I had lost my center and didn't really know how to find peace. «The pandemic hit I didn't feel creative at all. Keys, interviewed by Entertainment Weekly, said about the album: Īfter her album Alicia was released during the coronavirus pandemic, Keys started to work on the album by writing alone in the studio as she did with her first albums. The album features the singer as producer and songwriter on all twenty-six tracks, with numerous songwriters and producers participating, including Mike Will Made It, Sia, Raphael Saadiq, Natalie Hemby, and vocal collaborations from Khalid, Lil Wayne, Pusha T, Swae Lee, Brandi Carlile, and Jacob Collier. The singer's eighth recording project consists of two parts: the first, called Originals, is described as "the classic side of me", while the second, Unlocked, is "a whole other sonic experience". It received mostly positive reviews, with critics highlighting Keys' production approach in particular, although some were critical of the quality behind the song composition. The album debuted at number 41 on the US Billboard 200, making it Keys' first studio album to miss the top 5 in that country. Some songs exist only either in their "Original" or "Unlocked" version.
The second half of the album features the "Unlocked" versions of the same tracks, where Mike WiLL Made-It sampled the "Original" tracks and gave them stronger beats and several effects and transformations. The first part features the "Original" songs, that are more traditional and melodic. The album was announced on October 27 and includes two discs (original and unlocked), with two versions of 10 tracks, along with six other tracks. It was preceded by the release of two singles: " Lala (Unlocked)" featuring Swae Lee and " Best of Me". “I’m asking you to take me just the way that I am,” reads more lyrics from “I Am.” If that’s the shallow, vamped-up cyborg she presents on Bionic, no thank you.Keys is the eighth studio album by American singer and songwriter Alicia Keys, released through RCA Records on December 10, 2021. Most notable is the potty-mouthed ego-stroke “Vanity” which opens with the line “I’m not cocky, I just love myself, b*tch.” Eek. Sadly, Bionic reverts back to the brash earache it started as for the final three songs. It’s when that audible perfection escapes from her throat that Bionic feels worth the wait, that it feels like we’re finally seeing who Xtina is. It isn’t until the middle of the set that the robotic shell is stripped away with a section of immaculate slow jams and ballads - the ode to morning nookie “Sex For Breakfast,” the inspirational, Linda Perry-written “Lift Me Up,” the new mommy’s dedication to her son “All I Need,” “I Am,” and the smoky “You Lost Me” (the last three are all courtesy of Sia) - that fans and critics alike are allowed to fully experience the reason why every Christina Aguilera album will always be worth at least one listen: that voice.
The first half the album is packed with caffine-drunk, characterless up-tempos that miss more than they hit special ‘miss’ shout out to the ridiculous “Glam” which blatantly rips its essence from Madonna‘s “Vogue,” while ‘hit’ honors go to the deliciously bouncy “Elastic Love.”
Led by the artificially bold first single, “Not Myself Tonight,” penned by Ester Dean and produced by Polow Da Don, Bionic is a cold and calculated attempt by Aguilera to stay relevant in an era where big voices such as hers are treated as baggage scaled back to avoid fees and slick electronic beats are treated as first class passengers. On “I Am,” the stunning Sia-penned, string-heavy gem buried deep in the middle of Christina Aguilera‘s new album, the golden-voiced singer revels in the joys of being loved for who she is.īut who is she exactly? On the bulk of the songs on Bionic, Aguilera’s fourth studio album, arriving four years after her last set, 2006’s Back To Basics, Xtina seems to be playing one huge game of musical make believe, making it hard to know when the real Xtina stands up.