Criminal (Britney Spears song)
Encyclopedia
"Criminal" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears
from her seventh studio album, Femme Fatale
. The Radio Mix of the song was released as the fourth single from the album. "Criminal" was written and produced by Max Martin
and Shellback, with additional writing by Tiffany Amber. After Spears first listened to the song, she felt it was different and unlike anything she had heard before. She posted a snippet of it online on March 2, 2011, prior to the album's release. "Criminal" was chosen as a single by a poll on her Facebook
page, as Spears explained it was a way to give back to her fans. The artwork for the single was released on September 14, 2011.
"Criminal" is a guitar
-driven midtempo song, which incorporates a folk
-style flute melody. It is considered the only ballad in Femme Fatale, and is less agressive than the other songs of the album. "Criminal" is influenced by the works of ABBA
and Madonna
. In the song, Spears sings about being in love with a bad boy
and outlaw
, and pleads to her mother to not worry about their relationship. "Criminal" received positive critical appreciation, with reviewers praising its organic and refreshing feel in comparison with the rest of the album. After the release of Femme Fatale, the song charted on the South Korean International chart. "Criminal" has also charted in major markets such as Canada, France, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.
The accompanying music video for the song was filmed in Stoke Newington, London
. It features Spears as a woman in upper society and follows her relationship with a criminal, played by her real-life boyfriend Jason Trawick. Prior to its release, London officials criticized Spears for shooting scenes with a replica gun and glamorizing violence. The video received positive appreciation from critics, with some calling it the best video from Femme Fatale. Reviewers also noted the parallels between the storyline and themes of the video with Spears's personal life.
that after she first listened to the song, she felt it was different and unlike anything she had heard before.
In an interview with Rolling Stone
, Spears spoke about Martin's productions on Femme Fatale, saying, "Max played a huge role on this album and he has been there since the beginning so there is such a huge level of trust. He gets exactly what I am saying when I tell him what I want and don’t want musically".
Spears recorded her vocals at Maratone Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. The track was later mixed by Serban Ghenea
at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia
. It was registered on Broadcast Music Incorporated
under the legal title "In Love With a Criminal". On March 2, 2011, Spears posted on her Twitter
account a link to a 17-second clip of the song, deeming it as "one of [her] favorites".
On August 5, 2011, she launched a poll on her Facebook
page asking fans whether her next single should be "Criminal", "Inside Out
" or "(Drop Dead) Beautiful
." After the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards
, she revealed to MTV News that "Criminal" was chosen as the fourth single. On the British talk show This Morning
, Spears explained that the song "was chosen by the fans. It was just cool to give something back to them and see what they would appreciate." The Radio Mix of "Criminal" was released a single on September 30, 2011 and the song was added to the United States mainstream radio playlists on October 4, 2011. The artwork for the single was released on September 14, 2011. It features Spears looking out into the distance, with her wavy hair falling on her bare back. A mysterious hooded man is also featured on the cover. Robbie Daw of Idolator
said that "it appears as if Camp Spears hired the best Photoshop expert $15 could buy when it came to designing the art. Oh, just kidding — we love red and blue! Makes us think of sex and, uh, ice-cold criminals. Or something." The Radio Mix of "Criminal" was included on her second remix album, B in the Mix: The Remixes Vol. 2
.
said the song "takes a breather from aggressive, wall-to-wall synths, driven instead by a steady guitar rhythm and an oddly Asian folky-sounding flute melody." It is considered the only ballad of the album. Thompson compared it to her past ballads, saying it is not "sappy" like "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman
" (2002) and not "teary-sad" like "Everytime
" (2004). "Criminal" is reminiscent of the music of ABBA
and Madonna
, and the latter's albums Ray of Light
(1998) and American Life
(2003), according to David Buchanan of Consequence of Sound
and Samesame.com.au
, respectively. The beat
was compared by Keith Caufield of Billboard
to Madonna's "Don't Tell Me
" (2000). Carl Wilson of the Los Angeles Times
said "Criminal" is "awkwardly pitched between rock
and ballad". The use of the flute was compared by Amy Sciarretto of PopCrush to the sample of "The Lonely Goatherd
" from The Sound of Music
(1959) on Gwen Stefani
's "Wind It Up
" (2006).
In the verses, Spears sings about being in love with a bad boy and outlaw, in lyrics such as "He is a hustler / He's no good at all / He is a loser, he's a bum, bum, bum, bum" and "He is a bad boy with a tainted heart / And even I know this ain't smart". During the chorus
, she pleads to her mother not to worry in lines such as "But mama im in love with a criminal" and "Mama please don't cry / I will be alright." Andrew Leahey of The Washington Times
and Erin Thompson of the Seattle Weekly compared the lyrics to those of Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach
" (1986), while David Bunachan compared them to Coolio
's "Mama I'm in Love Wit' a Gangsta" (1994). The words in the chorus end in 'al's syllables, as evident in lyrics such as "And this type of love isn't rational / It's physical". Keith Caufield noted that they were an unintentional nod to Supertramp
's "The Logical Song
" (1979). Thompson stated that Spears's vocals are less processed than on the rest of the album, while according to Amy Sciarretto they are "heavily auto-tuned
and studio-treated, [...] she delivers her lines in a monotone, robotic fashion."
called it one of the higlights of Femme Fatale, along with "Till the World Ends
". Gill also said that the album sounds more programmed than natural, commenting that "indeed, such is the shock when the final track, 'Criminal', opens with a little folksong-style flute and guitar figure that one's immediate reaction is that a Midlake
soundfile has been accidentally appended to Britney's running-order." Amy Sciarretto of PopCrush gave the song four stars, explaining that "Only Brit can make a flute sound sexy. Seriously, few pop stars can pull off a flute and Brit does it with ease." Aaron-Spencer Charles of Metro said that "the verses, chorus and bridge all work perfectly for Ms. Spears, showing that she still has it from all those years ago." Erin Thompson of the Seattle Weekly called it her best vocal performance of the album, and added that "it has a spark and a mischievous sass to it – and these days anytime Britney shows even just a bit of her old liveliness and independence, we like it." Rudy Klapper of Sputnikmusic
commented the song "isn't exactly the progressive stylings of a Janelle Monae
[sic
], but damn if it’s not catchy and interesting."
The A.V. Club
s Genevieve Koski claimed that the album "[i]s not all dance-floor narcotics", adding that "Inside Out", "Till the World Ends" and "Criminal" "add texture to the wall-to-wall synth waves and booty bass." Robert Copsey of Digital Spy
said the production of Femme Fatale is "polished, intriguing and - best of all - fun", exemplifying "Inside Out", the piano breakdown in "Big Fat Bass
" and the flute in "Criminal". Comparing the song to the music of Madonna, Samesame.com.au said that "after eleven tracks of bleeps, production tricks and absolutely nothing organic, it's nice to see the album closes with a nice guitar driven mid tempo track, 'Criminal’ [...]. Think a mix of ‘Love Profusion
’ and ‘Intervention’ with better production and not half as preachy." No Ripcord
's Gary McGinley stated that Femme Fatale "is so synth-led that hearing the simple guitar lines on Criminal and He's About To Lose Me (from the Deluxe Edition) is refreshing." Natalie Shaw of the BBC Online commented that "Criminal" "with its teenage lyrics [...] on top of a fairytale flute melody and a rhythm so summery it manages to completely set itself free from the rest of the album."
