Album review: Christina Aguilera, 'Bionic'
For the last decade, Christina Aguilera’s career has been as much or more about marketing as it has been about singing. It’s a shame, because as pop-machine creations go, Aguilera has genuine chops as vocalist, and far greater upside than just about any of her peers in the late-‘90s teen-pop invasion.
On her 1999 self-titled debut album, she distinguished herself from the Britney/Backstreet Boys pack with a rangy voice that belied her youth (plus, “Genie in a Bottle” was a fetching single). After that, her career has taken a series of curious turns. Her albums have moments that live up to her promise, but are weighed down by ill-advised concepts, garish over-singing and off-putting celebrations of self (or even more off-putting complaints about just how tough it is to be Xtina).
Her 2002 album, “Stripped,” confused growing up with stripper-pole come-on’s, and “Back to Basics” (2006) tried to turn her into a swing-era throwback who claimed she worshiped Etta James and Aretha Franklin, but then over-sang so much that it’s clear she hadn’t learned a thing from those icons. Now comes “Bionic” (RCA), which presents her as … a robot?
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