Album- Lotus
Artist- Christina
Aguilera
So Christina Aguilera has always been one of those artists
that you either really like or really don’t like. Whilst she does have an
amazing voice, she does necessarily have that fun and light personality quality
that would allow her to fully identify with audience. And despite the public
profile she has obtained through her association with the American version of
the musical talent show the voice, this album showed some of the lowest sales
of her career and was a major career disappointment. I decided to listen to it
to see if people just weren’t buying an album that was actually really good, or
whether Aguilera is just all kinds of wrong.
Track 1- Lotus Intro
For a track that is called an intro this is very misleading,
as it is actually a proper full length song. However it would have just worked
much better as an intro, as the full length of the track just makes it tiresome
after a while and easily gets you to the point when you will want to skip it.
The slow and subdued production is nice, leading into a steady beat which gives
a cool groove to the song. But vocally Aguilera’s voice is really distorted,
and this just becomes so annoying, especially when you know this is an artist
who can sing. The lyrics are so clichéd and repetitive that you can easily just
not notice them. Definitely an album opener that needed a lot more work or just
removing altogether.
1/5
Track 2- Army of Me
Aguilera singled this track out as a Fighter 2.0 for the
next generation. If only that was true. That song was fun and feisty, but this
track definitely just feels like it is trying to get back to that former
Aguilera state and failing. The lyrics are empowering but so cliché empowering
that they are just boring, and vocally Aguilera sounds as boring as the lyrics
shes singing. The only really good thing about this song is the production
value, with the strong, stomping beats giving a bit of energy to the track and
the subtle soft undertone giving a nice layer to the song. It’s just not enough
to save this track from being a bad number.
1.5/5
Track 3- Red Hot
Kinda Love
After two pretty bad tracks the album finally offers up a
good number. This is a light and fun track with a sweet but sexy appeal to it.
And vocally Aguilera shines more in this track, with the vocal layering giving
a freshness to the track and all-round harking back to her great Back to Basics
days. And the artist also really creates this light, cute but sexy persona,
which many fans will find appealing. The lyrics are just unassuming and really
give that sense of a rush of love, and the production is simple but effective,
with clattering beats and a steady drum undertone.
3.5/5
Track 4- Make the
World Move (featuring Cee Lo Green)
This is an uplifting number that has a slight soul feel to
it and asks us to all come together and achieve a state of peace through
dancing and music. Lyrically it’s just so so, definitely being a track that was
designed to empower and so in this sense fails to do so. But vocally the track
is pretty good, with Aguilera using the power of her voice, and the final verse
giving a fast paced, get up edge to the track. The stomping drums definitely
give a good rhythm to the song, and the Cee Lo feature just gives a great,
funky edge to the track, although for some it may border on annoying.
3/5
Track 5- Your Body
The first of two Max Martin produced tracks were seen by
Aguilera as her finally embracing her pop status. She just should have teamed
up with Max a long time ago. With a thumping dance back beat that is so
irresistible and a pop hook that will so get stuck in your head, this is easily
one of the best songs on the record. And Aguilera also really shines vocally on
this record, with the chorus being powerful and punchy and the final section of
the song featuring some great musical ad libs. She also really has an
aggressive but playful edge vocally and lyrically in this song, something that
really comes out in the equally great music video. A track you have to not
skip.
4.5/5
Track 6- Let There Be
Love
With its slow burning start into fast paced beats and a
great, stomping bass, the second Max Martin collaboration is as equally
delicious as the previous one. And it also works really well with the two
tracks being put together in that although they kind have that sexy appeal in
both of them, this one is a little more different because of the more dance
orientated production and fast paced feel. It’s another song that has that
great pop hook and which the full force of Aguilera’s voice really shines
through in the chorus, almost commanding you to either sing along or dance
along to the song. Another album standout.
4.5/5
Track 7- Sing for Me
This down tempo record is very much about showing us what
Aguilera is all about the voice. The track features a steady bass undertone
that gets stronger as the track progresses, it’s simple nature really allows
for the strength in Aguilera’s voice to shine through, and ties in with the
lyrical message of the track. The way the track fades out at the end is also a
nice touch.
