Britney set for "Blackout" hit despite herself

The New York Daily News noted all the "studio trickery" made her sound like a "Brit-Bot" machine.

"If a blow-up sex doll could sing, this is what she'd sound like," wrote Jim Farber. "In terms of studio trickery, Paris Hilton's album was practically 'unplugged' compared to this."

"How wonderful it is that, in the world of slick pop, even if stars can't deliver, the machine behind them still can," he said, adding that her personal woes don't mean "Britney Spears can't turn up on some slammin' new songs."

The Times of London said that Spears should "take a certain amount of pleasure in the fact that 'Blackout' coheres far better than sprawling recent sets by fellow Mickey Mouse Club alumni Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera."

But reviewer Pete Paphides added "certain songs wouldn't have sounded too different if her vocal were totally erased."