Genre: Dance/POP/House/Hip-Hop
Running time: 50:00
In the Zone is the fourth studio album by American singer Britney Spears. It was released on November 12, 2003, by Jive Records. Its music incorporates dance, house, reggae, trip hop, and hip hop styles with instrumentation from guitars, drums, synthesizers, strings, and Middle Eastern musical instruments.
n the Zone received positive reviews from music critics, who complimented its mix of different styles and Spears’s songwriting, but criticized her vocals for being distant and processed. Commercially, In the Zone became an international success, debuting atop the charts in France and the United States, and peaking inside the top ten in fifteen countries. In the United States, she became the first female artist to have four consecutive number-one albums. In the Zone went on to become the eighth best selling album of 2003.
Four singles were released from the album: “Me Against the Music”, “Toxic” and “Everytime” met international chart success, all peaking at number one in Australia and Ireland and reaching top five positions elsewhere. To promote In the Zone, Spears performed the songs in a number of television appearances and also embarked on The Onyx Hotel Tour. The album and its music videos are largely seen by critics as the end of her transition from teen pop star to a more adult female artist. In 2009, Amy Schriefer of NPR listed In the Zone as one of The 50 Most Important Recordings of the Decade, calling it “a primer on the sound of pop in the 2000s”.