Britney Spears is making her comeback — again. First step: release a catchy single. And so, on Friday Britney’s song “Womanizer” finally hit airwaves, four days after its scheduled release and a week after a snippet was leaked.
    
The song is an upbeat if slightly repetitive electropop number lasting about 3:40. It comes off Spears’ album “Circus,” which is set to be released on her 27th birthday on Dec. 2. The song was produced by The Outsyders, a group based in Atlanta.
    
It has lyrics that include: “You say I’m crazy/ I got your crazy/You’re nothing but a womanizer” In the song’s chorus, Britney sings, “Boy, don’t try to front/I-I know just-just what you are/Womanizer, you’re a womanizer, baby.”
    
It remains to be seen what Britney’s fans think of the song, but it’s definitely catchy. In a snap judgment, the Los Angeles Times music blog Soundboard reached the conclusion that “Britney is back. She actually seems to be awake this time.”

Last year in late August, Britney released a song, “Gimme More,” which was also billed as a “comeback” tunes after months of Britney finding herself making headlines for erratic behavior. At that time, she was embroiled in a bitter custody battle over her two sons with ex-husband Kevin Federline.

She sang “Gimme More” at the MTV Video Music Awards in September ‘07, but was  panned by fans and critics. By January of this year, she found herself in a Los Angeles-area hospital under psychiatric evaluation.

But since February, after her father and lawyers took control of her affairs, Britney has seemed to be on the mend. In fact, at this year’s MTV VMAs, Britney won three awards for her song, “Piece of Me.”

So one wonders: could this “comeback” be the real deal.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)

Eleven months after her disastrous performance on the MTV Video Music Awards, pop star Britney Spears is back to promote this year’s show, appearing in a series of upcoming promotional ads shot with a real-life, 9,000-pound elephant literally in the room with her.

The 10- to 30-second promos were recorded earlier this week on the Paramount studio lot in Hollywood, site of this year’s show, featuring Spears giving tongue-in-cheek hosting advice to the new emcee, British comedian Russell Brand from the recent film “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” An MTV spokeswoman says the mostly ad-libbed spots, in which the elephant poses in the background, will begin airing this coming weekend.

The 25th annual edition of the Video Music Awards, long considered a looser, hipper version of the Grammys, will be broadcast live on MTV on Sept. 7, returning to Los Angeles for the first time in a decade.

Spears, coming off two marriages, two children and two stints in rehab, sought to launch a comeback on last year’s show with a performance of the song “Gimme More.” Instead, she drew a torrent of ridicule for lumbering around on stage in an ill-fitting black bikini as she awkwardly lip-synced her way through the dance number. The incident proved a publicity bomb for Spears but a ratings boon for MTV.

With Spears said to be back in the recording studio this summer working on her next album, and her personal life more or less back in order, the big question is whether she would dare venture a return engagement on the Video Music Awards. Hence, the presence of the 9,000-pound pachyderm in the commercials she filmed this week.

MTV is making the most of the suspense for now, refusing to say whether Spears, 26, might appear as either a presenter or performer on next month’s show. She’s nominated for two awards — best female video and best pop video, both for the song “Piece of Me.”