Back to Basics

Some songs on this album are quite good - Aguilera recruited a group of talented producers and they generally delivered. However, this album is way too long. And part of its central theme is calling back to past classics. I’d certainly rather be listening to any of the artists that she name drops than this album. The second half of the album also felt entirely superfluous to me. Side note: the album cover is one of the worst I’ve seen in over 900 projects on this list. 6/10

I actually liked some of this album. Incredible voice with some riffs on old school standards

Meh.

not bad tbh

6th September 2023 Listened mainly on the drive to and from Costco. Christina brings her pop vocal prowess to play with a big band. Results are strong.

Shows off her talent, but it goes on a little too long. The "Thank You" track was probably well-intentioned, but comes off a bit cringey, like testimonials for the Christina Aguilera brand.

She has a great voice, not really my bag, but a real talent. 3 stars.

Nou, ik zal eens gul doen.

It has some fun pop bops on it. I can't listen to a whole album of it really though.

Never thought I would enjoy but this one is her best album. Amazing voice

idk why but i thought christina aguilera was a pop artist. it was good but nothing really special. a little long

I prefer this to Christina's earlier 1001 release. Her jazzy, bluesy voice is firing on all cylinders, and she's much more listenable than singers I'd lump in the same category, like Britney or Mariah. The songs shoot off in Different directions and the production, is, at times, downright edgy. My million dollar question though, is why do so many superstar female vocalists, from Christina to Beyonce to Madonna share song writing credits with many, sometimes more than a dozen, guys?

Accomplished, but just not my thing.

3.5

Pop. Bastante mejor de lo esperado.

Excelente voz femenina. A ratos sensual, en otras con más timbre. Canciones fáciles de escuchar. En la primera parte del disco, canciones con más ritmo. En el segundo CD, se luce y se aprecia más su voz

Album 298. Back to Basics — Christina Aguilera (2006) Omfg, Aguilera again. I'm pissed off with 22 songs / 78 minutes of this music. I don't know, her music just feels so fake. Idk why, maybe because it's trying so hard to be similar to and copy something from the past that it plainly kills everything that I should appreciate or idk. The second part of the album is better btw. 2/5 Liked: — Nasty Naughty Boy — Hurt

2/5. Classic case of the double album that really doesn’t need to be a double album. I get what she was going for here, with the first disc being more hip-hop influenced and sample heavy and the second disc having more live instrumentation, but the issue is that both discs have quite a bit of bloat. It would have been better to just mix the best tracks of both discs into a leaner ~40-45 minute album. As it stands though, the bloat on this thing really brings it down and lessens the impact of any of the highlights.

Just too much CA. Double album is tough to get through. I like the second album more than the first. But still just too much. Huge talent.

Christina Aguilera for me just proves that talent doesn't equate to compelling art. She's got talent in spades, phenomenal singer, but she's taking the piss at 76 minutes of basically the same song looped. Very few decent hooks, almost nothing memorable about it and I found it tough to get through

There are a couple of good tunes on here. The singles I knew were stuck in my head for the rest of the day. The rest I could take or leave. There is no doubt Christina has an amazing voice but there is a bit of the theatrics about it. I think often unnecessarily and can become grating quite quickly. I'd echo the sentiment on the very era specific production too. I also know Stripped is coming at some point and it's an album I had a lot of exposure to at the time so let's see how that goes.

This didn’t need to be a double album, I’m sorry! Aguilera is probably one of the most skilled vocalists when you look at the pop girlie canon and I love getting to hear her push that to the limits. I think this album was also a fun exploration of genre and aesthetics, but again far too long and could’ve been done in 13 tracks. The hits are hits for a reason and they did numbers in my room in ‘06 but on the whole this felt like a slog - I think this is an admittedly harsh 2 stars

Christ(ina), 77 minutes of Aguilera’s caterwauling? In truth, the first half hour of this is pretty good, but far better artists than Xtina have failed to make a double album maintain interest and quality throughout, and some of the choices here are unforgivable: the idea of having a five minute wankathon centred around voicemails from adoring fans is loathsome, sticking it in the middle of the album is diabolical

a 2 disc Xtina album! why? Also she has more than one entry on the list which is kind of mind boggling to me. There are some good beats in here, but pretty much none of these songs do anything for me. Yes, she has a beautiful voice, and the presentation of the album is fun at times. Naughty Naughty Boy gives huge Jessica Rabbit vibes and I'm sure would've done it for me in 2006, and who am I kidding, 2026 too. There is a fun mix of sound here, from R&B to Lounge/big band music. Enjoy it for what it is I guess. 2000's fun pop.

TWO Christina Aguilera albums?!?! Why on earth does this list have two Christina Aguilera albums and one of them isn’t her 2022 masterpiece “Aguilera”?!? This list is in desperate need of a revision because neither this or Stripped is worth the spot they’re taking up. This is a fine album but it wears its inspirations on its sleeve and never does anything to elevate them. Just listing artists you like isn’t the same as honouring them. I dunno man it’s crazy to me that this list has no Dua Lipa, no Chappell Roan, no Sabrina Carpenter, no Billie Eilish, hell there’s no good Madonna albums but there’s two DOUBLE Christina Aguilera albums. Diabolical

Another pop album where the focus in how talented the singer is. Yes she's a talented singer I don't want to listen to 80 minutes of her voice.

