Considering all the trials and tribulations surrounding her 2010 album
Bionic
, Phoenix may have been a more appropriate title for
Christina Aguilera
's fifth album than
Lotus
. Plagued by delays,
underwhelmed upon its 2010 release, as did
Xtina
's silver screen debut
Burlesque
, and her career appeared on the brink of meltdown until she signed up to be a voice on the NBC singing competition The Voice. Soon, she was duetting with her co-star
Adam Levine
on
Maroon 5
's "Moves Like Jagger," her star was hotter than ever, and she was determined to not have it dim with
. Streamlined considerably from the confused but often gripping
and the sprawling double-album
Back to Basics
,
isn't without risks -- "Red Hot Kind of Love" is a giddy, delirious piece of pop produced by
Lucas Secon
of "Lucas with the Lid Off" fame, as bracingly different as anything on the radio in 2012 -- but
Aguilera
isn't attempting a robotic future-soul, she's sticking with the belting soul ballads, hard disco, and pop that made her a star. And she feels comfortable in this familiar, slightly freshened territory, riding the glitzy pulse of "Let There Be Love," seizing the solo spotlight on the spare piano-and-voice ballad "Blank Page," sneering at her haters on "Circles," and spitting at them on the bonus cut "Shut Up."
Christina
may not pushing at her limits here -- a safeness underscored by the presence of not one but two Voice co-stars --
Cee Lo Green
comes in for the pulsating party "Make the World Move,"
Blake Shelton
duets on the slow, bluesy closer "Just a Fool" -- but it's hard to blame her for playing it safe, particularly because she wound up with such a strong pop album, one that reconfirms her gifts as a singer and savviness as a pop star. [The Deluxe Edition added four bonus tracks.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine