As you may recall my mentioning, Christina Aguilera's 2010 album Bionic was oddly put together, with a handful of truly awful tracks distracting from the otherwise solid pop work occurring. The bonus songs were among the best on the album, causing one to question why they languished in relative obscurity whilst the likes of "Sex for Breakfast" (cringe) and the retrospectively quite awful title track ("so damn bionic" is not a viable lyric) made the tracklist proper.
Xtina's latest effort, Lotus, is a clear step forward from Bionic, which had to be disassembled and reassembled (sadly belying its title) in order to find the hidden gems within. With Lotus, at least we can see some of the strong, feisty, unique creative energy which fueled classics like the amazing Stripped or Back to Basics.After the likably smooth opening mini-track, "Army of Me" bursts out of the gate with a level of gusto we haven't heard from Christina since around 2006. With its cute references to past hit "Fighter" and its genuine badassness, it's definitely one of the finer songs on offer here.
"Red Hot Kinda Love" and lead single "Your Body" are two simply excellent, fluffy pop songs. However, with the Cee-Lo duet "Make the World Move," Lotus ushers in one of several blah tracks. It's not, as Rolling Stone idiotically asserted in their review, because the peaceful premises of "Make the World Move" clash with the sassy battle cry of "Army of Me." To suggest this is as much as to say that people are only allowed to feel one way or the other at any time. It's just that the Xtina/Cee-lo collaboration yields tepid results.
I'm on the fence about "Let there be Love," as I think it's in "so bad it's really good" territory, and those kinds of tracks tend to grow on me. "Let there be, let there be love / here in the, here in the club" is just a trash-tastic lyric that combines with an enthusiastic diva vocal in a subtly ingratiating manner.
We journey next to Ballad Land with the gorgeous "Sing for Me" (shades of "Keep on Singin' My Song" from Stripped) and the slightly less interesting "Blank Page," which does of course benefit from Christina's always flawless vocal performance.
I'm not a fan of "Cease Fire," whose melody and lyric are messily constructed, or "Around the World," which is another boring, globally themed song. And "Circles" is just plain horrible, practically a sequel to "Sex for Breakfast" with its profane, yet trite metaphor and annoying dissery paling in comparison to any of Xtina's other confrontational songs.
Matters take a welcome uptick with "Best of Me," a slow-burning self-confidence manifesto. "Just a Fool," the duet with Blake Shelton, is probably the best song on the album, showing that Christina has just as much chemistry with Shelton as she lacks with her other Voice co-judge Cee-Lo. With its real country-pop crossover appeal (a quality as rare as a unicorn), torch balladry, and heartfelt performances, "Just a Fool" deserves to be a major hit.
"Light up the Sky" is pretty if slight, while "Empty Words" is another terrific resilience-themed number. I don't know why Lotus doesn't just end there, on a wonderful note of temporary closure. Yet there is one more song, the loathsome "Shut up," fantastically illustrative of the problems inherent in bleeped-out, insincere-sounding f-bombs. Why bother?
It may end on a sour note, but Lotus is overall a charming listening experience which reestablishes Christina's original identity after it was garbled by the confusion of Bionic. If Xtina can build upon the strengths of this album (while reviewing those of Stripped and Back to Basics) while dispensing with the weaker filler moments, her next record should be even better.
9 pink flowers out of ten.