Time capsule but that’s about it

168. Back to Basics - Christina Aguilera (2006) 8.9.26 Variety: 4 Adequacy: 3 Listenability: 2 Uniqueness: 1 Emotionality: 2 = 2.4 rounded down to a 2 "You're struttin' 'round here/ Like you think that I can't do without you" I am ill-equipped to judge this sort of music with any sort of authority, but when has this stopped me before? Aguilera is one of those names I have definitely heard tracks from before, and enough of them to know she's a very talented singer and performer who is just not my cup of tea. As impressive as the operatic vocal runs of Whitney Huston and the crazily acrobatic ones of Mariah Carey were ( both owing huge debts to the likes of Aretha and other pioneering soul and R&B singers), there seemed to be a whole generation of women who were influenced ( I think) in a negative way by this stuff. In my mind Christina Aguilera is one of the worst offenders, and I think went on to negatively influence a whole other generation of hopefuls who go on America's Got Talent, The Voice, American Idol, etc... and perform astounding feats of vocal gymnastics, but otherwise seem entirely devoid of any other talent. Some of these people then go on to minor, often short, careers where their meager talents are drained completely into one or maybe two big songs, after which they are left with nothing much more worth giving. Aguilera herself is an all around talent, dancing, acting, and all that, but the focus on her singing seems to be a combo of her outsized voice itself, and the ability to ape - in an overdone way - those runs that her heroes perfected that is SO big that is it ripe for parody. It annoys the fuck out of me when it happens, and has ruined many an otherwise empty and slick, yet undeniably catchy pop song. I do not recognize any of the tracks on this from the title, but let's see. THE TRACKS Disc One "Makes Me Wanna Pray" - A gospel inspired calling card number. Though dd she need to impress anyone by this point? The GIANT voice is here in all it's glory, but the song itself, such as it is, leaves pretty cold. Pretty soulless soul, and did we need five writers for something this basic? "Back in the Day" - Name checking a host of the soul and R&B greats at the opening of your song is a bit of a swing, and seems to be setting it up for failure. The turntablism elements here, aside form being super annoying, don't do anything to engender any additional goodwill here. This was pretty damned boring, and full of such a ridiculous level of hype that I'm very doubtful the rest of the album will be able to live up to the promise made here. "Ain't No Other Man" - Ugh... the perfect example of the grating vocal runs opens this up. I think going forward we can just assume there will be a lot more of it, and I'll try not to harp on it too much. It's just background noise for the rest of this.... double album. Dear lord. Disposable and with a lot of jazzy signifiers which make this feel like the sort of lifeless Diet Pepsi-commercial aesthetic established with Ray Charles in the early 90s. This was painful. The worst evolution of the "baby, baby , baby" mode of pop song. "Understand" - This is a MAJOR step up from the previous tracks, and feels like a real soul-tinged but of R&B. Annoyingly though it relies heavily upon a sample of the far superior Betty Harris song "Nearer to You" as a crutch, which undercuts what I think would have been a contender for at least an early highlight. As such, it feels cobbled together, and unconfident in it's own ability to grab the audience. Why not just excise the sample, and sing the line herself, which she already does elsewhere in the same song. Baffling choice. "Nearer to You" by Betty Harris: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e46hzxLsEUU "Slow Down Baby" - A much more subtle use of some samples, this time from both 50 Cent ( a vocal refrain) and Gladys Knight and the Pips (the horn line I guess). This is otherwise has a somewhat catchy core melody. Maybe it's just taking her a bit to warm up, but this is a step in the right direction. "Window Raisin' Granny" by Gladys Knight and the Pips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHW-JEIW5DU "Oh Mother" - On this ostensibly sadly deep song, we get the worst instrumentation yet. This felt like the sort of thing that the only Island could take and with very little effort change it into a spot on parody. It sounds cheap and it's a cheap attempt at a tug on the heartstrings which falls completely flat. Why would anyone listen to this over a dozen or more infinitely more successfully similar songs by Stevie Wonder? "F.U.S.S." (Interlude) - I'd normally skip this sort of thing, but it's first truly interesting thing on the album and it's used as a glorified interlude. The deep bass and funky keyboards along with the percussion loop play VERY well over top of Aguilera's understated and actually affective vocals. This could have been a minute or two longer. "On Our Way" - Ok. After a few false starts, is Ms. Aguilera finally on her game? This very 90s throwback R&B track hits way better than most of the other stuff on here melodically, and is full of solid hooks. It starts to get a little lost just after the middle, but gets right back on track. This owes more to the likes of En Vogue and Aaliyah than any of her contemporaries I think. "Without You" - The roll keeps on going with this FAT bass heavy catchy little number, with its jazzy synth touches and layered choral vocals. A bit stripped down, and straight forward, Aguilera does not guild the lily to any sort of detriment. At a glance, surprised to see this was not a single. The vocal run near the end even feels entirely earned. "Still Dirrty" - A step backwards here, and what seems like an attempt to capture that Lauryn Hill sound, and fails in every respect. The hip hop mode does not suit Aguilera very well, and I think there's much slower, much quieter, and jazzier version of this that could possibly work. "Here to Stay" - Another fair to middlg use of some 70s soul samples, which also suffers in comparison to the source. The best part about this one is the very deep bass string line. This one felt like it was missing some instrumentation, and had a lot of empty space in the sound. Those horns could have been live in the studio and WAY louder and more effective. Instead it just sounds like the old song just happens to be playing on a tinny boombox in the background while they were recording this. The Best Thing You Ever Had by Candi Staton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3aMT60KqxY "Thank You (Dedication to Fans...)" - This would have been much better without all the skit-level inserts that serve as an embarrassing bit of self celebration, despite nominally being all about the fans. Disc Two "Enter the Circus" - Literal circus music. Ok. I can get behind this. I've been trained by Nick Cave, Tom Waits and other to kind of dig the carnival aesthetic. Unfortunately this is another interlude, and in fact not a well realized and bold step outside her established sound. Could have been fun. Oh well. "Welcome" - We get some Bee Gees sounding poppy violins to start off, which gives us a different vibe, and Aguilera continues the circus theme. It feels like she wanted to try her hand at some Elton John-ish pop balladry, but ends up being a weird mish mash of sounds rather than something that's all that engaging. You've got country, cinematic Bond-esque strings, cabaret, singer songwriter stuff. This feels like the beginning of strange concept album she has tacked on to the first side. While not entirely successful, I'm very intrigued to see where this will go. Or will she just drop it immediately? "Candyman" - A big *ahem* swing that is far and above the most sexually interesting song on the album do far, but is giving off more "Mambo No. 5" vibes than I think was intended. This was about 10 years to late I think. "Nasty Naughty Boy" - Ok. I take it back. The last one was cartoonishly sexy, where this one is much more effectively seductive and does a way better job at eliciting a vintage vibe. More on target anyway. Still, it's the kind of surface level throwback that would not be out of place in a heightened modern musical pastiche filled homage to this sort of femme fatale nightclub thing, but otherwise bears little resemblance to the real McCoy. This more Madonna in Dick Tracy, and less Billie Holiday. "I Got Trouble" - The kina sorta concept album within an album continues with a similarly cartoony take on the blues. The faux crackly vinyl to radio microphone effect was entirely unnecessary and they didn't even commit to the bit with the instrumentation being clean as a whistle. Go one way or the other and this steps up a bit. As it is, it just sounds like a production mistake and makes no sense as an aesthetic. I do find myself wondering now what a more serious, stripped down blues and jazz standards album would be like with Aguilera. Maybe get Bonnie Raitt to produce and provide guitar duties? I would give that a listen. "Hurt" - Sad piano is sad. Overblown and needlessly operatic, in the sub-Celine Dion / Andrew Lloyd Webber mode. Just go listen to Eric Carmen's "All By Myself" instead. Even the 7:10 album version of that would be more tolerable than this. "Mercy on Me" - Echoes of Madonna's "Like A Prayer" in the opening, we disappointingly get a slow, bluesy, gloomy piano ditty instead. Well enough suited for tv drama montage fodder, and not far off from the sort of stuff we recently heard on the Adele albums we recently heard. "Save Me from Myself" - This was a surprisingly interesting little acoustic guitar and string led number that felt like a big left turn. A bit sad and a little bit jazzy, it stays on target and doesn't explode into the giant bit of soul pop kept expecting it to. And loved the zigging vocal melody that keeps going in just the direction to didn't think it would. Where's the album full of this stuff? "The Right Man" - This was way to big for me. Replace the lyrics, and some twangy electric bass guitar notes, and it sound like Aguilera's audition for a Bind theme. A big swing and a big miss for me, but there's something admirable about the attempt. HIGHLIGHTS - "Slow Down Baby" - "F.U.S.S." (Interlude) - "On Our Way" - "Without You" - "Save Me from Myself" MIDLIGHTS - "Understand" - "Still Dirrty" - "Here to Stay" - "Welcome" - "Mercy on Me" - "The Right Man" LOWLIGHTS - "Makes Me Wanna Pray" - "Back in the Day" - "Ain't No Other Man" - "Oh Mother" - "Thank You (Dedication to Fans...)" - "Candyman" - "Nasty Naughty Boy" - "I Got Trouble" - "Hurt" FINAL THOUGHTS To quote a noted travel writer, this was "...thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like butter that has been scraped over too much bread." This was just not built for me, and I get that taste is a spectrum, but this felt messy, unfocused, and full of a certain quality of being overly self impressed in the presentation that really turned me off, and made me wonder who this was even for. The self empowerment aspect of a lot of this sort of bold, brash soul tinged pop from the era even seems to be absent, and leaves me at a loss for any sort of immersion into the interior thoughts of the various narrators of the songs or a feeling of emotional weight. While several of the tracks were catchy and very listenable, it was still mostly just a bunch of songs of her loudly describing things at you. This is one of two Aguilera albums on the list and I am not looking forward to the other after this. Maybe the first one, being earlier will lean towards the Britney Spears-ish more ear friendly dance pop though, and won't be as abrasive to the ears. This one was a brightly colored, paper lion of an album. All flash, no substance, but with some nice touches that peaked through now and again. PLAYLIST ALTERATIONS - Those highlights would make up a very nice EP's worth FURTHER LISTENING - M!ssundaztood by Pink - Frank by Amy Winehouse - Version by Mark Ronson - Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams by Solange - Doo-Wops & Hooligans by Bruno Mars

Woo nothing Dimery loves more than a double album! But apparently not enough to keep it in subsequent editions? It’s not bad, it’s not great. It sounds very dated and samey, but with legible grit and swagger from Christina and DJ Premier. Despite her range and confidence as a singer, there’s not a whole lot of melodic range or ingenuity here which leaves the listener exhausted before the first disc is even near its end. I am impressed she and her team focused as much as they did on soul classics as a tone and part of the presentation, which is consistent with the contemporary, recent popularity of Crazy in Love and One Thing, not to mention Winehouse, but it just feels like an album (or 2) long name drop rather than creating classic material. Ain’t No Other Man is a keeper.

Sorry, but this screams rich girl decides to spend way too much on record instead of writing a big term paper. And still gets a B. That Intro song just screams Introduction paragraph in term paper. Then does the same thing the next song. Show. Don't Tell. Gawd Tina! Lots of filler. What is she coming back from? I don't care for her use of sexual innuendo, it's too on the nose. Lacks the subtlety of the music she's paying homage to. It's a fair homage to what she wants to do. It's just bloated. 2

Admittedly didn’t get as far as disc 2 but that’s my right as double albums are self indulgent. There was some gospel stuff that sounded nice, but aside from that it’s the over produced pop I hate. Why?

She looks sticky

Oh this was way too long Playlist add: "Oh Mother"

Christina’s voice is about the only thing keeping this album afloat. She can obviously sing the hell out of just about anything, but most of these songs don’t give her much worth singing. The whole retro concept sounds better on paper than it does stretched across an album this long. The first half was especially rough. Too much run of the mill 2000s pop dressed up with horns and old record samples. The second half was more tolerable, mostly because it leaned a little harder into the older jazz and blues sound instead of trying to force everything into a radio single. And the whole thing has enough cheap double entendres to make it feel more corny than clever. There’s talent all over her performance, but the songwriting never comes close to matching it. One great voice carrying a pile of mediocre songs.

Like Whitney Houston, I can hear she has a great voice but I don’t like the music. 2.5

So much talent wasted on this mess. Embarrassing.

Didn’t know what to expect from this. Wasn’t as out and out pop as I expected, but still very overblown and OTT. First half quite RnB with Amy Winehouse vibes (and she does have a voice to match). Second half more like show tunes, and a bit ridiculous in places. The 5 minutes of fan recordings saying how amazing and inspirational she is can absolutely get in the bin.

I do like how the second disc differentiated itself from the first, after the first was the pretty typical pop R&B of the 90s and 2000s. But I still didn't love it

every song sounds the same... for eighty minutes

A 79 minute Christina Aguilera album sounded like the purest form of torture imaginable going in. And the length of the album still did make it very difficult...but it was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting it to be. There's a lot more Amy Winehouse to her than I remembered

The only reason this does not get 1 star is the quality of her voice and clean underlying sound. This is a masterclass in how to fail to execute an idea. It is called 'Back to Basics', but is stuffed, bloated, with experimental variation and ideas designed to test the listener's patience. It is a hard listen when it shouldn't be, and in one word can be descirbed as "disappointing".

She has a greaaat voice, but her songs are like not my favs. Without You was my choice

It's a good pop album. It really isn't bad. It's just so long

Vielleicht Check ich es in 30 jahren

Xtina, can we have a talk? You have a world-class voice. Go make the classic record. Go do the soul and blues and whatever else. Cover some Billie Holiday songs. See if Tony Bennett has room to gawk at another 30 year old pretty girl during a duet. You didn’t have to do this. But here’s the real comedy of the entire endeavor. The record she could have made, was being made AT THE SAME TIME. WITH THE SAME PRODUCER. Does Mark Ronson hate her? Was he laughing at her the whole time? Because our boy knew Amy Winehouse was MAKING the classic record - an actual all-timer - while Christina was doing whatever this is. I’d like to believe Mark sat them down and gave them a choice. One of you can make a true classic, but you have to die. The other gets this mess, and a TV show. But like any deal with the devil, the TV show was a karaoke show with an over-inflated version of Carson Daly. I’m confident Christina would like to go back and change her choice.

Disc 2 is a wild ride, and yet my preference

Lovely voice. Not my taste though.

Stormannsgalskap. Ganske utrolig at hun fikk holde på med det her. Dobbeltalbum med tvers igjennom ordinære låter, ispedd fans som takker henne for at hun er den nye jesus. Fett.

Oh dear. Carole King yesterday, and now this. I was there when Genie In A Bottle dropped. It was much better than Britney's pedo-bait. But as time went on her reliance of vocal gymnastics over bland melodies and over-produced tripe sunk her to the level of every other generic pop star of that era, and any other era. This isn't good. It's not as bad as I was expecting, but it still feels like too much of a throwback to eras long gone without much new to justify the decision. Too much brass, too much Gospel, too bland, too many vocals screeches, and too many damn songs. 22 songs is a ridiculous number for a pop album of the Noughties. I knew a couple of the singles - didn't like them then, don't like them now. Of course she has great vocals, but they're also kind of unlistenable. It is a curious thing to have such great vocals, but not really know how to sing. Or how to make even one worthwhile song in 22.

