celebrating. He looks toward the spot where Spears was sitting, only to not find her there anymore. The next scene cuts to Spears and the other man embracing each other in a corridor of the mansion. As her boyfriend looks for her, he finds the necklace he gave her earlier in the video, laying on the floor. The video then ends with shots of Spears and her new man holding hands and running off into the sunset.

Critical reception

While the song gained mostly positive reviews, its music video received mixed reviews. Rolling Stone writer Daniel Kreps gave a negative review of the video saying:

The story of Britney Spears’ new video for “Radar” is a strange one: The song was originally the third track on Brit’s 2007 album Blackout and charted that year on the Hot 100. Then it inexplicably reappeared in its exact same form as a bonus track to 2008’s Circus (Spears’ publicist responded it was the same version when RS reviewed Circus last year). Now, in 2009, “Radar” returns once again as a music video. For a song that’s been around so long, you’d expect that better ideas would have percolated during its video’s pre-production stages — especially after the great clips for “Womanizer,” “Circus” and “If U Seek Amy” — but instead we’re treated to Spears’ weakest video since the disastrous “Gimme More” spot.

The plot is eerily similar too, with the Dave Meyers-directed video essentially copycatting Madonna’s “Take A Bow” video. Instead of falling in love with a matador like the Material Girl, Spears has her eye on a polo player. While Madonna dressed the role of a distressed aristocratic senorita in the stands, Spears’ wardrobe and giant hat mirror the elite at the Kentucky Derby. Instead of montage shots of bulls, we see horses. The major difference here is that there’s a love triangle, even though none of the people involved actually seem to like each other as they stare vacantly off camera half the time. It feels like they took a 30-second commercial for one of Spears’ perfumes and turned it into a four-minute music video.

So where does Britney’s “Radar” rank in the pantheon of all her music videos? Is it better than “Lucky,” another video Meyers helmed for Spears?[19]

Chart performance

2007

Mostly due to its digital download sales on the occasion of the official Blackout album release, "Radar" had a brief appearance on several U.S. Billboard component charts on November 17, 2007. While its host album debuted on the Billboard 200, the song charted at number sixty-eight on the Billboard Pop 100,[20] and at number fifty-two on the Billboard Hot Digital Songs.[21] The track was also listed on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart at number seven.[22]

2008

Although the physical release of the song was scrapped in 2008, "Radar" reached high chart positions in several countries based on strong digtal sales and airplay alone. On July 15, 2008, it debuted on the Irish Singles Chart on number forty-seven and peaked at number thirty-two on August 5, 2008.[23]

On the Swedish Singles Chart, "Radar" charted at number forty-six on July 21, 2008 and peaked at number eight on the following week, surpassing the achievements of its predecessors "Piece of Me" (number nine) and "Break the Ice" (number eleven). On August 4, 2008 "Radar" remained at number eight, spending a second week in the top ten.[24]

On August 25, 2008, the song debuted on the Top 100 of the Australian ARIA Singles Chart. It spent eleven weeks on the chart, eventually peaking at number fifty-nine. "Radar" is Spears' lowest charting single in Australia, and the first not to get into the official published ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart.[25]

On the New Zealand Singles Chart, the track debuted at number thirty-seven on August 18, 2008 where it stayed for two weeks before moving up to its peak position at number thirty-two. [26]

With the release of Circus and strong digital sales , "Radar" re-charted on the Billboard Pop 100 at number ninety-one on December 20, 2008, being listed for one week.[27]

2009

It was stated by Billboard on June 10, 2009 that the Pop 100 was discontinued. [28] On its last official issue on June 27, 2009, "Radar" re-charted on the Pop 100 at number ninety.[29]

Track listing

Promo CD [30]
  1. "Radar" (Main Version) — 3:49
  2. "Radar" (Instrumental) — 3:48
Promo CD (Poland) [31]
  1. "Radar" (Main Version) — 3:49

Charts

Chart (2007-2009) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart[32] 59
Irish Singles Chart[33] 32
New Zealand Singles Chart[34] 32
Swedish Singles Chart[35] 8
U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles[22] 7
U.S. Billboard Pop 100 68