David Buchanan of Consequence of Sound found that Femme Fatale "is entirely rescued by backtracking to Circus
-style material, with Rihanna
-esque 'Gasoline', and the Ray Of Light-era Madonna influence in closing song 'Criminal'. Katherine St Asaph of Popdust said that as "a bad-boy track, it at least makes a bit more lyrical sense than 'Judas
' and is more vulnerable than her past few singles, which is probably a good career move." Keith Caufield of Billboard commented that "while some of the lyrics are a teensy clunky at times - [it] is a fitting closer to a nearly-completely excellent album." Los Angeles Times writer Carl Wilson stated that the album's momentum "flags only on the closing 'Criminal', with its formless Renaissance fair
flute line and a tempo [that is] joyless". Thomas Conner of the Chicago Sun-Times
considered "Criminal", along with "Inside Out", "weak mid-tempo fare" songs. Eric R. Danton of the Hartford Courant deemed the song as "an eye-rolling homage to those oh-so-attractive bad boys that good girls lust for in spite of themselves." Stephen Thomas Erlewine
, senior editor of Allmusic, called it "a lousy song".
International Chart, due to digital sales. On September 26, 2011, the song debuted at number forty on the US Billboard
Pop Songs
. On October 5, 2011, "Criminal" entered on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles
chart at number twenty-one. Two weeks later, it debuted on the Hot 100 at number ninety-two. It then rose to a new peak of 66. The song also entered Canadian Hot 100
at number eighty-three, reaching a new peak of sixty-three a week later. In Brazil, the song reached number nine on Billboard Hot Pop Songs
, and number sixty-one on the country's Hot 100 Airplay. "Criminal" also achieved moderate success in Europe, reaching the top-forty in Belgium (Flanders), France and Sweden.
At the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, Spears said to MTV News that she had thought of a "really cool concept for the video, just to make it interesting. You'll have to see." She then contacted Chris Marrs Piliero, who directed the music video for her previous single "I Wanna Go
", to work with her. She told him the basic story she had planned, which he described as a "fairy-tale, sweet, knight-in-shining-armor feel to it. I said let's take that and make the fairy tale badass." Spears also wanted her real-life boyfriend Jason Trawick to play the criminal. Marrs Piliero was initially hesitant to cast Trawick feeling that a professional actor would do a better job, but did not talk to Spears about it. He told USA Today
, "When you're doing nudity, I don't think it was at the top of Britney's list to bring in some random guy while her boyfriend watches. [...] We definitely wanted to make some passionate, steamy scenes, but we also wanted it to be intensely beautiful. We didn't want to go for raunchy. We wanted it to be sensual and steamy." On September 6, 2011, Spears announced through her Twitter account that she had decided to shoot the video "in the streets of merry old England
when I get there." In an interview with AOL
, she explained, "I've never shot on location out of the country of America for a video. So, it should be very interesting. It was partly my idea ... to see if it could to happen, and they were like, 'Yeah, it's a great idea,' so we did it."
The music video for "Criminal" was shot in Stoke Newington
, a district of London
, on the weekend of September 17, 2011. Marrs Piliero hired model Freddy Bradshaw to play Spears' boyfriend in his first acting role. He approached working with Trawick as a challenge, explaining, "I went into it like, 'Wow, he's not an actor. This is going to be interesting,' but [...] I really do like the idea that I'm a director and my job is to direct and get the performance. [...] For me, it was a fun challenge to be like, 'I'm gonna make sure that you are awesome,' and he was." On September 17, 2011, MTV UK reported that the video would "see her embark Bonnie and Clyde
-style crime spree across the capital." The following day, pictures of Spears and Trawick on the set of the video were posted online. They were both walking out of a convenience store
while carrying guns. With This Morning, Spears explained that video is "about a girl in upper society and the way she lives her life is totally different to the person she's in love with. And it's about bringing those two totally different characters together and what happens." On October 9, 2011, Marrs Piliero posted on his Twitter account about the video, "Not a whole lot I'm allowed to say about [it] other than that I love this video and can't wait for it to come out. Oh and that [Spears] looks gorgeous in it... pretty sure it's cool for me to say that..."
walking into the party in Can't Hardly Wait
(1998). Her boyfriend (Bradshaw) talks with two people next to her. He then verbally abuses her and grabs her face, after which she leaves to the toilet, where she wipes a tear and puts on her fragrance Radiance
. She comes back to the party and sees her boyfriend flirting with another woman; Spears tells her "So you're not working the street corner tonight I see?", making her boyfriend angry. He then grabs Spears by the arm and carries her outside the building. After he slaps her, one of the waiters of the party (Trawick) wearing a leather jacket punches her boyfriend several times. The waiter asks Spears if she is okay, and after she kicks her boyfriend in the crotch, she replies "Now I'm okay." She and the waiter climb on his motorcycle and leave the scene. When they get to his house, it is revealed by a newspaper that he is a criminal. She opens one of the lockers in his house and finds a gun, after which the couple kisses. This is followed by scenes of them having sex.
The next morning, the criminal brings Spears breakfast to the bed. He has several tattoos in his body, including one on his chest that reads "R.I.P. Goose", a reference to the film Top Gun
(1986). They go to a convenience store where she steals vanilla candles and points the gun to the employee; the criminal takes money out of the cash register and they escape by stealing a Citroën DS3
. The robbery is caught by the security cameras, and pictures of the couple appear on the local news. There are scenes of them having sex in the shower. As they change clothes, several policemen then appear outside the criminal's house; they start shooting it as Spears and the man kiss passionately. The policemen then enter the house, and one of them confirms that the couple escaped. The video ends with Spears and the criminal escaping on the motorcycle as the credits roll. One of them reads "No vanilla candles were harmed in the making of this music video." The video also includes intercut scenes of Spears performing dance moves similar to voguing
.
criticized her for "promoting gun violence", since the area had been badly affected by the 2011 England riots
. The Council told London Tonight
that they had not agreed to the use of replica guns at Stoke Newington Town Hall, and that they would be raising the matter with the production company. Councillor Ian Rathbone added that Spears should apologize and make a sizeable donation to a Hackney charity "for the rudeness and damage she's done to this community." When asked if she thought the council was overreacting, Hackney MP
Diane Abbott
insisted: "It is only a music video but it's images like this, with popstars glamorising gangs, which means that some young people... get drawn in. Britney should really know better." Rae Alexandra of the SF Weekly
explained that the United Kingdom "is not a place that readily embraces guns. Rather, it's a place where guns are rare, gun licensing is tightly controlled, and the entire establishment has been in a panic about gun use on its streets for the last three years." On September 26, 2011, Spears' representatives released a statement to MTV News saying, "The video is a fantasy story featuring Britney's boyfriend, Jason Trawick, which literally plays out the lyrics of a song written three years before the riots ever happened." The production company apologized to the Council before the release of the video. Marrs Piliero stated about the controversy,
files with scenes from the video on her Tumblr
. The video was released the same day on the iTunes Store
; it reached the top position on its chart within minutes. Becky Bain of Idolator called it "an epic mini-movie, full of romance, intrigue [...] [with] a whole lot of unnecessary PDA
between Brit and her beau. It was full of passion, joy and just a little touch of madness — just like its star." Bain also noted several influences, such as Alfred Hitchcock
films and the music videos for Spears' "Toxic
" (2004) and Green Day
’s "21 Guns
" (2009). A writer for Rolling Stone also compared it to a Hitchcock film and deemed the opening scene as "a tribute to Old Hollywood". The reviewer found the scenes of physical abuse "surprising" and called the acting "stiff", but said that "from there on out, we're in the usual comfort zone of a Britney video – sexy dancing, sexy vamping – with the added bonus of gratuitous PDA between the pop star and her real-life boyfriend."
