Song Review: ‘Scream and Shout’ by Will.i.am and Britney Spears

This is a well-produced dance-track that should keep the attention focused on Will.i.am for a few months more, at least. The best part about this track is Britney Spears. Even before this track leaked into the internet, there was already a growing buzz surrounding this single that Will.i.am had been heavily promoting each time he could. It has been some time since anybody collaborated with Britney Spears.

And the general idea is: what can Will.i.am bring out more of Britney here?

Well, after listening to this track and watching the music video, he certainly maximized her guest appearance by applying every digital effect and even modulating her voice before reaching the first chorus. And the first sign of this is the intro where we hear Britney talk in a faux British accent! Why? I honestly don’t know what Will.i.am was thinking but if it was to get attention, it did work, and it kept the single from becoming stale early on. We don’t really hear Britney sing in the whole track. I heard only two lines and the rest that she did was really just to speak the words. The same can be said with Will.i.am adapting more of a talking/rapping style.

Lyrically, it is weak. It is the usual same stuff that we always hear in every “club ready” dance-track. However, Will.i.am pulls it off well. And one of those positive things is sampling a line from ‘Gimme More’, a classic song from Britney Spears which was released way back in 2007. Will.i.am blended it so well, that you wouldn’t really notice that he essentially just “copied and pasted” that line into this track. Britney Spears may have a limited role in this track—and it is really in the music video that you fully get the sense of what this track could have been if maybe the digital effects and tweaking were lessened a bit. Actual singing from Britney Spears could have been more highlighted instead. But despite that, Britney’s presence–even if it is just in the background—lends more personality to the whole track. Having Britney Spears guest here will only continue to bring back interest in her career and while this track will not go down as a breakthrough dance song or something that would change how we think of dance-pop songs, the idea was there, even though the potential wasn’t fully met.

It still came out as a decent track that showcases some of the best studio work of Will.i.am and relives some of the old glory of the one and only Britney Spears!

Because of this, it is still refreshing that this collaboration even took place. I can’t just help imagine if we got these two celebrated artists to have had worked together a lot earlier like in the early 2000’s, how would that have been?

Thumbs Up!