Britney Spears' Official "Radar" Single Cover
Alternate Cover: 2008 Blackout promo cover.
“Radar” is a song by American pop singer Britney Spears from her fifth studio album Blackout. The song was recorded in late 2006 and was planned to be the fourth single of the album, but the release was cancelled. It was later included as a bonus track on her sixth studio album Circus and released on June 23, 2009 by Jive Records as the fourth and final single from the album. The lyrics of the song refer to an attraction between the protagonist and a man, while she wonders if he knows what she is feeling. Produced and co-written by Bloodshy & Avant and The Clutch, “Radar” is an electropop song with usage of sonar pulses and synths.
“Radar” received positive critical appreciation, with most reviewers calling it one of Blackout’s highlights. The song peaked at number eight on the Swedish Singles Chart in 2008 and reached number eighty-eight on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 2009, becoming her twenty-second entry on the chart. In the music video, directed by Dave Meyers, Spears is an aristocratic woman, involved in a love triangle with two men, who are polo players.
Music video
The music video was filmed on May 27 and 28, 2009 at a private residence located just north of Santa Barbara, California, directed by Dave Meyers. In an interview, he told MTV that the music video was inspired by Madonna’s “Take a Bow”. He also wanted to experiment with the video and show a different side to Spears, “I thought, ‘It’s not the first single. Let’s be a little experimental and push to not have her around dancers,’ ” Meyers said. “I feel, I guess, that the videos are a chance for her to vocalize a sense of herself. The media tends to attack her, so I thought, ‘Let’s show the classy side of Britney and focus on a classy experience, very European-inspired.’ And she’s at the point in her career where I think this would be a nice step.” The video was officially released on July 2, 2009 on Spears’ official Vimeo account and website.
The video begins with Spears arriving at a polo club. She comes out from the car wearing a vest, jeans and sunglasses and starts singing while a man welcomes her. They walk past a barn, where another man wearing a wifebeater is sitting. They look at each other briefly and she starts to sing in a balcony, watching the second man with a pair of binoculars. At the end of the first chorus, the first man comes and puts a studded necklace around her neck, as a surprise gift. Until the end of the second chorus, we see scenes of Spears singing and watching the second man as he gets ready. When the bridge begins, Spears arrives at the match wearing a white dress and a large hat, a reference to a scene in the 1967 film adaptation of Anna Karenina. Spears looks at the second man and sings I got my eye on you, and I can’t let you get away. When the match ends, she leaves and the second man follows her. They flirt inside a hallway and leave. The first man notices her absence, walks into the hallway and sees her necklace on the floor. The video ends with Spears and the second man walking into the sunset.
Daniel Kreps of Rolling Stone called it “Spears’ weakest video, said the idea was unoriginal and compared it to a “a 30-second commercial for one of Spears’ perfumes”. OK! said it was “posh” and gave the video a positive review, and said it was a nice departure from her recent revealing videos.
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