Definitely didn't need a double album from Christina Aguilera

This felt overproduced and, at least at first, like someone performing too perfectly, but with something lacking. I liked disc 2 more as it felt more varied.

The hip hop intros do feel slightly out of place. I don’t mind it because it adds some interest. Personal preference the vocal style is doing a bit too much (noted she is a very skilful singer). Lyrically unsurprising

Eine gute Stimme, nicht meine Musik

rare bullshit

It’s not bad but a double album is a bit much. Some cool takes on vocal jazz and blues styles. But it’s too much Xtina.

Same year and same producer as Back to Back. For the frist half before ALL the filler - Take back to black, take out the actual instrumentation and just some early aughts drum beats - look honestly, it isnt as bad as i thought it would be. I actually kinda enjoyed it. But it is WAY to long and then the second half is so lazy, so self indulgent and so much filler.

Back to Basics - Christina Aguilera (2006) I'm underwhelmed by the lack of cohesion this album lack. Aside for being long, it felt like I was in the escape room with every door leading to no where. Every track felt disconnected to its predecessor in both Disc. But I was drawn to the second disc better and I liked "Save me from Myself". It's not bad of an album but overrated to include it in "1001 Albums". Nothing so special about just a typical pop album. a 2

it was fun to listen to but didn't really love any songs, the cirus one was cool

good voice. too long.

Blah- not my thing. Christina can belt it out certainly, but not in a way that I enjoy.

A couple of retro singles aside ( ain't no other mam and candyman) aside there really isn't a lot here. Limited in scope and the difficulties are with all teenybop singers are do they disassociate themselves from their past and move to more grown up songs. This is neither really

Nope.

She's obviously got an incredible voice, but the songs are just.... All a bit boring. They're good and fine, but they're just missing that something special.

She have a nice voice. But this type of music os not really my pair of shoes. It od boring after few songs simmilar to one another.

Ugh. Nu-R&B sucks, and especially when the same vocal gimmicks permeate the entire album. Probably was worth a listen when this kind of thing was fresh, but ain't no more.

Can’t deny the strong vocal range here, but her style has never resonated with me. Props for attempting a concept album, but others have done this style better.

This was a slog to get through. It’s clear that she’s got an incredibly strong voice with a huge range, but how would I even know that since all she’s doing is shouting at me. She needs to settle it down, soften it up and maybe try giving a proper nod to those famous singers that she is obligatorily just name dropping to check the box. For a much better album that gives a nod back to the influences while pushing the sound into a modern world, Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black is way better.

I listened to this on a road trip to the beach and my son vomited on himself. Hey Xtina - do less. 2.5/5

Meh 2.5/5

For a start, insanely long. This should not be a double album. It should barely be an EP to be honest, because so much of it is absolutely identikit. Also, it's weirdly dated much more than most pop of the era. I didn't like it, is what I'm saying. The singles are vaguely enjoyable, I guess, but a lot of the time it's just Xtina warbling over Generic Backing.

I felt this when it came out, and I still feel it: this album takes every minor annoyance about a Mariah Carey album, and exxagerates it immensely. Way too much melisma, too many vocal overdubs, and just generally too busy. A basket of white gospel R&B cliches. It's a shame, as she has phenomenal talent, spoiled by a myriad of arrangement and production choices.

Way too long

what a mess of an album. the last track on disc one is an homage to fans, but comes off as a narcissistic back patting. so many samples and nods to old music that seems better done by those ancient acts. its pretentious and dumb at the same time. there were some moments and samples that were “fun” in a way, but the album is mostly a slog. i dont get it. she can sing, though.

Checks notes. No, I didn't need to listen to that. I heard enough of her over played, over produced music in the early 2000s.

fühlt sich bissi an wie kulturelle aneignung?? idkkkk also all in all nit schlecht aber is so soul jazz type. all in all idk 2.5/5? stabile mitte würd i sagen. also wieder mal nit schlecht. aber nur ein zwei songs de mi richtig catchen. aber fast alle auf disc 2 tbh: hurt, mercy on me

A very noughties r&b album

I gave it a chance but it just didn't click with me. It's one of those albums that I can see why people like it, but it just isn't for me.

not for me unfortunately

Enjoyable, but, definitely not my wheelhouse. I can appreciate her artistry, even if the music doesn't really click.

Are there good tracks here? Yes. But good lord, this album is far, far too long. Anything good is diluted down. This album vastly overstays its welcome. Its a shame, I really wanted to like this :( 2/5

Not my thing

Amazing voice but I couldn't really get into the music – too calculated in its production

album se sastoji od dva dijela. prvi mi je bio dosljedno blago nepodnošljiv pop s elementima arenbija. drugi mi je bio nešto bolji s pokojom dobrom stvarju (»hurt«), ali ima zbog krindža teško slušljivu pjesmu »nasty naughty boy«. i malo je album sve u svemu predug. bilo bi bolje da sam preslušao samo drugi dio, onda bih možda dao i trojku. ovako je dojam za dvojku. šteta jer je glas dobar

Christina has an unreal voice. Shame that this record is a clusterfuck of overproduced poo. Could have been half the length, and feel like her talent is wasted on some of these numbers.

I didn't have a 2006 Christina Aguilera double album on my bingo card this morning, but here we are. I think Christina has an amazing voice. It's strong and confident, and she has the ability to modulate it to convey many different styles. Ultimately though this album isn't my style, and I am not particularly interested in repeat listens.

Não consegui ouvir todo, achei muito repetitivo

Toooooo long and repetitive

I'm probably never listening to this again, but it's a well-conceived, constructed, and performed pop album with some real depth. I admit I didn't realize what a vocal powerhouse she is.

I’m sorry that was just too much Christina Aguilera all at once

disc 2 is the only part worth listening to

I really dislike this style of singing. It's about as pleasant as listening to fingernails being drawn down a blackboard.

Christina! The album's too long Christina!

Not for me, only a couple songs I found interesting. She has a good voice but it gets a bit boring after about 30 minutes. Feel like this should have either been two separate projects or condensed into one better short album. No need for a double disc

Als fünftes Studioalbum der US-amerikanischen Sängerin erschien Back to Basics im August 2006 bei RCA Records als Doppelalbum – ein Format, das die konzeptionelle Zweiteilung des Werks bereits formal ankündigt. Die Aufnahmen fanden zwischen Februar 2005 und April 2006 in mehreren Studios in den USA und Großbritannien statt, darunter die Chalice Recording Studios und The Record Plant in Los Angeles, Maze Studios in Atlanta, Allido Sound in New York sowie die Sarm Studios in London. Aguilera, die als Executive Producer fungierte, zog ein breites Produzentennetzwerk heran: DJ Premier verantwortet den ersten Teil mit seinen R&B- und Hip-Hop-Bezügen, während Linda Perry die komplett live eingespielte zweite Disc dominiert, die sich einem theatralisch-jazzig geprägten Klangbild der 1920er bis 1940er Jahre widmet. Die Inspiration für das Projekt entstammt Aguileras lebenslanger Verehrung für die Ikonen des afroamerikanischen Musikerbes – Billie Holiday, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald und Otis Redding sind keine oberflächlichen Referenzen, sondern prägen Phrasierung, Timbre und Stilistik spürbar. Der Leadsingles „Ain't No Other Man" – eine mit Blechbläser-Samples durchzogene Hommage an klassischen Rhythm and Blues – gewann den Grammy für die beste weibliche Pop-Gesangsleistung. Die Ballade „Hurt" und das swingend-ironische „Candyman" vervollständigen das kommerzielle Kernrepertoire des Albums, das weltweit Platz eins erreichte. Was Back to Basics von bloßer Retro-Nostalgie trennt, ist Aguileras Mut zur stimmlichen Überexposition: Sie singt nicht über ihre Vorbilder, sie singt durch sie hindurch und bleibt dabei unverkennbar sie selbst. Das Doppelalbum-Konzept birgt naturgemäß Längen, doch der künstlerische Anspruch und die vokale Virtuosität rechtfertigen die Wucht des Projekts vollständig. Back to Basics ist das seltene Popalbum, das den Anspruch, ein Meisterwerk zu sein, tatsächlich einlöst.

I love this woman's vocals, the rythm is very 2000's, so cool, yet not my type of daily music. Every song is great and lyrics works but as an album is to repeptitive.

2/5

Notable Textzeile: Well, everybody got an opinion now, don't they? But it ain't no thing to me It really don't make any difference now to me If you don't like what you see Ich habe das Album beim Putzen gehört, also relativ laut. Die Nachbarn waren vermutlich verwirrt. Dann habe ich das Handy vonwo es auf die Box gestreamt wurde im frisch gewischten Badezimmer liegen lassen. Nach Ende des insgesamt wirklich viel viel zu langen Albums hat Spotify eine Art Best-of-Strong-Female-Pop-Artists gespielt - und jeder Song war sowas von 10-100 Mal besser als die Sachen auf diesem Album. Die sind ja alle gut arrangiert und nichts nervt richtig, ist auch okay abswechslungsreich für das Genre, aber es ist doch ähnlich und Textlich manchmal gut, selbstbewewusst und dann doch wieder komisch weiblich-stereotyp-hetro-Lovesong. Echt hart fand ich den Track bei dem Lobpreisungen von Fans als Voicenotes eingespielt wurden. Why, ich meine wirklich why? Ohne den wäre ich glaub ich bei 2,5 gelandet, so eher 2.

+ Ain't no other men Stimme Es sind viele Songs - Künstlicher Vinyl-Knister-Sound auf viel zu glatter Produktion Ist der Albumtitel ein Insder-Gag? Warum so viel stöhnen, nicht mal mehr singen mit der Stimme? Es sind viele Songs Candyman Ich befürchte meine Kritik richtet sich wenig gegen die Künstlerin, mehr gegen die Produktion (Aaaalter - 10 Produzent*innen am Werk gewesen). Halb so viele Songs ein wenig authentischer Produziert hätten geholfen. Mucho potential, aber so nervig 00er gemacht.

