Lotus is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Christina Aguilera. RCA Records released the album on November 9, 2012. The album is Aguilera’s first effort following her divorce from Jordan Bratman. Its music incorporates pop styles with elements of dance-pop and rock in the form of upbeat songs and piano-driven ballads. Aguilera described the album as a "rebirth", drawing inspiration from events in her life, her appearance on "The Voice", and her divorce. The album was recorded at Aguilera's home studio. As executive producer, she collaborated with a wide range of producers, including new partners Alex da Kid, Max Martin, Lucas Secon and Tracklacers.
Upon its release, "Lotus" received generally mixed reviews from music critics, who were ambivalent towards its lyrics and found its music conventional. It debuted at number seven on the US "Billboard" 200, with first-week sales of 73,408 units. Internationally, the album charted moderately, but obtained higher positions in Canada, Russia, Switzerland, and Venezuela, where it reached the top 10. Two singles were released from the album in North America. The first single "Your Body" charted within the top 40 of most countries. The second one, "Just a Fool", was a duet with fellow "The Voice" coach Blake Shelton and peaked at number 71 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. "Let There Be Love" was released as a promotional single along with a music video and a letter to her fans in August 2013. It topped the US Dance Club Songs chart.
Background.
After the release of Aguilera's sixth studio album, "Bionic" (2010), which failed to generate her usual sales, she divorced from her husband Jordan Bratman, starred in a film called "Burlesque", and recorded its accompanying soundtrack. The singer then became a coach on NBC's singing contest show "The Voice" and appeared as a guest vocalist on Maroon 5's single "Moves like Jagger" (2011), which spent four weeks atop the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. Following these events, Aguilera announced that she wanted to record her seventh album, stating that she wanted high-quality and personal songs to record. She stated that the album would be a "culmination of everything I've experienced up until this point ... I've been through a lot since the release of my last album, being on ("The Voice"), having had a divorce ... This is all sort of a free rebirth for me." She went on to say that "I'm embracing many different things, but it's all feel-good, super-expressive [and] super-vulnerable." She further expressed that the album would be about "self-expression and freedom" because of the personal struggles she had overcome during the last couple of years.
On "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" in 2012, Aguilera revealed that the album was taking a while to record because "I don't like to just get songs from producers. I like them to come from a personal place ... I'm very excited. It's fun, exciting, introspective, it's going to be great". In an interview with "Rolling Stone", Aguilera said that the album was a "very multi-layered, very heartfelt record" reflecting different sides of her personality. On "Lotus", Aguilera worked with new producers, notably Alex da Kid and Max Martin. Alex da Kid, who first teamed with Aguilera in the song "Castle Walls" from T.I.'s "No Mercy" (2010), commented about Aguilera's approach in recording "Lotus", "She definitely had a strong opinion, but she'll go with the best idea in the room. That's really rare for someone that's had so much success." Speaking about working with Max Martin, Aguilera said, "Max is legendary in the business. He's known about me but we haven't crossed paths. [...] It's taken us a decade in the same business and watching each other from a distance, so for us to now come together and respect each other's work ethic and how we like to be heard and making a marriage out of it, I think 'Your Body' is the best culmination of that."
Aguilera announced via Twitter on September 12, 2012, that the album would be titled "Lotus". The album artwork was shot by fashion photographer Enrique Badulescu and was unveiled by Aguilera on October 5. The cover shows Aguilera emerging from a lotus flower with her arms outstretched. She is completely nude with her long, blonde hair covering her breasts, while her vulva is obscured by a white light. It received a generally positive response from critics; Tiffany Lee from Yahoo! Music complimented Aguilera's figure, while Sam Lansky from "Idolator" drew comparisons to the cover of her fourth studio album, "Stripped" (2002). "Lotus" was released on November 13, 2012, by RCA Records.
Music and lyrics.
"Lotus" incorporates pop styles with elements of dance-pop and rock in the form of up-tempo songs and piano-driven ballads. It opens with the track "Lotus Intro", which was inspired by Aguilera's passion for "chill-out" electronica. The song has a "hypnotic" yet "dark, serious" tone that develops and matures as it progresses, depicting Aguilera's rebirth, similar to the life cycle of a lotus flower. Originally, the song was meant to include a sample from M83's single "Midnight City" but the interpolation is not heard in the final track. "Army of Me" is a dance-pop and euro-dance song about empowerment, with a pounding drum beat and rock guitars. Aguilera described the song as an updated version of her single "Fighter" (2003), describing it as a "Fighter 2.0". The up-tempo track "Red Hot Kinda Love" combines a variety of genres, including dance and disco, "subtle" tones of Latin, hip hop, and pop. It contains two samples: "The Whole Wide World Ain't Nothin' But a Party" performed by Mark Radice and "54-46 That's My Number" performed by Toots &amp; the Maytals. On the song, Aguilera keeps her use of melisma to a minimum. Lyrically, the song talks about Aguilera's attempts to impress the man she is flirting with.
