Album Assessment: Christina Aguilera - Bionic

Oh dear. Poor Christina has taken a lot of flak over her fourth studio album "proper" Bionic, hasn't she? Perhaps coming out with two mediocre first singles (Not Myself Tonight and cunniling-awful WooHoo) and a massively bloated track listing has not helped. While Stripped remains her strongest effort for me to date, i whittled her Back To Basics project down to a rather good 11 track affair and have decided to do the same to Bionic.

Christina has always pitched herself as almost the anti-Britney - someone who grew out of the same teen princess mold but took greater control over her career; indeed Christina has currently released four studio albums and a greatest hits opposed to Britney's six studio albums and two greatest hits in the same time frame. Bionic should have been a perfect fusion of future pop, electro and r'n'b sounds while raising the bar in a world where apparently only Lady GaGa is seen as innovative and forward thinking. Instead, it was a rather patchy affair that lacked a cohesive vision - a real shame considering the strength of Christina's voice and the rather good imagery used for the campaign. However, there are some great tracks contained within the demonstrate what a great pop vocalist the world has in Ms Aguilera and how some editing could have created a much better set of tunes. Some careful marketing of singles would have leant itself to a much better campaign throughout 2010.

I can sort of see the reasoning behind Not Myself Tonight as the first single, but for me it didn't really work. Something that reminds of 'the voice' needed to be used - instead of trying to bend to trends just bypass them completely with something simple and powerful. I Am is the perfect track to do this. There is a vulnerability about the song that is incredibly sweet and lovely. The melody to the track is lovely and I can imagine an epic timeless video to accompany this - it's almost cinematic in it's feel. Follow this up with something completely different - Glam is a big Vogue-style tune that was rumoured to be the first single and it boggles me that it was bypassed. It sets a great zippy pace with a nice retro feel and the familiarity of the Daft Punk sample. Most enjoyable and a fun choice for single number two... Continue the theme of something fun and quirky for single 3, out in September-ish with the very good indeed Vanity. It has this punk-esque 80s vibe, some hilarious lyrics (though I cringe at times that they border on misogynistic!) and a great chorus. It has an almost tangible energy pumping through the song that creates a great vibe and a much wittier repartee than WooHoo never managed to achieve.

Christina would now be getting to the end of the album campaign and close to the Christmas market. If she could get a slot on the X Factor Live Results Show, a double-a side release of Lift Me Up/You Lost Me would be an excellent shot in the arm to the album. The former is classic Linda Perry - it has a rocktastic, guitar driven energy to it and sounds like it would be absolutely immensicles performed live, having the adoring fans waving lighters in the air and creating a massive risk of setting their hair on fire. The latter track is a raw, emotional ballad that is utterly mesmerising live (see American Idol finale) and a great addition to the Bionic cannon.

This creates a much better representation of sounds released as singles and some of the album's original bonus tracks are much better used as a cohesive set of tunes overall. My suggested tracklisting is below - I mean, what happened to the days when 9/10/11 tracks created a great pop album without the need for any padding. Quantity does not always equal quality, but at least in the iTunes era, the consumer has the power to create the album that they want. (for reference, see also Mel's review!)

1. Bionic
2. I Am
3. All I Need
4. Lift Me Up
5. Glam
6. Lost Me
7. Birds of Prey
8. Monday Morning
9. Vanity

Coming soon: Eric Saade's Break of Dawn video! YAY!