Xtina's confusing return

ALBUM REVIEW
by Shardae Jobson

(released on June 8, 2010 in the U.S.)

After (roughly) two years of joining the external

mash up that was old Hollywood vicariously lived through new millennium young women in entertainment, Christina Aguilera declared with the release of the song "Keeps Gettin' Better" that her next record would be "futuristic", which is a term that seems almost vague and unnecessary in the late 2000s. Visually the video for 2008's "Keeps Gettin' Better" was promising towards her new venture, yet when "Not Myself Tonight" came out as the first single for Bionic, it didn't sound futuristic, genre-bending, eclectic, or whatever else Aguilera was aiming for. It sounded like just another tune of the current splash of dance music with a heavy base of electro-clash sounds, polished to the core for a mainstream audience (which David Guetta is the king of doing right now). The video was nothing to brag about, and so immediately there was skepticism for Bionic, yet enough curiosity left to see if her pop art aspirations were saved for the other tracks.

Well, on the rest of the seventeen tracks on the album, nothing else really seems to sound as planned, and on first listen, is actually kind of disappointing. It's one of few records released this year to bring a lot of noise in anticipation, but many repeats needed to enjoy what is being heard. The second single "Woohoo" featuring the adorably inane Nicki Minaj is a cut straight off of Stripped, and is one of the better songs with a terrific uppity movement to its ferocity of overt female sexuality. Its aggressive nature might be condemned and made fun of in the public because that's just what people do when a woman waves her flag of essentially exclaiming loving sex, which Aguilera has been an advocate for since her videos became more and more titillating.

Minaj was a perfect match for "Woohoo",and her verse was viewed as being "[pseudo] patois" by New York Magazine, but it is very amusing and equally deserving of attention next to Aguilera's brassy intentions. It's nice to see that Xtina is always in support of the female rapper on her more pop/dance recordings (like with "Can't Hold Us Down" featuring Lil' Kim). True Aguilera fans will likely enjoy "Woohoo" a lot, as references to cake haven't been memorable since 50 Cent.

Still, Bionic is all together a hot mess because Aguilera collaborates with too many different artists in order to achieve the new sound she was craving to experiment with. She worked with quite a few notable names, but they all otherwise crash on the same full length album. What Aguilera should have done was stick to one or two collaborators out of her usual circle, and from there go on to create a more cohesive concoction. There's Peaches, Le Tigre, Linda Perry, Tricky, Lil Jon, Santigold, M.I.A., Polow Da Don, Ladytron, Sia...no wonder the album is slightly hard to get into. These artists already have such a unique appeal (their purpose for being recruited in the first place) it also comes across odd when Aguilera's voice is singing the lyrics (that while she helped co-write) they contributed greatly to because it's just too much of their own input, and not enough of Xtina's characteristics. You'd think it might as well be the other artist providing the vocals (like on "Elastic Love").

Now, on to the songs that actually made the wait back to her more obvious dirrty girl self worthwhile (since Back to Basics). The best song hands down is the last track "Vanity", an ode to loving oneself and not giving a damn if you come across beyond conceited. It's undeniably sassy, and even carries a unexpected hilarity, embodying what Aguilera's return is all about (and what "Not Myself Tonight" wish it was). It shows that Aguilera can really be a lot of fun too because she often strives to be a provocateur and her images and statements in doing so at times go overboard in annoyance (much like her peers)--she gets it right on "Vanity" when she sings in a confident but cooing tone: "Mirror, mirror, on the wall...who's the flyest bitch of them all...NEVERMIND I AM". The song is strangely the most uplifting record because Aguilera is arguably one of the most cocky of singers in the past decade--and with good reason with a voice like hers. We can't help but agree with her mirror, and she pushes us to eventually nod heads to ours too.

The song "My Girls" with Peaches is convincingly good, and "Prima Donna" is a hard-thumping jam that shall be sung at the top of the Hollywood Hills in a pair of the most glittery of Brian Atwoods. "Glam" was described as a "modern day 'Vogue'" and while is cute and jazz-y, is not at all groundbreaking in meshing beauty, fashion and dance in comparison to the original. Yet, it's 1920s vibe is strangely more authentic sounding than particular songs on Back to Basics that attempted the same kind of vintage feel.

Unfortunately, while Aguilera's forte is usually the ballads, it is the slower songs on Bionic like "Lift Me Up" and "You Lost Me" that are almost complete doozies because they get lost amongst all the attempted eccentricity surrounding it. They aren't careless songs because "I Am" is actually quite beautiful in its simplicity and Aguilera is much more experimental here than on the crazier tracks due to its Regina Spektor influence; but is hard to appreciate when you know Aguilera was trying to get her Warhol/Madonna circa "Express Yourself"/Roisin Murphy on.

Bionic is all together not the great album fans were hoping for, but the simple fact that Aguilera is the vocalist of her generation, and always will be, at least what's returned is a voice that still gives a shiver of excitement and admiration back into the media. Aguilera has the ability to make great music, and has done before, but Bionic misses the point more than it retrieves it. In the end, it all becomes too polarizing to matter...but we'll just keep "Vanity" on repeat, if you don't mind.

THE BEST: "Vanity", "Woohoo", "Elastic Love","Prima Donna", "I Am", "My Girls"