A double album, that's 80 mins long, is back to basics?! So if I could give this 2.25 stars, I would. I appreciate the piano, horns and choir. There was an interesting bass line at one point that sounded like it could've been a Talking Heads sample. And for those who care, I guess she can sing. I'm not a person who cares about singers and their abilities but to each their own. I felt this really lacked emotionally. It didn't stir anything in me and I didn't feel anything from her. Was this her attempt to break out of club music? Maybe. I just found it boring as heck.

There are no 2 words worse than "double disc", especially when it's an album that you already weren't looking forward to hearing. She has talent, and there are some good songs here, but does she have an hour and 18 minutes worth of material? No. There is no good reason for this being 5 minutes longer than Lonesome Crowded West. The first half of this album is pretty consistent in style and tone, but side 2 is just all over the place. If this was just disc one, I would give it a mid 3, but side 2 really drags it down, and bloats the entire album. mid 2.

Når man er i humøret så er det bedre enn andre slike damer

Review - this album isn't very good. I sort of preemptively liked the songs I'd heard as singles, but on relisten they're genuinely not very good. There are some decent songs here and she's a talented singer but the second half is a jazz album performed, written, and produced by people who clearly aren't particularly into jazz. Maybe they like the idea of jazz, the aesthetic. I don't know. In any case, it's not very good. Rating - 3.5/10 Need to hear? NO

There is this common conception of Christina Aguilera as the most talented pure singer of the TRL era. “Sure she makes disposable pop but she has such an amazing voice!” Admittedly, she does the stereotypical R&B trills or glissandos or whatever those “aAAaaAasAAAA”s are called but that is just style, not quality. You can do those and still have a bad, croaky unpleasant sounding voice, which is what I think is the case. I don’t know what other people are hearing that I’m not but I don’t see why she is considered a better singer than anyone else. In fact, I think her voice sounds pretty terrible. So you add a bad voice to generic pop music and sex moans and then sprinkle in the worst offense of all: pretentious boring songs where your fans thank you for your greatness or you name drop actual artists and you’re left with a fairly terrible listen. I’m glad this was cut from future editions of the book and wish I hadn’t had to listen to it.

It's alright.

I was better than I thought it was going to be, plus Biggie popped up at one point which gives this an extra half a star.....

Det är något fel på inspelningen som fanns på apple music. Hennes röst är irriterande redan men det låter som där är några artefakter på inspelningen också. Hennes engineer måste hatat henne

No podcast

Just seems so generic and unremarkable. And way too long.

Outstanding voice and some catchy pop songs but album is overlong and the final track of disc 1 is incredibly cringey

It's pretty one-note for the most part. It's really not for me, basically. I'm not against pop and pop adjacent music, but this is about as middle of the road as you can get, which means that it's ultimately not that interesting to me.

Occasionally you hear someone you respect but aren't particularly into. When I think of girl-pop defaults, Christina Aguilera is on the second tier. We're up there, but it's not quite the same as Britney Spears, The Spice Girls, even Alicia Keys. On a technical level it's easy admiration, but when pop sinks into my skin it's because it's obvious, and I feel like here we're between admiring past genres and heavily implementing the urban feel of 2000s production. This album would be something else with a little Dr. Dre in there, if that's what we're aiming for, but he's not and the project is over an hour long. I'm happy you wave your vocals girl, but it's not exactly timeless. 2.3/5

I get what she’s trying to do, but her voice is too big and polished for it to work well.

Christina's voice is still great, but still not my kind of music. I'd put this one below Stripped personally.

Things Everyone Says About This: A few pretty good bangers Christina really can sing Monotonous production (except a few spots) Way way way--by like an hour--too long Things I am going to say: See above

Started off better than I thought with catchy, well-produced tracks, but went downhill from there to become tedious and grating.

Thought I'd hate it but I didnt. Some of the music combined with her voice makes me wonder how she has never done a song for a Bond movie. Seems perfect for it.

Not a big fan of the older school jazzy 1920s style of her music or voice.

Xtina is a great singer whose songs do nothing for me. It's a shame because she has a great great voice.

Not in my edition of the book! 2006. 2 stars. Cracking pair of lungs and some decent songs - but it's a self indulgent double album, with lots of filler. If this had been edited down to a single album it would be an easy 3, maybe even a 4.

I admit I skimmed through songs . It's not bad, just not for me and extremely long

Wasn't bad, just loooooong. some bops on it though, and some wank, if it was condensed down to a single disc we might talk

In some songs she sings great. But why so cheap (lyrics and sounds)?

Первая часть ни о чем Вторая часть поприятней, но все равно слушать одни сраные мелизмы устаешь. В моменте даже почувствовал себя Ларисой долиной 😉 П.с. Hurt - ахуительнная песня

This is #day578 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… Christina, Britney, Justin, and all those early '00s pop and R&B folks, including girl and boy bands, were part of my childhood. This kind of stuff was always on TV and the radio. As many have mentioned, she's definitely got the voice. But almost 79 minutes of Aguilera belting about going back to basics on a Monday morning is kind of too much. I think having to hear one album of hers before you die is more than enough. But, hey, there's one more to go... This is a 2 out of 5. Looking forward to #day579.

Good voice, too over-produced for the sound she is going for.

Favorite songs: Ain't No Other Man, F.U.S.S. (Interlude)

Christina Aguilera is undeniably gifted. And there are some great songs buried in here. But they're alternatively neglected and abused. She seems to have zero capacity for nuance. She holds Miles up as an influence, but she missed one of his most important lessons - "It's not the notes you play, it's the notes you don't play." Her constant OVER-souling is exhausting. And the computerized backing tracks are soulless. These two fundamental characteristics are constantly exposing each other, creating a schizophrenic tension that not only never resolves, it never abates in the slightest, for even a second. Finally, fuck every artist who can't or won't edit an album down to under an hour. It's the surest sign that any artistic intention has been subverted by either a run-away ego, or an unrestrained business model. I have to add that once again this list chooses to celebrate a commercialist "paying homage" to artistic legends, while it all but ignores the legends themselves. I'm 600 albums into this project. Here are the artists name-dropped in this, THE SECOND album from Christina Aguilera so far, and the number of albums, by them on the list: Aretha Franklin (2), Etta James (0), Otis Redding (1), Billie Holiday (0), Ella Fitzgerald (0), Louis Armstrong (0), John Coltrane (0), Donny Hathaway (0), James Brown (0), Gladys Knight (0), Lena Horne (0), Marvin Gaye (1), Minnie Ripperton (0), Nat King Cole (0), Ray Charles (2), Stevie Wonder (3), and Miles Davis (2). Off the top of my head, I'd add the following female jazz and soul singers: Sarah Vaughan (0), Esther Phillips (0), Abbie Lincoln (0), Chaka Khan (0), Roberta Flack (0), Carla Thomas (0), Diana Ross (0), Donna Summer (0). Give me a fucking break. Give me any album by any of one of these legends over this, any day.

Somewhere in here is a 3 star single album.

Not for me

I don't dislike it, but near 80 minutes of Christina Aguilera's intense vocals and musical style is a bit much. The hits are good, some of the other songs are alright and a bunch on here is pretty forgettable. There was a lot more R&B in here than I expected. I think this album would have been better as a single CD, with some of the less memorable songs cut off or kept for a deluxe edition or something.

This was a tough one. She has amazing voice obviously however as far as this album is concerned. I thought the first half was pretty forgettable, the second half was definitely better but still mostly not my thing. 2.5

If Christina Aguilera was bald, she'd be Christina Havenohaira.

On paper this actually sounds cool, having a lot of jazz and soul influence. The intro had me really skeptical, but Makes Me Want to Pray delivers! It's got a real throwback soul feel, and Christina's vocal is powerful. There are a few more moments where those influences shine through, but ultimately this relies much too heavily on typical 2000's pop production and hooks, mostly I assume, to maintain its ability to sell.

Aguilera is an amazing vocalist hidden behind a double album of pop mediocrity.

Boring

I have negative associations with this generation of pop music, so I expected to hate it. I didn’t like it, but I think it is more generic than bad.

I can't deny the pipes, a couple tracks are pretty great, but beyond those there's almost nothing on here that I'd actively want to put on. And the double album went forever.

Mid but she bad

She's better than Brittany. Yeah-ee-ee-AH!

2/5 - For about 30 minutes, I was OK, but I lost the thread entirely during Enter the Circus. How is a double album "Back to Basics"?

Her voice is good but every song sounds the same. Mid 2000s rnb inflected pop was boring then and is boring now

Not my thing. Like the second disk better. Candyman will always be in my heart tho.

This was a slog. To put out a double album and have not a single one be memorable makes me really question why this is included in the list. I give two stars for at least drawing on good influences, but I would never consider this to be influential in itself. The “dedication to fans” bit was pretty amusing though given that it was just playing fans’ dedication to Christina.

Good voice, but still wasted on poppy garbage. The second disc was better than the first. 2/5

5/10 – Mediocre

Als je uit deze 1u en 18m alle goede momenten bij elkaar neemt, daar een album met een normale runtime van maakt, is het een mager 3'tje. Nu een erg mager 2'tje.

Surprisingly good at times even as she punishes us with her confidence that 22 tracks is what we want. Christina Aguilera had a truly great, contemporary pop album among these songs. And yet, as a whole, this record really misses the mark. In her position as executive producer, she was the one responsible for identifying the issue. Back to Basics is proof that we all need an external editorial voice from time to time — even if we're good at that skill ourselves — it can be hard to step back and see how the elements operate in aggregate. If this album had been her best 10 to 12 tracks sequenced compellingly it would have been an undisputed classic in her genre. I don't think Aguilera is super concerned though, it obviously performed well enough.

This is so bloated and absolutely doesn’t need to be a double album. This style of vocal acrobatics has never appealed to me, it just feels like showing off instead of actually making good music and serving the song. And the song thank you is just ego driven weirdness. Gets two stars because some of the beats of side one are actually kinda decent.

It was a slog to get through, i really wanted to like it but no.

