Britney Spears is a very busy woman these days. While fencing critics who say she shouldn’t be lip-synching at her concerts without first warning fans of it, the singer seems to have also found the time to get back in the studio and get things in motion for her upcoming album, her seventh to date, which will drop as early as May next year, gossip blogger Perez Hilton reports.

Perez Hilton may not be the most objective of sources but, for what it’s worth, he is well connected enough to be able to get the inside scoop on stuff like that. According to his sources and based on reports now making the rounds on the Internet, Spears is already hard at work in the studio, wasting no time with coming to meet the heavy demand from fans, who seem not to have had enough with last year’s “Circus” and the subsequent, highly elaborate and overall critically acclaimed live tour.

“There is some talk that Britney Spears fans can expect some new material from her as early as next spring! Though her ‘Singles Collection’ has just released, that isn’t enough to quench the thirst of true Brit-Brit fans. So, according to reports swirling around the Internets, Britney is working towards getting a new album with all new material out sometime in May! She is expected to team up with producer Max Martin again as well as songwriter Sean Garrett. The release will mark her seventh studio album!” Perez writes, obviously very excited by the prospect of new material from Britney.

In all fairness, fans have been dying for something new, which is perhaps why she included a new track on the “Singles Collection” Perez speaks of. With a very up-tempo and catchy beat, the song, “3,” talks of experimenting and finding love and occasions to have fun even in the most unlikely of places. Very tongue-in-cheek, just like most of Britney’s tracks, “3” represents a fun and, at the same time, very modern approach to the idea of one night stands.

As of now, these are all the details available on the reported upcoming new studio material. No one from Britney’s camp has been available for comment at the time of writing, nor is expected to be so until near the estimated time of release. Still, keep an eye on this space for updates and more rumors.