Review of Bionic by Christina Aguilera

I have been(and still am) a devout fan of Christina Aguilera ever since she came out with the song ‘I Turn to You” on her debut album. This is why, when her new CD Bionic came out, I did not hesitate to buy it. She has a beautiful voice.

For this music review, I’m going to do a song by song discussion. Christina Aguilera’s latest album is again totally different from her last ones. As the title suggests, Bionic has much more of a hip hop dance vibe to it rather than ballads and a focus on her strong voice. I also have to note that I find it interesting that she has dedicated the album to her son, when she is naked in most of the album pictures(with small things covering her bits up). It’s still sweet that she mentions her son.

Aguilera does not need to do the weird digital voice-tweaking that’s in all of hip hop nowadays, but she does it in Bionic. The album does not do any justice to her actual talent, rather, it is filled with a bunch of club songs(for the most part). I don’t know why she chose to do this when her voice is meant for powerful emotional ballads (like Hurt), but here are my thoughts.

1) Bionic – Borderline Cool. She sort of raps in it which is different for her, but I prefer it when she sings. The beat is pretty fun, but, the chorus is lame.

2)Not Myself Tonight – Definitely a good dance song. It reminds me slightly of the Car Wash song she did a few years ago though. Again, it’s not anything spectacular, but a fun car ride song.

3)Woo Hoo feat. Nicki Minaj- Has a hip hop vibe and reminds me of something Fergie would come out with. The parts she sings are nice, and it yet again has a good beat to it. I’d never heard of Nicki Minaj, but I like her rap part better than X-tina’s. This song  does make me want to do some good reggae dance moves.

4)Elastic Love – Love the beat in this one. Definitely something to turn up the volume to. Alright so it starts off strong. I’m not used to her using her voice so plainly, almost like she’s just speaking. I’ll give her one thing – it’s very TODAY.

5)Desnudate – Go figure she’s singing ‘get naked!’. It’s a very fun song though, I love the occasional latin lyrics and beats.

6)Love & Glamour – An intro of Christina speaking about love and glamour like they go together. It’s stupid.

7)Glam – Paint your face like a movie queen. What? Yeah. Another club track, with her speaking in it in her whiny fake voice she does. When she goes ‘Now snap’, I find it quite lame, sorry.

8)Prima Donna – Another club track. Nothing special about it again. Christina, what are you doing? If you’re a prima donna, then please sing. Thanks.

9)Morning Dessert – Intro. I’ve never liked intros. This one is no exception. What’s the point?

10)Sex for Breakfast – The title of this song just screams cheesy to me. The song itself isn’t so bad, at least she actually sings in this one. It reminds me of something from her Stripped album. Again, it’s a totally forgetable track, one of the ones that usually go at the end of an album when you’ve got nothing good left.

11) Lift me Up – This song is pretty, but doesn’t manage to move me like other ballads of hers have. It is still one of my favourites in Bionic.

12) My Heart – another intro, but it’s cute because her son(I’m guessing) says mama in it.

13) All I Need – This one is also a favourite of the album. She actually shows her talent in this one. It’s very relaxing and pretty. I like it a lot, it’s a song about being a mother.

14)I Am – I like the orchestra music in the background of this song. The violins give it a different light. This one is another great track on this CD.

15)You Lost Me – I love this song. It is so beautiful. Songs like these are what Christina’s made to sing. I get chills with this one.

16) I Hate Boys – Another wannabe Britney/Gaga Song. Another waste of time.

17)My Girls feat. Peaches – There’s a retro 80s dance vibe to this one; at the start. It then ends up sounding like a Ke§hia song or something. Not good.

18) Vanity – This one sounds like she’s just yelling again. I don’t like it.

Overall, the club music just doesn’t suit Christina. My favourite songs of this album are the slower ballads that have meaning in them. it lacks inspiration. I don’t know why she succumbs to the need to make meaningless pop, but, I guess that’s what she hasn’t really done yet(not counting her first album). She doesn’t need to try hard to make a musically powerful album, and yet, she tries way too hard to stay current when in fact; she’s so talented that she doesn’t need to. The album is overall a disappointment, but I do love the last few songs, so I’ll keep playing the last few tracks of the album to justify my purchase. The dance songs are still fun, but aren’t her specialty.

~Darleya~