Entirely too long and the bangers were too few and far between

Overproduced. A few good songs.

Two CDs???? She sure can shriek like a banshee. The truth is that it wasn't bad. How do I know? Because I don't think I know what the hell it is was really supposed to be. Kudos for good production, but that's as far as it goes.

Derivative pop bullshit. Very mediocre, bland songs. The only saving grace is the signers voice, which is phenomenal, but it's basically all a cheap imitation of better artists that actually contributed something creative and unique. I will definitely never listen tot his album again and frankly I'm irritated that this is on the list and other

Not for me

I liked Stripped better. There are a lot of reasons I don't especially like this but let me just note a few. It's not that great and feels very formulaic. The samples are often better than the song itself. Both albums start with a lot hype and then doesn't deliver. Lacks direction and there's too much of it. Things take an especially cringey turn on the 2nd album with Candyman and Nasty Naughty Boy. Suddenly we are transported back to 1940's swing jazz. The sexuality is so thick and cliche that I half expected Jessica Rabbit to appear followed by a pack of wolves in Zoot Suits with their eyeballs popping out of their heads and tongues on the floor.

We DO NOT need more than one Christina Aguilera album on this list if any at all. There are so many artists not represented and SHE somehow deserves two!!? Hell no. 2000’s pop is overproduced shit. It seriously hurts my ears. I couldn’t finish it. Yuck.

Stylé mais je m’e fou psk c’est un peu toujours la même chose

Wasn’t really into Christina in the 2000s, and I’m still not.

This... is a long album! Ah! Two songs in tho and this is way better than that Destiny's Child album. That one... I really didn't get... Like if you absolutely want to include a female led early 2000 contemporary r&b album, I have nothing against this one so far. Disc 2 is a bit much for me haha 2 1/2 Fav: Ain't No Other Man

I'll repeat what I said about a previous Aguilera album on this list. Yes, she has more than one album here. Nobody knows why. "[..] it's decent by way of being better than you expected. But then it carries on for a good bit longer than strictly necessary. And you have enough time to realise that it's not all THAT good. Not as good as the people who decided this should have 20 tracks obviously believed, in any case." Except this, being a double album, has even more tracks. I will add that this cranks up the "sounds trademarked rather than genuine" impression I also had with that other Aguilera album to 11. Candyman just sounds soooo manufactured. I mean... I'd rather listen to this than some KISS album, but...

Great for what it is. Not really my thing, or particularly interesting to me though.

Right, first things first, Christina Aguilera has an outstanding voice. What she also needs here is some musical range, some restraint, and at least 12 fewer tracks. Production and performance is excellent, but the album is massively bloated and does not have enough variety in style to make it interesting - it’s when something a bit different to the standard diva-pop appears that it improves, for example there is some Muddy Waters-style Blues, and some Billie Holiday-style light jazz that stands out in quality. This is t an awful album, but when there are maybe two enjoyable tracks out of 22 that makes it pretty bad for me.

Not much here for me and just way too long.

I can see why this album is on the list. I don't think I've heard a pop album quite like it. At the same time, I didn't really like it. It's too long, and the songs eventually start to all sound the same. Something that really bothered me was how many songs are guilty of using the same drum beat for the entire song, which gets very annoying. Two stars. (Favorite track: Makes Me Wanna Pray.)

Didn't enjoy.

Ugh. I dislike Christina Aguilera. It’s the runs, you know, the need to show off your range by turning a one syllable word into 27. We know you can sing, you don’t have to work so hard to convince the convinced. It’s annoying. I can appreciate that she can sing. When she came out with Britney Spears, Britney had the whole jailbait thing working for her, but Christina was actually talented. Then, because talent wasn’t enough, she turned into XTina to try to take some of Britney’s elderly pervs. But it just seemed desperate and beneath someone with real talent, in my opinion. I do see this album has the usual dozen people credited with writing each song. I still don’t know how that works. Did one of them come up with one note that brought the song together and now he gets a writing credit? I guess it’s still going on today. I remember the days when one or two dude wrote the songs. I’m old and digressing. I love how there's one song about taking it back to basics while using samples, record scratches, drum loops and rapping. Is Back to Basics, like 1989 for Christina? She’s singing about singers from the 40s and 50s, and the song is just computers bleeping and blorping. It irks me. I can tell I ain’t finishing this album. Ah, the single, Ain’t No Other Man. I actually kind of like this song. But I’d be fine if I’d never heard it again in my life. We’re about halfway through the album and I’ve had to turn the volume down several times. She’s a screamer, my friends. We know you’ve got power, but can you not be on full blast at all times, Christina? Good Lord. Christina is now talking in her song. I hate the talking in songs, Bret Michaels, Shania Twain, I'm looking at you two. It sounds so dumb. Unless you’re rapping, otherwise, sing! Why does it seem like I’m so angry? I’m not, just annoyed. This is fun. I want to hear the Mark Ronson song. If anyone can make me like Christina, it’s Ronson. I’ve been a Ronson fan since back in the day, you know, 2003. Oooh, I didn’t think much of the first Ronson cut on the album, but Without You is….kind of….good. It’s also the song with the least amount of songwriters, which is still four, but could fewer cooks lead to a better meal? That’s weird, isn’t it? That’s sarcasm right there. She’s still doing her bs runs, but the music is really great. Ooooh, she sounds great. Why wasn’t this a single? Then we go back to trash with Still Dirty. I love how all these pop singers need to express how dirty they are in a song or two every album. They’re about as dirty as a bar of soap. Carrie Underwood isn’t bashing an ex's car with a baseball bat, XTina isn’t competing in some weird underground sex fight league. She still doesn’t have that nasty in here because it was never in there. She’s your genie in a bottle, not your bad girl on a chopper. And she’s back to yelling at me. Okay, I made it through the whole album….as far as you know. It’s not for me, dawg. I like pop music, but I never fell under Christina’s spell….I was close when she was putting out videos of her in the underground sexfighting matches, but thankfully, my ears kept working. If you’re a fan, you obviously think I’m an idiot, and I am. At the end of the day, I don’t think this is an album of any importance, at least not to me.

This got old pretty quick with me. Feels like it was produced to mostly to show off her vocal range, which it does, with the odd hit throughout. Double album totally unnecessary. She's a great talent but I think i mostly skipped through the last half

The self indulgence of this album is so blatantly apparent, and in no place more than the last song on the first album. There are a few good songs and sadly with some cuts this could have been a solid single album but the huge overreach brings it way down.

++: Makes Me Wanna Pray, Ain't No Other Man, Slow Down Baby, F.U.S.S., Here to Stay, Candyman, I Got Trouble, Mercy on Me, Save Me from Myself +: On Our Way, Still Dirrty, Enter the Circus +-: Intro (Back to Basics), Back in the Day, Understand, Without You, Thank You (Dedication to Fans...), Welcome, Nasty Naughty Boy, The Right Man -: Oh Mother, Hurt 4,5/10

Tämmönen soulihtava poppilevy. Vähän liiaksi popin puolella sillai huonolla tavalla. 2/5

Hieman huvittavaa tehdä tuplalevy otsikolla back to basics -- luulisi, että tällä nimellä olisi vähän yksinkertaisempi tuotos mielessä. musiikkillisesti tää nollarimeno kuulostaa kaikki vähän samalta, ja sen takia jää kakkoseen.

Christina Aguilera is talented, and her voice is incredible, but this album teeters between two worlds - modern (at the time) pop tracks and classic soul ballads with some modern influence. The latter is great, especially the last four tracks of the album, but the rest just aren’t there for me. Also, the “Thank You” track is too much. This comes across much less as a thank you to fans and far more a ‘look at how great everyone thinks I am’.

Too long, too all over the place stylistically, whatever is trying to be invoked in the intro is not achieved. Don't hate a good pop album but this really isn't one.

не моё, сори... слишком качественно что-ли + никогда не нравилось рнб. пока 2 очка, если к концу какая-то песня понравится, то добавлю мб 1 балл...

As solo women go, could be way way worse. She's alright, but I don't think she needs a double album. Way too long unless you're really really into her. Especially since by the time disc 2 (the way better one) you're a bit sick of hearing it. I was never into that R&B mainstream stuff though her voice suits it. The album is mostly upbeat and her ooOOOuuuuUuuuUUUuh thing is less obvious than when she released stuff like Beautiful (which sucks). It sounds a bit dated now, but I also need to accept that 2006 was 20 years ago. It was the style at the time. Time to hang up the belt onions.

I respect her voice but I tire of her music pretty quickly

longer than necessary

90s-00s pop i always feel is the worst period in music history for me personally so when i saw the 1h run time i got a bit down... She can sing, that is all. music is generic, safe and radio friendly, Well mixed.

Christina has a beautiful voice but this isn’t an album or musical style that interests me. I’ll be generous and say 2 stars.

O moj bog. Glih gledam in je a 2 volume album, 78 minut. Ej, I have shit to do today. Uf. Spomnim se to njeno obdobje in vsaj dva komada poznam. Fak, kr ni konca. Še na polovici nisem. Ful se mi vleče, ker je kinda skos isto. Pač njeni, sicer hudi vokali, a velikrat over the top, pop muska zmiksana s starejšimi vplivi (abomination), random hip hop vplivi, ... Ugh, tazadn komad na volume 1 ( "Thank You (Dedication to Fans...)") je na začetku basically remix njenga "Genie in A Bottle", po pa en kup posnetkov njenih fanov, k ji govorijo kok je huda, inspiring pa kolk jim pomeni. Ok. Volume 2 se začne k dobrodošlica v cirkus ("Enter the Circus"). To je še najboljša melodija do zdaj. Je pa volume 2 na splošno mal bolj chill v vajbu in meni lažji za poslušat. Na splošno, not for me. Kr muka. Če zj par dni ne slišim a vocal run, bom vesela.

First Listen; 2; Album was repetitive and not terribly interesting. The singing is good, but the instrumentation sounded dated and cheesy. The second disc in particular sounded half baked. Favorite Track: Ain't no Other Man

The second track has steve winwood on it… that guy wanted to make me fall asleep yesterday. So so long. The one song I recognised was candyman and I remember hating it.

would of been better as a single disc. really drags on as a two disc.

