Friday, January 18, 2013

Album Review: Christina Augilera- Lotus




Recently Christina Aguilera was asked why she was leaving The Voice for a season, and she responded saying she wanted to pay more attention to her music for a bit, maybe a little touring. Well for all Christina fans this is very exciting.Christina has been in the music industry for a long period of time but her albums generally tend to take a few years to come out. With the trending pop constantly changing Christina Aguilera has managed to always have a very different album theme yet without a doubt she has come out with at least one radio hit each album.

Throughout her career Christina Aguilera  has based her music much on her public experiences. Such as on her album stripped she singes about being judged at a time at which the media was comparing her to Britney Spears. On this album, Lotus, Christina's music is based mostly on a heartbreak and on how shes a strong women and willing to move on. The public experience in this album is her divorce, although I believed it would have been a more mature album being as how she became a mother, I was proven wrong with a few explicit lyrics. This album is full of inspirational quotable lyrics and dancing beats. Besides the fact that Christina must have had much inspiration after her divorce to sing about heartbreak the voice God gave Christina was meant for music with soul. This album without a doubt is Christina pouring out her heart out and creating a master piece. Like many other albums. 

Some of the more depressing beats and very emotional uplifting lyrics are songs such as, Sing For Me, Blank Page, then it gets more upbeat and ends with another sad song, Just A Fool, featuring Blake Shelton co-star on the voice. It changes the tempo of the whole album and adds a county voice. Although I really enjoyed this song and it has become one of my favorites, it is out of place on the album. There is a flow of music throughout the whole album which seems as if it was all one mix or a whole song until you get to the song, Just a Fool. The country doesn't flow all that well with the pop in the deluxe album version. Even though I would suggest if you were to buy the album to purchase the deluxe version, be aware that the flow on the regular album version ends the album with this song making it a little better, but the three extra songs on the deluxe version are very much worth it.
Another collaboration on the album is the song, Make the World Move, which features CeeLo Green also a co-star on the Voice. A great collaboration which makes more sense and a better feel on the pop album. Many fans have said that this should have been the song to debut her album on the radio instead of, Your Body. It has a party vibe to it and surely the CeeLo style in which you know is full of creativity. It is a Christina dominated song with a little taste of CeeLo; its like a fresh batch of brownies warm moist and right out the oven and CeeLo is the vanilla ice cream that makes a perfect match. 

 In her song, Sing For Me, Christina's lyrics explain her love for music. In one of the lines Christina sings "Sing it out just for myself I don’t even care what the world thinks bout how I sound" showing heartbreak and just imagine the soul in this song which starts off the change in tone of the rest of the album. Yet the best soulful stanza in the album and the cherry on top is about her heartbreak, "Cause when I open my mouth My whole heart comes out Every tear I want to cry is satisfied I’m singing till I’m winning I going to sing all night," also from the song Sing For Me. 

The album has the feel of a break up, by having music that puts you in the different stages you go through after a breakup. It starts off as a party making you dance with song titles such as Army of me, Red Hot Kinda Love, and Let There Be Love. These songs are feel good songs that make you wanna get up and dance, songs that give you the vibe of saying "I'm single and loving it." Then the beats start transitioning to lower tempos with lyrics about feeling heartbroken. The stage of a breakup in which you feel a bit of remorse for what you did and wish you could change things. The regular CD version ends the song Just A Fool, which is a country/pop song with lyrics about whiskey and "forgetting you," similar to Lady Antebellum's huge radio hit Need You Now
Then the deluxe version goes on to tell the story with song titles such as Light Up The Sky, Empty Words, and Shut Up. If the title to the last song isn't enough to finish off the story of a breakup I have no idea what could. The last and "deluxe" version of a breakup is when the other person wants you back after putting you through heartbreak. They try and "light up your world" with false words that they already proved to be "empty words" and after you have felt the complete heartbreak all you have left to say is "Shut Up." 




Voices such as Christina's become harder and harder to find throughout the years and along with scarcity comes under appreciation. I predict that the sales for this album will not be a great turn out because she has been under appreciated. Another factor that adds to my prediction is the radio release of, Your Body. The video itself led to many parodies very quickly. The song Your Body is just not one of Christina's best. I believe Christina should have promoted one of her songs with collaborations either Make The World Move, or Just A Fool.  

For all Christina fans this album is not a disappointing. It is full of soul like much of all her other music and something you can sing along with in the car. It will be awhile before we hear anything new from Christina but until then we can hope to see her next season on The Voice again. Although there is no set dates and only rumors about a Lotus tour we can expect them to come out soon, since there will be no Christina or CeeLo on this season of The Voice.  

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