Member Since: 12/30/2010
Posts: 1,954
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Quote:
Originally posted by Duca
- Christina Aguilera is one of the most powerful singers of her generation; is a friend to raunch, and an expert at making it broadly palatable; never lets tabloids get the best of her; has made it safe for still relevant midcareer pop stars to take sabbaticals for judging reality television competitions; hasn’t had a worthy hit in quite a few years; has maybe forgotten what Christina Aguilera does well.
- “Lotus” is Ms. Aguilera’s fifth original studio album in English since 1999, which, in pop star longevity terms, is a slow drip. (She has also released a Spanish album and a Christmas album.) But consider that a strength: Ms. Aguilera imprinted herself far more authoritatively than many of her contemporaries and those who have followed her. She is, and has been, unmistakable.
- Which is why the anonymity of much of “Lotus” is its biggest crime, more than its musical unadventurousness or its emphasis on bland self-help lyrics or its reluctance to lean on Ms. Aguilera’s voice, the thing that makes her special. All around her female pop stars are making pop that is forward and modern and often complex, while Ms. Aguilera, who used to play that role but is perhaps beginning to see herself as an elder stateswoman, is playing it straight.
- Largely that’s by working with Alex Da Kid, who of all of the breakthrough pop producers of recent years, has the dullest, most monochromatic style, mistaking scale for emotion. Of his contributions, only on “Best of Me” does Ms. Aguilera push her voice beyond comfort; mainly she lets him dictate the arc, and it’s predictable.
- Also, there are job requirements to fulfill. She collaborates here with two of her fellow judges on “The Voice,” probably just to give them duets to perform this season: with Cee Lo Green on the dull “Make the World Move,” and with Blake Shelton on the surprisingly warm “Just a Fool.” (She already collaborated with the third, Adam Levine, on Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger.”)
- There are flashes of the Aguilera of old, though. Her voice veers volcanic on a pair of slow-build ballads, “Sing for Me” and “Blank Page.” The single “Your Body” is sweaty and bold, the characteristics that Ms. Aguilera once held tight to, and “Around the World,” which has flecks of reggae, is gauche and aesthetically vulgar in the way Ms. Aguilera once proudly was. As ever, Ms. Aguilera’s talent is in taking something tacky, and making it beautiful.
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