MP3 album Information

Liberation as a theme has frequently figured into the albums of female pop singers recently freed from the shackles of their (typically male) handlers. But the latest artist to employ emancipation as a pop narrative seemingly already took control of her career more than a decade and a half ago, when she tossed on a pair of assless chaps and anointed herself with the porn-grade moniker Xtina. Ironically, it was Christina Aguilera's creative autonomy—which later resulted in the two-disc concept album Back to Basics, followed by an innovative but uneven foray into electro-pop, Bionic—that likely derailed her career and prompted her to release the catchy but safe Lotus in 2012.

The exact nature of the autonomy that Aguilera is celebrating on Liberation, then, might not be instantly apparent.