https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/christina-aguilera-liberation/
Christina Aguilera
Liberation
6.7
by Claire Lobenfeld
Contributor
POP/R&B
JUNE 20 2018
The pop survivor shows off her powerhouse voice, dabbles in try-hard slang,
and takes tentative steps toward creative rebirth on her first album since
2012.
The 2010s have been an uncertain decade for Christina Aguilera. The first ten
years of her career saw her shapeshift from Delia’s catalog realness to her
provocative “Xtina” persona to drama-club queen bee and back. But she
kicked off the current decade by covering Marilyn Monroe and reinterpreting
Marilyn Manson for Burlesque, one of the campiest pop-star vehicles this side
of Glitter. Her most recent album, 2012’s Lotus, was a non-starter featuring
two of her fellow coaches of “The Voice,” Cee-Lo Green (pre-date rape
allegations) and Blake Shelton. (She’d already reached No. 1 with the fourth
member of their inaugural cohort, Adam Levine, thanks to her guest appearance
on Maroon 5’s 2010 hit “Moves Like Jagger.”) Lotus was supposed to be a
rebirth, but it faltered. Entertainment Weekly called its first-week sales “
the sad trombone at the end of [Aguilera’s] comeback.”
The rollout of her eighth album, Liberation, suggests she’s done selling
anything that doesn’t fit into her true vision of herself: She posed without
makeup on the cover of Paper magazine, and her cover art is similarly
stripped down. And the album is, at the very least, a reminder that—holy shit
—she can sing. As contemporary radio continues to favor lighter vocal
performances from artists like Halsey and Charlie Puth, Aguilera’s
powerhouse voice remains the nucleus of her sound, even when she’s tinkering
with trap tropes and try-hard slang.
Are those moments a total bummer? Absolutely. “Pipe” includes lyrics like,
“I just left a lituation popping by the High Line/Walked in, no list, fuck a
go sign,” and, “Got a couple secrets that I'd really love to see if you
could keep/Damn, boy, you remind me of my Jeep.” In 2018, “lituation” is a
word for children and the cast of “Jersey Shore,” and R. Kelly references
belong only in a trash compactor. The album’s Kanye West-produced lead
single, “Accelerate,” is equally unconvincing; crackly vocals from the
usually hefty-voiced Ty Dolla $ign do it no favors.
Aguilera’s 2010 album, Bionic, featured cutting-edge singles like “Woohoo”
—an ode to oral sex featuring Nicki Minaj—and “Elastic Love,” which was
co-written by guest vocalist M.I.A. (And this was nearly two years before
Madonna enlisted both Minaj and Maya for “Gimme All Your Luvin’.”) The
sound of Bionic was perhaps too forward-thinking, a risk that could have
reaped the rewards of poptimism if the album had only been released a few
years later. Liberation isn’t completely devoid of progressive moments: “
Like I Do” is one spot where contemporary pop fare suits Aguilera. D.C.
rapper GoldLink, who had his first real crossover hit with last year’s “
Crew,” delivers a verse that confirms her continued relevance in hip-hop;
his reference to her 1999 debut single, “Genie in a Bottle,” is a tidy
hat-tip to the double meaning of Aguilera singing a can’t-do-it-like-me
track.
And most people can’t. The ballad “Deserve” is confessional and explicit—
“Sometimes I don't think I deserve you/So I say some fucked-up shit just to
hurt you,” she sings—resulting in one of her strongest showings on the
album. Early interlude “Searching for Maria” finds Aguilera singing
operatic a cappella while invoking “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?”
from The Sound of Music, followed by a full track called “Maria” (produced
by West and Hudson Mohawke) that Aguilera says is about finding her true
self. “[It’s] about feeling as if I've gotten really far removed from
myself and unable to feel good about looking in the mirror, because I don't
feel like I'm connected with my truth,” she told Paper.
“Maria” also marks the beginning of a triptych of album highlights. “Sick
of Sittin’” has writing and production credits from Anderson .Paak and
wouldn’t be out of place in his personal catalog (save for the lyric, “It’
s good pay, but it’s slavery,” which sounds a little tone-deaf in context).
“Fall in Line,” a duet with Demi Lovato, is a confidence booster without
melodrama. The singers proclaim their refusal to be silenced while screwed
chants from an ersatz drill sergeant instruct them, “Left two, three, right,
two, three/Shut your mouth, stick your ass out for me.” These are sturdy
moments on an album that feels less like an end in itself than a promising
first step toward a genuine pop rebirth—moments that are strong enough to
inspire hope for Aguilera’s own The Velvet Rope or, at least, My Love Is
Your Love. She has certainly still got the range.
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