Popstar in Bloom: Christina Aguilera "Lotus" Review

"Rise up, Lotus, Rise, this is the beginning" Christina Aguilera coos on the opening track of fifth album Lotus. She may have licked her wounds after the disaster that was Bionic in 2010 but Lotus sees one of pop's signature voices claw back into the fray.

The Goldfrapp-lite opening intro mentioned above sees Christina whisper over a wobbly R&B meets electronica beat. It's a kooky and slightly drawn out opener but it hints that she might be about to head into the futuristic sonic textures Bionic promised but didn't deliver. In reality it's a misnomer with the album zooming into an uptempo but straightforward pop vein for a solid six tracks.

Surprisingly, it gels fairly well early on. Zippy, zesty danceable rhythms highlight Christina's pipes as well as any mournful ballad when done properly. Army Of Me, as she's pointed out,  is a fairly obvious nod to Fighter and it's "You won't stop me message". It's not quite as impressive but it's a solid slab of fist-pumping pop. Red Hot Kinda Love is a cheeky but enjoyable sex jam that feels more flirty and knowing than some of her previous attempts at proclaiming her sexuality. Make The World Move is an awkward collage of soul pop and electro flourishes as Aguilera's co-judge on The Voice, Cee-Lo pops up for a warm and fuzzy ode to just getting along with everyone. It's a tad cheesy but the bouncy production and ebullient chorus make it an adequate slice of pop candy.

Next is current single, Your Body one of Aguilera's strongest pop moments in quite some time albeit one that is failing to smash on the charts. The first of two cuts co-written by hyper-successful Max Martin (Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Basically Every Big Popstar of the Last 10 Years), it's followed by the straight-up dance pop of Let There Be Love, which is a tad generic but comes equipped with a hook so big it's hard to dislike and it gives Christina plenty of moments to ad-lib and holler with the best of them.

Then comes a ballad-y chunk. The Sia penned Blank Page is truly lovely, a sister track to Beautiful that could do big things as a single. Sadly, Cease Fire and Sing For Me fall flat, letting Aguilera's own vocals become grating and misplaced when they should be soaring and uplifting.

Next up is a Rihanna "I like a bit of sex, me" style romp in Around the World which has a fun, down and dirty vibe but feels a tad slight. Circles is a bitter but oddly enjoyable flip of the bird to detractors. It's not very strong melodically but it's a rare moment of genuine personality on an album that seems to drain much of Aguilera's famed bolshiness. Best of Me is another decent if not stellar ballad that has a nice sense of melancholy to it. 

A real surprise is the duet with her other Voice judge Blake Shelton on Just A Fool. Yes it's a country-pop extravaganza that's blatantly squared at US radio but it's actually a decent duet and one of the strongest songs musically on the whole release. It's one of the few songs that Aguilera nails both in terms of emotional delivery and vocal hysterics too.

The addition of the bonus tracks on the deluxe edition (The standard release for the album in many European territories) will get the hopes of fans who know that her previous album hid some gems on it's deluxe side. Sadly, they're a mixed bag. Light Up The Sky is sweet but unmemorable, another mid-tempo track too concerned with schmaltz then letting Aguilera shine vocally. Empty Words is something of a hidden gem with some nicely drawn lyrics and a big, belt-y hook that wouldn't have been out of place on the main edition of the album. Shut Up is the sequel to Circles with a bleeped but still feisty hook telling imitators, haters and people of that nature to "Shut the f**k up". It's not her strongest song but it is an enjoyable slice of bratty pop. There's also a decent, if not dazzling remix of Your Body by Martin Carrix to enjoy too.

Decent but not dazzling, could in fact be applied to the majority of Lotus. It's certainly not a stinker and hits enough sweet spots over it's lean run time to please fans and suggest that there's life in Christina as a big pop star. Sadly, it never quite delivers the knockout moment you know she needs to really succeed. 

Lotus is out now on RCA.

The Weird World of Not Quite Right Gaga and Christina Aguilera Weight Gain Reporting

If you were keeping an eye on any celebrity chit chat in the last few weeks then you probably spotted the ongoing saga of how Lady Gaga had apparently put on alot of weight, was talking about it publicly, came under fire for it and then rushed to defend her figure while referencing her own teenage struggle with an eating disorder.

It was a frustrating story on a number of levels. First of all the amount of weight Gaga actually did seem to gain wasn't even that large amount and even if she was the size of a house who cares? Gaga may frequently appear in scant clothing but it's not her main selling point. She uses her image in an ever-shifting way and so trying to boil down her presentation to "Is she hot? Is she skinny?" is missing the point by such a huge margin. Jezebel discussed this topic including a round up of the amount of news outlets that ran with the story about Gaga's weight.

The other reason it was vastly irritating was how it was a story composed across several sources that wasn't even particularly true and yet so many outlets ran with it. 

Huffington Post, amongst others, ran with this piece using a picture of Gaga on stage as proof that she'd piled on the pounds. The picture was from her Amsterdam stop on the Born This Way Ball tour and from the off seemed like a photo that had likely been tweaked or at the very least taken from a bad angle. I'd been at the show just days before this picture was taken and there was nowhere near that amount on Gaga's frame. I was standing near the catwalk and got plenty of close-up looks at Gaga in the flesh. She was in terrific shape, clearly someone keeping themselves fit and in show-ready shape but not afraid to look womanly. She bared a bit of ass cheek constantly, was happy to strip down when it suited her and just as importantly was squeezing into skin-tight leather ensembles at a dizzying speed. Basically she clearly was looking after herself and exceedingly comfortable in her skin. There was no way the Gaga in the Amsterdam picture was in fact a reality.

