Christina Aguilera’s most recent album, Liberation, came out yesterday on June 15, 2018. It has been thus far received good to average ratings, scoring a 72 on Metacritic. Some media outlets have gone so far as to state that Liberation signifies a peak in Aguilera’s career.
Aguilera has been working on Liberation for about 4 years with quite a few producers, including Kanye West. The latter worked on songs “Accelerate” and “Maria”, both of which Aguilera has stated are her personal favorite tracks.
Liberation is inspired by hip-hop and R&B, hardly surprising from Aguilera, but a welcome set of genres compared to Bionic. Though as fans of Aguilera know, she will always be a “soul singer.” In a comment about Liberation, Aguilera explained that this soul is always a part of her, “when you strip back the words ‘pop star’ and the many things that I’ve done, singing soulfully is where my core, my root, and my heart really is.”
In fact, the title of the album really gets to the heart of how Aguilera feels about it. Liberation is a word she wanted to use to describe the freedom of not caring what other people think. To elaborate in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Aguilera touched on a situation everyone can relate to: “every time you feel stifled in a current situation where you feel you’re not quite yourself or being bogged down by other people’s opinions.”
Judging by the cover of the album, and the marketing regarding Aguilera’s lack of make-up or retouching, Aguilera is certainly more raw and natural than ever before. For some fans, this might even be the first time you notice that Aguilera has an abundance of freckles – all the more endearing for the talented singer.
The track listing includes 15 songs, most of which are written by Aguilera along with quite a few composers and producers. There is a narrative quality to the song order as well, including three interludes or pre-chorus pieces.
If you would like to listen or stream Liberation in its entirety, you can find it on YouTube, Apple Music, and Spotify. It is the album where Aguilera has had the most creative freedom since the beginning of her career. It shows off her versatility and strong message of empowerment, especially with the track Fall In Line with Demi Lovato as part of the #MeToo movement.
In the recently released video Where’s Maria, we hear Aguilera expressing a more personal touch – reaching out to her fans and showing a very vulnerable side. Not just the strong and independent woman we have seen from previous albums. In Liberation, Aguilera is stripped of make-up and false pretenses. What remains is a mother who is wildly proud of her children, a musician who is extremely passionate about her craft, and someone who no longer covers up her freckles.
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