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Celeb News: Lotus: 58/100 @ Metacritic based on 10 Critics
Member Since: 1/1/2011
Posts: 10,372
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I think we'll know more at the end of the week. Right now that score isn't saying much as all the important music outlets have to release their review first.
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Member Since: 10/16/2005
Posts: 16,872
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Quote:
Originally posted by Versace
Lotus is not ground breaking but does every album has to be to be critically acclaimed?
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If there's nothing missing in my life, then why do these tears come at night?
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Member Since: 11/13/2008
Posts: 4,129
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Pop Crush Review: http://popcrush.com/christina-aguile...-album-review/
Quote:
The last time Christina Aguilera made an album, in 2010, she sounded as robotic as the cyborg she played on the ‘Bionic’ cover. But three seasons as a coach on ‘The Voice’ have brought the diva back down to earth, at least a little. She sounds more human on ‘Lotus,’ her seventh album, but she also sounds a tad desperate – for a hit, for attention, for the adoration dumped on Taylor Swift.
So ‘Lotus’ jumps from one style (ooh, look … a club banger!) to another (clear the floor, Christina’s about ready to bust out a ballad!), trying on more than a half-dozen different producers (including Taylor Swift’s ‘Red’ hit makers, Max Martin and Shellback, on two cuts). Check out our track-by-track breakdown of Christina Aguilera’s ‘Lotus’ LP and leave a comment below letting us know what you thought of the album.
1. ‘Lotus Intro’
This isn’t so much a song as a three-minute Auto-tuned statement of purpose, in which Aguilera holds a pity party for himself and declares a new beginning (hence, the whole lotus theme).
2. ‘Army of Me’
Another I’m-still-here declaration, with talk of “second skin” and rising up and stuff like that. Aguilera comes on like Cher in the disco, overworking her pipes in a tune that doesn’t seem to have the same priorities.
3. ‘Red Hot Kinda Love’
This is more like it — a night out at the club with the girls. Even if Aguilera sounds sorta reserved, never quite matching the music’s jumpy flow, at least she doesn’t sound like she’s plotting revenge on all the people who didn’t buy ‘Bionic.’
4. ‘Make the World Move’
Aguilera keeps the party going with another club jam. Her ‘Voice’ co-star Cee Lo Green checks in with a line or two in the chorus. It’s not bad, but it’s pretty forgettable.
5. ‘Your Body’
‘Lotus’’ first of two collaborations with Swedish pop maestros Martin and Shellback is also the album’s best song. No surprise it’s the record’s first single, since it is one of the few cuts that has a splinter of identity. Still, Martin and Shellback’s contributions to Swift’s new album are way better.[Listen Here]
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2.5/5
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Member Since: 4/27/2012
Posts: 9,977
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Member Since: 4/28/2011
Posts: 26,425
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Christina Aguilera's latest album may be called "Lotus," but "Soldier" might have been an equally apt title.
With song titles like "Army Of Me" and "Cease Fire," military drums serving as percussion for tracks like "Around The World" and "Best Of Me," rampant references to being a fighter and plenty of ammo for her haters, Aguilera is on the warpath for reclaiming her pop stardom. And rightfully so, after a rough 2010 that saw her album "Bionic" flop and the cancellation of its accompanying tour; a divorce from husband Jordan Bratman; and the disappointment of her movie "Burlesque" and its Aguilera-heavy soundtrack. But after rebounding as a coach on "The Voice" and scoring her first No. 1 hit in a decade with the Maroon 5 duet "Moves Like Jagger," the stage has been set for a comeback.
Christina Aguilera: The Billboard Cover Story
As evidenced by lead single "Your Body," her first collaboration with Max Martin, Aguilera is back with guns blazing on "Lotus," a bright, shiny, and loud pop album that also features contributions from Alex da Kid (Rihanna, Eminem), Sia and Lucas Secon, as well as guest appearances from fellow "Voice" coaches Cee-Lo Green and Blake Shelton. The album finds Aguilera trying out piano ballads to club-ready dance pop to country to 90s rock, all with the subtlety of a chainsaw. It's full-throttle Aguilera as her fans want to hear, bringing her voice front and center where it was often muted on "Bionic." No note is left un-belted, no metaphor goes un-exhausted, and few verses feature just one Aguilera singing when three or four would be better. And yet, "Lotus" largely benefits from all the bombast - Aguilera hasn't sounded so fun and energized in years.
Which songs are the best on "Lotus?" Read on for Billboard's track-by-track review.
