Britney Spears’ eighth studio album Britney Jean was preceded by a series of leaks, but its full release via iTunes stream – for free, mind you – is completely legitimate and comes from the source. The album was announced for a December 3 release, but after the leaks, Brit and her management presumably wanted fans to hear the record in full (sort of), instead of just listening to a few low quality snippets.

Britney Jean Album Artwork
Is this Spears' most personal record to date?

The album has been heavily promoted as the pop star’s most personal record to date. However, the snippets released last week told a different story. The record, at least as teased by these 30-second clips, carries a heavy EDM influence, bass-heavy club beats and themes of – can you guess – partying all night long. Not exactly an insight into the performer’s soul.

According to an interview Spears did with ET Online, however, this is the one album where she really let loose. "I would say [the album] was kind of like therapy for me," the former X Factor judge confessed. "It just kind of transformed me. As you write something your perspective changes. So, it was like my 'good therapy record.' I'm an artist so I think there are periods in everyone's life where you get kind of reclusive, your creative outlet is cut off. Then sometimes it flows and you're like, 'Oh my God, this is what I need to be doing' [which makes] it easier for you to be the artist that you want to be."

The reviews so far are just as controversial. While Billboard calls this “more of an experiment than an autobiography,” USA Today’s review goes in the exact opposite direction notes that “it doesn't seem obsessed with provocation.” So which one is it? Apparently we’ll all have to make our own mind.