Britney Spears tackles the difficult third album

Picture this - you are a world-famous pop princess with a sugar-candy reputation. But alas, you are in danger of running out of steam and need to bolster your career. What to do?

Well, get yourself a top-notch clutch of songwriters and producers. Take an adventurous risk. And that's your niche in the pop pantheon sorted for another few years, isn't it?

Britney Spears faces that challenge as she hurtles out of her teenage years. And the crown-princess of pop's third album - entitled Britney - sees her plump for an image overhaul and musical transformation.

The first single lifted from the new collection startled many a music pundit with its daring new sound - tribal, thumping, sassy and downright naughty.

And in the video to I'm A Slave 4 U, Britney is all hot and bothered.

But those worried that the sweet, all-American girl lass has left her youthful fan base bewildered at the door need not fret, for this album fails to be the radical transformation we all hoped for.

Britney's collaboration with achingly cool producers The Neptunes only extends to one other song, which has all the infectious jumpiness of I'm A Slave. In Boys, she breathes on about "shaking her thang" and tells us she's all woman now.

Another new string to Britney's bow is the heavy influence of R&B, which oozes through on a peppering of tracks. She is having a nudge at Jennifer Lopez and attempting to join the ranks of grown-up lady pop divas.

Some efforts aren't bad. Let Me Be is a grower which really gets into the urban groove, with twangy breakbeats that gently remind us of the late Aaliyah.

The pacy Before The Goodbye sees Britney keeping up with some fast patter in a number which evolves into a disco toe-tapper.

But the other half of the album fails to impress, as the star has decided to stay true to her young fans.

Overprotected has strong sounds but is smashed to a pulp by zealous overproduction, while Cinderella has been put through the mill too.

Britney blesses us with a comical interlude, covering the classic Arrows track I Love Rock 'N' Roll. But with her Bambi voice and wishy-washy arrangement, it sounds ridiculous next to Joan Jett and the Blackhearts' growling version.

Her rock chick-raunchy goddess guise falls to pieces when Britney bleats on about love, with boyfriend Justin Timberlake co-writing a track and warbling in the background for full-on schmaltz.

Sexiness

This album shows that Britney's transition is a half-cooked one. She switches on the sexiness when it suits her, but cannot leave the pig-tailed teenager of Baby One More Time behind.

And then there is the question of her voice, which at times sounds like a pixie on helium and has precious little class.

But this is a start. Britney is cleverer than you think, knowing she must pull something out of the bag to sustain her career in pop music.

Let's hope next time she goes hell-for-leather and leaves her teenage past way, way behind.