It’s an unusual combination that pulls the track in several different directions at once and the narrative is mostly lost.

After a whispery intro, she comes in alongside high-pitched backing vocals, a string section, thumping beat, and a harpsichord. Aguilera brings characteristically flawless vocals to a reflective, introspective song about the interplay between her personal and professional lives. Her producers seem unsure of how to make the most of her talent, which might be most clear on “Maria,” one of the biggest mixed bags of the album. Trans Athlete Wins Lawsuit Against USA Powerlifting Its lyrics and subtle crooning echo her early hit “Dirrrty,” but otherwise, the chatty vocals, excessive production and the hand-off to 2 Chainz are a notable departure from what we are used to hearing from her. When “Accelerate” dropped in May, it received a highly mixed reception, but there was no disputing that this was a very weird-sounding track. The album features heavyweights like Kanye West and Anderson Paak, who each produced two tracks, and a collaboration with 2 Chainz and Ty Dolla Sign on the lead single “Accelerate.”Īguilera’s vision, or at least an approximation of it, is most strongly realized in the album’s singles. Here, she brings them into the foreground. She has long cited these genres as influences, and has borrowed from them on many occasions. The place she carves out on Liberation (★★½) is heavily indebted to hip-hop and R&B. It may be that in the intervening time, which encompassed six seasons as a coach on The Voice, she simply wanted to find out where she would now fit in the kaleidescopic pop landscape that she had been largely absent from.

There is no immediately obvious reason the pop icon decided to release a new record, and, six years after her last outing, this one almost comes as a surprise. With five Grammys, spots on several “most influential” lists, and 50 million worldwide record sales, Christina Aguilera has very little to prove to anyone.

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