Not for me

I’m a little surprised this is the album chosen to represent Christina on this list. Like, I definitely think there’s an argument for her being included, but the debut or Dirrrty feel like better representations of her as a star. Like, I gotta be honest, I was NOT excited to listen to a Christina Aguilera DOUBLE ALBUM yesterday. And yeah, there’s a lot of bum tracks on here, especially the first half. I think generally the second half of the second album is the strongest actually (which doesn’t always happen)! The great Linda Perry contributes some song writing there which I think helps elevate it. I powered through. Glad I won’t have to listen to this one again.

Christina kills it. Not for me though.

Music was ok. Lyrics are cliche and overworked. She has a great voice.

She has a good voice

I just really can't stand this kind of music. I rate most everything on here 3* because, even if I may not like the music, I can still somewhat enjoy everything I've heard. It's the first album in my, almost, 200 albums that I couldn't finish..... and I even made it all the way through Backstreet Boys and Justin Timberlake. Bonus star in recognition of vocal talent.

She’s a talented singer. But this sucked.

I recognize the singer's talent and was pleased with the absence of the usual Aguilera brilliance. The album was crammed full of everything and I mean way too full. The whole thing was massive and at the same time somehow sterile.

Aguilera has a chip on her shoulder. Most of the songs on the first album are confessionals about how and why she stands up for herself. This is fine, but she said all that on “Fighter,” a track from an earlier album. The last track reveals that all this bravado might stem from an inferiority complex — playing a mix of fans thanking her for being her, as a way if saying “thanks” to her followers is cringey in its indulgence. The second album shows some range in different pop styles — but there’s still a self-absorbed, tough gal attitude that comes through. Aguilera doesn’t need to be so defensive. She’s got an amazing voice. But she flaunts it unnecessarily, making her tunes about her rather than the music. Her lyrics are guileless, which in this case is not a compliment. These songs could use a little mystery and metaphor. In the end, it’s fine. She’s got a sound, a style, and a great voice. But it’s not an album I needed to listen to. A 2.

disc 1 in overall was good. disc 2 was boring. too long and gets old quickly

Some decent production in spots, but truly, astonishingly bad songwriting. And although I acknowledge that she’s got serious pipes, I thought the goddamn vocalises would be the death of me. 1.5/5

+1 because xtina is a great singer, -1 because thus did not need to be a double album

Got tiring pretty quick. Can only take so much belting and riffing. 2.75

She’s no doubt a great singer, but that doesn’t really make this any more interesting

1,8/5

She has an incredible voice, but the music is definitely not for me. Of course you can hear that all the people behind this project are skilled, but it’s so bland. I had to put on some Joy Division to comfort myself

This is not terrible, its a perfectly middling 00s pop album. I'm at a loss for why this is an album I need to listen to. Its as essential as elevator music. The thing that really stood out in this album is how hard Aguilera was trying to be black. She uses AAVE everywhere, models her signing style on R&B from earlier decades, and uses instrumentals that mix 60s soul, 80s R&B, along with some new jack swing. I don't have an issue with emulating your idols, but we'd be better off listening to a lot more Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, and a dozen other artists that Aguilera copies, than her.

Oli ihan kiva kuunnella. Vokalistihan on oikein mukava mutta lyriikat hyvin kehnoja. Vaikka mennäänkin taaksepäin ja kunnioitetaan vanhoja hyviä aikoja ja lauluntekijöitä, korniltahan se kuulostaa.

Interesting approach with some old samples et al but blimey that drags outside of the singles

mhh mal was anderes, ja tolle Stimme aber..? c

Much respect for one of the best voices of our time but I can't sit through a double album of modern day pop without it giving me anxiety

The good? An album featuring a woman! That seems to be rarity on this list. Christina Aguilera has quite the voice. The bad? The production--it's dated and distracting. It's overly long. The songs are not my thing. It's distracting and annoying after a few songs. I'd like to hear what Christina Aguilera could do with different lyrics, better producing, less pop. She's the type of signer that would turn the Star Spangled Banner into a 20-minute long melisma slog. 2 stars from me, dawg.

good

After a fantastic first three songs (excluding the intro), Back to Basics fails to piggyback on its opening and instead indeed goes back to basics, the basics being formulaic, whiny, incessant ‘neo-soul’, the sort that you’d really like to turn off, but can’t, because then you wouldn’t be staying faithful to the 1001 list. It’s just intrusive enough to creep out of the background if you try to focus on something else, and in one case (Nasty Naughty Boy), it’s intrusive by way of being pornographic. On top of that, it’s a double album (it could all fit onto one disc fairly easily, but it’s all for the cheap concept) so it’s about 45 minutes longer than it needs to be. You could shave off about ten minutes by slimming down the vocal intonations. She can sing! Isn’t that great. But I think I’ve got the message. Ms Aguilera can now kindly fuck off. So tracks 2 through 4 are worth listening to, they’re some seriously great R&B / soul / whatever they are. Track 4 on the second disc or 17 overall is worth listening to if you want to masturbate, I suppose.

113/1001 Christina Aguilera - Back To Basics Heard before? ❎ Revisit? ❎ A tale of two halves - literally. First half insipid, uninspired pop with the cringe inducing Thank You, the second is far more interesting, though with barely disguised innuendo.

Christina Aguilera Christina is a great singer but this not really a great album. The retro blues stuff feels a bit too on the nose to me. I wanted to like this more not sure what wasn’t connecting with me. Favorite song was Hurt, Save Me From Myself.

Hot take maybe but i think this kind of sucks. Songwriting is terrible and the excessive vocal runs are so annoying. Production is super boring to me, everything sounds flat and lifeless which i guess is part of this era of production but i hate it. Better than a lot on this list and maybe i am missing something but this is just kind of bad and cringey to me. Also again - why does this have to be a double album?

I was so excited for this but it is horrible. Whatever the opposite of tasteful is…

Input > Output. The anger is gone

Yeah. Just like the other album we listened to on here. Samey

Look, we know CA can sing but that couldn’t really elevate this album above the mediocre.

Two Aguilera albums in two weeks is pushing the boundaries somewhat. The surprise was that I thought Stripped was OK. However, this one less so. The title gives some sort of clue about exploring older styles. Which is clearly what’s going on, but all the attempts at original soul, jazz, ballad and funk(ish) etc. styles just end up sounding like Aguilera singing over some very badly overproduced attempts at recreating classics. They sound utterly unauthentic. I mean, the one where they just play some vinyl crackle noise over a ballad is totally cringe, and does not suddenly recreate Ella Fitzgerald. This generally just gets worse as the album gets on. The best tracks were the poppier ones at the start. Fair play for trying to vary things, but maybe stick to what you’re good at Christina.

The first few songs were the best.

Aguilera’s voice is undeniably great. But she doesn’t believe in holding back. Ever. There’s just way too much wailing and never ending vocal runs. She pushes her voice to the point of shouting the whole time. Also, the songs aren’t that strong. 78 minutes is unbearable for me. Half would have been plenty. But hey, that’s just my opinion. 2/5

Meh not my fav

Nice enough but lacking soul.

Sux

I’m so hit or miss with Christina. Sometimes I really like her, but she over-sings everything, and it’s so grating. She has some good songs, but the way she sings them is exhausting. There’s also no reason this needed to be a double album. The songs were not special enough to justify that. They were also way longer than they needed to be. The production was a highlight, though, and part of the reason this is getting 2 stars from me instead of 1. Honestly if this only had half the songs it did, it’d probably get a higher rating, but it started to drag quite a bit near the middle-end of the first album. And the last song of the first album “Thank You” was so cringe. Really wish they would have skipped that. It felt like something that would make more sense on a pop album in the late 90s, yet still would have been cringe then too. “Save Me From Myself” was probably my favorite song because Christina’s voice was much more subtle and didn’t have the same over-singing she usually does. Her voice is really beautiful when she’s not trying to do too much. “Ain’t No Other Man” and “Candyman” are still fun songs, and I enjoy them like I did when they came out. But overall this album was a big miss for me.

There are a couple of terrific R&B songs on the first disc but the jazz/soul throwback numbers are not great. And the whole second disc makes zero sense. This should have been two albums.

Good singer Some depressing songs Some hits Rest a bit meh

As warblefests go I found this mostly painless. I liked the clear coherent travelogue lyrics that explain in simple terms what was going on, she was trying to emulate old classics. She missed, but she tried. Loses one star for being an unnecessary double album.

78 minutes oh hell no i kind of fw cheesy white girl soul. its not even bad but an hour and 20 minute is absurdly long for a project like this.

This was a rough one to get through as a certified Christina sleeper. “Welcome” and Nasty, Naughty Boy” had some of the best vocals I’ve heard in my life. “Welcome” was also just a really interesting production. I really wish she’d do less over singing and emulating others because she’s talented and those songs showcase what she’s capable of. Lyrically juvenile, at its best, mostly just vapid. Tragically vulgar when it should have been cheeky and playful. I want to deduct another star for how pretentious and obnoxious I find the title juxtaposed to what she gave us(I won’t). I get she meant her inspirational foundation. I don’t care. I think it was a mistake and I think it had a title like that because the album had nothing to say. What a waste. I could’ve listened to Alice Cooper today. #CertifiedHater

I wanted to like this but I did not like this and it did not take it back in the day and the lyrics just weren’t there for me :( Only listened to Disc 1. sorry xtinaaaa ❤️I do hope we get the Genie in a Bottle album as that was one of the first CDs I ever owned

Something about this album feels insincere. I give Christina credit for trying to push herself into a different direction, and distinguish herself amongst her fellow pop princess peers that flooded the early 2000’s. Unfortunately it feels she is overcompensating with a double album of nonsense while trying to be taken seriously.

Bog-standard modern pop. Instantly forgettable.

Banal. Yikes. But better than Meatloaf.

