“Piece of me” was another successful single for Britney. Although it only peaked at No.18 on the Billboard Hot 100, it achieved high placements in many other counties, including No.2 in the UK, where it remained in the Top 40 for many weeks. “Rolling Stone” magazine placed it at No.15 in their “100 best songs of the year” and the video won 3 MTV awards - despite Britney’s stated opinion that it wasn’t one of her best.

If there is one song that stuck the label of “synthesized vocals” on Britney, it has to be this one. So lets have a look at the allegation that her vocals on “Piece of Me” are heavily processed. If you listen carefully on high-quality headphones you can detect a slight electronic fuzzing of her vocals at just four points in the song, and none of them amounts to more than a few words. They are as follows: “in the Philippines”, “flippin’ me off”, “are you kiddin’ me” and “please” (as in “I mean, please...”)

The more extensive part of the vocals that sounds synthesized is the “You want a piece, piece of me....” section at 2.22. But this isn’t Britney. It’s Robyn Carlsson, the respected Swedish singer who sings “You want a piece of me” at the end of each verse and alternately in the chorus. Many bloggers on the internet have pointed out that these phrases are relics retained from Robyn’s original demo recording of “Piece of Me”.

So why do so many people have the mistaken impression that Britney’s vocals are Vocoderized on this track? I believe the reason lies in the odd structure of the song. The “melody” of the verse, and indeed of the chorus too, consists of only two notes. It therefore sounds strangely flat and mechanical. No doubt this was an intentional device, meant to show Britney’s pissed-off attitude to the media. For her to do her part, she has to sound robotic - as if her freedom of will has been stolen by the constant scrutiny and snide comment.

Clearly it would be ridiculous for Britney to try and sound oppressed and alienated most of the time but burst into cheerful song every few seconds, so various devices are used to inject melody into the track and make it more listener-friendly. Firstly, the phrase “You want a piece of me” DOES have melody - in fact more than one. But, although it’s repeated constantly, in various forms, Britney only sings it twice, where it flows from the verse at 0.25 and 0.39, and on each occasion you can still hear Robyn in the background. In fact, at the end of Verse 4 she sings “Do you want a piece of me?” while Britney is singing “You want a piece of me?” Verse 5 departs a long way from the robotic 2-note melody. And, finally, there is tunefulness to be found amongst the instrumental tracks.

Real musicians and real instruments are featured, although this may seem to have been an ideal opportunity to use nothing but electronic noises. Bloodshy and Avant play real keyboards, bass and guitar as well as creating programmed sounds. There is additional guitar by Henrik Jonback and additional bass by Klas Ahlund. The track begins with a powerful and memorable synth figure, bass thumps, electronic yelps and remarkably industrial-sounding electronic handclaps and clanking noises. There are occasional bass synth swoops. During the chorus, synth sounds swirl around and a bass melody is introduced, adding a new dynamic energy and making the chorus seem louder and more vivid. There is a frolicsome little keyboard melody at 2.24 and the synth plays a more atonal tune from 3.14 till the end.

The fifth verse is a curiosity. As mentioned above, the two-note melody gives way to some startling and unanticipated leaps, some of them in the middle of a word. It would be easy to read too much into this in asking “Why?” Probably Bloodshy and Avant just wanted to make it sound more fun and interesting and inventive. But it would also be natural to speculate that this verse symbolizes Britney’s ability to do the unexpected and to be an unending source of entertainment.

The “layout” of the track is simple, if you listen on headphones and imagine your head as a soundstage. In the verses, all the vocals are at center, except when Britney sings “You want a piece of me?” when reverb is added at left and right. During the chorus, Britney’s vocals are at left and right while “You want a piece of me?” is at center. Most of the instrumental tracks hover around a very narrow stereo spread on either side of center, except for the bass swoops, which are more widely separated.

“Piece of Me” is a huge contrast to “Gimme More”. Where the latter is possibly over-produced, and as layered as an onion, the former seems simplistic and rather primitive. The fact that Robyn’s demo vocal can be heard behind Britney’s voice on a couple of occasions seems more like a mistake than a cunning example of the producer’s art. It sometimes appears that Bloodshy and Avant are more interested in freshness and inventiveness than in studio craft.

As a resullt, from the point of view of those interested in Britney’s vocal performance the track is a paradox. The simple layout and lack of “busy-ness” gives Britney plenty of room to shine, but the robotic concept of the song and lack of melody take back with one hand most of what was given with the other. She sings as well as the song allows, and indeed it is difficult to imagine how anyone could sing it any better. Yet the synth-heavy context casts an electronic-sounding shadow over everything.

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