But that didn't stop the press from running with a non-story. Huffington Post, like other showbiz sites (there weren't the only ones who ran with this piece and are obviously not just a showbiz site, I'm just using them as an example in this case) began using lines from Gaga herself where they claimed she was addressing her weight gain after the pictures. They cited an interview she'd done with American radio where she referenced how much she'd put on, her Dad's new restaurant and how she was enjoying the food etc. Yes Gaga had said all this but in AUGUST. The interview is on her own Youtube channel and her discussion about her body are a small part of a seven minute piece where she sounds relaxed, keen to be in shape to do her shows in Europe. Suddenly the web was flooded with pieces about how much weight Gaga had put on, her response and painful hand-wringing from media outlets. Again Jezebel neatly summed up the stupidity of these comments but few seemed to question whether the sources of this story were legit (again that photo) or actually directly referencing the past week (An interview quotes were pulled from which literally anyone could google in about 2 seconds and spot was weeks old). Still it's easier for copy-and-paste showbiz sites and sound-bite celebu-tainment shows to run with an unflattering pic and some sort of line then it is to go "Oh, is this actually accurate?"

This week a similar has been brewing with Christina Aguilera. The popstar-turned-Talent show judge has had plenty of comments on her changing shape in the last couple of years but as she plugs new single Your Body and the accompanying album Lotus there's been plenty of commentary on Christina's shape. Billboard magazine placed Christina on the cover of their latest issue, posting a part of the story online two weeks ago. The slightly over the top comments on her previous album Bionic had already been picked up by pop fans but today another part of the interview where Christina made very explicit references to being a "fat girl now" and discussing specific situations where she claims music execs told her to slim down were being quoted online, causing quite a stir.

It did seem a tad fishy that people were running with quotes from Billboard that weren't on their website already but given that they promised the "full story" in their print edition maybe that's where they lay. The quotes were used by the website of Us weekly and soon appeared on plenty of sites until in the last couple of hours both Billboard and Christina's rep confirmed that the were in fact completely fabricated. Now many of the sites that shared the materialare rejigging and updating their previous posts (in a way they probably should have read in the first place before the desire to be first with a scoop took over). Unlike the Gaga story, which cleverly stitched together material in a typically tabloid way this story seemed to be completely false.

There are two things that are slightly worrying about how both of these stories unfold. One is that obsession with weight and how a comment on it will create a feeding frenzy. The other is that in the world of fast-paced gossip sharing, the accuracy of quotes is second to getting some hits. It's fascinating to watch how stories both false and accurate now feed into the images of stars. Even when stories are retracted or defused by those involved they'll stick in people's heads. It may only be famous people we're discussing, people with vast amounts of money and very different problems to the rest of us, but if we are supposed to be reading reports and fed information shouldn't it be accurate? The funny thing about how quickly stories like this move around is also how easy (almost too easy) it is to take apart the claims and see that most of them are bull.

It might only be celebrity journalism and it may not be highbrow but the ease with which narratives are knocked together by outlets quick to sell a story whether the star involved is playing along or not is worrying. Gaga and Aguilera's responses to these stories suggest that many stars are no longer going to play ball and when we can quickly figure out how fake such pieces are, why should we keep doing the same?

Christina Aguilera Debuts Video for "Your Body": Twirls Hair, Offs Unsuspecting Males

There is a veritable glut of big pop singles, albums and videos flying our way at the moment all looking to grab a chunk of the 4th quarter pie as people buy more music than usual. We've had two new tunes from Ke$ha and Rihanna alone this week and now big-voiced pop icon turned TV judge Christina Aguilera unveils the next phase of her comeback with the video for her current single Your Body

Of all the new pop numbers I've heard in the last few months Your Body is my personal favourite. The Max Martin penned cut is the poppiest thing we've heard from Xtina in forever but it also has a bold, sexy feel that allows her to go to town with the vocal gymnastics while still serving up her most radio friendly hook in eons (looks like Moves Like Jagger rubbed off on her then).

Christina has been teasing clips from the Melina Matsoukas directed video all week (Melina famously worked with Beyonce, Gaga and Rihanna incl. many key Riri clips such as We Found Love) and just in the time for the weekend is Xtina's eye-popping new visual.

The plot (ahem) is basically: Christina lives in a trailer, consults an internet psychic, twirls her dip-dyed tresses alot (ALOT) and goes on a weird killing spree of random hot men who die in an explosion of pink, a splatter of blue paint and an explosion of pink glitter respectively.  Peep the video below:

The whole thing is as camp as 12 hour marathon of RuPaul's Drag Race and Christina herself is oozing plenty of drag-queen glamour, coming off like the love-child of RuPaul and Honey Boo Boo at times. It's all very knowing and over the top and in alot of ways is so bullish and brash that it feels very Christina Aguilera.

That tongue in cheek quality doesn't help mask the fact that it's a video about going around killing people as a form of empowerment, and if the genders reversed everybody would likely cry foul. Still, Xtina has always taken what she considered objectification and turned it on it's head as a form of expression. It's a mixed message and probably not a very clever one but again, feels in line with the view of female empowerment she's always had.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to dip-dye my tresses and twirl around a trailer park. It is the weekend after all.

Your Body is on iTunes now. Christina's new album Lotus is released on the 9th of November in Ireland, the 12th in the UK and on the 13th in the US.