Today marks the release of Christina Aguileras's greatest hits album Keeps Gettin' Better, which is currently only available for purchase at Target (don't worry, it'll be up on Amazon next week). It seems like she figured "hey, I've been around for awhile, and Britney did one, so I should too!" The album is chronologically ordered, which wasn't exactly the best idea on Aguilera's part.
Instead of reflecting the evolution of her style, the album feels disjointed, and no two songs are similar, except for the last two (new) songs on the album, and the two remixes of Genie and Beautiful. The last four songs all have one thing in common: house/techno beats. Although, not surprising since she's planning to work with Goldfrapp on her next "futuristic" album.
Yes, she remixed and re-recorded Beautiful, and it's house-y. I didn't think it was possible, but she did it. While Genie 2.0 is rather entertaining, it's not a track I would consider a highlight of the album.
She starts the album out with Genie, appropriately since this was the tune that lauched her career and continues to work through her first album of sugary sweet pop hits so intense I feel forgotten pains in my cavities just hearing them.
She then fades into her years as a "bad girl," with the sexed up tunes Lady Marmalade, Dirrty, and Fighter. The album goes into her latest retro-themed release, Back to Basics.
And then we hear the new tracks and we release that she's only released 3 albums, and this is a pathetic cry for attention and record sales. Hey, she's gotta feed that baby boy somehow.
There wasn't really a reason for Aguilera to release a greatest hits album just yet, unless her record company told her she had to.
Don't get me wrong, out of the pop queens of the 90s, Christina was by far my favorite, but I would have rather waited another year for all new material than get a cut-and-paste greatest hits CD, with a few "revisted" tracks, and two new ones.
The consensus? Not worth purchasing unless you really want to hear her disjointed "progress" as an artist. In which case I suggest making a playlist of the tracks on the album, and purchasing the 2 new tracks Dynamite and Keeps Gettin Better. You can't keep getting better if you change so drastically with every album that you're barely recognizable as an artist.
But the video for Keeps Gettin Better is kind of cool, even though the copyright fiends at Sony won't let you embed it.
Image from Sony/BMG.