Christina

The soundtrack to Christina Aguilera's silver screen debut Burlesque shines the spotlight on Xtina, who is in full-bore diva mode – a return to the splashy swing of Back to Basics after the robotic R&B of Bionic. Of course, many of her collaborators from Bionic remain on Burlesque: Tricky Stewart is responsible for the glitzy dance, and Sia Furler co-writes the ballads, their contributions slotted between two Cher songs designed to push the narrative forward, two Etta James covers, a slice of heavy camp in the mincing "But I’m a Good Girl", and a Nicole Scherzinger co-written interpolation of Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People" that provides a bewildering conclusion to this soundtrack. Some of this stuff is quite good, particularly when Christina swings her hips to Etta's lead, bringing to mind the zest of "Ain’t No Other Man".

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin returns to Pentatone together with soprano Christina Landshamer, presenting La Passione, a collection of dazzling concert arias on love, longing and loss by Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn, paired with the latter’s “La Passione” Symphony. Ranging from pastoral simplicity to exuberant outrage, the programme offers some of the finest vocal writing around 1800, including some of Beethoven’s rare and little-known excursions to Italian bravura opera, as well as one of the most dramatic and expressive symphonies of the eighteenth-century.

After nearly forty years of musical and personal camaraderie, drummer and producer Bob Christina began studio work with Matt "Guitar" Murphy on what would become Murphy's final project. After he passed in June of 2018, the fate of the unfinished project was placed in Christina's hands. He began outreach to musicians who were friends of Murphy, played with him, or were otherwise influenced by him. The response was overwhelming.

After nearly forty years of musical and personal camaraderie, drummer and producer Bob Christina began studio work with Matt "Guitar" Murphy on what would become Murphy's final project. After he passed in June of 2018, the fate of the unfinished project was placed in Christina's hands. He began outreach to musicians who were friends of Murphy, played with him, or were otherwise influenced by him. The response was overwhelming.

After nearly forty years of musical and personal camaraderie, drummer and producer Bob Christina began studio work with Matt "Guitar" Murphy on what would become Murphy's final project. After he passed in June of 2018, the fate of the unfinished project was placed in Christina's hands. He began outreach to musicians who were friends of Murphy, played with him, or were otherwise influenced by him. The response was overwhelming.

Liberation arrives in 2018, six years after Lotus, by far the longest stretch of time between Christina Aguilera albums. During that hiatus Aguilera wasn't exactly in hibernation but she wasn't prominent, taking a couple of seasons off from the televised singing competition The Voice to raise a child and spending as much time onscreen as she did on-stage when she re-emerged in the middle of the 2010s. Aguilera may have been omnipresent in showbiz but she was largely absent from the pop charts. Save a handful of duets – "Moves Like Jagger," which appeared in 2011 in the first flush of The Voice's success; "Feel This Moment," a 2013 Pitbull hit; "Say Something," a 2013 Great Big World single featuring Christina on vocals – Aguilera hadn't reached the American Top Ten since 2008's "Keeps Gettin' Better," fanbait added to her hits collection of the same name.