Search - Christina Aguilera :: BIONIC (Edited)

Xtina 2.0: Unleash the *beep*

rmcrae | Houston, Texas | 07/24/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After listening to Bionic for nearly 2 weeks, I'm loving it more and more. It's not as personal or confessional as Stripped or grown up as Back To Basics, but it's the first time Christina truly lets her hair down and has fun. There's no pretentious intro proclaiming how "real" she is or how there will never be another like her.



The steely, sing speak of the title track lets you know that Christina's willing to try something different. "Bionic, take it supersonic, eh/I'm bionic; hit you like a rocket, eh-ay-yeh/Bionic, so damn bionic, eh/Gonna get you with my electronic, supersonic rocket, eh!" I was ambivelant towards Not Myself Tonight when I first heard it. I still don't think it was the best choice for the first single, but I really like it now. It has just enough of an electropop synth-heavy production without taking it overboard. "In the morning/When I wake up/I'll go back to the girl I used to be/But baby/Not toniiiiiight!"



I laughed my butt off when I read the lyrics for Woohoo. Thank goodness the song is intentionally tongue-in-cheek and playfully crass. "All the boys think its cake when they taste my (woohoo)/You dont even need a plate, just your face, Ha!/Licky-licky yum-yum what a great guy!" I'm not that familiar with Nicki Minaj, but her kooky rap complete with a Jamacian patois adds to the track's quirkiness. I love how Christina's vocals (a cross between Gwen Stefani and Nelly Furtado) get stretched on the rubbery Elastic Love and she gives props to Madonna on the Vogue inpired Glam. "Don't let the clothes wear you."



Desnudate is a sexy, Latin flavored club track that demands the listener to "Get naked for me" and Christina's Spanish lyrics spice it up. "Oh, quitate/Oh, la ropa/Oh, librase/Oh, ahora!" I have to be in a certain mood to listen to Prima Donna though. Christina gets her growl on and that's fine, but the music sounds a bit too heavy for me. The Lil' Jon sounding background shouts (I think it's really him, but I could be wrong) aren't necesarry imo.



The ethereal Morning Dessert interlude flows seamlessly into the early morning slow jam Sex For Breakfast. Much like Loving Me 4 Me on Stripped, Christina restrains her often bombastic powerhouse vocals to a light and airy tone. The baby makin' styled lyrics ("Strawberry cream is like a dream, my fantasy is reality/When the morning comes, I know that I will too") recall Janet Jackson. I wouldn't exactly put it in the same league of That's the Way Love Goes or Any Time, Any Place, but it's so much better than, say, Warmth.



Linda Perry comes on board for the after the storm ballad Lift Me Up. Some critics have blasted it for coming off as a copycat to Beautiful, but I don't see the resemblance. Lift Me Up isn't as lyrically powerful as it's predecessor, but the production is buoyed by Christina's gorgeously pure vocals. The cute My Heart interlude features a sweet moment between Christina's hubby Jordan and their little boy Max. "Show me how you sing like mommy!" Then follows All I Need, a heartfelt ode to how her son has changed and brightened her life. "You bring me hope when I can't breathe/You give me love, you're all I need/Slowly I'm holding you closely/So happy to carry you inside me." Christina takes on a relaxed Alanis-like vocal tone on the orchestral I Am. Some of the lyrics put me in the mind of Hand In My Pocket. "I am timid and/I am oversensitive/I am a lioness/I am tired and defensive."



The real jaw dropper of the entire record is the haunting ballad You Lost Me. Reminiscent of Fiona Apple and Sade, The lyrics beautifully convey the agony of discovering the infidelity of a lover. "I am done, smoking gun/We've lost it all, the love is gone/She has won, now it's no fun/We've lost it all, the love is gone" and "I feel like our world's been infected/And somehow you left me neglected/We've found our lives been changed/Babe, you lost me." Christina's voice gains momentum as the song reaches it peak and bursts with passion and despair, but she never once oversings. After all this time, she finally understands that you don't have to squeeze the life out of every note or oversell a song to convey emotion. The ghostly, operatic background vocals are genius!



Now that the sad songs are over, let's party! The Gwen Stefani/Pink pop of I Hate Boys is slightly immature for someone Christina's age with a chorus like "I hate boys, but boys love me/I think they suck and my friends agree", but it's supposed to be bratty with the tongue stuck out as far as possible. Have fun with it and "if you hate em boys, shake it!" The Peaches assisted disco laced My Girls is even better. "My girls wear lipstick while they're making my beats/They got guitar picks in their purses, Louboutins on their feet/They got no time for waiting in lines/They got sex and 808s running through their dirty minds." It's no secret that Xtina possesses a pretty large ego. A quick read of the lyrics for Vanity would understandably make you roll your eyes out of your head, but a listen to the song shows the jokes on you. The self-absorption is so over the top that you can't help but love it. "V is for vanity, every time I look at me/I turn myself on, yeah" and "V is for vanity, thank you mom and daddy!" The last bit with her kid adds a nice touch. "Let us not forget/Who owns the throne?" "You do mommy!"



Bionic might take a handful of listens in order to grab your attention, but it's hard not to admire Christina's newfound sense of humor. Her attitude toward her voice has improved as well. Rather than feeling like she has to prove how talented she is and how many notes she can hit, she allows herself to change things up. As for the clean version of the record, I still wouldn't recommend playing it around the kids. Songs like Lift Me Up, All I Need, and You Lost Me are fine, but who wants their kid in the room while (for example) Sex For Breakfast is playing? Or Woohoo? While keeping that in mind, give Bionic a try and enjoy!"

Great CD but for older crowd

yellow submarine | Phoenix, AZ United States | 07/11/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great CD, but there are a lot of songs about sex. Therefore I don't think young teens should get it even though it is the edited version. The songs are obvious even without certain words...my 9 year old would understand what she is singing about (which would make both of us blush). I love the album and will just listen to it without the kids around."