Christina Aguilera - Lotus


Once upon a time, Britney Spears was the one putting on a tonne of weight and going dead behind the eyes amid a string of failed relationships. Now, whilst both 90s pop teens sit atop rival talent show judging panels, the tables seem to have turned. It's not something I enjoy seeing: Christina Aguilera is a phenomenal voice and talent. All of the battles for relevance, dominance and ferocity - mostly perpetrated by their gay fans and an unquenchable desire to use nonsense jargon like slaying and queen - are quite redundant when presented with a very obvious vocal talent. Obviously her history is able to boast a string of great songs, too, but in 2012 she's struggling.

Lotus charted at #28 in the UK, with sales of just over nine thousand. Even Bionic, her very lukewarmly-received 2010 outing, managed to top the charts (even with claiming the dubious "biggest drop from #1" award) despite little promotion, so what the hell went wrong? It's not as if she's totally irrelevant: Maroon 5's Moves Like Jagger just about proves her retinence to top charts. Maybe the quite obvious impression that she's a bit of a cunt has caught up with her. Shame.


If there was one area of Bionic that needed scrapping altogether it was the lazily slapped-on attempts at controversy and soundbites in the form of its interludes, so I was pleased to see that the only intro here was a full-length song in the way of 'Lotus Intro'. An autotuned, hazy proclamation of rebirth and determination, it's not the most inspiring thing I've ever heard but does well to avoid the whole "fuck tha haterss!!" meme. Even if the "I sing for freedom and for love!" proclamation at the end is a little bit more than cheesy. Prior to the album's release, Aguilera described 'Army of Me' as her next Fighter and I guess I can see the comparison: they both steal their respective albums' show. A fantastic assertion of her vocal excellence, the whole revenge-uprising shtick is a catchy, powerful offering. It's a little disappointing then that she follows it with the unchallenging, R&B fodder 'Red Hot Kinda Love' - in 2002 she could get away with it (Can't Hold Us Down) because...well she looked cracking in the music video. But now? No comment. A collaboration that surfaced online last year, with The Voice colleague Cee-Lo Green, called 'Nasty' was phenomenally funky and remains desperately in need of a major release; for now though we can make do with 'Make the World Move'. Comparatively inferior, it's still a great blend of soul and commanding voices, and still a rousing performance.

Of course, Aguilera feels compelled to try her best and keep updated with all current trends, and to be fair to her she could have done a lot worse than 'Your Body'. A commercial flop, it certainly ticks all the right boxes to be a modern hit (written by Max Martin and Shellback; references the sex; obvious lyrics) and is some degree of catchy, but it's just not grabbing everyone in the same way that Dirrty or Ain't No Other Man did. It might help if she rose from hiding behind the synths vocally. For the meantime though she's fine to lurk, just popping up now and again from the smut with a howl or a variation on the "oooh" hooks she's attempting. On 'Let There Be Love' she blends further into the Chris Brown/Nicki Minaj/Rihanna/Calvin Harris scene and, again whilst vaguely catchy, underwhelms. In terms of ballads, too, she's good - but not amazing. 'Sing For Me' doesn't match up to even recent tracks You Lost Me or Lift Me Up, let alone her classics. A lack of Linda Perry magic - the woman who co-penned the likes of Aguilera's Beautiful, Hurt and Keeps Gettin' Better - is missed indeed, but Aguilera is still able to turn to Sia for the wonderful 'Blank Page' and Alex da Kid for the epic 'Cease Fire'.

In the end, though, she persists in bowing to peer pressure. 'Around the World' struggles to make an impression and - most likely - will be forgotten within a year. Although catchy, the inane 'Circles' can't resist but resort to vulgarity and teenage kiss-off catchphrases, and sounds more like a snippet from the Mean Girls soundtrack rather than a 32 year old woman. "I won't let you bring me down!" she vows on 'Best of Me', the album's seemingly 58th defiant lyric of little resonance, before the undyingly tedious Blake Shelton pops up on the closer 'Just A Fool', a last-ditch attempt at a country ballad that misses the mark completely.


It's a step up from Bionic, at least.

Rating: 6.5/10
Highlights: Army of Me, Make the World Move, Blank Page, Cease Fire, Circles
Avoid: Shut Up, Just a Fool

Artwork Watch: Quite generous, let's be honest.
Up next: Death Grips  

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