If Christina Aguilera ever pens an autobiography, you can bet I’ll be turning first to the chapters in which Boobs McGee discusses 2010. That year, her sixth studio album, Bionic, went bust, as did Burlesque, the musical film in which she shared top-billing with Cher. For the record, as I’ve said before, I actually enjoyed most of Bionic, one of the albums I had on endless repeat that summer (Kelis’ Flesh Tone was another).
Recovering from those set backs, with Aguilera having giving her image a boost as the sole female sitting in one of the big red rotating chairs on NBC’s The Voice and scoring a #1 hit last summer with fellow judge Adam Levine and Maroon 5 on“Moves Like Jagger,” she’s returned with a new tune of her own. Sure, she may have shown she’s not bionic, but if you think Xtina’s done playing dirrty, think again.
Like “Moves Like Jagger,” “Your Body” was co-written and produced by Shellback, with Max Martin and Savan Kotecha his partners in crime this time. Whether the music-buying public will embrace the nakedly suggestive “Your Body” (which sports a much more direct verb in its explicit version) or give Aguilera the clear message that they are never ever getting back together — to steal a line from Taylor Swift’s #1 song, also crafted by Shellback and Martin — is the burning question.
For my money, I think “Your Body” does Aguilera a lot of good, a case of song perfectly matching persona, even if its shelf-life will be short in the long run (I can’t imagine she’ll be singing “Your Body” in her 50s). Shellback and Martin’s production makes a strength out of Aguilera’s reflexive tendency to decorate her vocals, and the “I think you already know my name” bits are absolutely brilliant.
Christina Aguilera – “Your Body” is out Monday now via iTunes, Amazon MP3. A preview of the song’s music video will premiere during The Voice this evening.