Fans rejoiced Friday as they finally heard the first cut from Britney Spears’ long-delayed disc, Circus. Jive Records postponed the release of “Womanizer” several times to “work on the mix,” and critics claimed the label should have scrapped the song all together.

New York Daily News complained the song featured “the most repetitive chorus heard in a pop song since the 1970 novelty hit ‘Gimmie Dat Ding,’ And that was designed to be annoying.” Ouch.

In each and every chorus of “Womanizer,” Spears delivers the title word no fewer than nine times in a row, in a nagging tone meant to mimic the most irritating of schoolyard taunts.

It’s unclear whom the song means to address, though one can’t help but wonder if it’s a slap against the famously wandering eye of ex-husband Kevin Federline.

Spears’ tone of petulance proves as strained and strident as the song’s synthed-up dance beat. A source at her record company say the reason for the song’s delay was so the star could buff up her vocals.

“Womanizer” represents a risk for Spears, since it comes from a relatively untested writing and production team from Atlanta known as The Outsyders.

Circus, Britney’s sixth studio album, is scheduled to be released December 2, her twenty-seventh birthday. The video for “Womanizer” will reportedly debut tonight during MTV’s “The Hills.”

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[NYDN]