It may be hard to believe, but it has actually been 10 years since Christina Aguilera asked us to “hit me baby one more time.” Since then, she has married a back-up dancer, gone to rehab, shaved her hea.., er, whoops, sorry, wrong pop star. However, you can hardly blame someone when struggling to remember specific things about Christina during the last decade, because it has always been more about the music than the spectacle with Miss Aguilera. For Christina (or Xtina, as she liked to be called during her dirrty phase), the decade mark seems like the perfect occasion to release her first greatest hits collection. Which brings us to Keeps Gettin’ Better: A Decade of Hits.
Ordered chronologically, the 14-track collection highlights just how much Aguilera has changed with time, and each set of songs brings a distinctive image to mind. Starting off is, of course, the now teen-pop classic, “Genie in a Bottle.” Surprisingly, it still retains its punch. The production may be typical of its time, but even from an early age, Christina’s vocals carry the song into above-average territory. Equally fun is “Come on Over Baby (All I Want is You),” which was Christina’s third Billboard No. 1 and, surprisingly, her last. Like “Genie,” it has a great chorus, strong production and it doesn’t try too hard — something that does not last through the whole album.
Pretty soon the listener is thrust into “Dirrty” (with two “r”s, just in case anyone is not convinced Aguilera wanted to completely shed her teen image). The song emphasizes its heavy bass, suggestive lyrics and even has a guest rap by Redman in the middle eight. Admittedly, it is more than a little awkward, but thankfully, things are saved with the one-two punch of “Fighter” and “Beautiful” — perhaps Aguilera’s two best singles yet.
“Fighter,” with its roaring electric guitars, biting lyrics and vocal gymnastics, was one of Aguilera’s biggest musical risks, and it still pays off today. “Beautiful,” undeniably her biggest hit to date, is the one ballad on the album that works. Penned by her frequent collaborator, Linda Perry, “Beautiful” was famously recorded in one take — yet you would not know it, as there is not one vocal flaw in sight.
From here things move on to her hits from the ambitious Back to Basics album, which saw Aguilera channel music from the 1940s and ‘50s with a modern edge. Most noticeably, “Ain’t No Other Man” fused the old-school vibe perfectly to the 21st century. The other songs from that album (“Hurt” and “Candyman”) fall short because of Aguilera’s greatest pitfall: over-singing. Aguilera was recently named one of Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Singers of All Time,” but for some reason she constantly feels the need to remind the listener that she can sing. We don’t need reminders — it was blatantly obvious when “Genie” was first released.
Closing the album are two new tracks and two remixes of her biggest hits, “Genie” and “Beautiful,” that signal another change in direction. The two new tracks include current radio hit “Keeps Gettin’ Better” and “Dynamite,” which both possess great verses but are slightly let down by their choruses. The “Beautiful” remix is reminiscent of electro-pop group Goldfrapp, but the real revelation comes with “Genie 2.0.” With the over-singing taken out of the equation and great synthesizers thrown in, Christina is at her best. The song gives hope that in the future she will tone the vocals down and let the music do the talking for her.
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