Christina Aguilera - Bionic

Tagline: ‘I’m not cocky, I just love myself…BITCH!’

Making pop music used to be a lot easier in the old days. All you needed was a fairly attractive girl (or boy), some generic songs about love and heartbreak and a flavorless mix of beats. Not that mainstream pop music is now deep, layered and about something, but at least it has gotten edgier. It’s okay to show personality, even if it’s a clever commercial construction. Today’s pop princesses are colorful, bold and unafraid to shock and that makes it more difficult than ever to establish yourself amongst them. Even if you’re Christina Aguilera. And in that light she decided to reinvent herself as an electro pop artist, jumping on the wagon of what’s in at the moment. But ‘Bionic’ is definitely not the beginning of a new, alternative Aguilera modeled after Robyn, who did pretty much that in 2005. 

Not to say that it’s all bad: ‘Bionic’ contains some excellent pop songs. This is not least thanks to lyrical contributions by M.I.A., Nicki Minaj and Peaches to name just a few. And you also have to commend Aguilera for stepping out of the box. In ‘Elastic Love’, her role is reduced to the chorus, while M.I.A. takes in away. The result is an insanely catchy electro pop song. Just a bit flat to be on an M.I.A. album, but surprisingly fresh coming from the girl responsible for ‘Genie In A Bottle’. On ‘Woohoo’, it’s extravagant R&B newcomer Nicki Minaj assisting the singer. Lyrically the song is a pretty blunt invitation for oral sex, but once you tune that out, you’re left with a pretty decent track. Shallow, but fun. Even lead single ‘Not Myself Tonight’ sounds fairly acceptable, once you get over the soft-core bondage video that went with it. ‘Vanity’ however, the pretend-pretentious conclusion to ‘Bionic’, demonstrates how trying too hard can tip the scale from fashionably eccentric to bordering on ridiculous. The gay guy in me loves the song’s attitude and over the top self-glorification, but the realist in me can’t help but feel as if this is in the first place a misguided attempt of Aguilera to differentiate herself from the vast range of outrageous female pop singers that has emerged over the past few years. However, Katy Perry singing about how she kissed a girl is just naughty. Christina Aguilera singing about how it’s basically okay being a superficial whore reeks of desperation. And unfortunately the album also had to contain a handful of fairly pedestrian, yet obligatory ballads, in which Aguilera could exhibit her vocal range (thanks for nothing, Sia). It feels unnecessary to have five if they’re only going to sound exactly like every ballad she has ever recorded.

Some accused her of owing a lot to Lady Gaga’s successful combination of catchy electro pop and eccentric appearance. These days it’s difficult to determine who came up with it first and either way it’s a valiant effort, but she could have spent a little less time making it sound more out there and a little more time just making it better than the competition. Unfortunately one can’t help but feel as if this is more than anything an example of how trying too hard doesn’t always make for the best result. Sometimes less is more. At its best ‘Bionic’ shows that there is still room out there for someone with her talent in today’s pop scene. At its worst it sounds like Ke$ha – the musical equivalent of crotchless panties and empty liquor bottles – only without the satire. Or even worse: like Christina Aguilera some five years ago. There is no amount of explicit sexual content or girl-on-girl action that can cover that up.


Tracklist
1. Bionic
2. Not Myself Tonight
3. Woohoo
4. Elastic Love
5. Desnudate
6. Love & Glamour (Intro)
7. Glam
8. Prima Donna
9. Morning Dessert (Intro)
10. Sex For Breakfast
11. Lift Me Up
12. My Heart (Intro)
13. All I Need
14. I Am
15. You Last Me
16. I Hate Boys
17. My Girls
18. Vanity