Christina Aguilera - Liberation
This week’s musical turnout featured some great new material that I very much enjoyed. Sub Pop had a great debut album from Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever (cool and Australian), and Thrill Jockey released a strange but ambitious improvisational sounding record from Portland guitarist Marisa Anderson. And even if you do not like Linkin Park (like me), one still has to sympathize with the Mike Shinoda solo album, compellingly titled Post Traumatic. Still, after surfing through all of these I was most drawn to the new Christina album, which is by far the most interesting of the group, even if it is not the “best.” My Aguilera research has told me about the musical difficulties and disconnections following the commercial success of Back to Basics (2006) and “Keeps Gettin’ Better,” so it is clear that Liberation is trying to bring back an up for her career, or at least revive the same type of “rebirth” attempted on Lotus (2012). The result, while no masterpiece (ahem, Billboard.com), is both crucial for her career and even more so for the pop music narrative of 2018.
Musically, the album diversifies amongst various popular styles, all of which would be standard on any modern pop-R&B album. Especially odd for Christina is a lack of big, memorable hooks - interestingly, the album becomes far more fascinating with this in mind. Now, the focus is elsewhere: the feel and beat, the lyrics, the roar of her vocal delivery when she digs into the line. This growl is usually an indication of a great track, as it shows something really worthy of her emotional output. The newfound tension throughout Liberation keeps it from feeling entirely formulaic, which can sometimes make the experience tiring (and other times, groanworthy). We have your standard reggae ripoff with "Right Moves" and the hazy, poorly-worded "Pipe," with almost all the tracks fitting into the electronic beat vs. ballad archetype.
What distinguishes Liberation in my mind is actually this play on formula - throughout the album, we hear the anthemic followed by the reflective, the Kanye beats next to glowing ballads. It is hard to box up the album, and I assume that is exactly what Aguilera wanted. The lyrics match this sentiment with unsurprisingly spot-on themes of liberation, and not always in the places you would expect. "Maria" finds the lost side of Christina with an overt reference to the main character of The Sound of Music (1965), but it also features a jagged and messy Kanye beat (yes, he did actually produce/co-write this song, as well as the decent "Accelerate"). Next up, "Sick of Sittin'" and "Fall in Line" give similar empowering meanings but with entirely different tones, making the contrast both thrilling and powerful.
If only the other songs held up to the standard of the first six tracks (the other three are basically interludes, though the opening was interestingly composed by the guy who made the Moonlight soundtrack). At least we can say that she is also sexually and emotionally liberation, I suppose - examples of this would be the beautiful romantic closer "Unless It's With You" and "Like I Do," one of two tracks with the production touch of the great Anderson .Paak (the other is "Sick of Sittin'"). The goal here is not to be complex; the album has to be accessible enough for the average listener to grasp. And yet, it both is and is not accessible. There is not a great balance of commercial appeal and personal artistic taste, it is all mixed around and mismatched. It seems so simple, and yet the underlying themes here are so amazingly human.
I do not think this will be remembered as one of the great pop albums of the year, but I am sure at least some songs will hit the charts. I am mostly just surprised that it does not seem to fit along the standard trajectory of popular music as of right now. Liberation tries to be a little more, but instead of succeeding it just manages to be a little different. For me, different pop music could not be more welcome; I relish the chance to hear something outside the box, something with ambition and passion. Yes, Liberation wants to be a hit, to break Aguilera’s music career out of the six-year pause. But the important statement it makes for 2018 is that Liberation just wants to be. The recognization of existence can be taken for granted, and she knows this. For her, I think the album is just a way to say to fans, dissenters, and uninterested parties alike: “Yes, I am here.”
Musically, the album diversifies amongst various popular styles, all of which would be standard on any modern pop-R&B album. Especially odd for Christina is a lack of big, memorable hooks - interestingly, the album becomes far more fascinating with this in mind. Now, the focus is elsewhere: the feel and beat, the lyrics, the roar of her vocal delivery when she digs into the line. This growl is usually an indication of a great track, as it shows something really worthy of her emotional output. The newfound tension throughout Liberation keeps it from feeling entirely formulaic, which can sometimes make the experience tiring (and other times, groanworthy). We have your standard reggae ripoff with "Right Moves" and the hazy, poorly-worded "Pipe," with almost all the tracks fitting into the electronic beat vs. ballad archetype.
What distinguishes Liberation in my mind is actually this play on formula - throughout the album, we hear the anthemic followed by the reflective, the Kanye beats next to glowing ballads. It is hard to box up the album, and I assume that is exactly what Aguilera wanted. The lyrics match this sentiment with unsurprisingly spot-on themes of liberation, and not always in the places you would expect. "Maria" finds the lost side of Christina with an overt reference to the main character of The Sound of Music (1965), but it also features a jagged and messy Kanye beat (yes, he did actually produce/co-write this song, as well as the decent "Accelerate"). Next up, "Sick of Sittin'" and "Fall in Line" give similar empowering meanings but with entirely different tones, making the contrast both thrilling and powerful.
If only the other songs held up to the standard of the first six tracks (the other three are basically interludes, though the opening was interestingly composed by the guy who made the Moonlight soundtrack). At least we can say that she is also sexually and emotionally liberation, I suppose - examples of this would be the beautiful romantic closer "Unless It's With You" and "Like I Do," one of two tracks with the production touch of the great Anderson .Paak (the other is "Sick of Sittin'"). The goal here is not to be complex; the album has to be accessible enough for the average listener to grasp. And yet, it both is and is not accessible. There is not a great balance of commercial appeal and personal artistic taste, it is all mixed around and mismatched. It seems so simple, and yet the underlying themes here are so amazingly human.
I do not think this will be remembered as one of the great pop albums of the year, but I am sure at least some songs will hit the charts. I am mostly just surprised that it does not seem to fit along the standard trajectory of popular music as of right now. Liberation tries to be a little more, but instead of succeeding it just manages to be a little different. For me, different pop music could not be more welcome; I relish the chance to hear something outside the box, something with ambition and passion. Yes, Liberation wants to be a hit, to break Aguilera’s music career out of the six-year pause. But the important statement it makes for 2018 is that Liberation just wants to be. The recognization of existence can be taken for granted, and she knows this. For her, I think the album is just a way to say to fans, dissenters, and uninterested parties alike: “Yes, I am here.”
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