Christina Aguilera: Lotus (Review)

Sometimes I wish I could shake the bijesus out of my favourite diva and make her realise that the world is not after her. But then again, in the thirteen years that she has been in this business, Christina Aguilera has thrived in the pain of having the bullseye painted on her. It is that angst and unapologetic retort in her verses that has inspired and empowered two generations of the bullied and the insecure. It has been two years since her album Bionic failed commercially, and along the way Aguilera has suffered through a divorce and a post-Burlesque weight gain which made her the butt of many a Twinkie joke. However, since signing up for a premium spot on the hit US singing competition The Voice, she has seemingly recovered from a bad streak and has cemented herself as a refreshed household name once again. For three seasons Aguilera has sat on her spinning red char, upping the ante for TV judging by being a veritable zeitgeist full of musical wisdom that has so far put her contemporaries into shame. After all, who would you rather feed advice from? Surely not fellow Musketeer Britney Spears- who despite being the most iconic popstar of the last decade, cannot carry a tune let alone sing live. The same goes for the likes of Jennifer Lopez, et al. She wants to inspire the new generation of singers the way she was inspired by Mariah, Whitney and Julie Andrews, and with that in mind, Christina Aguilera has brought forth her latest musical opus, Lotus. 

Christina Aguilera, Lotus (RCA)

Brimming to the full with the yearning to hit back at her critics, Aguilera delivers a new set of songs with an attack and gusto that Bionic lacked, albeit a little redundant at times. In 'Army of Me', she proclaims to have come out the last two years being stronger, wiser and more of a fighter than ever before, while giving a massive fuck you to her haters when she tells them to 'run around in Circles on my middle, middle finger'. Catchy, crass and oh so effective! When she's not fighting back, she's advocating a whole lot of love in synthy, surefire commercial dance numbers such as the fun lead single 'Your Body', 'Let There Be Love', 'Red Hot Kinda Love', and the island-flavoured 'Around The World'. Critics have accused the singing of copping Rihanna, but they seem to have forgotten that Aguilera has always played with reggae elements and her Latino roots since 2002. This seems to be the issue with the public and Aguilera. The world continues to hang tightly onto her sophomore record (the best one she's ever produced) Stripped, yet they forget that it was Xtina who continued where Madonna left off- paving the way for the Ke$has, Katys and Rihannas of the world, assless chaps and enough grease and dirt in tow. Needless to say, the pop diva belts out as loud as ever to wasail her way back to the throne she had left vacant since 2007. In the heart of the record, ballads such as 'Sing For Me' and the Sia-penned 'Blank Page' achieve this goal by highlighting Aguilera's vocal prowess against a minimal backdrop. Gone is the heavy-handed touch of Max Martin and instead Aguilera lets her voice raise to the rafters, each melisma executed perfectly as if to educate her new generation of protegeés in a Pop 101 Masterclass. The latter track offers the most sincerity, despite the lack of gentleness in her hand. Her passion remains as subtle as a gun. Even in the beautifully random duet with fellow Voice coach Blake Shelton, 'Just A Fool' showcases her take on scorned love in a country torch song. When she sings her 'whole heart comes out' both sonically and emotionally, and it is a signature trait that isn't too dissimilar to Streisand's ululating verses or Celine Dion's bizarre dance moves. She is often accused of substituting heart with vocal acrobatics but somehow the trade works in Lotus. Perhaps that is simply her chosen brand of soul. I'm sure the likes of Patti Labelle and James Brown endured their share of subjective criticism.

However, it is this aggressive vocal approach that lets Aguilera down at times in this record. Many fans adored her subtle tribute to Nina Simone with her cover of 'I Loves You Porgy' back in 2008, and though her oversinging tendencies was cut down to the bare essentials (relatively), Lotus lacks the technical gradation that a vocalist of Aguilera's calibre should be displaying. Mid-range, her voice has a fullness reminiscent of her idol, the late Etta James and a tone Beyoncé could only dream of. But the girl simply will not listen and therefore, her voice sometimes sound tired and strained, peppered and aggravated by the grit she has been working on for years. There have been rumours of Aguilera employing the help of a singing coach a few years back, to help prevent deterioration and preserve her golden pipes. I am one fan who would plead to her to go for it. When the years have gone and the auto-tuned pop-bots of today have all but vanished, I want Christina Aguilera to be somewhat of a Billie Holiday, or an Etta..or simply, herself. Secure, content and full of resolution in a career that has endured and stood the test of time, like the Lotus flower she continually wants to embody. 

Overall I would say that Lotus is a strong and solid record. It is perhaps the most commercial record Aguilera has produced since her musical debut, with no singular theme or genre as with the rest of her catalogue. She has thrown around the notions of 'rebirth' and resilience during promotional interviews and though not overtly, I agree with her idea. Lotus gives birth to a new Xtina; one who is ready to jump start a new phase of her career now that she has finally come full circle. I wouldn't say that it is a comeback record, but merely a great platform to begin a long term bid at a lasting career. Let's just hope that Miss Aguilera reigns in that voice in the future and drops her defence because she has nothing more to prove. She's said it herself in the past, so here's hoping that she finds the conviction in her words, 'Baby cease fire, throw down your weapons, I'm on your side'. 