USA Today
s Ann Oldenburg described the video as sexy and "pretty personal." Kenneth Partridge of AOL commented, "Packed with sex, violence and questionable acting, the new Britney Spears video, 'Criminal,' has all the trappings of a midnight movie." A reporter from the American edition of The Huffington Post
said: "We can't honestly remember the last time Britney Spears looked so gorgeous in a music video" and deemed it as the best video from Femme Fatale. Erin Strecker Entertainment Weekly
also called it the best video of the album, and highlighted Spears' look, the ending scene and the "fun story". Katherine St Asaph of Popdust said it is "probably the best video of the Femme Fatale era." Tom Townshend of MSN
stated that although the video was not appropiate for Spears' younger fans, "[it] is actually rather compelling and feels more like a short film rather than a pop starlet's music video." A writer for VH1
said that part of the reason the video works is the comic sensibility between Spears and Marrs Piliero, explaining that "[it] point[s] to one of Spears's greatest talents: giving the impression that although she takes her career extremely seriously, she nevertheless doesn't take it too seriously." The critic summarized the review by saying that the video is "entertaining [as] a bad-girl adventure story, and her role here is essentially that of a (wait for it) femme fatale
."
Critics also commented on the Hackney controversy. Sarah Dean of the UK edition of The Huffington Post said: "If having a blonde, leather-clad superstar brandishing a gun at a shop owner's face isn't glamourising violence, I'm not sure what is" and added that, in essence, the video "seems more like an opportunity for her to live out her sexual fantasies than anything beneficial to music fans." Amanda Dobbins of New York
stated that "After viewing the final product, we're guessing [the local officials] probably won't be down with the shower sex, the regular sex, the domestic abuse, the armed robbery, or any of Britney's other questionable activities, either." Katherine St Asaph of Popdust joked about the situation, saying, "Britney Spears’ video for 'Criminal' is out, and gang recruitment is already up 200% since 8 a.m.! This has not happened." Marianne Garvey of the UK website of E! Online said, "With the 'fantasy' getting so hot and heavy and Britney stripping down to nothing, the guns are the last thing you notice."
said that although it is common to see pop stars being assaulted by men in their videos —exemplifying Rihanna
's "Man Down
"— the public is aware of Spears's vulnerability, explaining that "we believe she really would choose a guy who would do something like this to her." Rosenberg also stated even though her bad behaviour once she leaves her boyfriend is not directed at him, the fact that he treated her badly is a form of narrative permission for her to rob a store and have sex with the criminal. She also commented that the same narrative works on her previous video with Marrs Piliero for "I Wanna Go". The video received comparisons to Rihanna's "We Found Love
", which was released two days after "Criminal", on October 19, 2011. Among the similarities, critics noted that they were both filmed in the United Kingdom and arose controversy in the country; both contain scenes of sex, violence and crime; both feature bad boy archetypes and both evoke the personal lives of the artists. Katherine St Asaph found the opening line of Spears's boyfriend ("Would you try smiling just once?") a subtle dig at the press. She explained that there is a tendency among writers and spectators to call "her every smile plastered on or conservator
-mandated", and that the fact the line is delivered by her abusive boyfriend only makes it more evident. According to her, that there are two contradictory ways to analyze the relationship between Spears and Trawick as the criminal: it could be seen as him luring her into her life, but Spears is the one that kisses him and she is the first to pull the gun.
St Asaph explained that the only interpretation of the video lies on the opinion of each viewer about Spears's personal life, and how active a role each person imagines she plays in it. It was noted by St Asaph that although most pop stars release videos that draw from their personal lives, they do not make the viewer uncomfortable. The same cannot be said for Spears and Rihanna, and it does not matter if they themselves have moved on from past situations, because the discussion around them has not. St Asaph also expressed that neither Spears or Rihanna said much about the parallels to their lives, but that they do not need to: their videos are much more effective than anything they could reveal in an interview. Rae Alexandra of the SF Weekly also compared it to "We Found Love", saying that both videos feature an anti-British sentiment
. She wrote that all the villains in the video – her boyfriend and the policemen – are British, whereas her savior in the video is an American criminal. Alexandra noted that Spears and Rihanna chose to films their "grittiest videos" in a country with a lower crime rate than the United States, that is also so against guns that politicians felt the need to talk about it. According to her, the videos continue with a xenophobic portrayal of British people as villains by American pop culture.
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
from her seventh studio album, Femme Fatale
Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)
Femme Fatale is the seventh studio album by American recording artist Britney Spears. The album was released on March 25, 2011 by Jive Records . Recorded between 2009 and 2011, the album featured Spears working mainly alongside longtime collaborators Max Martin and Dr. Luke, who served as the...
. The Radio Mix of the song was released as the fourth single from the album. "Criminal" was written and produced by Max Martin
Max Martin
Martin Karl Sandberg, known professionally as Max Martin, is a Swedish music producer and songwriter. Raised in Stenhamra, a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden, he broke through as a producer and songwriter in the mid to late 1990s after crafting a string of hits for pop artists like the Backstreet Boys,...
and Shellback, with additional writing by Tiffany Amber. After Spears first listened to the song, she felt it was different and unlike anything she had heard before. She posted a snippet of it online on March 2, 2011, prior to the album's release. "Criminal" was chosen as a single by a poll on her Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page, as Spears explained it was a way to give back to her fans. The artwork for the single was released on September 14, 2011.
"Criminal" is a guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
-driven midtempo song, which incorporates a folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
-style flute melody. It is considered the only ballad in Femme Fatale, and is less agressive than the other songs of the album. "Criminal" is influenced by the works of ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
and Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
. In the song, Spears sings about being in love with a bad boy
Bad boy (archetype)
The bad boy, cad or bounder is a cultural archetype of a male who behaves badly, especially towards women.Being a promiscuous rogue may be as successful a reproductive strategy as the strategy of being a reliable provider. Evolutionary psychologist Professor Bill von Hippel claims that women are...
and outlaw
Outlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
, and pleads to her mother to not worry about their relationship. "Criminal" received positive critical appreciation, with reviewers praising its organic and refreshing feel in comparison with the rest of the album. After the release of Femme Fatale, the song charted on the South Korean International chart. "Criminal" has also charted in major markets such as Canada, France, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.
The accompanying music video for the song was filmed in Stoke Newington, London
Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross.-Boundaries:In modern terms, Stoke Newington can be roughly defined by the N16 postcode area . Its southern boundary with Dalston is quite ill-defined too...