3/5
Track 8- Blank Page
This piano led number is the most simplistic and vulnerable
record on the album, and because of this definitely has to be one of standout
tracks. Co-written by the brilliant Sia, this song really is an example of
musical poetry that strikes a chord with so many listeners so easily. And with
the sole use of a piano that lyrical quality seeps through, with the vocals
really strengthening this message and giving a palpable sense of vulnerable.
The only downfall that I felt existed within this track is that Aguilera seems
to really want to show how amazing a singer she is on this song, and so at
times she over sings and destroys the beauty of the song a little.
4/5
Track 9- Cease Fire
This rock tinged track with its incessant drum marching
beats is both a great track but in some ways is a little bit eurgh. The
atmospheric production at the introduction of the track is a nice twist but it
then takes a little to get into the track. The lyrics are simple and vocally it
gives that sense of a volatile relationship, with the fast paced nature of the
verse complimenting the steadiness of the chorus. However the over repetitive
nature of the chorus may be seen as annoying by some listeners. Vocally the
deep richness of Aguilera’s voice really shines in this track, and the final
verses choral like notes are a nice flourish, with this final verse also
building up to a good track ending. It could have been perfected but it is
still a good song.
3.5/5
Track 10- Around the
World
This track is just easily the worst track on the album. It
sounds so boring and dated, and it feels kind of wrong that an artist on a her
seventh studio album. Lyrical the song is just so bland, featuring obligatory
place naming that is featured in so many songs that it just sounds so terrible
in this track. And the ideologies of this track are again so something that’s
so repetitive in today’s music it is wrong. Plus vocally Aguilera is so dull,
and the production is just a series of aggressive beats that never make the
track interesting to listen too. Please never make music like this again Miss
Aguilera.
0.5/5
Track 11- Circles
This track isn’t great but compared to the last track is a
bit more fun and has a greater sense of quality to it. The cool transition from
the subtle and delicate electro beat production of the verses to the clattering
and aggressive drums in the chorus give the track a real bite, elevating the
message of the track. Lyrically the song is a little gratuitous but works well
in showing that Aguilera hasn’t totally lost that Fighter side to her
personality. However the chorus does become really repetitive and easily
annoying, and the use of some swear words just seems like a real lazy choice.
Vocally the tracks okay but in some places the way that the voice is produced
is a little weird, giving an electronic layer to her vocals that is a bit
unnecessary. If you can ignore the negatives it’s a good track to listen to if
your mad with someone.
2/5
Track 12- Best of Me
The acoustic guitar in places is nice, but this is minimal.
Otherwise, lyrically, sonically and vocally this is just such a stereotypical
trying to be uplifting and empowering song that it totally fails to do so.
Right down to the throwing stones reference and the use of booming drums,
Aguilera needs to learn that the game has changed a lot and that this type of
song is just so dated. And it’s so sad to hear this song when its coming from
the woman that gave us Beautiful.
1/5
Track 13- Just a Fool
(featuring Blake Shelton)
The albums final track is a country pop ballad that
definitely is easily marked as a track that would be picked as the album’s
closer. The album is sonically another song that is very typical to the songs
genre, but the lyrical depth of the track will definitely strike a chord with
some listeners, and the melding of these two artists voices is a nice twist
that does make for a pretty pleasurable album end, even if it is very standard
stuff.
3/5
Final Review
It’s sad that such an artist will
produce a seventh album that just isn’t at the level it should be. There are
some great songs on the album, and to be it definitely feels as if Aguilera
should have embraced her pop artist side even more and worked on a few more
songs with Max Martin. Otherwise the album just tries to be empowering and
fails, and has that sense of it being like Aguilera is trying to get back to
that artist who many thought was inspirational without actually moving forward
as an artist. If she does record an eighth album she is definitely going to
have to work hard.
4/10
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