“I’ve poured my heart and soul into this album over the last 2 years. I’ve put everything I have into it” said Britney Spears last month of her seventh studio album. But don’t be fooled into thinking ‘Femme Fatale’ is an emotionally resonant epic: this is a twelve-track assault of uptempo floorfillers almost completely devoid of any substance, deep meaning, or the potential to transform music as we know it. But in spite of all that, this may just be her best album yet.

Despite a decade-long career of amazing singles, Brit’s always struggled to string together a consistently brilliant LP; perhaps coming closest with 2004′s ‘In The Zone’ and 2007′s ‘Blackout’. And in fact, it’s ‘Blackout’ with which ‘Femme Fatale’ has the most in common. She’s back in the club, getting “a little hazaaaay” and driving numerous gentlemen crazy, but this time she actually sounds like she’s having a blast, as opposed to being a general drunken mess. That spunky charisma is liberally applied left, right and centre; and some of this stuff is her most empowering and euphoric yet; particularly the virtually flawless, Ke$ha-written ‘Till The World Ends’.

Of course, we should acknowledge that the quality of the record is almost completely down to the producers and songwriters. Spears hasn’t troubled her own notepad at all on this album, and the army of A-list knob-twiddlers have been rather generous with the auto-tune as well. The result is an album that still carries that authentic Britney Spears sound, but admittedly owes the vast majority of its brilliance to executive producers Dr Luke and Max Martin, who are on top of their game throughout. ‘I Wanna Go’ has got FUTURE SINGLE plastered all over it, ‘Seal It With A Kiss’ is begging for a spin in a packed nightclub, and  ’Gasoline’ keeps the momentum going right to the back end of the set. will.i.am’s ‘Big Fat Bass’ is a triumph we weren’t expecting, and the brilliant ‘Trip To Your Heart’ is the closest this ballad-free collection gets to really slowing down the tempo (think ‘Blackout’s ‘Heaven On Earth’).

2011 marks Spears’ twelfth year as a global megastar, and loaded with twelve club-ready anthems, ‘Femme Fatale’ is an album that shows the Lady Gagas and Ke$has who’s (still) boss. Spears may not be the able singer she was back in 1999, and she may not be bothered about picking up a pen to jot down a few of lyrics of her own; but when the production is this good and the tunes this addictive, who are we to ‘Hold It Against’ her?