. It features Spears as a woman in upper society and follows her relationship with a criminal, played by her real-life boyfriend Jason Trawick. Prior to its release, London officials criticized Spears for shooting scenes with a replica gun and glamorizing violence. The video received positive appreciation from critics, with some calling it the best video from Femme Fatale. Reviewers also noted the parallels between the storyline and themes of the video with Spears's personal life.
Background and artwork
"Criminal" was written in 2008 by Max Martin, Shellback and Tiffany Amber, and was produced by Martin and Shellback. Spears told MTV NewsMTV News
MTV News is the news division of MTV, one of the first and most popular music television network in the U.S., as well as some of MTV's related channels around the world. MTV News began in the late 1980s with the program The Week In Rock, hosted by Kurt Loder, the first official MTV News correspondent...
that after she first listened to the song, she felt it was different and unlike anything she had heard before.
In an interview with Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, Spears spoke about Martin's productions on Femme Fatale, saying, "Max played a huge role on this album and he has been there since the beginning so there is such a huge level of trust. He gets exactly what I am saying when I tell him what I want and don’t want musically".
Spears recorded her vocals at Maratone Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. The track was later mixed by Serban Ghenea
Serban Ghenea
Serban Ghenea is a four-time Grammy Award and three-time Latin Grammy Award-winning mixer. He has mixed songs for such artists as Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, Jewel, Santana, Ozomatli, Shakira, Jill Scott, R. Kelly, Rod Stewart, and Dave Matthews Band...
at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia Beach is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay...
. It was registered on Broadcast Music Incorporated
Broadcast Music Incorporated
Broadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...
under the legal title "In Love With a Criminal". On March 2, 2011, Spears posted on her Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
account a link to a 17-second clip of the song, deeming it as "one of [her] favorites".
On August 5, 2011, she launched a poll on her Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page asking fans whether her next single should be "Criminal", "Inside Out
Inside Out (Britney Spears song)
"Inside Out" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears, taken from her seventh studio album Femme Fatale . The electropop song is influenced by dubstep and R&B, and has been described as a "sexy breakup song". It was written by Jacob Kasher Hindlin and Bonnie McKee, while additional...
" or "(Drop Dead) Beautiful
(Drop Dead) Beautiful
" Beautiful" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears, taken from her seventh studio album Femme Fatale . The dance-pop song features American recording artist Sabi. Spears started recording songs for the album in 2009...
." After the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards
2011 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2011 MTV Video Music Awards took place on August 28, at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, honoring the best music videos from the previous year. On July 20, the nominees were announced...
, she revealed to MTV News that "Criminal" was chosen as the fourth single. On the British talk show This Morning
This Morning (TV series)
This Morning is a British daytime television programme broadcast on ITV. As of September 2011, its main presenters are Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, and Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, with various other presenters standing in for illness or contributing to sections of the programme.The...
, Spears explained that the song "was chosen by the fans. It was just cool to give something back to them and see what they would appreciate." The Radio Mix of "Criminal" was released a single on September 30, 2011 and the song was added to the United States mainstream radio playlists on October 4, 2011. The artwork for the single was released on September 14, 2011. It features Spears looking out into the distance, with her wavy hair falling on her bare back. A mysterious hooded man is also featured on the cover. Robbie Daw of Idolator
Idolator (website)
Idolator is a music blog. Created by the blog network Gawker Media in August 2006, Idolator was later sold to rival blog network Buzz Media, which also owns music blog Stereogum. From the 2007 departure of original head writer Brian Raftery until November 2009, the blog's head writer was Maura...
said that "it appears as if Camp Spears hired the best Photoshop expert $15 could buy when it came to designing the art. Oh, just kidding — we love red and blue! Makes us think of sex and, uh, ice-cold criminals. Or something." The Radio Mix of "Criminal" was included on her second remix album, B in the Mix: The Remixes Vol. 2
B in the Mix: The Remixes Vol. 2
B in the Mix: The Remixes Vol. 2 is the second remix album by Britney Spears, released on October 7, 2011 by RCA Records. On September 9, 2011, Spears announced the release by posting the cover art and track listing on her Tumblr...
.
Composition
"Criminal" is a guitar-driven midtempo song, which incorporates a [folk-style flute melody. Erin Thompson of the Seattle WeeklySeattle Weekly
Seattle Weekly is a freely distributed newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded by Darrell Oldham and David Brewster as The Weekly...
said the song "takes a breather from aggressive, wall-to-wall synths, driven instead by a steady guitar rhythm and an oddly Asian folky-sounding flute melody." It is considered the only ballad of the album. Thompson compared it to her past ballads, saying it is not "sappy" like "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman
I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman
"I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears. The song was written by Dido, with additional writing and song production by Max Martin and Rami Yacoub for Spears' third studio album, Britney . It was released on February 5, 2002 by Jive Records, as the...
" (2002) and not "teary-sad" like "Everytime
Everytime
"Everytime" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears from her fourth album, In the Zone. It was released on May 17, 2004, by Jive Records as the third single from the album. After Spears ended her relationship with pop singer Justin Timberlake, she made friends with her backing...
" (2004). "Criminal" is reminiscent of the music of ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
and Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, and the latter's albums Ray of Light
Ray of Light
Ray of Light is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on March 3, 1998 by Maverick Records and distributed by Warner Bros. Records. After giving birth to her daughter Lourdes, Madonna collaborated with Patrick Leonard and William Orbit in developing the album...
(1998) and American Life
American Life
American Life is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released on April 22, 2003 by Maverick Records and distributed by Warner Bros. Records. The album produced in its entirety by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï featured references to many parts of American culture...
(2003), according to David Buchanan of Consequence of Sound
Consequence of Sound
Consequence of Sound, also known often as CoS, is a Chicago-based music website featuring news, album and concert reviews, and editorials. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook micro-site, which serves as an on-line database for music festival news and rumors...
and Samesame.com.au
Samesame.com.au
Samesame.com.au is an Australian LGBT website created by Tim Duggan and a partner. The website is run by Sound Alliance in the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills...
, respectively. The beat
Beat (music)
The beat is the basic unit of time in music, the pulse of the mensural level . In popular use, the beat can refer to a variety of related concepts including: tempo, meter, rhythm and groove...
was compared by Keith Caufield of Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
to Madonna's "Don't Tell Me
Don't Tell Me (Madonna song)
"Don't Tell Me" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released as the second single from her eighth studio album Music on November 21, 2000 by Maverick Records. The single has sold around 4.5 million copies to date.-History:...
" (2000). Carl Wilson of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
said "Criminal" is "awkwardly pitched between rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
and ballad". The use of the flute was compared by Amy Sciarretto of PopCrush to the sample of "The Lonely Goatherd
The Lonely Goatherd
"The Lonely Goatherd" is a show tune from the musical The Sound of Music that makes use of yodelling.This song tells the whimsical story of a goatherd whose yodelling is heard from far off and by passers-by, until he falls in love with a girl who wears a pale-pink coat, with her mother joining in...
" from The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...
(1959) on Gwen Stefani
Gwen Stefani
Gwen Renée Stefani is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani is the lead vocalist for the rock and ska band No Doubt. Stefani recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in 2004. The album was inspired by music of the 1980s, and was a success with sales of over...
's "Wind It Up
Wind It Up (Gwen Stefani song)
"Wind It Up" is a song written by Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams originally for inclusion on Stefani's Harajuku Lovers Tour 2005. Because of favorable reception, the song was later recorded for her second solo album, The Sweet Escape...
