(Jerkins, Wroldsen)
Album: Femme Fatale (Deluxe/International Editions)
One of Spears’s most underrated skills is her ability to emote. In this remarkable bonus cut from Femme Fatale, she evokes a rawness and conflict not explored on any other of the album’s tracks. Her throaty vocals get swept away during the chorus, where a choir of Britneys sound like they’re singing from the other side of the looking glass, trapped and helpless as she watches herself sabotage her relationship. The middle eight serves as narrative and emotional climax as she must make her decision. “He About to Lose Me” is not only an album highlight, but ranks among some of Spears’s best offerings. It is a borderline travesty that this track not only didn’t get the single treatment but wasn’t even included in the standard edition tracklist for Femme Fatale. At one point Spears highlighted it as her favorite track on the album. Pop queen Kylie Minogue also singled this song out as one of her own favorites! “He About to Lose Me” would have sounded excellent on the radio and would have been at the forefront of a major impending shift in pop radio after Justin Bieber’s Purpose away from EDM-inspired club jams to more mellow mid-tempo fare. Instead, it was passed over for the good but inferior “Criminal.” Ah, what could have been.
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