Christina Aguilera’s newest album “Lotus” previews the new Xtina

About two years after the release of “Bionic,” former mouseketeer Christina Aguilera released her latest album, “Lotus,” an album many Xtina fans hoped would be her “comeback album” that would achieve the chart-topping fame she hasn’t experienced in about 10 years.  Although “Lotus” is better than the financial and musical failure of “Bionic,” this album does not come close to her full potential.  

The regular version of “Lotus” contains 13 tracks beginning with “Lotus Intro,” a song telling of  Christina’s emergence from the “broken pieces” and stating “this is the beginning.” This track represents a coming-of-age song of sorts.  The style of the album’s first song is quite different from previous Christina Aguilera songs. However, it lets the listener know that the songs to come are not of a girl but of “the woman [she has] become.”

The album then moves on to tracks such as “Army of Me” and other upbeat songs in which Aguilera tells the listener how much she has changed. In classical Christina style, these songs are pop songs that explode with a voice that can’t be confused with any other pop artist.

Then there are the very fun tracks such as “Red Hot Kinda Love,” “Let There Be Love,”  “Cease Fire,” “Around the World,” “Circles,” “Best of Me,” “Make The World Move” and “Just a Fool.”  The last two tracks are collaborations with her former co-stars on “The Voice,” CeeLo Green and Blake Shelton respectively.  Are they amazing, chart-topping songs? Not really, but they are fun and flirty.

The album’s best songs are the tracks “Your Body,” a very “poppy” and sexual song, “Sing for Me,” a song reminiscent of tracks such as “Beautiful” from her hit album “Stripped” (2002), and “Blank Page,” a profound song that allows a glimpse into Christina’s soul.

Although “Lotus” may not be the chart-topper many fans were looking for, Christina Aguilera fans everywhere should be happy at her musical evolution.  It’s a new Xtina for a new era, a Christina who is not afraid to make the music she wants while still producing those poignantly beautiful tracks that gave her her fame.  

So if something similar to her teenie bopper days with “Genie in a Bottle” is what you are searching for, “Lotus” probably isn’t the right album. Still, for fans both old and new who are looking for that old, yet more controlled Christina Aguilera voice and range mixed with ballads as well as pop tracks, then “Lotus” it is.