RATING: 3.5/5

NBC The Voice: Why I love it and why Christina is the best coach on the show.

We all know how widely popular and how successful The Voice has been, both for NBC and the community of fellow reality TV singing competition lovers. It's a great concept, especially with it's initial blind audition process where the show takes it back to basics, so to speak. While the show has made big bucks from some serious star-power from all the four coaches (Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine, and Blake Shelton), the network also makes the show credible by inviting some of the best artists in the country. 

Lindsey Pavao singing Gotye's 'Somebody That I Used To Know'

This season, while I favour Team Xtina greatly with all the bias in the world, I have to say that I do have favourites from the other teams as well. Katrina Parker and Tony Lucca from Team Adam are two of ones I look forward to listening, alongside Jamar Rogers from Team RedZone (a.k.a Cee Lo) and Erin Willett from Team Blake. The diversity in talent this season has been incredible. I like the fact that it is not just a competition full of big voices with four octave ranges- case in point, Lindsey Pavao's indie-ness and haunting vocals have been refreshing and modern. Her sound is always a breath of fresh air! I personally cannot see her on stage at the 'other' TV competitions because of this fact alone. Idol and X Factor, while they are improving in terms of catching up with talent, are still prejudiced towards artists from alternative genres. If you can sing Whitney decently, you get a trophy. If you can rap like Eminem, you too can win a trophy! It's ridiculous. God knows it is not the sort of music that this generation has grown up listening too. The beauty of The Voice is that it combines modern sound with the singer's flexibility in wielding their artistic creativity, and it return they offer us music that isn't just a carbon copy of the greats. Plus. can I just point out how fabulous it is to know that sob stories don't matter until after the blind auditions? No teary coaches to be found on The Voice, because the process levels out the playing field. So you were homeless, big deal. Jesse Campbell had to BRING it at his audition without the coaches' awareness of his situation. Their life stories are irrelevant in the audition process, which ultimately makes the competition fair and square. 

Now on to my beaming review of Christina's progress as the queen of NBC.

She may be ditzy sometimes, and her jokes and digs may be a bit obtuse. Her wardrobe may have had a horrific track record, although her recent live show get-ups have been nothing short of beautiful. She may exude extreme bias towards her team. 

HOWEVER. 

Christina has been the single, most honest coach in the competition thus far. She says what's on her mind, and if she didn't like a performance, she says it but not without good criticism. Now, readers may hate me for saying this but it's the truth. Naia Kete was the perfect example last week with her blah performance of Adele's 'Turning Tables'. It was a huge miscalculation on Blake's part and Christina called them out on it. It was boring and pitchy and very amateurish. That's what everyone watching thought, or at least those who have good working ears. She's a great artist and I would definitely listen to an album if she ever releases one, but Naia's performance was a huge downer. Sure Christina could have sugar-coated her critique but that would have done Naia a great disservice because it is what she needed to hear. When I read the reviews and blogs the day of the results show, everyone has gone to chastise the lady coach for being a bit too 'harsh' and bitchy. Obviously people have become sensitive. Shouldn't they realise that actually, if the average Joe and Jane were to listen to Naia and not like it, they would say harsher things? To me, Xtina has been The Voice (duh!) of the people. She definitely says whats on my mind. 

Tony Lucca is another example. After last night's performance of 'In Your Eyes', everyone was beaming and impressed. He has a great voice that is reminiscent of David Gray and Ray LaMontagne, but that's just it. When he sang Ray's 'Trouble' at his audition I thought he sounded EXACTLY like the original record. Perhaps Christina did hit the nail on the head with her 'one-dimensional' comment, because Tony has been predictable thus far. His style is singularly focused on that folksy-indie-rocky niche and he could do with being a bit more than a one trick pony. After all, one can only listen to your signature sound many a time before they stop   buying your records (look up, Madonna, Gwen, Xtina, Michael Jackson...the list goes on). Ashley de la Rosa in comparison has done just that, for nobody thought that she was a pop-rock girl until last week. To pull off an Alanis Morisette number at 17 is a feat on its own. That's the sort of challenge Tony has to face. Then came the 'Mouseketeer' comment. As it turns out, Justin Timberlake has been tweeting his support of Tony for being good friends. So far, I've realised that NBC, Tony and the rest of America have capitalised majorly on his past as a Mouseketeer. And while that joy and nostalgia on TV, it hinders him as an artist because everyone who talks about him always bring up the whole Disney thing. That may have been where Xtina was coming from when she brought it up and told Tony of his unfair advantage because he has a celebrity following. I see it, and I get it. Now obviously, reading up on the reports, once again Xtina was the evil stepmother for saying such controversial things! 

Whatever. I give up. As she has said in the past, you cannot please everyone. Christina Aguilera has been the most honest and constructive (it could be a bit more refined...but I'll take it.) coach on the show. The only other one I find who's on par is Blake but whenever Adam agrees, so does he. That bromance thing does get a bit annoying sometimes. Poor Cee Lo. I always want to hear what he has to say, but they seem to not give him enough air time to ramble on as much as Adam.  Nevetheless, I think the other three coaches need to be a bit more sensible with their advice and not just compliment everything. Otherwise, they will turn into a much pretty version of Randy-JLo-and-Steven who wants to give the title to everyone for simply, performing.