A songwriter on Britney Spears’ new album, “Femme Fatale,” is defending the pop superstar against criticism that she didn’t write any of the album’s lyrics.Spears has been a part of the songwriting process for at least one track on each of her last five discs, contributing the most to her 2003 project, “In the Zone,” including her Madonna duet, “Me Against the Music.”The pop star is not credited as a writer on any of the songs from her latest album, prompting some detractors to take aim at the singer for relying on the talents of others to produce hits for her.”Femme Fatale” collaborator Heather Bright, who co-wrote “Trouble for Me,” says few pop stars come up with their own lyrics and that Spears should be applauded for not forcing her songwriters into giving her credit just so she could take a cut of the royalties.
In a post on her blog, Bright writes, “I would just like to address one thing! The media is talking trash about how Britney didn’t write any of the songs on her album … HELLO! Wake up everybody! NONE OF THESE ARTISTS WRITE THEIR OWN SONGS!!!!!! (there are a few exceptions … lady gaga, will.i.am/BEP, chris brown is starting to write a lot of his own stuff…)”She continues, “Britney could have come to me, like all these other A-list artists, and said … ‘Hey, you wanna be on my album? I’m gonna need writing credit for that song AND part of your publishing [royalties] even though I didn’t write anything! And then I’m gonna go on tour and gross $150 million in ticket sales and not give you any of that, even though I’m performing your song!’ I could rattle off a laundry list of artists who I’ve had that conversation with!”Bright has nothing but praise for Spears and her creative team. She adds, “Britney’s one of the few artists I’ve worked with who didn’t try to take something that wasn’t hers. In my experience, from a business standpoint, her entire team is nothing less than a bonafide class act!” – MSN