I'm not going to beat around the bush here – I've never really considered myself a Christina Aguilera fan. I definitely wouldn't say I'm a hater or anything like that, but her hits never did much for me. That said, her career was already several albums deep by the time I turned 10, so it's probably fair to say that I wasn't in her target demographic during that time of my life. I've also been more open to the pop girlies of recent years (mainly Sabrina Carpenter, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo and Lady Gaga), so I was happy to give this album a fair shot. Aguilera's mission on Back to Basics is made clear in the opening moments of the album: to pay tribute to the soul/blues/jazz artists who paved the road before her. For the first few tracks, it feels like that's (at least somewhat) the case – the very next track after the intro is a full-on gospel tune (which oddly features Steve Winwood, the first artist the Generator picked out for me), followed by two soulful, upbeat tracks produced by the talented DJ Premier. The latter of the two ("Ain't No Other Man") is especially fun and probably the single best track on the entire album. Unfortunately, what goes up must come down and down it goes indeed. After these first four tracks, the names Aguilera dropped on "Back in the Day" (Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Etta James, John Coltrane, etc.) come across as little more than lip service. The following nine songs aren't all that bad (and "F.U.S.S." is legitimately a highlight), but are fairly forgettable for mid-2000s pop/R&B. Even some excellent sample-heavy production from Premier and Mark Ronson couldn't elevate the tail end of the first disc even close to the heights of "Makes Me Wanna Pray" or "Ain't No Other Man." First disc? Oh yeah – Back to Basics is a double album. If BTB was just the first disc, it probably would have been an easy three star rating for me. Unfortunately, disc two completely tosses out the "tribute to the trailblazers" concept to focus on more standard Xtina fare and it's all the worse for it. The only true highlight here is "Candyman" and songs like "Nasty Naughty Boy" sound incredibly out of place on the album that gave us "Makes Me Wanna Pray" less than an hour earlier. Why this second disc wasn't released as a separate EP or saved for a future album is beyond me. It makes BTB feel so much more bloated than it already was and it completely loses the character than made the first disc remotely compelling. I'd even go as far as to say that listening through the second disc actively harmed my impression of the first – I let the album loop back to the beginning to re-listen to those first few cuts and the idea of it being some kind of tribute started to feel like a cruel joke in hindsight. If I can find some positives in this album, it's that Christina Aguilera has a great voice and knows how to show it off here. I can also appreciate her straightforward style of writing lyrics – it's often easy to know exactly what she's talking about without having to read into it too much. Additionally, I think it's nice that she attempted to put some respect on some of the great Black artists of the 20th century, even if the execution wasn't fully there. Ultimately, Back to Basics has too many good qualities for me to give it one star, but it's not an album that I ever want to hear from front to back again. Highlights: Makes Me Wanna Pray, Ain’t No Other Man, F.U.S.S. (Interlude), Candyman

Well that's a surprise. There or four decent tracks here. The rest ? The garbage I expected.

I appreciate what she does and she deserves way more credit than she received being stamped, at the time, as a "spears clone". That said the music isn't for me. I appreciate the technical complexity. I just don't cotton to it.

Think I would’ve loved this if it the album was like disc 2. Just a complete throwback. Instead disc 1 is a collection of songs yearning for classic artists but done in the most grating of mid-2000s production value. Christina can sing but I’ve always found her need to do vocal runs in basically every song unenjoyable. 2/5

A little bit disappointed in this. I don't think her voice works with the retro-style of music, the production is terrible, and the execution is VERY 1990s (record scratching, out of place booming bass, etc.) - which clashes horribly with the 60s/70s genre choices. Finally, the album is far too long. 2.0/5.0: Disappointing

Great voice, probably over produced, much more prefer the slower and jazzier stuff

Really felt like this album was never going to end. Took me 2 days to complete it

So boring. Not for me.

It's alright, just kind of standard pop music from the early 2000's. There are a few big hit songs that most people alive at that time will be familiar with. Some other songs are good too and follow a similar pop formula. Not bad but it's not good either. Probably not something I would listen to again.

Not a fan of 90s/00s pop I'm afraid. This sounds like a typical showcase of Christina's vocal gymnastics. I was surprised at the heavy gospel/R&B influences and hip-hop beats and record scratching. Good if you like pop music.

Its hard to pull off a double album. I give Christina an A for effort but this album is too samey to keep my interest. Like most double albums, if you trimmed the fat and released it as one album it would be better. The lead singles from this album are still bops though

I was actually looking forward to this expecting it to be a little bit different and I suppose expecting expecting it to surprise me. Unfortunately, he was generally just her doing that screaming thing she does.

I don't think this is my kind of music.

Childhood me loved her music videos but current me can't do a double album of mid career Christina.

Does she have to put warbling inflections in every note or add syllables to words to show off? Production is dreadful. Jumps from ole timey swing sounds played through a gramophone for no reason to "yo DJ" needle scratches. Mega talent with the wrong team around her.

I appreciate the attempts at paying homage to older singers/performers. She could have saved us all 30 minutes and just said it. Bloated and over produced.

Very impressive production - very impressive singing, yet, everything about it seems very forced to me - inorganic. The TLC album I just rated was a lot better.

When I saw this was a double album, I really wasn't looking forward to it. In reality, it wasn't too bad. When compared to other middle of the road ladypop, I certainly prefer Christina to say Taylor Swift, and especially to shite like Adele, which is music for the Live, Laugh, Love brigade to cry into their prosecco to. If it wasn't a double album, and therefore bloated with filler, I'd give this a 3. As it is, it's a 2 from me.

Hurt is the best one on here. The rest can be pretty annoying.

It's a long one. Let's get started. Disc 1: It's interesting. Four songs in, the production is good, and definitely intentional. I appreciate that for pop record. Something about the vocal style, I try to think how I feel about it. 5 is COOL. Great production and singing. Very very good song. Appreciate. Nice bridge on 7, which is a good song. But the vocals... A break. Let's continue 8 has very nice textures 9 and highlight as well. Interesting production and great group vocals. Nice synth sounds on 10 11, 12, more rhymic, less to my liking. 13. A slick and sweet closer for this part of the album Disc 2: 1. What ls going on?? 2. A bit messy. Vocal to messed up with. Unclear musical direction. 3. I don't really know what to say. Not my thing... 4. Better. It's still a weird direction musicly in combination with the vocal production. Just not flattering for her in my opinion. 5. I'm not sure if it makes any sense. It just sounds artificial. HURT just seems to fit to her style so much more. Although it's not my favorite 2000's pop ballad (beautiful is better) it's a very solid song. Good vocal performance. 7, once again, has that 'old' style. It's a bit silly, I don't like it. Annoying. 8 is fine. 9 not. This entire second Disc is a tragedy. I think that the first disk is a very, ever a very very good pop project. Intentionally produced, good songwriting and great pace. Many songs there- I can see myself going back to. My concern here, I'm afraid, is Christina's vocal choices. Here over the top style is impressive, I guess, but it doesn't fit many of the songs. It's a thing about 2000's pop, many suffer from it in that era, but something about this singer is just extra. If in the first Disc it's a manageable problem for me, in the second one it's just ridiculous. Most of the songs there are just, bad... And it concluded my listening experience in a very bad way. The first Disc could easily get a 3.5 to a 4 from me, but the second has to push it down to a - 2.

A couple good songs in the back. Overall not bad sounding record just a lot of the same.

A little longer than necessary, don’t think this needed a double disc, but I liked jt more than I expected. That Mother song was great.

Look, I'm just trying to get ready for work. Please stop screaming at me, ma'am.

2.5

1.5

2.5

An album of two halves. The first half is an outright slog and the second half manages to be even worse. For the most part it goes for a slim, sprightly modern hip hop feel crossed over with oodles of retro funk and jazz. Makes Me Wanna Pray is a bit of a lazy Lady Marmalade clone but Back In The Day is a feisty improvement, Ain’t No Other Woman another relatively strong production and On Our Way is pretty sleek with some cool crackly vintage piano samples that shine like a crystal waterfall. Unfortunately the album’s style and even Christina’s sultry pipes gets old and samey really fast and there are no songs that really compare with any of Christina’s earlier hits. Wading through this album is a bit like wading through an olympic swimming pool sized block of concrete. Sexy lipsticked Marilyn Monroe looking concrete but concrete nonetheless. The fan dedication that ends the first disc should really instead be updated with audio testimony from all those that have suffered whilst trying to finish this album. The second disc is even more out of sorts what with generic gloop string ballads and the actively annoying gimmicky 40s throwback Candyman. Overall there is a small element of good yet not exactly essential stuff here but the unnecessary double album formatting makes it way more murderous than it should be. And it’s not even in the 1001 book anymore.

Intro (Back to Basics) 2.4 Makes Me Wanna Pray 2.5 Back in the Day 2.3 Ain't No Other Man 2.3 Understand 2.5 Slow Down Baby 2.1 Oh Mother 2.3 F.U.S.S. (interlude) 2 On Our Way 1.8 Without You 1.4 Still Dirrty 2 Here to Stay 2 Thank You (Dedication to Fans…) 1.6 Enter the Circus 3 Welcome 2.8 Candyman 2.6 Nasty Naughty Boy 2.3 I Got Trouble 2.4 Hurt 2.8 Mercy on Me 2.6 Save Me from Myself 1 The Right Man 2.3 Score: 2.227272727

The problem with this album is that it's *just not long enough* .... Fine, she has a great voice but only in a technical sense - kinda makes me remember 1985 when as a stupid kid I very briefly thought Yngwie J (the J is important) Malmsteen was the most amazing guitar player I'd ever heard ...sure he could and can literally still play 68 notes in the space of my 4 but he was and is boring as shit to listen to and that's honestly how I feel hearing Christina sing. Vitally important to note: There is actually a track right in the middle of this endless album that is comprised of / filled with vacuous sycophantic voice mails from fans slobbering all over her HAHAHAHAHAHAHA - So hilariously embarrassing and pitiful. TL;DR: It's just so slick it doesn't sound real, and not in a "oh this is otherworldly/space-rock/EDM/trance" unreal but fake. Plasticine. Maybe it's better than Stripped but ...idk, is it? In an attempt to go "back to basics" it just ends up a platter of very samey ersatz "tributes" to supposed influences and is completely and utterly focused on the vocals in arrangement and mix - just not my thing. Maybe it just needed more fan mail. 3/10 2 stars

This would have been a five if it were Christina's self titled album. But this album did not hit for me. I am shocked its on this list.

