Xtina is, hands down, one of the greatest vocalists of her generation. And she has spent the better part of two decades figuring out what exactly to do with that voice. There was the bubblegum of her self-titled 1999 debut and her transition into R&B-infused, low-rise jean’d adulthood. Then came concepts: old school sound of 2006’s Back to Basics and the electro-futurism of 2010’s Bionic. There have been hits and misses along the way, but one of Aguilera’s greatest attributes is that she has rarely played it safe.
On Liberation, she gets closer than ever to zeroing in on the right path for her immense skills: her eighth album is a healthy mix of hit-chasing, theatrics and soon-to-be classic power ballads that emphasize her immense skills over half-baked conceptual themes.
She kicks things off with the LP’s orchestral title track, composed and performed by Nicholas Britell who gained an Oscar nomination for the Moonlight score….