" (2006).
In the verses, Spears sings about being in love with a bad boy and outlaw, in lyrics such as "He is a hustler / He's no good at all / He is a loser, he's a bum, bum, bum, bum" and "He is a bad boy with a tainted heart / And even I know this ain't smart". During the chorus
Chorus effect
In music, a chorus effect occurs when individual sounds with roughly the same timbre and nearly the same pitch converge and are perceived as one...
, she pleads to her mother not to worry in lines such as "But mama im in love with a criminal" and "Mama please don't cry / I will be alright." Andrew Leahey of The Washington Times
The Washington Times
The Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the...
and Erin Thompson of the Seattle Weekly compared the lyrics to those of Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach
Papa Don't Preach
"Papa Don't Preach" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna. The song was written by Brian Elliot with additional lyrics by Madonna, and produced by Stephen Bray and Madonna for her third studio album True Blue, released in June 1986...
" (1986), while David Bunachan compared them to Coolio
Coolio
Artis Leon Ivey Jr. , better known by the stage name Coolio, is an American musician, rapper, actor and record producer.-Late 80s:He recorded two singles in the late 80s, titled "Watcha Gonna Do" and "You're Gonna Miss Me"...
's "Mama I'm in Love Wit' a Gangsta" (1994). The words in the chorus end in 'al's syllables, as evident in lyrics such as "And this type of love isn't rational / It's physical". Keith Caufield noted that they were an unintentional nod to Supertramp
Supertramp
Supertramp are a British rock band formed in 1969 under the name Daddy before renaming to Supertramp in early 1970. Though their music was initially categorised as progressive rock, they have since incorporated a combination of traditional rock and art rock into their music...
's "The Logical Song
The Logical Song
"The Logical Song" is a hit single on Supertramp's 1979 album Breakfast in America, sung by band member Roger Hodgson. It is the band's biggest chart hit in both the United States and their native United Kingdom, and is among their most widely recognized radio hits.-Composition and Lyrics:"The...
" (1979). Thompson stated that Spears's vocals are less processed than on the rest of the album, while according to Amy Sciarretto they are "heavily auto-tuned
Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform apparently perfectly tuned vocal...
and studio-treated, [...] she delivers her lines in a monotone, robotic fashion."
Critical reception
Andy Gill of The IndependentThe Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
called it one of the higlights of Femme Fatale, along with "Till the World Ends
Till the World Ends
"Till the World Ends" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears, released as the second single from her seventh studio album, Femme Fatale. It was written and produced by Dr. Luke and Max Martin, with additional writing by Kesha and Alexander Kronlund, and additional production by...
". Gill also said that the album sounds more programmed than natural, commenting that "indeed, such is the shock when the final track, 'Criminal', opens with a little folksong-style flute and guitar figure that one's immediate reaction is that a Midlake
Midlake
Midlake is an American rock band from Denton, Texas. The band first gained popularity in Europe, signing to Bella Union Records and playing at festivals such as Les Inrockuptibles, Wintercase, End Of The Road Festival and South by Southwest.-History:...
soundfile has been accidentally appended to Britney's running-order." Amy Sciarretto of PopCrush gave the song four stars, explaining that "Only Brit can make a flute sound sexy. Seriously, few pop stars can pull off a flute and Brit does it with ease." Aaron-Spencer Charles of Metro said that "the verses, chorus and bridge all work perfectly for Ms. Spears, showing that she still has it from all those years ago." Erin Thompson of the Seattle Weekly called it her best vocal performance of the album, and added that "it has a spark and a mischievous sass to it – and these days anytime Britney shows even just a bit of her old liveliness and independence, we like it." Rudy Klapper of Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic, or simply Sputnik, is a music website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites...
commented the song "isn't exactly the progressive stylings of a Janelle Monae
Janelle Monáe
Janelle Monáe is an American R&B/soul musician signed to Bad Boy Records and Atlantic Records.Monáe debuted with a conceptual EP, Metropolis: Suite I ...
[sic
Sic
Sic—generally inside square brackets, [sic], and occasionally parentheses, —when added just after a quote or reprinted text, indicates the passage appears exactly as in the original source...
], but damn if it’s not catchy and interesting."
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
s Genevieve Koski claimed that the album "[i]s not all dance-floor narcotics", adding that "Inside Out", "Till the World Ends" and "Criminal" "add texture to the wall-to-wall synth waves and booty bass." Robert Copsey of Digital Spy
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....
said the production of Femme Fatale is "polished, intriguing and - best of all - fun", exemplifying "Inside Out", the piano breakdown in "Big Fat Bass
Big Fat Bass
"Big Fat Bass" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears. The song was written and produced by will.i.am for Spears' seventh studio album, Femme Fatale . The electropop song speaks about the bass clef and contains a double entendre gender metaphor. "Big Fat Bass" received mixed reviews...
" and the flute in "Criminal". Comparing the song to the music of Madonna, Samesame.com.au said that "after eleven tracks of bleeps, production tricks and absolutely nothing organic, it's nice to see the album closes with a nice guitar driven mid tempo track, 'Criminal’ [...]. Think a mix of ‘Love Profusion
Love Profusion
"Love Profusion" is the fourth and final single by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her 2003 studio album American Life. It was released by Maverick Records on December 8, 2003 in the UK, Europe and Australia and in North America on March 16, 2004. The song failed to match the chart success...
’ and ‘Intervention’ with better production and not half as preachy." No Ripcord
No Ripcord
No Ripcord is an online music and film magazine based in Sheffield, England.-History:The website was originally created in April 1999 by editor-in-chief David Coleman and A.M. Booth...
's Gary McGinley stated that Femme Fatale "is so synth-led that hearing the simple guitar lines on Criminal and He's About To Lose Me (from the Deluxe Edition) is refreshing." Natalie Shaw of the BBC Online commented that "Criminal" "with its teenage lyrics [...] on top of a fairytale flute melody and a rhythm so summery it manages to completely set itself free from the rest of the album."
David Buchanan of Consequence of Sound found that Femme Fatale "is entirely rescued by backtracking to Circus
Circus (Britney Spears album)
Circus is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Britney Spears. The album was first released on November 28, 2008 by Jive Records. Spears started work on the album in early 2008 with a range of producers including long-time producers Bloodshy & Avant and Danja...
-style material, with Rihanna
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...
-esque 'Gasoline', and the Ray Of Light-era Madonna influence in closing song 'Criminal'. Katherine St Asaph of Popdust said that as "a bad-boy track, it at least makes a bit more lyrical sense than 'Judas
Judas (song)
"Judas" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga, taken from her second studio album Born This Way . The song was released worldwide on April 15, 2011, four days ahead of its scheduled release, by Interscope Records. Written and produced by Lady Gaga and RedOne, "Judas" is a dance song that...