Hubris can come in many forms, and in many flavors. In this case, Aguilera is a victim of having a pretty great idea and then thinking that it required a double album. Even though it’s not particularly my genre, she’s got incredible talent and on some songs she both has massive hit potential and a fun, often dirty twist on pop hits of yesteryear. But then she just keeps adding songs, and especially ones that are to settle personal grudges or do bland boring shoutouts. The lyrics are rough when they’re not cheeky, and though the second half is a much better fit for her, it’s an odyssey that isn’t worth it in the end.

Started rough, kind of faux tribute to genres and a cringy track about soul singers. Improved for a few songs and then the circus side? Weirdly sensual songs that feel off. The songs sound decent, if not a bit simple, and her voice is so great. But she sounds the same in every song and I wish a future remaster would remove everytime she starts a song with oh yeah, or ohhhh, or whoa whoa. It sucks and once you notice it all the time it's hilarious. Like if a singer is warming up, I just need the lyrics, not the mi, mi, mis.

4/10 Pop, just pop. Not much more. Except there was more - much, much more. Too much. 1 hour 20 mins. Tough going.

Kudos to the producers of the first half - they really nailed that soul meets classic hip hop sound - and Aguilera's voice is great. The second half lasts forever though, without anything memorable. I could have done with it being about 12 songs shorter.

hard to rate, i dont deny talent and fushion of styles. some are classics, but i dont enjoy it every day. 2+

I'd give this a 2.8 - saved a song. I really do like her voice.

Of the pop singers of her time - Aguilera, Brittany, Mariah, and the like - I always felt she had the most soulful, well rounded voice. Not to say that I like her stuff, this genre is not my thing, but as an objective assessment of the vocal skill. That said, she has a good voice with a good range, but after a while it gets old. A double album of this is just way too much. Kind of got fatigued by her voice by the fourth or fifth song. And if this was supposed to be an homage to the old jazz and soul artists, I didn’t see any evidence of it. With the exception of a couple name drops. All in all, not awful, would’ve been 3 stars if she stopped a lot sooner.

I do not like her music.

It's okay, pop. But not the worst thing I've heard. Candyman was a fun track but the rest didn't really stand out to me.

I have to admit that I was very surprised to see a Christina Aguilera album on the list and after listening to it I am baffled as to why it is on here. Some of it was mediocre, some of it bad and some of it just cringy! Not for me.

Poor and bland

This project is missing an editor. I don’t feel like I needed any of this, so a double album is… a lot. This is basically two single albums packaged together: one album where she covers standards over hip-hop beats, and one album of originals where she’s backed by a swing band, orchestra, and/or choir. See what she did there? Call-outs: “Thank You (Dedicated To Fans…)” is sprinkled with audio clips of her fans praising her and feels more self-indulgent than humble. “Candyman” is like a swing version of Britney Spears’s “Soda Pop” but somehow even worse. Is “The Right Man” about her new husband or her daddy issues? Both? That’s neat.

Well, I made it through. Truth - I stopped before the end of the first disc. But I picked it back up the next day on disc 2, and it was better. Still not going in my regular rotation of music I listen to. Two discs - too much.

Let's get this out of the way - the girl can SING. The problem is that they are DESPERATE to let you know. Every second of every song has her doing slides and scales and going up and down the register and it all feels so over the top and forced. There's a distinct attempt at a hip hop flavor that comes across as desperate mores than legitimate, and the whole thing is overproduced and cringey. She name checks all these great singers of old while tacitly placing herself at the same level - and she isn't. And the final song on disc one is legitimately the cringiest thing I've ever heard. I was so embarrassed for her that I couldn't finish the song. I guess the second disc is much better than the first. The problem with that is twofold: 1.) I was already very annoyed and over it because disc one was awful and 2.) I don't need two fucking discs of Christina Aguilera.

This is the type of shit I usually can't stand. I can't stand about 1/3 of this, so it's got that going for it, which is nice.

It probably could’ve been a 3 if it wasn’t 80 minutes long

Aguilera turns to that big band sound as she echoes the James, Holiday, Franklin era. Clearly she has a great singing voice but I really didn't find anything that memorable on this double album 2/5

One of the daughters has this album.

I can see why Ain't No Other Man and Candyman were released as the singles for this album; none of the other tracks really grabbed me.

A concept album about John Major's Conservative government in the mid 1990s. This didn't need to be a double album and the wartime revival stuff was a bit unhinged.

not another long-ass album, christina!!!!!!!!!! god. okay, she's obviously very talented and has an incredible voice. but in NO WORLD did this need to be a double album. the big singles are great and fun and punchy. the second disk was better than the first. but there is just so much cornball stuff in here, especially the really horny songs. i can't help but wish we had some other more dynamic female pop acts in here because there were plenty of xtina's contemporaries i think would work better for this list than this album.

vocals sound good here, but seriously? a double album of generic pop hits with some callbacks to famous musicians in other genres from the early/mid-1900s? and a fan service track?? am i missing something about why i needed to hear this before i die? it's fine at best and at worst, exceedingly self-important while remaining incredibly dull. it's just not for me, sorry christina. favorites: ain't no other man, hurt

Eh

Catchy but shallow is my first impression of the first couple songs. "Gonna rewind to when the innovators were alive"- well, she failed here. There's nothing innovative here. Yeah, bored. 4 songs in and I'm snoring. This album is pretty awful.. I'm not convinced it's Aguilera's best, let alone worthy of a must listen. I think both her self titled debut and Stripped are probably better albums. None of which I'd go and willingly listen seek out to listen to, honestly, besides one or two songs. In fact the best melody on the first half of the album is the one borrowed from her debut album song, Genie in a Bottle, which is used in Thank You. Candyman is fun at least. Album would probably be better if it was half the length. Definitely think disc 2 is better than the first disc.

Listened to some. She's very good at what she does but I can't listen to it for long! Not for me, maybe the occasional tune.

Christina is a great singer, but she can’t overcome an over-produced and bloated album. Preemo didn’t bring his A game on the songs he produced, which is disappointing.

Point of clarification because I see people saying the term "pop" in reviews without defining what they actually mean. Two different things: pop production and popular music. Pop production is an entire art itself and there exist absolutely iconic albums with pop production, several of which belong on this list (a good example of one that is on this list is Janelle Monae's ArchAndroid). This album is an example of the latter, not the former. The pop production on this is garbage because it's trying to straddle the line between more classic soul, RnB, and cabaret production and modern pop/hip hop. The producer basically ended up just throwing some cheap "oldie" effects on top of the mix and calling it a day. So if you're wondering why this modern pop music sounds like a cheap shitty old record, that's why! To judge this for what it is, which is popular music, also comes up short. She's got a hell of a set of pipes, it's such a shame to see it wasted on this music. Two stars for pipes alone.

It has good moments, and Christina Aguilera is a powerhouse singer no doubt about that. But overall this album is too packed it's just not enjoyable. The first disc is probably the better sounding one for me even though it's mostly her givng ode to get inspirations. Then the last song on there with the fan voicemails is kinda creepy? The second disc seems like it's more true to Christina's musical style, but it's just lame for me. I get tired of her yelly singing with the long switchy notes. But that's just me! Maybe I only appreciate her as a feature in other people's songs.

Whoever made this list really likes Christina Aguilera… anyway, this was better than the last one of hers I listened to. Still not my jam, but it wasn’t all bad. Like I said before, she wouldn’t be where she is if she was a bad singer.

Not my thing. Candyman is fine.

Great voice but it wears thin with the way she sings. I like the bluesy, soul sound she sort of pulls off. It’s the vocal range extension that she wants to show off that doesn’t do it for me. It’s not even close to being the best pop album I’ve ever heard and not even close to being one of her best.

Sometimes an album is greater than the sum of its parts. This album is the opposite. There are a few decent songs here, but man—is it way too long and way too samey. It feels like someone pitched the concept, and then 100 people wrote songs around the theme. There was no real process of refinement or cohesion. They just threw everything at the wall and saw what stuck. The result feels plastic and insincere. Aguilera has a great voice, but after an hour of her oohs and aahs, I’m officially done. None of the songs seem genuinely invested in the album’s theme; they just slap a shallow layer of horns or some other “old school” element on top. It’s like someone watched "Moulin Rouge" and said, “I want that.” Probably a 3-star album, but for the sheer effort it took to finish it, 2 stars.

So long, so full of herself.

meh, disc 1 is v repetitive

She's a talented singer, but this album leaves a lot to be desired. As others have overstated, this is a long album. There's a lot of chaff on this record that likely didn't need to be here. The big band sound had a comeback for a bit in the late 2000's/early 2010's and I think this album was a bit ahead of the curve on that. Bioshock came out the next year and it was still 2 years before Caravan Palace began ravaging theater kids' iPod shuffles. It intends to pay homage, but comes off as uninspired. It's overproduced but tries so hard to capture the warmth of analog recording. It's not really for me, but I bet there's plenty of people out there that still return to this every now and again.

Was really stoked then got over it by like the fifth song.

Pop music is a fickle beast. It serves one purpose - to entertain. Christina Aguilera pushes the boundaries of patience with this 1 hour, 18 minute double album that really should be a single, and no longer than 40 minutes at best. Comparing to other 'pop' albums on this list, for example the Buddy Holly album I had recently clocks in at a respectable time AND entertains. Christina Aguilera (and her fellow pop princesses of the 90s and 00s) try to step outside the boundaries that pop music requires and present their music as art. She is definitely talented, but a double-disc album of her strangling her vocal cords to overemphasize what doesn't need to be overemphasized is pushing it. 2/5

I guess fine but not gonna finish this one. Disc 1 is plenty Will I listen to again: 0%

People still not adhering to the Less is More adage. I preferred Disc 2 but overall was underwhelmed. She’s got a great voice but it went on for so long and all sounded the same. I liked Save me from myself. It’s a shame some discerning producer didn’t intervene and answer that particular request. I don’t want to give her a drubbing but this could have been edited down to one disc. My version of basics is black T-shirt, black jumper, black trousers, sensible shoes. Even that ensemble sounds more exciting to me.

I don't know what to make of this. Aguilera can sing. So what? The songs all feel so overdone. Her performances seem more about proving something rather than trying to emote or convey a feeling. The production team is determined to pull out every trick they can think of. None of it feels authentic or relatable. Not to me anyway.