CheekyChicago

It’s obvious when listening to Christina Aguilera’s new release, Bionic, that she is trying to accomplish something. What that is, however, leaves me puzzled. It’s a track listing chock full of dance beats and slower ballads, but in terms of her career, one is left wondering where Aguilera is as a bonafide artist. After all, she is presenting herself as half human and half robot.

It seems, upon the first couple of spins, that Aguilera is trying to reinvent herself once again. She went from cutesy teeny bopper to pseudo stripper to classic diva to… android? Stretching boundaries and artistic talent is one thing, but it seems a shame to utilize heavy amounts of Autotune on someone who can actually sing. She throws sex around under the guise of female empowerment. Of course, sex sells – and she’s not the first female artist to do so – but her predecessors have done it better. When Madonna said to express ourselves and not repress ourselves and that she wasn’t sorry because sex was human nature, you knew she meant it. Christina (or Xtina? Or should I say XXXtina…) appears to be falling prey to shock value without demanding respect or even uttering a shred of sincerity. Instead, she just wants you to know that she’s the queen bitch (as she says in “Vanity”: “V is for Vanity / Every time I look at me / I turn myself on”) – but is it worth it?

This album works if you feel like getting your groove on in the clubs, or if you appreciate a good beat without paying attention to the words. If you don’t fall into either category, there’s not much redeemable about this. Sure, after a while I found myself appreciating the dance tunes and the slower, more vulnerable “I Am,” but it comes at a cost. It’s like going to a strip club and being the wholly unwilling recipient of a lap dance by an amateur.  Really – no thanks.