'Bionic', Christina Aguilera's follow-up to 2006's 'Back to Basics' is aptly titled; like any machine, there's a lot going on, a lot of pieces and work that goes into making things function normally, and there's always something in need of fine-tuning. 'Bionic' presents a different Christina Aguilera than we're accustomed to: one that is on the defensive, desperate to reaffirm her place amongst other music and pop stars. Unfortunately, `Bionic' is just the little album that couldn't. It's not firing on all cylinders, if it is indeed "bionic" then it is due for some heavy maintenance and servicing because this is (in my opinion) Christina Aguilera's worst album to date.
The Good: Sound wise, 'Bionic''s strength lies with Aguilera willing to delve into so many different new sounds. If you were bored or overwhelmed by
Back to Basics, or miss the edgy material of
Stripped, 'Bionic' attempts to find a middle ground to please old and new fans alike. The opening track, "Bionic", serves as a fair warning that what you're about to hear isn't typical Aguilera stuff. She raps, she lets her voice be processed, tweaked, twirked and made mechanical sounding and sets the tone that this is an album meant to make you move. Like the cover and art work suggests, the album could be said to be split into two distinct sections: there's the first half which is very electronic, dance and mechanical sounding with Aguilera's usual vocal stylings toned down if not completely eliminated in favor of raps, hyper beats and club-orientated sounds. The second half is far more organic and human sounding, favoring songs about motherhood and emotion. There are some very upbeat, pop, catchy songs such as "Not Myself Tonight", "Woohoo", "Prima Donna" and more tame, ballad-type tracks like "You Lost Me" and "Lift Me Up" that feel as if they were included to reassure fans that the old Christina Aguilera is still present underneath the layers of machines and processed vocals on other tracks. The attention given to the album art, from the cover to the inner notes and photos, is great. Christina channels a new persona, 'Madame X', with some very risque, provocative imagery. The artist responsible for the art this era, D*Face, found fun ways to play with the 'bionic' theme by manipulating some of the images to make Aguilera appear somewhat robotic.
The Bad: While it's easy to see and accept that 'Bionic' was meant to be different and less serious than 'Back to Basics', it feels like a complete step-down from all the work Aguilera has done over the years to set herself apart as being a unique artist. Up until this release, she's never felt too concerned and worried about standing out or not being taken seriously. This album feels like a desperate attempt to convince the listeners that she's still relevant and worthy of her fame after such a long departure from the scene. Her attempt to re-invent herself into the edgy, fun, provocative singer who's more provocative and attractive than mother-like seems entirely unnecessary. What made Christina Aguilera stand out in her previous work is in fact that she didn't rely on autotune or computers to manipulate her voice to make her music interesting. Yet, 'Bionic' relies heavily on beats, voice and pitch tuning and mimicking the producers of her tracks (Sia, M.I.A., Ladytron, Peaches) and in the end, the artist is really lost within layers of sounds and beats. The first half of the album feels poorly pieced together. While "Elastic Love", "Glam", "Desnudate" are average music tracks that anyone, and I mean anyone, could have pulled off. Lyrically, Aguilera spends much of her time describing how great she is, why she is famous, why she's glamorous, why she's better than anyone on the scene and in the appropriately final track "Vanity" she even goes so far to review all of these questions and asks the listener "Who owns the thrown?" to which her child answers "You do, Mommy." I found myself unintentionally amused by her vanity and preoccupation with herself (her vanity, her fantasies, pleasures are all addressed on 'Bionic'). Missing from this album is the Christina Aguilera we've come to know and like: where is the real singing? Where is the confidence and desire to make music that no one else is making? 'Bionic' is an average album that any singer could have put out with the same sound and success; a true Christina Aguilera production it is not.
In most of the press and interviews for this album, Aguilera and her label has described 'Bionic' as having a futuristic sound. They failed to mention that the tracks that really experimented with sound and felt a bit on the side of futuristic were saved for the deluxe edition's bonus tracks. If you want variety, definitely purchase
BIONIC - DELUXE (Explicit).
In all, 'Bionic' is a disappointment in that it feels like Christina Aguilera and her label tried to dumb down her music and sound to make her fit with other pop star acts, which ultimately failed. 'Bionic' has a very clunky feel - unlike past albums where the music seamlessly fit together to tell an overall story, this album felt loose and all over the place as if Aguilera is unsure where she wants to go or where she fits in after taking so much time off in between releases. Too many of the tracks felt wasted by either being totally unnecessary (all of the intros) or sounding like Christina Aguilera putting aside her vocal skills and talents in favor of imitating other artists and their styles and sounds. The music and release sounds rushed and I have a hard time believing it took two years to piece this together but it sounds as if it were slapped together in two months or worse, two weeks. A lot of these tracks, after a listen or two, are skip-worthy, unfortunately. Hopefully, 'Bionic' gives Christina Aguilera her opportunity to vocally rest and try out club/dance music and she won't keep her fans waiting another four or five years for music and material that better fits her voice and talents.
Listen to These: "Lift Me Up", "I Hate Boys", "Bionic", "Woohoo", "Vanity", "Prima Donna"