翻譯：Nomanlandever

The pop survivor shows off her powerhouse voice, dabbles in try-hard slang, and takes tentative steps toward creative rebirth on her first album since 2012.

在她2012年以來的首張專輯中，這位流行歌手展現(xiàn)了她強勢的嗓音，嘗試了一些時髦事物，并向創(chuàng)造性的重生邁出了試探性的一步。

The 2010s have been an uncertain decade for?Christina Aguilera. The first ten years of her career saw her shapeshift from Delia’s catalog realness to her provocative “Xtina” persona to drama-club queen bee and back. But she kicked off the current decade by?covering Marilyn Monroe?andreinterpreting Marilyn Manson?for?Burlesque, one of the campiest pop-star vehicles this side of?Glitter. Her most recent album, 2012’sLotus, was a non-starter featuring two of her fellow coaches of “The Voice,”?Cee-Lo Green?(pre-date rape allegations) and Blake Shelton. (She’d already reached No. 1 with the fourth member of their inaugural cohort,?Adam Levine, thanks to her guest appearance onMaroon 5’s 2010 hit “Moves Like Jagger.”)?Lotus?was supposed to be a rebirth, but it faltered.?Entertainment Weekly?called?its first-week sales “the sad trombone at the end of [Aguilera’s] comeback.”

對Christina Aguilera來說，這是個不確定的十年，她職業(yè)生涯的第一個十年見證了她的轉變，從Delia的真實純樸到囂張跋扈的“Xtina”，到撕逼俱樂部的皇后，再到現(xiàn)在。她通過翻唱瑪麗蓮夢露的歌和在電影《Burlesque》中重新演繹瑪麗蓮夢露一角拉開了這個十年的序幕。2012發(fā)行的專輯《Lotus》商業(yè)成績并不成功，還是在有兩位同期好聲音導師助陣的情況下，Cee-Lo?Green（被指控強奸前）和Blake Shelton。多虧第四位導師Adam Levine，她在2010年熱單《Moves Like Jagger》的客串為她贏得一首冠單，《Lotus》本應獲得新生，但它失敗了?！秺蕵分芸贩Q其首周銷量是“Christina回歸后令人悲嘆的長號”。

The rollout of her eighth album,?Liberation, suggests she’s done selling anything that doesn’t fit into her true vision of herself: She posed without makeup on the?cover of?Paper?magazine, and her cover art is similarly stripped down. And the album is, at the very least, a reminder that—holy shit—she can sing. As contemporary radio continues to favor lighter vocal performances from artists likeHalsey?and?Charlie Puth, Aguilera’s powerhouse voice remains the nucleus of her sound, even when she’s tinkering with trap tropes and try-hard slang.

她的第八張錄音室專輯《Liberation》的推出表明，她已經拋棄了一切不符合她“真我”的事物。她在《Paper》雜志的封面的素顏寫真，封面藝術同樣是無衣物遮掩的。而這張專輯，至少提醒了我們——天啊——她還很會唱。隨著如今的當代電臺更青睞像一些像Halsey，Charlie Puth此類歌唱性較弱的歌手，但Christina強大的嗓音仍然是她音樂的核心，盡管她也努力說潮流用語，玩trap之類的東西。

Are those moments a total bummer? Absolutely. “Pipe” includes lyrics like, “I just left a lituation popping by the High Line/Walked in, no list, fuck a go sign,” and, “Got a couple secrets that I'd really love to see if you could keep/Damn, boy, you remind me of my Jeep.” In 2018, “l(fā)ituation” is a word for children and the cast of “Jersey Shore,” and?R. Kelly references?belong only in a trash compactor. The album’s?Kanye West-produced lead single, “Accelerate,” is equally unconvincing; crackly vocals from the usually hefty-voiced?Ty Dolla $ign?do it no favors.

那些時刻是完全心灰意冷的嗎?絕對的。歌曲《Pipe》的歌詞像?“I just left a lituation popping by the High Line/Walked in, no list, fuck a go sign,” 和 “Got a couple secrets that I'd really love to see if you could keep/Damn, boy, you remind me of my Jeep.” 在2018年，litation是一個針對兒童和《澤西海岸》(Jersey Shore)全體演員的詞語，和對R. Kelly的引用只能說是屬于垃圾壓縮機里的。這張專輯由Kanye West制作的主打單曲《Accelerate》同樣沒有說服力;通常Ty Dolla?$ign渾厚且嘶啞的聲音對這首歌沒起什么作用。

Aguilera’s 2010 album,?Bionic, featured cutting-edge singles like “Woohoo”—an ode to oral sex featuring?Nicki Minaj—and “Elastic Love,” which was co-written by guest vocalist?M.I.A.?(And this was nearly two years before Madonna enlisted both Minaj and Maya for “Gimme All Your Luvin’.”) The sound of?Bionic?was perhaps too forward-thinking, a risk that could have reaped the rewards of poptimism if the album had only been released a few years later.Liberation?isn’t completely devoid of progressive moments: “Like I Do” is one spot where contemporary pop fare suits Aguilera. D.C. rapper?GoldLink, who had his first real crossover hit with last year’s “Crew,” delivers a verse that confirms her continued relevance in hip-hop; his reference to her 1999 debut single, “Genie in a Bottle,” is a tidy hat-tip to the double meaning of Aguilera singing a can’t-do-it-like-me track.

