
Christina Aguilera: Lotus
Details
Pros:
Good news: It's better than Bionic. The shocker: The ballads outshine the dance tracksCons:
Missing that appropiate zesty uptempo and surpassing ballad to raise her profile; certain grooves like "Let There Be Love" feels like last year's leftoversBallads outshine the boombastic grooves on Xtina’s so-called comeback album
Ballads outshine the boombastic grooves on Xtina’s so-called comeback album
The intro of Lotus, Christina Aguilera’s latest attempt at reclaiming her dominance in hot girl pop, is a drawn-out three-minute midtempo march securing hip-hop beats and Janet Jackson coos that hardly sound anything like her. Bits and pieces of Bionic are there, but that’s about it. In case you are clueless to the regimen, Xtina is on a mission to secure her place amongst the divas on this effort, now that some attention has been placed on her since The Voice, a show she’s been co-hosting for two years, has been the thorn in the side of American Idol. Bionic was a sure misfire, a commercial disappointment in Aguilera’s catalog. Thankfully, she doesn’t make the same mistakes twice on this adventure, although it isn’t exactly the smooth sail her voice deserves.
Working unfavorably against Lotus, the opener makes it difficult for the album to take off and become remotely interesting. “Army of Me,” its follow-up, recycles Donna Summer beats and build-ups, but hardly adopts the “Bad Girls” catchiness for an album opener. It’s only when “Red Hot Kinda Love” enters the picture when Aguilera feels exonerated from the blues. The retro soul-disco feels fresh and the festive spunk gives Aguilera the kind of makeover that erodes those “she’s a bitch” stereotypes. Unfortunately, the missteps eventually return. Although the Madonna electropop of “Your Body” shows off her robust pipes, it hardly sounds like a comeback single. “Let There Be Love” feels like it’s a year old and a day late when it recants the still-vibrant strobelight grooves of Cobra Starship’s “You Make Me Feel…” The ballads are hardly the showstopping adult contemporary scorchers that surmise her iconic Linda Perry-penned masterpiece “Beautiful,” although the Adele-esque “Blank Page” comes very close, thanks to the melancholy piano, heart-tugging melody and moving lyricism: “If I could undo that I hurt you I would do anything for us to make it through/Draw me a smile, and save me tonight/I am a blank page waiting for you to bring me to life.” Her television cohorts also make their grand entrance: Cee Lo Green’s a bit brief and hides behind a coded background part on the Beyonce-inspired “Make the World Move;” Blake Shelton overwhelmingly blesses the album with a befitting duet on “Just a Fool.” Actually, as few memorable ballads are offered on Lotus, it’s those slow jams – like “Just a Fool” and “Blank Page” – that rescue the album from being a Bionic disaster. What’s seriously missing is that one uptempo firecracker that’s willing to mutate Aguilera from being a middle-of-the-pack pawn to being the queen of the chess board.