Aaron Shakra
Pulse Reporter
“Irony” abounds in Christina Aguilera’s obligatory annual new album “Stripped,” but calling it irony might be putting things lightly. “Hypocrisy” is probably more accurate.
Allow me to explain. The recording “artist” graces the current issue of Rolling Stone, clad in nothing but a guitar, when she doesn’t even play the instrument. The name of her new album is “Stripped,” while every picture of her has her face and body full of makeup, and is obviously airbrushed. Maybe she was talking about her clothes, but those don’t come off, either.
Consider the redundantly titled “Loving Me 4 Me,” a simple story about Aguilera and her lover. Hints of the genuine come out as she sings “Stripped of all make-up / No need for fancy clothes / No cover ups, push ups / With him, I don’t have to put on a show,” but when considered in the context of the image she flaunts — yes flaunts — in interviews, music videos and album covers, “hypocrisy” comes out as the best description again.
Of course, this is nothing to hold against her. Aguilera probably doesn’t realize her own homogeneity. She claims and flaunts her individuality in the lyrics of “Stripped” and on magazines such as “Rolling Stone,” but neglects to realize or address the fact that she is only able to do so because she meets the acceptable standards for what society deems “physically attractive.” The question raises itself: How successful would she be if she were considered “ugly” by the majority of her listeners?
What we have here is a fast food recording. It sounds nice to the ears, it looks nice to the eyes, but once consumed, leaves the viewer congested and unhealthy.
To her credit, she writes and “composes” the songs on “Stripped,” but somehow it’s hard to imagine that she was somewhere in a studio arranging piano, string and drum and horn and guitar sections for these songs.
A suggestion that is worth mentioning but will certainly go unheeded: Stop releasing albums with assembly line lyrics and production; take a break, disappear and change.
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