Review of Christina Aguilera
By Gabriela Toth
Upon reading the title of this article, I
know you’re thinking, “Christina Aguilera is so incredibly annoying, how
could her CD possibly be good?” Well, surprisingly, Christina’s self-titled
debut CD stands out among the teen pop genre. Her overall sound, although way
too much like early Mariah Carey, is definitely more mature than, say, Britney
Spears, and her voice is definitely Mariah-like. I first got this CD when I grew
tired of all my old Madonna CDs and decided to spruce up my collection with the
latest in teenybopper pop. I was so excited to have new CDs that I blasted this
one in the car ride home, and was pleasantly surprised with its ability (at
least the first half’s) to cheer me up.
If you can ignore the fact that Christina severely needs a makeover, and that
someone needs to remind her that no matter how hard she tries, she is not, and
never will be, Mariah Carey, you will definitely enjoy most of this CD. Come on,
you know you start singing along and dancing every time “Genie in a Bottle”
comes on, and you can, in some way, relate to “What a Girl Wants.” The first
five tracks are reminiscent of those two, and are easily singable and highly
danceable. Even the severely overplayed “I Turn to You” can raise your
spirits in a long car ride.
By far the best track on the CD is “Come on Over (All I Want is You).” The
bouncy, cheerful beat makes me want to get up and dance every time, and the song
even has some sex appeal. Ok, so the radio version has that annoying whispering
in the background and the video looks like a combination between a Madonna video
and a Gap ad, but I’m here to tell you that the CD version is actually good.
After all, the best thing about the CD is that you don’t have to look at her
at all, you can just enjoy the prefab, catchy dance beats.
However, something goes wrong somewhere around track 6. The ballad
“Reflection” is kind of catchy, but sounds way too much like Whitney Houston
circa 1986 to be attractive to radio stations. The rest of the CD reminds us of
the bad hip-hop wannabe that Christina actually is. There are only so many times
the same melody can be recycled, and she uses it up in the first half of the CD.
Especially bad are “Somebody’s Somebody” and “When You Put Your Hands on
Me.” Not to mention the other two ballads, which are just too annoying for
words.
Nevertheless, as annoying as she can be, there is something about her that tells
me that she will be around a lot longer than her peers. That is, once she learns
to act her age and takes just a few more voice lessons. Note to Mariah: since
you’re not really doing anything right now, maybe you could give young
Christina a few tips…but please don’t lend her any clothes!
Overall, Christina Aguilera is surprisingly good, guaranteed to make you
want to dance. But stay away from those ever-so-cheesy ballads and fake R&B
numbers.
Mood:
TRL
Hear it?:
Buy the CD
