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Britney Spears’ ‘Ooh La La’ Smurfaces as She Heads to the Studio

Will.i.am, Britney Spears

Today’s Britney Spears forecast calls for bubblegum with a strong chance of Will.i.am.

The “Toxic” singer’s new song for The Smurfs 2, “Ooh La La,” has surfaced over at Just Jared, and it’s peppy, guitar-bursting dance-pop that shouldn’t overly upset Papa Smurf. After the “Britney, bitch” swagger of “Scream & Shout,” this one is decidedly PG-13, beckoning us to “come with me and be my ooh la la.” Spears will still dance with us if we don’t wear “designer clothes,” she promises. A couple of noteworthy twists: Spears tries out some Gwen Stefani-like (or, maybe closer to the point, Ke$ha-like) almost-rapping, and there’s a pitch-shifting, dubsteppy breakdown. The movie, which stars Katy Perry and Neil Patrick Harris, opens on July 31.

Meanwhile, Spears is about to hit the studio for her next album, the follow-up to 2011’s Femme Fatale, and already there are some clues it might be similarly sunny. “We start next week,” Will.i.am told the Hollywood Reporter of the recording sessions. The Black Eyed Peas rapper-producer said he has spent recent weeks building a connection with Spears and finding out how she feels, so he can use that as a “filter” for what goes onto the album.

That means, Will.i.am reportedly said, that “when people start bringing us stuff, I can say ‘Actually we can’t have this song. Yes, we want dance songs but that’s a little too dark.’ I want it to fit with the emotions.” Will.i.am also mentioned talking to Spears about her kids, her breakup, how she’s single, and how she might feel independent. Between these mostly optimistic themes, Will.i.am’s apparent leeriness about Spears songs that are “too dark,” and now “Ooh La La,” signs point to Spears’ next album not being her previously teased sequel to 2007’s shadowy commercial disappointment Blackout. As much as we love Blackout, it’s probably for the best that Spears moves forward, anyway.

Will.i.am also told THR this: “I just want to do it the way a brand would do it. They wouldn’t say, ‘Take this. Put it out.’ That’s not what you would do. You’d come up with a mood board, the logos, the font, all the other stuff.”

Smurf, smurf, smurfety smurf.