Album Review: Christina Aguilera - My Kind of Christmas

Christina Aguilera's holiday album My Kind of Christmas was never about spreading festive cheer or trying to put out an original holiday classic. It was about pushing Christina Aguilera as a commodity. Tommy Mottola had Mariah Carey release a Christmas album with the same intent, except Mariah was in some control of her music and went about the songs with a clear goal; making an album that felt classic and timeless. And after 3 smash hit albums and no obvious peer, Mariah had bugger all to prove. Christina was in a different position.

My Kind of Christmas was a case of RCA bigwig Ron Fair trying to show everybody that his new girl in pop has this big voice and is not just another Britney, all the while hoping she'll eat into Britney's market share. Everything about this album feels so calculated and objective driven outside of trying to make a good Christmas album and truly showcase Christina. And as a result, the music suffers and we're left with no true idea of what Christina's kind of Christmas even is.

The opening song "Christmas Time" is every early 2000s R&B / Pop cliché in one song. Harpsichords during this period were on absolutely everything. TLC's "No Scrubs", NSYNC's "It's Gonna Be Me", Destiny's Child's "Say My Name" and P!nk's "Most Girls", which this song reminds me of with the inclusion of operatic singing. Unlike the aforementioned songs, the sound feels forced. Christina's delivery comes in aggressive at a ten and just stays there for the entire song. The second original Christmas song "This Year", is pretty much the same deal, sans the harpsichords - with a chorus that strangely reminds me of Jennifer Paige's 1998 hit "Crush", which my brain transitions into every time I listen to this song. The 'Let's try and do a hip and trendy R&B Christmas' also carries through to "Xtina's Xmas", which sounds like a breakdown section from a Britney VMA performance. The song isn't as fire as it seems to think it is. But. I do admire that there was a very clear intention with these songs; to provide contemporary top 10 chart takes on a Christmas song, which wasn't something a lot of artists were doing at the time.

The cover songs are a mixed bag, ranging from really nice to 'Y Tho'. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is beautiful in every single way, but over-singing towards the end brings it down. The arrangements have a very Disney-esque quality to them, which may nor may not have been an intentional nod to Christina having helmed a song for ol' Mickey. "The Christmas Song" is also a different take to what I'm used to hearing. Everybody tends to lean towards Nat King Cole's rendition which features these gorgeous string arrangements and truly evokes the mood of being sat watching your walnuts roast over a open fire. But Christina's version strips everything back to a piano, which causes the song to feel comparatively cold thematically. It's far more akin to solemn walk in the snow and really draws out the sadness which resides within the song. And as with her take on "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" it has very Disney-like vibe about it, but is once again marred by unnecessary over-singing towards the end.

My Kind of Christmas is a lot to take because of how Christina sings so much of it. She over-sings almost every single song. But at the point in her career when this album released, I do get why she was trying to do the most. Christina was the new girl in pop, but was immediately compared to Britney when she sought more favoured comparisons to Whitney. Then there is pop music in general, which back then favoured a particular style of singing which wasn't about vocal power, but vocal style. So an album of Christmas songs was a chance for Christina to show what separates her from Britney in ways she felt she couldn't with her debut album. But she did too much, and was (excuse the pun) too one note with how she sang. Christina gives power, but at the expense of warmth. Her voice isn't the most inviting when she's growling for notes and belting out the gate, so it throws the very specific energies of each song out of the window, as they devolve and become less about the essence of the song and just Christina making noise.

Retrospectively, I would have liked to have heard a Christmas album from Christina after Back to Basics, which shared the same throwback jazz vibe and visual aesthetic. Not only was Christina's voice at its best during this period of her career, but she had a better knowledge of it and didn't approach every song the same way. I truly think we could have gotten something really great from her then. We do get an early taste of this from Christina with "Merry Christmas, Baby", which is one of the more interesting songs on the album, because it is so different to everything, and plays to elements of her voice and how she tends to sing, although the still tries to do too way much and put a riff and a run on every possible word she can.

My Kind of Christmas falls to prey to what many Christmas albums fall prey to, which is that it's caught between wanting to be original and specific to the artist, but wanting to be classic, but also wanting to be different. The original Christmas songs on this album are awful, but I do feel that leaning further into them would have made for an album that was far more memorable. The issue with these songs wasn't the direction, it was the execution. Had Christina been put in the studio with the producers who had cultivated the sound; Shek'spere, Rodney Jerkins, Babyface - it could have been something really special. But RCA's thing with Christina seemed to be steering away from names others were working with, because they didn't want her to be like everybody else, whilst giving her songs which sounded like...everybody else. There are also things from Christina's debut which could have carried over. For instance, "What a Girl Wants" to me sounds like a Christmas song, and as far as I'm concerned, it is. Having an album with that vibe and those types of songs would have fit Christina perfectly and ticked more of the right boxes.

The covers all sound nice enough, but the second the over-singing kicks in I'm reaching for skip. But there are some great moments in these songs. When they lean into the Disney like innocence and Christina keeps things soft, they really shine. But an additional problem on the whole is that the original songs and the covers don't sit well together. The album is bookended by a concept for one Christmas album, whilst everything in between is that of another album entirely. It's like Christina's management had one vision, whilst she had another, and the producers had a whole other idea unto themselves. Nothing meets in the middle. And when it does, it goes off centre REAL quick because Christina starts over-singing.

My Kind of Christmas is really for ride or die Christina fans who just love what she does no matter what. Nothing nothing here on the whole is going to sway those who weren't feeling Christina by the time "What a Girl Wants" came out and aren't really feeling her now.

VERDICT: GREAT GOWNS. BEAUTIFUL GOWNS.

Highlights:
■ Merry Christmas, Baby
■ The Christmas Song