' and is more vulnerable than her past few singles, which is probably a good career move." Keith Caufield of Billboard commented that "while some of the lyrics are a teensy clunky at times - [it] is a fitting closer to a nearly-completely excellent album." Los Angeles Times writer Carl Wilson stated that the album's momentum "flags only on the closing 'Criminal', with its formless Renaissance fair
Renaissance Fair
A Renaissance fair, Renaissance faire, or Renaissance festival is an outdoor weekend gathering, usually held in the United States, open to the public and typically commercial in nature, which emulates a historic period for the amusement of its guests. Some are permanent theme parks, others are...
flute line and a tempo [that is] joyless". Thomas Conner of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
considered "Criminal", along with "Inside Out", "weak mid-tempo fare" songs. Eric R. Danton of the Hartford Courant deemed the song as "an eye-rolling homage to those oh-so-attractive bad boys that good girls lust for in spite of themselves." Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
, senior editor of Allmusic, called it "a lousy song".
Chart performance
Following the release of Femme Fatale, "Criminal" reached number fifty-one on South Korea's GAONGaon Chart
The Gaon Chart is a national record chart of South Korea. It is complied by the Korea Music Content Industry Association and sponsored by South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism; with an aim to create a national chart for Korea similar to the Billboard charts and Oricon charts...
International Chart, due to digital sales. On September 26, 2011, the song debuted at number forty on the US Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Pop Songs
Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs)
The Mainstream Top 40 is an airplay chart from Billboard magazine, and is also known as Pop Songs on billboard.com. It was often mistaken for and confused with the now discontinued Pop 100 Airplay chart...
. On October 5, 2011, "Criminal" entered on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles
The Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States. It lists the top 25 singles below number 100 that have not yet charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Sometimes, however, singles halt their progress on this chart, and never appear on the Hot 100...
chart at number twenty-one. Two weeks later, it debuted on the Hot 100 at number ninety-two. It then rose to a new peak of 66. The song also entered Canadian Hot 100
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...
at number eighty-three, reaching a new peak of sixty-three a week later. In Brazil, the song reached number nine on Billboard Hot Pop Songs
Billboard Brasil
Billboard Brasil is a monthly Brazilian magazine launched on October 10, 2009, with a print-run of over 40,000 copies. It is distributed nationwide by Brazil's biggest distributor Dinap...
, and number sixty-one on the country's Hot 100 Airplay. "Criminal" also achieved moderate success in Europe, reaching the top-forty in Belgium (Flanders), France and Sweden.
Development
I Wanna Go
"I Wanna Go" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears, released as the third single from her seventh studio album, Femme Fatale. It was written and produced by Max Martin and Shellback, with additional writing by Savan Kotecha. Spears first posted a snippet of the track in February...
", to work with her. She told him the basic story she had planned, which he described as a "fairy-tale, sweet, knight-in-shining-armor feel to it. I said let's take that and make the fairy tale badass." Spears also wanted her real-life boyfriend Jason Trawick to play the criminal. Marrs Piliero was initially hesitant to cast Trawick feeling that a professional actor would do a better job, but did not talk to Spears about it. He told USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
, "When you're doing nudity, I don't think it was at the top of Britney's list to bring in some random guy while her boyfriend watches. [...] We definitely wanted to make some passionate, steamy scenes, but we also wanted it to be intensely beautiful. We didn't want to go for raunchy. We wanted it to be sensual and steamy." On September 6, 2011, Spears announced through her Twitter account that she had decided to shoot the video "in the streets of merry old England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
when I get there." In an interview with AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
, she explained, "I've never shot on location out of the country of America for a video. So, it should be very interesting. It was partly my idea ... to see if it could to happen, and they were like, 'Yeah, it's a great idea,' so we did it."
The music video for "Criminal" was shot in Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross.-Boundaries:In modern terms, Stoke Newington can be roughly defined by the N16 postcode area . Its southern boundary with Dalston is quite ill-defined too...
, a district of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, on the weekend of September 17, 2011. Marrs Piliero hired model Freddy Bradshaw to play Spears' boyfriend in his first acting role. He approached working with Trawick as a challenge, explaining, "I went into it like, 'Wow, he's not an actor. This is going to be interesting,' but [...] I really do like the idea that I'm a director and my job is to direct and get the performance. [...] For me, it was a fun challenge to be like, 'I'm gonna make sure that you are awesome,' and he was." On September 17, 2011, MTV UK reported that the video would "see her embark Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow were well-known outlaws, robbers, and criminals who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public during the "public enemy era" between 1931 and 1934...
-style crime spree across the capital." The following day, pictures of Spears and Trawick on the set of the video were posted online. They were both walking out of a convenience store
Convenience store
A convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...
while carrying guns. With This Morning, Spears explained that video is "about a girl in upper society and the way she lives her life is totally different to the person she's in love with. And it's about bringing those two totally different characters together and what happens." On October 9, 2011, Marrs Piliero posted on his Twitter account about the video, "Not a whole lot I'm allowed to say about [it] other than that I love this video and can't wait for it to come out. Oh and that [Spears] looks gorgeous in it... pretty sure it's cool for me to say that..."
Synopsis
The video begins at a formal party in which Spears seems to be looking for someone. The opening shot of her was inspired by the scene of Jennifer Love HewittJennifer Love Hewitt
Jennifer Love Hewitt is an American actress, producer, television director and former singer-songwriter. Hewitt began her acting career as a child by appearing in television commercials and the Disney Channel series Kids Incorporated...
walking into the party in Can't Hardly Wait
Can't Hardly Wait
Can't Hardly Wait is a 1998 American teen comedy film written and directed by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont. It stars Ethan Embry, Charlie Korsmo, Lauren Ambrose, Peter Facinelli, Seth Green, and Jennifer Love Hewitt, and is notable for a number of "before-they-were-famous" appearances by various...
(1998). Her boyfriend (Bradshaw) talks with two people next to her. He then verbally abuses her and grabs her face, after which she leaves to the toilet, where she wipes a tear and puts on her fragrance Radiance
Radiance (fragrance)
Radiance is a women's fragrance and ninth released by Britney Spears for Elizabeth Arden, September 2010. Spears first revealed the fragrance in her Twitter account, later revealing through the same social network an advertisement, which features the singer in a long silver dress, that was later...
. She comes back to the party and sees her boyfriend flirting with another woman; Spears tells her "So you're not working the street corner tonight I see?", making her boyfriend angry. He then grabs Spears by the arm and carries her outside the building. After he slaps her, one of the waiters of the party (Trawick) wearing a leather jacket punches her boyfriend several times. The waiter asks Spears if she is okay, and after she kicks her boyfriend in the crotch, she replies "Now I'm okay." She and the waiter climb on his motorcycle and leave the scene. When they get to his house, it is revealed by a newspaper that he is a criminal. She opens one of the lockers in his house and finds a gun, after which the couple kisses. This is followed by scenes of them having sex.
The next morning, the criminal brings Spears breakfast to the bed. He has several tattoos in his body, including one on his chest that reads "R.I.P. Goose", a reference to the film Top Gun
Top Gun
Top Gun may refer to:* Top Gun is a 1986 film starring Tom Cruise.**Top Gun , soundtrack to the movie**Top Gun , a number of games based on the movie...
(1986). They go to a convenience store where she steals vanilla candles and points the gun to the employee; the criminal takes money out of the cash register and they escape by stealing a Citroën DS3
Citroën DS3
The Citroën DS3 is a supermini, produced by French manufacturer Citroën from 2009. This is the first car in the new DS range from Citroën. It was first hinted by the concept car Citroën DS Inside. This range of vehicle shares no common feature with, and is in no way the successor to, the Citroën DS...
