Britney Spears Songwriter Talks 'Sexy' Femme Fatale Tune 'Gasoline'

Britney Spears' Femme Fatale album, due out on Tuesday, is a sexy, dark dance record meant to be played heading to the club, at the club and at the post-party after the club. One of the tracks that exemplifies this is the fiery, Claude Kelly-penned "Gasoline." The searing dance tune came to existence when Kelly started thinking about the femme fatale that is Britney at her sexiest.

"The picture that I envisioned in my mind was 'Toxic,' 'Slave 4 U,' 'Boys,' like that kind of [thing where] it's sexy and it's hot, sweaty and she's in a club and she sees a guy," he explained to MTV News. "That mysterious, exotic look, that whole imagery and that era where she's a man-eater and all the girls want to be her and all the guys would kill to be with her. I think she pulled it off for sure."

Kelly also wrote the title track off of Spears' 2008 album, Circus, but this time around he wanted to take things to a new level. "I'm super happy with the way it came out. She sounds fresh and exciting," he said of the track, which was recorded in L.A. while Kelly was busy working on other projects elsewhere.

"For this time, she's in a place where she wants to be edgier again, so I was like, 'How am I going to make the word gasoline a cool song?' " he recalled. "That's really the challenge for me and I tried to play off what I know of Britney from the past, from the Blackout era, when she was more mysterious and dark.

"The one thing that kind of strings all of [the songs] along is that feeling of edginess and mysterious and sexy and a little bit playful but a little bit dangerous," he continued. "If you can tap into what she's in the mood for, which is what happened with 'Gasoline,' clearly her mind was in the zone that 'I want to be edgy.' "

The party never stops on Femme Fatale, and Kelly is sure that the fans will be happy about that. "The most common thing I hear people say about Britney is 'I want to dance.' Girls love to dance to Britney," he said. "I think people missed that and wanted that ... This one was like, 'Let's her in the clubs again.' "