In a move I openly predicted wouldn’t happen following Britney Spears’ disastrous performance at the VMAs, Britney’s label Vibe has just announced that Britney’s album, now called “Blackout” will be released November 13… flying in the face of conventional wisdom that no major label would want to invest their marketing muscle in a pop star who can’t even convincingly lip sync anymore.

So what changed between the VMAs and now?

One of the biggest hits of her career happened; as “Gimme More” has skyrocketed to the No. 3 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart; her second highest showing ever, eclipsed only by “…Baby One More Time” which peaked at No. 1.

Bringing up a couple of interesting points; first of all good press, bad press – all of that seems irrelevant compared to having an actually catchy song… or at least one with a memorable “It’s Britney, Bitch” pronouncement. But even if you blame it on the weakness of her material; with only one number hit to her name it appears Britney Spears was always more a celebrity than a star; existing in the public conciseness through a series of provocative magazine cover and midriff baring music videos; owning a much softer fan base for her actually music.

Still, even that much more unlikely with her personally life so dire, rock bottom seems 20,000 leagues under the sea; it seems for the first time years people are actually paying attention to Britney for her music.

Picture via