1. Lotus Intro - Musically inspired by Aguilera's love of chill-out electronica (a demo of this song originally featured a sample of M83's "Midnight City" that ultimately wasn't cleared), this song uses the lotus flower as a symbol of Aguilera's rebirth "rise up / lotus rise / this is the beginning," she sings over tribal chants. Though she vows to "submerge from hurt, pain, broken pieces" and "leave the past behind / say goodbye to the scared child inside," the album will find she still has a few scores to settle.
2. Army Of Me - Billed by Aguilera herself as "Fighter 2.0" in her Billboard cover story this September, "Army Of Me" finds Aguilera facing old adversaries with the "thousand faces on me," at one point asking, "So how does it feel to know that I beat you / that I can defeat you." With dance-pop production UK producers Tracklacers and Jamie Hartman, look for this track to get a single treatment soon.
Christina Aguilera Talks 'Voice' Rest, 'Lotus' Tour + Frank Ocean
3. Red Hot Kinda Love - An effortlessly fun pop song that artists like Kylie Minogue and Britney Spears have specialized in recent years, "Red Hot Kinda Love" is perhaps the standout song on "Lotus." Aguilera is at her most relaxed and playful, with melismas kept to a relative minimum, letting the funky, sample-heavy production from Lucas Secon (a.k.a. "Lucas With The Lid Off") take precedence.
4. Make The World Move (Feat. Cee-Lo) - A barn-storming party anthem emceed by the two "Voice" coaches, "Make The World Move" is backed by a brassy, big-band arrangement that would make the song an easy fit on 2006's 1940s-inspired "Back To Basics." But in the hands of producer Alex da Kid, there are plenty of modern flourishes to make it a hit for the 2010s.
5. Your Body - Max Martin songs aren't exactly a vocalist's best friend, favoring giant melodies and hooks over histrionics. But leave it to Aguilera to find ways to inject her personality into this midtempo single, which really doesn't peak until the singer growls on the bridge "I think you already know my name."
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82/100.
Thoughts?
{x}
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Member Since: 6/15/2012
Posts: 33,138
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Deserved. I would of given it around the 70's so I would say that they were actually generous. What did they give Bionic?
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Member Since: 4/28/2011
Posts: 26,425
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Reported?
But why?
I put in a link, it says so on the {x}
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Member Since: 4/28/2011
Posts: 26,425
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Quote:
Originally posted by Ozzy8923
Deserved. I would of given it around the 70's so I would say that they were actually generous. What did they give Bionic?
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Don't know, don't care
Let's focus on LOTUS
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Member Since: 9/23/2009
Posts: 26,796
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Quote:
3. Red Hot Kinda Love - An effortlessly fun pop song that artists like Kylie Minogue and Britney Spears have specialized in recent years, "Red Hot Kinda Love" is perhaps the standout song on "Lotus." Aguilera is at her most relaxed and playful, with melismas kept to a relative minimum, letting the funky, sample-heavy production from Lucas Secon (a.k.a. "Lucas With The Lid Off") take precedence.
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Like I've been SAY!!ING for the past week...RHKL is the best track on Lotus and is the ONLY track fitting for second single.
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Member Since: 12/29/2006
Posts: 12,001
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Originally posted by Ghandi
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It doesn't count!
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Originally posted by Travis Bickle
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Yayy!!
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Member Since: 4/28/2011
Posts: 26,425
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That's what Aguilera's giant, bloody stab at country soul with Blake Shelton sounds like, rattling the speakers and all the whiskey off the bar with an epic chorus that only increases in volume as the song progresses. In case you forgot that Aguilera was a singer with a capital S, this song is one last helpful reminder.
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Not a new genre being made, by Christina
What legendary feats is she capable of
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Member Since: 3/18/2011
Posts: 2,565
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Member Since: 8/27/2012
Posts: 1,474
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Member Since: 8/3/2012
Posts: 19,910
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The opening paragraph
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Member Since: 3/30/2009
Posts: 79,408
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Member Since: 3/20/2012
Posts: 6,167
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Well done Xtina!!
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Member Since: 8/22/2010
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Member Since: 11/6/2010
Posts: 27,791
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Red Hot Kinda Love.
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Member Since: 8/27/2012
Posts: 1,474
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Quote:
Originally posted by ifyouseekLEM
Like I've been SAY!!ING for the past week...RHKL is the best track on Lotus and is the ONLY track fitting for second single.
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No, LTBL should be the 2nd single.
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Member Since: 8/27/2012
Posts: 1,474
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Quote:
Originally posted by Duca
Okay, Legend X.
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Are u gonna add it to ur reviews thread orrrr.... ?
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