14 DAY TRIAL // Christina Aguilera is preparing for the release of her fourth studio material, an album she named “Bionic” because it stands for how she feels right now, bionic. After dropping her first single off it, “Not Myself Tonight,” critics were quick to point that she seemed to be ripping off the sound of the best-selling female pop artist of the moment, Lady Gaga, a claim songwriter Claude Kelly is adamant is meritless.
Speaking with Vibe magazine, Kelly, who’s worked with some of the heaviest names in pop, including Gaga herself, says those rushing to make comparisons between the two divas and especially to say Aguilera has run out of ideas should consider their words twice. Christina has been around for a decade and has constantly reinvented herself, but that’s not to say that her latest album will bring to the table a different sound by “stealing” it from someone else.
“It’s really bull[expletive]. Christina Aguilera has been around for over 10 years now. As far as pop goes, she is the defining voice of today’s music. She can do things with her voice that I haven’t heard anybody else do. She’s constantly reinventing herself. As fans, as soon as an album is done and an artist disappears for a while, we tend to write them off as over or no longer relevant. In the time that she has been gone, Gaga, who I know pretty well, has had an unbelievable run. Christina has an album that’s going to slap people in the face. The music still has her signature, big note vocals and emotions, but the sound is definitely more aggressive, more futuristic than the last album,” Kelly explains.
In fact, “Bionic” will turn out to be such a major surprise that it will certainly reinvent pop as we know it. As far as Kelly is concerned, it will do for the industry what Madonna’s “Vogue” did a while ago. Kelly himself has worked with Christina on four tracks on the upcoming material, so he should know what he’s talking about. A song called “Glam,” for example, stands very good chances of becoming the next “Vogue,” he goes on to say.
“I wrote this crazy […] song with Tricky Stewart called ‘Glam.’ It’s a hard club song that’s about high fashion. It’s really for the ladies about getting dressed and looking your best, working it in the club and getting glam and [hot] before you go out. Christina wants to talk about getting [hot] and independent, but being strong at the same time. It will surprise people. I’m calling it a modern day ‘Vogue.’ I wouldn’t say it unless I believed it,” the famous songwriter says.