'She didn't let none of her personal life into what she was doing,' Nate "Danja" Hills says.
Don't expect any insight on Britney's breakdown on her forthcoming album - yet another collaborator says the LP will just be about good times.
"She didn't let none of her personal life into what she was doing," Nate "Danja" Hills said. "There was no, 'I need to let it all out.' She said she deals with that in another way."
As one of Britney Spears' main collaborators, Danja has co-written and produced seven to eight songs with the singer so far, in sessions with songwriters Keri Hilson and Corte Ellis. Other songwriters and producers on the yet-untitled effort include Pharrell, Sean Garrett, Scott Storch, Dr. Luke, J.R. Rotem, Ne-Yo, T-Pain and Kara DioGuardi. Danja is a frequent Timbaland collaborator who worked extensively on the latest albums from Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado, among many others.
Hills' sessions with Spears started in July - before the divorce, the all-night partying, the head-shaving and rehab. He says that despite all the bumps in her personal life, her professional life has remained right on track. "As far as her work ethic, I haven't seen anybody come in like that and do what you go to do," Hills said. "Boom, boom, boom, and get it done. So as an artist? She's ready to go."
Spears' game plan to make a fun, danceable album has also remained steady, Hills said. Instead of scrapping tracks and starting over once her life started changing, the singer stuck to her strategy to keep the tunes as high-energy, uptempo - and decidedly private - as possible. "She wanted to stay away from being personal," the producer said. "It's fun, it's basic and there's nothing wrong with that. It's about feeling good, celebrating womanhood. And if you don't dance to it, I really don't know what you're listening to."
While the song titles have yet to be "100 percent" determined, Hill said that overall, Spears' sound is "bigger" and "more mature" than what we've heard from her before. "It's a new Britney," he said. "I come from hip-hop, so it's underlined with hip-hop, but I throw it down. It's got everything, it's electric, it's just wild." One song sounds like it belongs in a video game, while another has a hook and chorus that makes him laugh just thinking about it: "It's weird! It's catchy, but it's weird. It's hot."
Now that Hills is moving into the mixing stage, he's just waiting to find out if any of his songs are contenders to be the album's first single, which is due to impact around September, according to Spears' record label. "It's ready to hit the clubs," Hills said. "You're going to hear it getting ready to go to the clubs, while you're getting your clothes on, in the car on the way to the clubs, everywhere. You're just going to hear it. Be prepared."