Album Review – Christina Aguilera “Bionic” Deluxe
Christina's "Bionic"
The 24 track long return to music from Christina Aguilera is a curious one, that starts out with a fantastic optimistic flair, that unfortunately trips and stumbles a few too many times on the way.
The album begins with the stellar track “Bionic” which really encapsulates the direction Christina seemed to be going for with this project, and one of the best parts of the song is that unlike in other songs where she simply sings over the music doing vocal back flips and somersaults, she really just melts into the production and the end result is a really great song.
Then we suddenly hear “Not Myself Tonight” which really does not feel very “Bionic”, more like “SexyBack” (or any other Timbaland song since then). “Not Myself Tonight” is a really nice dance song, lots of fun, she has some really nice vocals in it as well, except some of the lyrics are quite forgettable and unfortunately the whole premise of the song seems a little desperate when it’s in the context of a “futuristic” album.
However, this pattern of great, but ill fitting songs continues with “WooHoo” which I personally really like. The lyrics are somewhat... of a hit and miss, but the production of the song really shines. As with the many other collaborations on the album, her voice doesn’t sound as distinctive here. Nevertheless it’s a decent song, just badly timed.
“Elastic Love” is fantastic, the only criticism of this song is that she is practically imitating M.I.A’s vocal style completely. Otherwise this song is just pure genius, the production flows a little bit better than M.I.A’s music but it still holds that quirky confidence that she’s known for.
I would really like to stop here, but alas we still have 18 tracks to go, “Desunudate” is really where we begin to understand the reality of the album. It’s really not that interesting or original, you can’t help but hear the looped beats in the background. Then we are put through the “Love and Glamour” intro, what a joke, it’s the most embarrassing attempt at sounding intelligent I’ve heard lately, just a bunch of clichés mashed into an interlude. To be honest, interludes rarely work, so why bother doing one if you don’t have anything worth saying? “Glam” is possibly one of the worst attempts to sing about fashion in a song. It’s simply absurd to even thing this compares in any way to Madonna’s “Vogue”, and the fact that she chants “Now Snap!” and then “Don’t let the clothes wear you” is practically laughable. This is where I’m starting to lose my faith in the album, and we still have 13 tracks to go!
“Prima Donna” is fairly nice, it sounds like a continuation of “Bionic” the track almost, her vocals are a little shoutier on this one, but I guess the song really demands that. The musical interlude “Morning Dessert” is really nice, as is the beginning of “Sex for Breakfast”, unfortunately the song really doesn’t go anywhere from there, very bland, especially considering it’s the longest track on the album.
“Lift Me Up” is definitely one of the stand-out tracks on the album, but perhaps the production really doesn’t compliment the sheer emotion that Christina puts into the vocals on this track. The “My Heart” intro is completely unnecessary, and it is really just using her child for all the wrong reasons, I’m definitely not criticising her as a parent, but the only reason they put this in was so some listeners would go “Oh she’s a mother! I suddenly have more respect for her, sisterhood etc etc.”
“All I Need” has a beautiful melody, it’s another track worth noting, and this really shows how her vocal technique has vastly improved since her debut. The album follows on nicely with “I Am”, this is the kind of sound that she really thrives on! “You Lost Me” can be compared to work from artists like Fiona Apple and much like the previous song, really benefits from Sia Furler’s brilliant song writing.
God help us! Not again, now we’ve unwittingly stumbled into a pitfall, “I Hate Boys” really destroys the brilliant song writing and production that we witnessed before with a cheap immature re-hash of “Keeps Getting Better”. But wait, it gets worse, Christina follows this off with “Vanity” an absolute shocker of a song, even if you put aside the off-putting lyrics. This is the kind of stuff people expected of her after her debut album.
Then we get into the Deluxe Tracks, and thank god for that, if you purchased the standard edition and were left with “Vanity” ringing in your frightened cochleas, you would not be very satisfied. “Monday Morning, the Santigold track is a massive stand out on the album, in the same vein as “Elastic Love”, it shows that she is still capable of making interesting music. “Bobblehead” is disgusting, and nothing else, such a hypocritical song. “Birds Of Prey”, much like the title track, is a smooth song where her voice relaxes into the music around it, fantastic.
