Review On Christina Aguilera's New Album Lotus

Say what you will about Christina Aguilera, but you can’t say the girl can’t sing. If you’re a fan of technically proficient power vocals, you’re likely a fan of her singing — if not always her work. Aguilera’s voice is flawless, so the success of her albums typically depends on how willing the public is to buy in to whatever persona she is trying on, be it sexy, empowered bad girl (2002’s “Stripped”), sexy jazz baby (2006’s “Back to Basics”) or sexy cyborg (2010’s edgy commercial failure “Bionic”).

On Lotus, the role is sexy, ethereal dance diva, and at first it seems like a bad fit. On “Lotus Intro,” Aguilera’s voice, her most powerful tool, is modulated beyond recognition. Uh-oh.

The new 13-track album is the singer's first music offering since she filed for divorce two years ago. And when she's emotional, she sounds best.

The title track kicks off the album nicely as Xtina sings about starting over. On "Best of Me," she sings: "Words cut through my skin, tears roll down my chin, my walls crumble within." And later in the song she sings in a beautiful belt: "I will rise undefeated, I will not let you bring me down." You just want to cheer her on. Sing it, girl.

Luckily, Aguilera sounds more like herself on the frenzied “Red Hot Kinda Love,” with its yodeled chorus, and on the electro-pop club single “Your Body,” which stays in the album’s synth-driven sonic pocket but lets Aguilera belt. The familiar power ballads eventually come along, as Aguilera appeases her base with the healing-through-music track “Sing for Me” and the vulnerable “Blank Page,” which is about hackneyed metaphors and big notes — just the sort of combination that will appeal to fans of Aguilera’s signature song “Beautiful.”

After the commercial misfire that was “Bionic,” Aguilera seems to want to retrench a little and focus on what she does best, which is belt and belt she does here. Despite some missteps, the songs that work here really, really work. Yes, she is still “The Voice.”