Christina Aguilera {Bi~ΟΠ~iC}
4/5
The world loves Christina Aguilera. The woman deeply Hurt but still professing ‘I’m OK’ and the Fighter struggling to free The Voice Within. The long-time Dirrty girl praising God for having blessed her with The Right Man. We have loved all these faces of Xtina but lately we seem to be asking “where is she now?” If only the media would give her a moment to break free of the shackles binding her to unwaranted comparison with shock artist Lady GaGa, she could easily remind us why we love her so much. Making a cameo on new album Bionic, sandwiched between two movements of ego fuelled club bangers, the album does suffer a little from casting the vulnerable in a supporting role to the whore.
If Stripped is a proclamation of Aguilera’s pheonix like resurgence from a childhood of abuse and Back To Basics announces her deep routed love of her new husband, Bionic is inspired by the feelings of superhuman strength gifted to the singer by motherhood. Unfortunately, whilst the strength in Aguilera’s vocal is well suited to such declarations of narcissism, the lyrics fall sometimes just a little short of poetic. You’d be forgiven for the occasional cringe whilst listening to Bionic, reminiscent of the painfully sexual material of Madonna and Janet Jackson. The awsomeness that is the voice of the diva, though, more than makes up for any such shortcomings. Aguielra is correct, in a way, to draw comparison with her first album here, in that Bionic lacks the deapth of lyrical content that was so celebrated on Stripped and Back To Basics. It’s not so much that the album lacks intelligence but more that the brilliance of the work is found in the music and not so much in the lyric. A little less reference to the diva’s Woo Hoo and a little more focus on her inconquerable spirit might give the collection some much needed gravitas, to say the least!
Never short of astounding, though, Aguilera proves once again that the versatility of her voice is almost certainly foremost amongst her contemporaries. Pinning a Christina Aguilera song down to one genre is near impossible and never more so than on Bionic. There’s electronica, there’s R&B, there’s Hip-hop and there’s pop all blended into one finely tuned and somewhat indescribable sound. It really is a masterclass of musical composition. Sounding perfectly at home on every track, Aguilera treats the listener to a huge variety of vocal performance styles; from the traditional powerhouse belting, for which she is beloved, to repetition of the spoken word and also that gentle lullaby vulnerability found on the rare softer track amongst her catalogue. Linda Perry is always welcome on a Christina Aguilera record and the lightly cliché but beautiful ballad Lift Me Up is another sterling addition to the pair’s catalogue. Collaborations with the Australian genius Sia Furler are among some of the best of Aguilera’s career with the painfully haunting You Lost Me competing for the title, closely followed by the ear catching I Am. R&B whiz kid Claude Kelly puts his name to a deluge of interesting tracks including Glam, something of a Vogue part II and Prima Donna; marking the return of the trademark Xtina. Title track, Bionic, is an absolute stomper as well as the superbly produced Not Myself Tonight. Very rarely is such a masterfully produced and brilliantly eclectic piece of work found amongst the mainstream pop artists of today.
Though this may never be considered Aguilera’s best collection it is certainly worthy of its place amongst her other successful efforts, proving once more that she is truly an artist amongst singers.