Christina Aguilera的2010年專輯《Bionic》，收錄了頂級單曲《Woohoo》——一首feat.Nicki Minaj的口交頌歌——和有嘉賓歌手M.I.A參與譜寫的《Elastic Love》（這比Madonna在《Gimme All Your Luvin’》中召集出Nicki和Maya兩位歌手先前了幾乎兩年）。《Bionic》的音樂也許過于超前，如果這張專輯在幾年后才發(fā)行，這種冒險可能會收獲樂觀主義的回報?！禠iberation》并非完全沒有進步的時刻：《Like I Do》是當代流行音樂適合Christina Aguilera的地方。華盛頓說唱歌手GoldLink在去年的歌曲《Crew》中首次真正走紅，其中一段歌詞證實了她在嘻哈音樂中的地位;他對Christina Aguilera出道首單《Genie in a Bottle》的引用，這是對Christina Aguilera演唱“不能像我一樣做”這首歌雙重含義的一次巧妙致敬。

And most people can’t. The ballad “Deserve” is confessional and explicit—“Sometimes I don't think I deserve you/So I say some fucked-up shit just to hurt you,” she sings—resulting in one of her strongest showings on the album. Early interlude “Searching for Maria” finds Aguilera singing operatic a cappella while invoking “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?” from?The Sound of Music, followed by a full track called “Maria” (produced by West and Hudson Mohawke) that Aguilera says is about finding her true self. “[It’s] about feeling as if I've gotten really far removed from myself and unable to feel good about looking in the mirror, because I don't feel like I'm connected with my truth,” she?told?Paper.

大多數(shù)人都做不到。抒情曲《Deserve》是自白和直截了當?shù)摹癝ometimes I don't think I deserve you/So I say some fucked-up shit just to hurt you,”?她唱道——成就了專輯中最有力的表現(xiàn)之一。專輯初期插曲《Searching for Maria》中，Christina Aguilera邊唱著歌劇式的阿卡貝拉邊做法召喚著出自《音樂之聲》電影中的?“How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria??”，緊接著是首完整的歌曲《Maria》（由Kanye West和Hudson Mohawke制作），Christina Aguilera說這首歌是講找到真實的自己?！斑@首歌是講感覺自己與真我漸行漸遠，看向鏡中的自我時惴惴不安，因為不能感受到自己與真相共存，”她在《Paper》雜志采訪中說道。

“Maria” also marks the beginning of a triptych of album highlights. “Sick of Sittin’” has writing and production credits from?Anderson .Paak?and wouldn’t be out of place in his personal catalog (save for the lyric, “It’s good pay, but it’s slavery,” which sounds a little tone-deaf in context). “Fall in Line,” a duet with?Demi Lovato, is a confidence booster without melodrama. The singers proclaim their refusal to be silenced while screwed chants from an ersatz drill sergeant instruct them, “Left two, three, right, two, three/Shut your mouth, stick your ass out for me.” These are sturdy moments on an album that feels less like an end in itself than a promising first step toward a genuine pop rebirth—moments that are strong enough to inspire hope for Aguilera’s own?The Velvet Rope?or, at least,?My Love Is Your Love. She has certainly still got the range.

《Maria》也標志著專輯亮點三聯(lián)曲的開始，《Sick of Sittin’》譜寫和制作名單中有Anderson .Paak的身影，當作他自己的歌也沒什么不妥（除了歌詞:It’s good pay, but it’s slavery,”在整首歌中聽起來不和諧）。《Fall In Line》，與Demi Lovato的合唱曲，是一首沒有戲劇性情節(jié)的自信助威曲。她們表示拒絕沉默，而一個假冒的教官卻在反復指使她們念誦著:“Left two, three, right, two, three/Shut your mouth, stick your ass out for me.”?這張專輯中，這些堅定的時刻與其說是終結，不如說是邁向真正流行音樂重生的第一步——這些時刻足夠強大，足以激發(fā)我們對Christina Aguilera做出自己的《The Velvet Rope》或至少是《My Love Is Your Love》的期待。她肯定還有這個潛力。