Christina Aguilera
Lotus

Once upon a time, in the stormy astral ocean of the pop firmament, there was a star that shone with its own light; a star that did not need spotlights, strobe glimmers, chromatic variations, and other skirmishes to keep its balance - like a perpetual tightrope walker - on the ultrathin dental floss of the music biz, dominated by the fastidiousness of critics and pseudocritics and simultaneously by the overwhelming conformism of the masses. Christina Aguilera, a member of a generation that included (and still includes) carefree colleagues branded for life like Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake - heroes of a nostalgic past at Disney home, which now seems the most illustrious manor for novices and freshmen, unjustly followed the fate of that ridiculous social cliché aimed at including the escapees from Mickey Mouse's house in the melting pot of talentless pop stars, plastic manufacturers, home-delivering syrup dispensers, hawkers and wizards condemnable to the gallows or, at least, to the Index.

Yet Aguilera did not behave like the frivolous-sexy-confused Britney; she avoided at all costs the continuation of that infamous brand and, pocketing the twenty million records sold with the still teenie atmospheres of the eponymous debut and the global hit Genie in a Bottle, she thought it wise to mold pop creations with a totally detached flavor from the ancient adolescent sweetness: an attempt that brought to life Stripped, one of the best mainstream albums of the shaped decade, initially snubbed for the excessive sexy ardor of Dirrty and then reevaluated with the super ballad Beautiful, and Back to Basics, a funky revival of jazz music and its related custom. Everything went smoothly until 2010, the year of the tragic commercial slip of Bionic. The album, a still misunderstood failure, also triggered for the beautiful Christina an additional dark period of setbacks, controversies, failures and the shameful betrayal of the traitorous public; memorable was, just to mention one, the pseudo-scandal at the 2011 Super Bowl during which the singer messed up with the sacred The Star Spangled Banner, the holy Bible of the Yankee world, sparking boos and outrage from the stands, not to mention the parodies that flared up online. However, amidst this infernal abyss (in which the divorce from her husband also insinuated) Miss Aguilera tried, partially succeeding, to gather the pieces of the decline in popularity, aiming with decent success at cinema with Burlesque and joining the judging panel of the talent show The Voice.

Now, two years after Bionic, Christina Aguilera sharpens her claws again and, roaring like a lioness, attempts a comeback and to reclaim the charts with Lotus, her fifth album of original English-language songs. Lotus, conceived specifically to make the dissenters fall in love again but also to give a substantial shake to an almost stagnant and worn-out music biz, presents a singer almost new, unprecedented, regenerated, reinvigorated and tempered by commercial failures and existential disappointments. At first glance with the photo shoot and promotional images of the album, it seems as if seeing another person, different from the untouchable sexy bomb never scratched by blows and falls, a Christina almost docile, languid, pure, a true concentrate of tenderness and innocence. In short, the strong and rocky Aguilera of the emancipated times of Stripped yields to a defenseless little being, forgetful of the pedestal of success and power she had conquered.

Musically, if Bionic had errantly ventured into the now overused dance-electronic context, Lotus - although not straying particularly from this orientation - aims to make a decisive quality leap, a strategic decision allowing it to adequately navigate fashionable pop catchiness while not getting lost in the "already heard" and the deafening. Midway between synth-pop linked to danceable suggestions and the classic ballad repertoire, Lotus perhaps lacks the courage and ambition previously hinted at and declared; it isn't capable of accomplishing a huge qualitative leap forward compared to Bionic, yet it succeeds with good results in being pleasantly listened to and enjoyed.

The production opener is the single Your Body, a catchy and radio-friendly uptempo electro-dance song, perfect for the current club scene, a prelude to the similar euro-house atmospheres of Let There Be Love and the nostalgic Army of Me; immediately followed by a small synth-funky pearl with a vaguely swing-retro flavor of Red Hot Kinda Love, a track that seems to recover the revival of Back To Basics, and the soul/hip-hop of the ecstatic Make the World Move, presented alongside Cee-Lo-Green (Gnarls Barkley), a teammate on The Voice. A special chapter is deserved by the slow jams and ballads, the true linchpin of Christina's musical-creative rebirth: Blank Page immediately leads the listener to the piano-instrumental emotion of Beautiful, Sing For Me finds itself between the contemporary R&B flavor and the Mariah Carey-style strings, Cease Fire - a bit more dynamic of the group - is an orchestral triumph on the verge of flirting with dark-tribal tones, while Just a Fool (in duet with Blake Shelton, another member of The Voice's crew) surrounds everything with a substantial dusting of melodic rock.

After the darkness, suffering, pain and exile, Christina Aguilera turns her gaze to the sunlight with a solid album, simple and without too much frills, a work that maybe won’t enter the Olympus of sound art, but at least will serve as a determined redemption to a suffocating and desolate blanket of darkness, a loss too serious for a pop that struggles to reclaim the true values.

Christina Aguilera, Lotus

Lotus Intro - Army of Me - Red Hot Kinda Love - Make The World Move - Your Body - Let There Be Love - Sing For Me - Blank Page - Cease Fire - Around The World - Circles - Best of Me - Just a Fool