Britney Spears producer William Orbit defends the singer's unedited 'Alien' track

LOS ANGELES, July 14 (UPI) -- Britney Spears producer William Orbit has spoken out in defense of the singer's unedited "Alien" track.

Spears became the center of controversy last week when a recording of the song leaked online without the help of auto-tune enhancement. The finished track sounds very different and appears on the singer's most recent album, Britney Jean.

Orbit has written several posts on Facebook in defense of Spears. In one, he acknowledges that auto-tune "has always been a hot-button topic," but asserts "the main thing to keep in mind with Ms. Spears is that tens of millions (hundreds of millions?) of people enjoy the music."

"That's pretty much the be-all and end-all of it," he writes. "And charisma is charisma. No software ever invented can manufacture that ... The word 'con' has come up a few times, but it seems to me to be completely inappropriate."

"So many things that we trust are misrepresented to us in order for somebody to gouge a few more pennies," he explains. "Often with harmful results. But music is a different universe. Nobody has ever been harmed by a Britney Spears record, unless a stack of them fell onto a CD factory worker."

Spears herself has not addressed the controversy. The singer is currently in residency at the Planet Hollywood resort in Las Vegas.