The Deluxe edition ends with “Stronger than Ever”, which is the right way to leave the listener, inspired by the beautiful lyrics and soothing vocals. Overall this album does not come out as a winner. If it were a 12 track album, it would be a simply breathtaking piece of work, but with its bloated track list we are left feeling unsatisfied and pushed around.
I hope you enjoyed this review, leave your comments below!
Beyonce Live In Melbourne (Rod Laver Arena) Review
Hey guys! I managed to score some last minute tickets to Beyonce's "I am..." tour, which was extremely entertaining, not only did she interact with the crowd without acting contrived, but she sang very, very well, and most of all the whole show was a terrific production.
Beyonce kept the dancing to a mediocre level, but this was only so she could belt out her songs almost perfectly, which was great, for songs like "Halo", "Broken Hearted Girl", and "Smash Into You" but not as interesting for the faster number like "Single Ladies", and "Freakum Dress".
One thing that I really enjoyed, was the way that Beyonce's music was reworked for the tour to bring the ultimate experience for fans that want to feel caught up in the moment. Some songs, like Sweet Dreams, Radio, and Get Me Bodied were done perfectly.
Also, she did a medley of most of her lesser known songs from her solo work and some Destinys Child songs (Which I don't think she should be performing alone, it sends the wrong message), the medley went down very well with everyone at the show, and Beyonce certainly came out with some tastefully dramatic and interesting outfits, showing that there is more to fashion than slapping a solar system on your face.
I would very much reccomend Beyonce's show for anyone who has ever liked her music, however the concert was a little bit sexist, and here's why. Now I know most of her fanbase is female, but it doesn't exactly excuse having an intro to "If I Were A Boy" basically saying that all men are cheating bastards, add that to the "All Female Band" amongst other things like constantly addressing the "ladies" in the audience it made a lot of the guys there a bit annoyed and left out.
Flo Rida and Jessica Mauboy were the supporting acts, Jessica Mauboy had a dissapointingly short 20 minute set, but she rocked it out and showed off why she's tearing up the charts in Australia at the moment (Selling more than Beyonce, funny that.) Then we come to Flo Rida... who was horrible.
This is the second time I have seen Flo Rida live, the first time was about ten months ago in Melbourne, I left halfway through to go drinking because it was pathetic. This time, there wasn't much difference, except for that the most he could actually perform or "yell" (not rap, he can't even rap) was about 40 seconds of his songs and then he'd take a break to sign a fucking sweat towel and throw it into the audience as if we should be thankful???? They'd probably sell on eBay for $5, nobody was that excited about him.
Aside from this, all his songs rely on heavily samplying popular songs, in a way that doesn't sound original, he just slaps a rap onto the beat. His songs all sounded the same, and I wish that Beyonce had just had Jessica Mauboy as the main supporting act, or at least gotten a decent rapper, especially considering Flo Rida keeps flopping in Australia and Jessica Mauboy is about to release her 6th single off her first album.
Alltogether, I would definetly reccomend this concert, Beyonce is a very talented woman, and she does a great job, she has a good stage presence, but not incredible. Overall she left the audience feeling fantastic, and I certainly loved it!
Music Video Review – Beyonce “Sweet Dreams”
- Beyonce Sweet Dreams
Beyonce Has just released her new single "Sweet Dreams" and since then the music video had surfaced onto youtube of all places. Sweet Dreams was certainly one of my favourites from the "I Am... Sasha Fierce" album. In my original review I praised it as being one of the few songs on the Sasha Fierce disk that didn't feel forced, and had a really good flow to it. "Sweet Dreams" is a fast paced song with interesting lyrics, the song is quite beautiful, and an acoustic version on the single would not go astray.