"Make the World Move", featuring CeeLo Green, is a track which incorporates dance, R&amp;B and soul genres. The next track and first single from "Lotus" is "Your Body". It incorporates electropop and R&amp;B genres and has a trace of dubstep in the middle eight. Lyrically, it discusses anonymous sex with a random man. "Let There Be Love" features dance-pop, electronic dance music and pop genres with elements from electronica and trance. The power ballad "Sing for Me" tells how Aguilera was born to sing, inspired by Aguilera's love for her idols: Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Etta James. Its instrumentation consists of soft strings, a delicate piano melody and "80s power ballad-type drums" at its close. The key in which the structure was composed is changed during the course of the song. The song features a "thunderous" ironic chorus which consists of the lyrics "'Cause when I open my mouth, my whole heart comes out." "Blank Page" is a piano-driven ballad about apologies, regrets, closure, and making peace.
"Cease Fire" is a rock-tinged track that features electronic and dubstep infusion. Lyrically, it is a plea to her partner to stop the fighting for the greater good of their relationship. "Around the World" has a ragga influence and refers to Aguilera's 2001 hit "Lady Marmalade" as she whispers "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?". The pop track "Circles" is an anti-haters song and is influenced by the alternative rock genre. "Best of Me" is a power ballad about a failed relationship and how to not let others knock you down. "Just a Fool", the last track of "Lotus" and its second single, is a duet with Blake Shelton. The song is a country pop ballad about the pain of a break-up.
Promotion.
Singles.
To promote "Lotus", two singles were released from the album. "Your Body" was released on September 17, 2012, as "Lotus"'s lead single. The song received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who praised Aguilera's vocals and the collaboration with Max Martin. It debuted and peaked at number 34 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 on September 27, 2012, becoming the highest-debut single during that week. Internationally, "Your Body" was a moderate success, peaking within the top 40 of most countries. The song's accompanying music video was directed by Melina Matsoukas; it portrays Aguilera as a killer dressed in pink, one who delights in wooing physically fit men to their demise. Sam Lansky from Idolator provided a favorable review of the clip and described it as one of Aguilera's best videos. The second and final single from "Lotus", the duet "Just a Fool" with Blake Shelton, was released on December 4, 2012. It debuted at number 92 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 on November 17, 2012 and peaked at number 71 in its second week charting. As of September 2014, the single has sold over 746,000 copies in United States.
Live performances.
Besides releasing singles to promote the album, Aguilera also performed several tracks from "Lotus" on a number of shows. On November 2, 2012, she performed "Your Body" on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon", alongside Jimmy Fallon and The Roots. Aguilera and Cee Lo Green performed "Make the World Move" together on the third season of "The Voice" on November 13, 2012. The singer performed a medley of three songs, "Lotus Intro", "Army of Me" and "Let There Be Love" at the 40th American Music Awards on November 18, 2012, held at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. On November 19, 2012, Aguilera performed "Just a Fool" with Blake Shelton on "The Voice". The following day, she performed "Let There Be Love" on "The Voice" with her team contestants, Sylvia Yacoub and Dez Duron. On "The Ellen DeGeneres Show", the singer performed "Just a Fool" again with Shelton on December 7, 2012. Aguilera also performed "Blank Page" at the 39th People's Choice Awards on January 9, 2013.
Critical reception.
"Lotus" received generally mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 56, based on 12 reviews. Sarah Rodman of "The Boston Globe" called it "a good start in the effort to refocus attention on Aguilera's skills", but observed "several tracks that sound mindlessly repetitive as sedentary listening experiences". "Q" called it "generic" and felt that "nothing really stands out". Annie Zaleski of "The A.V. Club" felt that the album "often plays it safe" and accused Aguilera of "dumbing down her voice or lyrics for the sake of lightweight tunes or prevailing trends." Melissa Maerz of "Entertainment Weekly" found the album's "self-empowerment anthems ... as contradictory as they are unoriginal" and criticized its production for "digitally smother[ing]" Aguilera's vocals and "draining all the emotion". "Slant Magazine"'s Sal Cinquemani asserted that because it is "Aguilera's shortest album since her debut, it boasts less filler, but also fewer obvious standouts." Jon Caramanica of "The New York Times" felt that the album's conventional direction is "its biggest crime, more than its musical unadventurousness or its emphasis on bland self-help lyrics or its reluctance to lean on [...] Aguilera's voice, the thing that makes her special". Jon Dolan of "Rolling Stone" dismissed it as a "vitriol-tsunami of a record".
In a positive review, AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that Aguilera "feels comfortable in this familiar, slightly freshened territory". Simon Price of "The Independent" felt that the album's "best moments are its electro-pop numbers". Kitty Empire of "The Observer" characterized its subject matter as "wiffle of the highest order", but wrote that "one of the pleasures of Aguilera is that she can use polysyllables, even when talking the rot that fills women's mags". Although she criticized the album's "upbeat pop anthems", Melody Lau of "Exclaim!" found Aguilera to be "reinvigorated" and felt that she "shines most when she's direct, honest and vulnerable". Celina Murphy of "Hot Press" felt that "Lotus"'s "safer" direction and Aguilera's "default mode" makes the album an improvement from "Bionic". At the end of 2012, "Lotus" was ranked at number 17 on the list "20 Best Pop Albums of 2012" by "Spin". In contrast, "Entertainment Weekly" named it the worst album of 2012. "Fuse" voted "Lotus" as one of the best albums of 2012.
At the 2014 World Music Awards, "Lotus" was nominated for the Best Album award; it was also nominated for Album of the Year at the 2013 Spetteguless Awards. In a retrospective review "That Grape Juice" called the album "criminally underrated", and noted that it was a "wholly enjoyable jukebox of jams" doomed by a "questionable marketing".
Commercial performance.
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