Christina Aguilera admits that her last album, 2010's Bionic, didn't connect with her fans. "It had a lot of amazing sounds and a futuristic twist to it," she says. "But if you weren't a music person, it was just going to go over your head. A lot of the collaborations were with people that were either very underground or weren't necessarily from the pop world. I really think it was far ahead of its time and it'll be fully appreciated in the years to come."
On her follow-up, Lotus – her first LP since getting a divorce and becoming a judge on The Voice – Aguilera goes for a sleeker mainstream pop sound, working with producers like Max Martin, Lucas Secon and Shellback. "I don't really push myself to have those formulaic commercial successes," Aguilera says. "It's dishonest and it starts lacking creativity. I embraced being a pop artist, but I like doing it on my own terms, at my own pace."
Aguilera sees Lotus (in stores on November 9th) as a companion piece of sorts to her 2002 album, Stripped. "It really takes me back to that time," she says. "I was shedding a skin in a sense. I had been pigeonholed as formula-pop driven, or molded or forced to be something I didn't feel was true to me. I was labeled from 'Genie in a Bottle,' and I had a lot of things to say and share as a 21-year-old woman. Now I've come full circle a decade later. I had a greatest hits album and I experienced a decade in this crazy business. It's a time of celebration, of embracing being a pop star."
The songs span a range of emotions, from the pain of loss through a spiritual rebirth to a celebration of life. "It's a very multi-layered, very heartfelt record," she says. "I wanted to share all the different sides of me, as a woman, and as a creator and an artist. Part of that is being a mom. Part of that is sexuality. Part of that is vulnerability. Part of that is aggression and angst. All those pieces make me who I am."