. The robbery is caught by the security cameras, and pictures of the couple appear on the local news. There are scenes of them having sex in the shower. As they change clothes, several policemen then appear outside the criminal's house; they start shooting it as Spears and the man kiss passionately. The policemen then enter the house, and one of them confirms that the couple escaped. The video ends with Spears and the criminal escaping on the motorcycle as the credits roll. One of them reads "No vanilla candles were harmed in the making of this music video." The video also includes intercut scenes of Spears performing dance moves similar to voguing
Vogue (dance)
Vogue or voguing is a highly stylized, modern house dance that evolved out of the Harlem ballroom scene in the 1960s. It gained mainstream exposure when it was featured in Madonna's song and video "Vogue" , and when showcased in the 1990 documentary Paris is Burning...
.
UK controversy
After pictures of Spears and Trawick carrying replica guns on set surfaced online, the Hackney London Borough CouncilHackney London Borough Council
Hackney London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Hackney in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. The council is unusual in the United Kingdom local government system in that its executive function...
criticized her for "promoting gun violence", since the area had been badly affected by the 2011 England riots
2011 England riots
Between 6 and 10 August 2011, several London boroughs and districts of cities and towns across England suffered widespread rioting, looting and arson....
. The Council told London Tonight
London Tonight
London Tonight is a regional news programme broadcast on ITV London . Produced by ITN, the programme is broadcast at 6pm every weeknight, also including local sports news and local features of interest.Like all regional news programmes on ITV in England and Wales and Channel Television, it uses...
that they had not agreed to the use of replica guns at Stoke Newington Town Hall, and that they would be raising the matter with the production company. Councillor Ian Rathbone added that Spears should apologize and make a sizeable donation to a Hackney charity "for the rudeness and damage she's done to this community." When asked if she thought the council was overreacting, Hackney MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
Diane Abbott
Diane Abbott
Diane Julie Abbott is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987, when she became the first black woman to be elected to the House of Commons...
insisted: "It is only a music video but it's images like this, with popstars glamorising gangs, which means that some young people... get drawn in. Britney should really know better." Rae Alexandra of the SF Weekly
SF Weekly
SF Weekly is a free alternative weekly newspaper in San Francisco, California. The newspaper, distributed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area every Wednesday, is published by Village Voice Media, a 16-paper alt weekly newspaper chain that also includes the New York City Village Voice and the Los...
explained that the United Kingdom "is not a place that readily embraces guns. Rather, it's a place where guns are rare, gun licensing is tightly controlled, and the entire establishment has been in a panic about gun use on its streets for the last three years." On September 26, 2011, Spears' representatives released a statement to MTV News saying, "The video is a fantasy story featuring Britney's boyfriend, Jason Trawick, which literally plays out the lyrics of a song written three years before the riots ever happened." The production company apologized to the Council before the release of the video. Marrs Piliero stated about the controversy,
"Holding the gun became a controversial thing 'cause we filmed it in London, and they don't have a lot of gun use out there. That doesn't mean that there's no gun use, so I did find it really interesting. For me, the thing is, it blew me away that members of [the British] Parliament were speaking about this. One, because it's a music video, and two, because don't you guys have television shows out there that show crime? It's really strange to me. I don't understand why pop stars are put on such a high pedestal over other celebrities. Why do members of Parliament feel that they need to scrutinize her for having a gun, and 'She's in the public,' and 'She should know better,' and 'She's a role model,' but what about every other celebrity out there? What about every other actor? That's very strange to me. I was really surprised at how much the gun use was scrutinized. [Trawick plays] a a professional criminal, so it makes sense he has a gun. We shouldn't censor ourselves."
Release and reception
The video was ranked at number ten on a list of the ten most controversial music videos in pop by AOL on September 29, 2011. Spears announced through her Twitter account on October 13, 2011, that the video would be released the following week. On October 17, 2011, she posted five GIFGIF
The Graphics Interchange Format is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability....
files with scenes from the video on her Tumblr
Tumblr
Tumblr is a website and microblogging platform that allows users to post text, images, videos, links, quotes and audio to their tumblelog, a short-form blog. Users can follow other users, or choose to make their tumblelog private. The service emphasizes ease of use. The site ranks as the 10th...
. The video was released the same day on the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
; it reached the top position on its chart within minutes. Becky Bain of Idolator called it "an epic mini-movie, full of romance, intrigue [...] [with] a whole lot of unnecessary PDA
Public display of affection
Public displays of affection are acts of physical intimacy in the view of others. What are acceptable displays of affection vary between cultures as well as to time and context. Which acts are acceptable have also varied over time...
between Brit and her beau. It was full of passion, joy and just a little touch of madness — just like its star." Bain also noted several influences, such as Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
films and the music videos for Spears' "Toxic
Toxic (song)
"Toxic" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears, co-written and produced by Bloodshy & Avant, from her fourth album, In the Zone. It was released on January 12, 2004, by Jive Records as the second single from the album. After trying to choose between " Boom Boom" and "Outrageous" to...
" (2004) and Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
’s "21 Guns
21 Guns (song)
"21 Guns" is a song by American rock band Green Day. It was released as the second single from their eighth album, 21st Century Breakdown. The single was released through Reprise Records on May 25, 2009 as a digital download and July 14, 2009 as a CD single...
" (2009). A writer for Rolling Stone also compared it to a Hitchcock film and deemed the opening scene as "a tribute to Old Hollywood". The reviewer found the scenes of physical abuse "surprising" and called the acting "stiff", but said that "from there on out, we're in the usual comfort zone of a Britney video – sexy dancing, sexy vamping – with the added bonus of gratuitous PDA between the pop star and her real-life boyfriend."
USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
s Ann Oldenburg described the video as sexy and "pretty personal." Kenneth Partridge of AOL commented, "Packed with sex, violence and questionable acting, the new Britney Spears video, 'Criminal,' has all the trappings of a midnight movie." A reporter from the American edition of The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
said: "We can't honestly remember the last time Britney Spears looked so gorgeous in a music video" and deemed it as the best video from Femme Fatale. Erin Strecker Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
also called it the best video of the album, and highlighted Spears' look, the ending scene and the "fun story". Katherine St Asaph of Popdust said it is "probably the best video of the Femme Fatale era." Tom Townshend of MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
stated that although the video was not appropiate for Spears' younger fans, "[it] is actually rather compelling and feels more like a short film rather than a pop starlet's music video." A writer for VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
said that part of the reason the video works is the comic sensibility between Spears and Marrs Piliero, explaining that "[it] point[s] to one of Spears's greatest talents: giving the impression that although she takes her career extremely seriously, she nevertheless doesn't take it too seriously." The critic summarized the review by saying that the video is "entertaining [as] a bad-girl adventure story, and her role here is essentially that of a (wait for it) femme fatale
Femme fatale
A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...
."
