So, who really is to blame for only releasing “Scary” as a featured bonus track on the Japanese Deluxe and Premium Fan Edition of Femme Fatale? The executive producers Dr. Luke and Max Martin or somebody else; such as her record company Jive Records? People are going WTF over this on blogs and websites all over the internet, they Love this song to death, yet feel jilted and left out by the fact it’s marketed and given to the Japanese as a special bonus. This track is an amazing hidden gem of the rising sun with “hit single” glimmers all over it. It’s the only song off the whole album, to which Britney is credited as being a writer on.
The first thing I noticed about “Scary” was Britney’s stronger vocal connection and delivery. It’s strong, powerful, and right out of the gate without the light airy toned sexy whispers she’s known for. It’s no surprise considering this is one of her own songs. It’s worth mentioning again, this is the only song off Femme Fatale where she has any credit in writing. “Scary” is the close as it gets to a true Britney song through and through…and it’s anything but scary to listen to. The positive feedback and reviews over this track might inspire her to indulge in a little more future song writing.
So what happened? Why was “Scary” released as a bonus track on two obscure editions of the “Femme Fatale” album? I for one, am right there along with everybody in the WTF crowd. “Scary” is one of my two most favorite tracks off the album. This song has the smell of being a chart hit, just like “Till the World Ends” did when everybody listened to it for the first time. If this track had been released on the regular album, the result probably would have been notched up sales over a longer time period. This is a song that needs to be released as a single, with an amazing music video behind it.
There are two versions of “scary” that I’m aware of at the moment. One being off the Japanese Deluxe Edition and the other is referred to as; The Official, New Version or Full Vocal Mix. I suspect this second one is off the Premium Fan Edition of the album. The synthesizer squelches and sounds are amazing in the Japanese release. The synthesizer arrangements in second newer version, in my opinion, are rather a bit too polished. Fraser T. Smith is the producer behind Scary, the same guy that produced “Trouble for Me” off the album. There is some pretty detailed information regarding the whole Femme Fatale album on the wikipedia website.
The Japanese Deluxe Edition release.
The New, Official or Main Vocal Mix version
Comments anybody?
I’m interested in hearing what everybody thinks about this so far? Do you think it was a mistake not including it on the regular album? Do you love it? Do you hate it? What do think about this being the only song off the album that Britney wrote herself? Are you part of the WTF crowd wondering here? Which version of the song do you like best? All thoughts, opinions and comments welcomed.
It is total B.S. for sure! I for one am sick and tired of all the bonus tracks being released on the international versions of the album, while the American fan base gets screwed out of them and we get condensed versions of the albums. This goes all the way back to her “Baby One More Time” album and all the way straight through. Not until “Circus” did they start putting out Deluxe Editions on the shelves in the U.S. Why can’t these lousy record companies just put out the same damn album across the globe! Be kind to the fans who pour out their money for the product. Not make it a nightmare to try to search for each version of each album just to get every single song because you want to hear everything that the artist puts out! It’s pretty sad it’s all about marketing and trying to make fans (especially in the U.S.) have to go out and by more than one version of the album. Enough is enough, I’d like the artist to make this decision, I wonder if Britney would want only some of her fans to get the full tracks she worked hard for while others are forced to pay twice.
Mike, What I find amazing is that Record Companies do this despite the fact information travels a light speed through the internet these days. Things are not like they were 15+ years ago. It’s rather old school marketing. What were they thinking that one of Britney’s own songs was not good enough or right for the American Market? It’s rather stereotyping what they think people or will not like. Besides who wants to listen to an album where every song sounds the same. If anything the fact that this song sounds a little different from the others makes it even more unique and more worth the wild to listen to. It’s not like she recorded some random folk/country sounding track or some other Genre of music that was totally out of place. I realize there is only so much control Britney has over the marketing aspects. Again, I don’t know who is to blame for this but it would be interesting to find out or know who. What strikes me is that there are two different version of Scary. It appears that somebody felt that only the Japanese are the ones which enjoy synthesizer squelches. I seriously would like to know what information was used to make these decisions, or is it just based upon some stereotyped bias in the imagination.