Personnel and credits

  • Vocals: Britney Spears
  • Background vocals: Candice Nelson
  • Producers: Bloodshy & Avant
  • Co-Producers: The Clutch
  • Recording: Bloodshy & Avant, The Clutch
  • Engineer: Jim Carauna
  • Mixing: Niklas Flyckt
  • Bass and Guitar: Henrik Jonback
  • Keyboards, Programming, Additional Bass and Guitar: Bloodshy & Avant
  • Recorded at: Bloodshy & Avant Studios (Stockholm, Sweden), Sony Music Studios (New York City), & Palms Resort Peal Theatre Recording Studios (Las Vegas, Nevada)

Release history

from Blackout

Date Label Format
July, 2008 Jive Records/Zomba Promo single

from Circus

Region Date Label Format
United States June 23, 2009 Jive Records/Zomba Airplay
United Kingdom August 10, 2009[36] Sony Music Digital download

References

  1. ^ http://gfa.radioandrecords.com/publishGFA/GFANextPage.asp?sDate=06/23/2009&Format=1
  2. ^ a b http://www.discogs.com/release/1546104
  3. ^ "Beaking News: Radar is Britney's 4th Single". BritneySpears.com. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  4. ^ http://www.nova100.com.au/site/new_music/playlistnovarated.aspx
  5. ^ http://acharts.us/sweden_singles_top_60/2008/31
  6. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.vnuArtistId=290150&model.vnuAlbumId=1196626
  7. ^ http://gfa.radioandrecords.com/publishGFA/GFANextPage.asp?sDate=06/23/2009&Format=1
  8. ^ http://www.dvdfever.co.uk/charts/mu270609.shtml
  9. ^ "Britney Spears' New Album, Track By Track - News Story, Music, Celebrity, Artist News - MTV News". MTV. October 12, 2007. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
  10. ^ http://www.blender.com/blender-blog/41731/werestilllisteningtobritneysalbum.html
  11. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wxfrxzlhldse~T1
  12. ^ [1]
  13. ^ [2]
  14. ^ http://www.radaronline.com/photos/image/6957/2009/05/britneys-radar-video-set#image-load
  15. ^ http://www.britneyspears.com/2009/05/a-tweet-from-britney-6.php
  16. ^ http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=videos&search_query=britney+spears+radar+music+video&search_sort=video_date_uploaded
  17. ^ Official 'Radar' Music Video
  18. ^ Britney Spears on Vimeo
  19. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/07/01/britney-spears-radar-video-barely-registers-a-bleep/
  20. ^ "Billboard Pop 100". Billboard.com. November 17, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
  21. ^ "Billboard Hot Digital Songs". Billboard.com. November 17 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ a b Billboard magazine (November 17 2007). "Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2008-05-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. ^ http://acharts.us/ireland_singles_top_50/2008/32
  24. ^ http://acharts.us/sweden_singles_top_60/2008/31
  25. ^ http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/23790/20081020-0000/issue972.pdf
  26. ^ http://acharts.us/nz_singles_top_40/2008/36
  27. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=396&cfgn=Singles&cfn=Pop+100&ci=3104757&cdi=10091222&cid=12%2F20%2F2008
  28. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/chart-beat-bonus/chart-beat-pink-black-eyed-peas-shinedown-1003982023.story
  29. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=396&cfgn=Singles&cfn=Pop+100&ci=3109289&cdi=10228666&cid=06%2F27%2F2009
  30. ^ http://www.discogs.com/Britney-Spears-Radar/release/1546104
  31. ^ http://www.discogs.com/Britney-Spears-Radar/release/1651200
  32. ^ http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/23790/20081020-0000/issue972.pdf
  33. ^ ""Radar" Chart Positions and Trajectories". Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  34. ^ http://charts.org.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=Britney+Spears&titel=Radar&cat=s
  35. ^ http://acharts.us/sweden_singles_top_60/2008/31
  36. ^ http://www.dvdfever.co.uk/charts/mu270609.shtml


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