Critics also commented on the Hackney controversy. Sarah Dean of the UK edition of The Huffington Post said: "If having a blonde, leather-clad superstar brandishing a gun at a shop owner's face isn't glamourising violence, I'm not sure what is" and added that, in essence, the video "seems more like an opportunity for her to live out her sexual fantasies than anything beneficial to music fans." Amanda Dobbins of New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
stated that "After viewing the final product, we're guessing [the local officials] probably won't be down with the shower sex, the regular sex, the domestic abuse, the armed robbery, or any of Britney's other questionable activities, either." Katherine St Asaph of Popdust joked about the situation, saying, "Britney Spears’ video for 'Criminal' is out, and gang recruitment is already up 200% since 8 a.m.! This has not happened." Marianne Garvey of the UK website of E! Online said, "With the 'fantasy' getting so hot and heavy and Britney stripping down to nothing, the guns are the last thing you notice."
Themes and analysis
Alyssa Rosenberg of ThinkProgressThinkProgress
ThinkProgress is an American political blog edited by Faiz Shakir that "provide[s] a forum that advances progressive ideas and policies". It is an outlet of the Center for American Progress.-Sections:...
said that although it is common to see pop stars being assaulted by men in their videos —exemplifying Rihanna
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...
's "Man Down
Man Down
"Man Down" is a song performed by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fifth studio album Loud . The song was sent to US rhythmic and urban radios on May 3, 2011 and was released as the album's sixth overall single in the United States as well as in certain countries internationally...
"— the public is aware of Spears's vulnerability, explaining that "we believe she really would choose a guy who would do something like this to her." Rosenberg also stated even though her bad behaviour once she leaves her boyfriend is not directed at him, the fact that he treated her badly is a form of narrative permission for her to rob a store and have sex with the criminal. She also commented that the same narrative works on her previous video with Marrs Piliero for "I Wanna Go". The video received comparisons to Rihanna's "We Found Love
We Found Love
"We Found Love" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, from her sixth studio album Talk That Talk . The song features Scottish singer-songwriter Calvin Harris. "We Found Love" was released as the lead single from the album and premiered on September 22, 2011, in the United Kingdom on the...
", which was released two days after "Criminal", on October 19, 2011. Among the similarities, critics noted that they were both filmed in the United Kingdom and arose controversy in the country; both contain scenes of sex, violence and crime; both feature bad boy archetypes and both evoke the personal lives of the artists. Katherine St Asaph found the opening line of Spears's boyfriend ("Would you try smiling just once?") a subtle dig at the press. She explained that there is a tendency among writers and spectators to call "her every smile plastered on or conservator
Conservatorship
Conservatorship is a legal concept in the United States of America, where an entity or organization is subjected to the legal control of an external entity or organization, known as a conservator. Conservatorship is established either by court order or via a statutory or regulatory authority...
-mandated", and that the fact the line is delivered by her abusive boyfriend only makes it more evident. According to her, that there are two contradictory ways to analyze the relationship between Spears and Trawick as the criminal: it could be seen as him luring her into her life, but Spears is the one that kisses him and she is the first to pull the gun.
St Asaph explained that the only interpretation of the video lies on the opinion of each viewer about Spears's personal life, and how active a role each person imagines she plays in it. It was noted by St Asaph that although most pop stars release videos that draw from their personal lives, they do not make the viewer uncomfortable. The same cannot be said for Spears and Rihanna, and it does not matter if they themselves have moved on from past situations, because the discussion around them has not. St Asaph also expressed that neither Spears or Rihanna said much about the parallels to their lives, but that they do not need to: their videos are much more effective than anything they could reveal in an interview. Rae Alexandra of the SF Weekly also compared it to "We Found Love", saying that both videos feature an anti-British sentiment
Anti-British sentiment
Anti-British sentiment is prejudice, fear or hatred against the British Government, the culture or the people of the United Kingdom, or its Overseas territories.-Argentina:...
. She wrote that all the villains in the video – her boyfriend and the policemen – are British, whereas her savior in the video is an American criminal. Alexandra noted that Spears and Rihanna chose to films their "grittiest videos" in a country with a lower crime rate than the United States, that is also so against guns that politicians felt the need to talk about it. According to her, the videos continue with a xenophobic portrayal of British people as villains by American pop culture.
Track listing
-
- Digital download
- "Criminal" (Radio Mix) – 3:45
-
- German digital single
- "Criminal" (Radio Mix) – 3:45
- "Criminal" (Varsity Team Radio Remix) – 4:23
-
- Digital Remixes EP
- Criminal (DJ Laszlo Mixshow Edit) - 5:20
- Criminal (DJ Laszlo Club Mix) - 6:53
- Criminal (Tom Piper & Riddler Remix) - 5:50
- Criminal (Varsity Team Extended Remix) - 6:36
- Criminal (Varsity Team Mixshow)
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from Femme Fatale booklet liner notes.- Britney SpearsBritney SpearsBritney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
– lead and background vocals - Max MartinMax MartinMartin Karl Sandberg, known professionally as Max Martin, is a Swedish music producer and songwriter. Raised in Stenhamra, a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden, he broke through as a producer and songwriter in the mid to late 1990s after crafting a string of hits for pop artists like the Backstreet Boys,...
– songwriter, producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and keyboards - Shellback – songwriter, producer, keyboards and guitar
- Tiffany Amber – songwriter
- Chau Phan – background vocals
- John Hanes – engineeringAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
- Tim Roberts – engineering
- Serban GheneaSerban GheneaSerban Ghenea is a four-time Grammy Award and three-time Latin Grammy Award-winning mixer. He has mixed songs for such artists as Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, Jewel, Santana, Ozomatli, Shakira, Jill Scott, R. Kelly, Rod Stewart, and Dave Matthews Band...
– audio mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
Charts
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Brazil (Billboard Billboard Brasil Billboard Brasil is a monthly Brazilian magazine launched on October 10, 2009, with a print-run of over 40,000 copies. It is distributed nationwide by Brazil's biggest distributor Dinap... Hot 100 Brasil Hot 100 Airplay Brasil Hot 100 Airplay is the official music singles charts in Brazil. It has been compiled by Crowley Broadcast Analysis and published monthly by Billboard Brasil since the release of the magazine, in October 2009.... ) |
61 |
| Brazil (Billboard Hot Pop Songs Billboard Brasil Billboard Brasil is a monthly Brazilian magazine launched on October 10, 2009, with a print-run of over 40,000 copies. It is distributed nationwide by Brazil's biggest distributor Dinap... ) |
9 |
| Canada (Canadian Hot 100 Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007... ) |
16 |
| Finland (Suomen virallinen lista) | 11 |
| South Korea (International Chart) (GAON Gaon Chart The Gaon Chart is a national record chart of South Korea. It is complied by the Korea Music Content Industry Association and sponsored by South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism; with an aim to create a national chart for Korea similar to the Billboard charts and Oricon charts... ) |
51 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
55 |
| US Pop Songs Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) The Mainstream Top 40 is an airplay chart from Billboard magazine, and is also known as Pop Songs on billboard.com. It was often mistaken for and confused with the now discontinued Pop 100 Airplay chart... (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... ) |
19 |
Radio and release history
| Country | Date | Format | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | September 30, 2011 | Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
RCA Records RCA Records RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label... |
| Italy | |||
| Netherlands | |||
| Norway | |||
| Switzerland | |||
| United States | October 4, 2011 | ||
| Canada | |||
| United States | October 4, 2011 | Mainstream Contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts... radio |
|
| Germany | November 11, 2011 | Digital download | |
| United States | December 6, 2011 | Digital Remixes EP | |
| United Kingdom | December 11, 2011 |