Britney Spears Trades Plot for Simple, Sexy Dancing in "3" Video

After teasing fans with 15-second clips on her Twitter yesterday, Britney Spears finally revealed the video for her Hot 100-topping single "3," the new track that will feature on her upcoming The Singles Collection. You'd expect the video for a song about threesomes to be Rated-X, but Spears keeps things borderline tasteful with the "3" vid, busting out some suggestive dance moves that are nowhere near as racy as the lyrics to "If U Seek Amy." Instead, Spears and her cadre of dancers go the "Single Ladies" route by scaling back on sets and simply dancing in front of white and gray backgrounds. It's not Britney's best (it's nowhere near her "Slave 4 U" clip), but we haven't seen her dancing with this much conviction since the In the Zone era.

Watch all of Britney's videos in our guide to her memorable clips.

Considering that today marks the two-year anniversary of Blackout, as Spears' official Website points out, it's clear Britney's dance skills are getting back on track. (We'd love to forget her stripper pole-hugging performance in the "Gimme More" video — as well as her half-hearted moves on her recent Circus tour.) And this makes it a perfect time to look back at the Blackout album covers we'd like to see.

Britney's sexy Circus: check out photos of her tour.

As Rolling Stone previously reported, Spears' The Singles Collection will be released on November 24th, joining a release week that also features Adam Lambert's For Your Entertainment, Rihanna's Rated R, Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster and 50 Cent's Before I Self Destruct.

Britney Spears' wild ride: track her ups and downs in photos.

Related Stories:
• Britney Spears Courts Controversy as Sexy New Single "3" Hits Radio
• Britney Spears' Risque "3" to Debut Atop Hot 100
• Britney Spears Announces New Track "3," Plus Best-Of Set "The Singles Collection"

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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