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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!