To the actual video, I'm really surprised with this one, all the videos from this new album of Beyonce's have been done on the cheap, in a major way. The quality of videos like "Diva" and "Ego" remind me of a cheap dragshow, and a funny pair of sunglasses does not change that!
As a video Sweet Dreams has a powerful striking intro, and it moves on to some spectacular dancing scenes reminiscent of the cinematography from Michael Jackson's "Black or White". The inital dancing scenes are recorded in reverse and the effect looks great! This is definetly a "fierce" music video. However then the video begins to look like a destinys child video from about ten years ago. Finally the video stoops a little lower with a horrible gold metal suit, that reminds me of the Slave 4 U costume in Britney's current tour, Lady Gaga's Paparazzi polio crutch outfit, and quite frankly looks absolutely unflattering on every one of these women, except for Britney Spears, even despite the "My Pussy Is Hanging Out" incident.
The first half of the video is fantastic and shows us that Beyonce can make some killer videos, but the latter half of the video is a little too obscure to match the song, albeit a fun kind of obscurity. I hope you enjoy the music video below!
Album Review – Beyonce "I am… Sasha Fierce"
Beyonce's Third Studio Album "I am...Sasha Fierce"
Beyonces new album, is a double disc which showcases both herself, and her crazy ghetto whorish lip gloss alter ego "Sasha Fierce". This is not anything new, Beyonce mentioned her diva alter ego to many journalists in interviews with the immediate response involving something of a completely different nature.
As an artist Beyonce seems to put so much of her heart and soul into her work, listening to her in interviews confirms this, her devotion to her roles in movies, her image, and her music are all something to be gawped at. Beyonce seems to be an artist holding tightly onto her muse, and it also flourishes in her work.
However the album is really solid, and I mean that, B-Day was a massive album when it came out, and really confirmed her superstar status. My problem with the new album is I feel that perhaps the fact that Beyonce set out to make a double disc album, led her astray into feeling as if she had to do one disc of ballads and one disc of "diva" songs.
This is the achilles heel of I am... Sasha Fierce, on 75% of the album it seems to come natrually with confidence and a strong self awareness that the songs are classics. Yet the problem is when she plays the key out of tune, she really plays it out of tune on this album, need I mention, "Video Phone", this is the female equivalent of SOULJA BOY, and this almost makes me want to cry. Video Phone manages to hold a few listens because Beyonce brings her style throughout it. However the problem is, with "Video Phone" and "Diva" (Which sounds like a 'Lil Mama' B-side... no wait, C-Side!) is that Beyonce seems to have stopped using the "Sasha" disc as an outlet for "Sasha" and seems to feel the need to play the role of "Sasha" rather than be her. In this way those two songs stand out horribly and it feels as awkward as the acting on Bold and Beautiful.
Now enough trashing, the redeeming part of the album, is that just like when she bombs, when Beyonce gets it right here, she nails it bigtime. "Halo" is going to be one of the biggest songs of her career if she releases it and promotes it properly, it is like "Bleeding Love" but with an established and professional personality singing it, this songs really connects with the listener.
- If you liked "Bleeding Love", then you'll fall for the symphonic "Halo"
- If you enjoyed "Bonnie and Clyde '03", you'll enjoy what I would deem it's worthy sequel "Hello"
- If you loved that old crazy girl Sonique and her trance song "Sky", you'll be addicted to "Radio" and "Sweet Dreams"
I really think Beyonce has been conscious in changing her sound a little, she's opted to strip down her ballads with piano, and as she has said, chose not to colloborate with Jay Z or any other artists, which I think was a good decision. I think everybody is getting a bit tired of the ol rap interlude in the middle of the song... it's got to go because it's getting beyond repetitive right now na na na... right?
Overall I give this Album 3 stars, it could've been better if Beyonce put "Diva" and "Video Phone" in a box to the left, but unfortunetly she didn't, but we all have a skip button anyway. I will say that "Halo" and "Radio" are my pick for the next two singles, they could become major radio hits.
If you have any questions or want to request an album or single review, drop me an email at jaw.modernmusic@gmail.com