Album Review: Christina Aguilera ‘Lotus’

Who would have thought that Christina Aguilera would put out one of the best pop collections of the year? No, really; I mean it. I posted it on my Facebook and everything, and nobody there believed me either. Lotus is not the paint-by-numbers record I expected it to be. It makes a solid case for the relevancy of not only Aguilera, but an entire genre.

The intro creates a very different feeling for a Christina Aguilera album, building ambience and a frenetic, accelerating feeling of momentum. It does everything that an introduction should, offering a taste of some of the ideas and techniques Christina and her producers are playing with this time around, and making the statement that it is intended to be more than just disposable pop music.

‘Army Of Me’ is an anthem of personal strength, which is itself a strength of Christina Aguilera, but can also be something that wears a little thin on more discerning ears. However, the difference between this and some of her previous motivational songs is that it is very inward looking, and to me that makes it much more effective. A song that makes a concerted effort to tell the listener that they are perfect and wonderful can come across as disingenuous, while a track where the artist looks in on themselves and sings of their own struggles and strengths is much more believable, and anyone can still sing along and apply it to themselves.

The production on this record is its real selling point. The bass is deep and rich, mixed louder than you might expect on an album that should be– and still is– about showcasing a singer’s voice. Lotus should find its way into the collections of audiophiles no matter what they think of the artist. Production cheats and techniques like autotune are kept to a minimum, used for effect where needed but not abused.

Two songs here feature Christina’s co-stars from The Voice, as if consciously looking to round out the collection after working with Adam Levine on Maroon 5’s ‘Moves Like Jagger’. CeeLo Green is featured on ‘Make The World Move’ where he takes a backseat and allows Christina to shine. The album’s closer is a duet with Blake Shelton, ‘Just A Fool’, a song with a very country theme but a surprising lack of country influence in its sound, content just to be a typical rock ballad. These are two of the weaker songs on the album, feeling a little thrown in.

The album slows down in its latter half, which feels like a bit of a lull after a couple of tracks. ‘Sing For Me’ and ‘Blank Page’ stand out and feel like important songs to Christina. I had forgotten by this point just how well Christina does ballads and slow songs, but that isn’t enough, and these tracks actually end up taking away some of the great energy Lotus built early on.

It’s a very positive album as a whole though, and it seems like Christina and her producers went into it wanting to have fun and be a little playful. ‘Red Hot Kinda Love’ exemplifies this aesthetic, exploring a fun and quirky side of romance and sexuality, and of Christina’s voice. The album has a big party feeling and is a lot of fun to listen to, lull notwithstanding. ‘Circles’ steps in to ramp things back up late in the game, a track that is so full of attitude it could pass for a Garbage song from the late 90s.

Lotus feels like it’s over too quickly, but the Deluxe edition finishes the job and sounds like a more complete release. This isn’t a perfect record, but it’s a nearly perfect Christina Aguilera record, and I honestly didn’t expect even half of that from it going in.

Release Date: November 13, 2012
Image Courtesy of RCA