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“I look at my reflection and embrace the woman I’ve become. The unbreakable lotus in me, I now set free,” Christina Aguilera
pompously declares over a volley of electronic bleeps and beeps in the
dramatic introduction to her fifth studio album. Let’s face it. Subtlety
was never the 31-year-old’s strong point. From the Anne Geddes-on-crack
cover art to the half dozen songs about overcoming adversity, the
former Mouseketeer wants the world to know that she survived the toxic post-Bionic terrain and is now ready to – excuse the awful plant metaphor – bloom again.
While the boulder on Xtina’s shoulder is exhausting at times, Lotus (out today, ) is indeed a return to form.
The four-time Grammy winner pulls together a cohesive set of songs that
showcase her powerful pipes and remind us why she once shared the top
rung of the pop ladder with Beyonce, Pink and Britney.
Christina back-pedals from the polarizing experimentalism of Bionic this time around. Lotus
is by no means boring, but it does sound safe by comparison. There are a
few blinding dance-pop gems, there’s a sprinkling of lite-rock and even
the occasional urban influence. But the emphasis is overwhelmingly on
ballads. Team Aguilera knows that the big-lunged diva’s voice sets her
apart from the competition, and they’ve taken every opportunity to show
it off. With an instrument as powerful as this, there is an
understandable temptation to over-sing but — with a couple of notable
exceptions — the Voice
judge manages to keep it under control. As a result, she turns in some
of the best vocal performances of her career. It’s just a shame Xtina
hasn’t realized that she can demonstrate her vocal superiority just as
effectively by singing uptempo tunes, because the dance tracks on Lotus are great.
Everyone from Lady Gaga to Marina & The Diamonds has raved about “Your Body,” and it’s hard to disagree. The Max Martin/Shellback-produced
anthem is an adrenalin-charged shot of dance-pop that proves once and
for all that Christina can fit into the 2012 pop soundscape. However,
the fact that it underperformed on the charts is alarming. The only
other song with similar breakout hit potential is the other Max
Martin/Shellback contribution, “Let There Be Love” — an unbearably cute
pop song that sweeps Xtina away on a wave of synths to unfamiliar
Eurodance territory. It turns out to be the perfect destination for the
diva’s powerhouse pipes. We think it should be released as the next
single, but the double punch of Swedish-helmed pop would wildly
misrepresent the album. The rest of Xtina’s Lotus petals couldn’t be more different.
Take the two collaborations with her fellow judges on The Voice:
Initially the idea struck us as a rather inelegant publicity stunt, but
it speaks volumes for Christina’s versatility that she’s equally at
home sharing vocals with Cee Lo Green on the old-school soul of “Make The World Move” as she is belting out a gorgeous country ballad with Blake Shelton. It’s something of a shock that the latter is vastly better. While the Cee Lo track sounds like a throwback to Back To Basics, Xtina could give Kelly Clarkson
a run for her money as pop’s crossover country queen with “Just A
Fool.” This is a soaring lighters-in-the-air love song of the highest
caliber.
Another standout is “Sing For Me.” The reflective ballad could well
document the months Christina spent alone in her room singing
“Beautiful” to herself after Bionic dropped. Here she delivers a
nuclear-powered vocal, singing, “When I open my mouth, my whole heart
comes out.” On the evidence of this, it’s hard to disagree. The Step-produced screamer walks the fine line between exploring her hurt over the Bionic
backlash and the woe-is-me territory she occasionally veers into on
some of the album’s worst tracks. If nothing else, “Sing For Me” proves
Christina is still the Gabby Douglas of vocal gymnastics. There are runs on this song that Mariah would consider over-the-top, but, in this context, they work.
The Sia-penned
“Blank Page” reveals that Xtina is indeed capable of toning it down
when the material calls for it. Given the Sia’s singer-songwriter’s
alternative leanings, it’s surprising that this is the album’s most
straightforward ballad. It harks back to the torch songs of old — “Blank
Page” sounds like it could have just as easily been recorded in 1972 —
with its yearning lyrics and sparse production courtesy of Chris Braide. The pretty plea for love might be too different for Top 40 radio, but it deserves to reach a wider audience.
Alex Da Kid is Christina’s most frequent collaborator on Lotus, yet his contributions are more miss than hit. “Cease Fire” is a booming electronic/dub-step-infused mid-tempo mess. Think a Ryan Tedder
ballad (Kelly Clarkson’s “Already Gone,” Beyonce’s “Halo,” etc) over
white noise. It takes a few listens to click, but the chorus eventually
seeps through the challenging production. Elsewhere, “Best Of Me” is a
blatant swipe at her critics. “I feel the weight of your hate, I still
bleed, my heart aches,” she laments. It lacks the charm of “Sing For
Me,”coming across as a pity party set to music.
While underwhelming, those contributions are Grammy-worthy gems in comparison to Da Kid’s third Lotus
production. Remember when people used to flip you the bird at school
and say something witty like “rotate” before flicking their hair and
walking off? Well, Christina has devoted an entire song to that classy
insult. “Spin around on circles on my middle finger,” demands the dirrty
diva over a trippy smattering of industrial beats and drums. It sounds
like fluffiest Nine Inch Nails
song ever recorded. Let’s be honest: The song is a total trainwreck,
but there’s something amusing about Xtina putting her haters in their
place. Add “Circles” to your WTF Christina? playlist between “Sex For
Breakfast” and “Vanity.”
The rest of Lotus is best described as quality filler. “Army Of Me” wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Bionic.
Christina openly refers to it as “Fighter 2.0,” and she’s not
exaggerating. “It’s time you had a taste of losing, it’s time the tables
turned around” is typical of the lyrical terrain. She goes hard on the
vocal of what can best be described as a sparse electro-mantra. It
doesn’t have the hook of the song it’s paying homage to, but it’s a
quirky addition to album.
“Red Hot Kinda Love” is one of the few moments when Christina
abandons her I’m back, bitches! agenda and just has fun. She coos over a
bass-heavy track to the man of her dreams, revisiting her love for
retro music – think of this as the album’s “Ain’t No Other Man.”
Meanwhile, “Around The World” is another inoffensive adventure that
scores extra points for quoting lyrics from “Lady Marmalade.” It just
lacks the big pop hook need to wreak havoc on the charts.
As with Bionic, Christina relegates some of her best songs
to bonus status. “Light Up The Sky” is Alex Da Kid’s best contribution
to the album. It begins as a simple piano ballad before exploding into a
multi-layered lung-buster. The song retains a pop sensibility that some
of the other tracks lack, and will no doubt appeal to fans of
ballad-mode Xtina. “Shut Up” is a slightly abrasive and literal response
to the haters but, unlike “Circles,” still has an incredibly catchy
chorus. Someone like Pink could probably get away with releasing “Shut
Up” as a single. Alas, it’s probably destined for cult status with
Christina.
Overall, Aguilera puts tried and tested methods ahead of innovation on Lotus and delivers tracks that should win back fans who were put off by the Bionic era. Our only concern is the lack of obvious hits. In a Katy Perry
world where a fifth or sixth single can still top the charts, a pop
album seemingly needs to be a veritable greatest hits collection. That
said, nothing here really stands out past the Max Martin/Shellback
tracks. Perhaps one of the ballads will catch fire on radio and help
rack up decent sales.
At the very least, Lotus hopefully completes the rehabilitation of Christina Aguilera. She deals with the Bionic
backlash extensively in the lyrics and puts the haters in their place.
(Get ready to spin, baby!) Surely it’s time to leave the drama in the
past and welcome back one of the most-loved divas of the early 2000s? |
