Sunday, June 11, 2006

Single Review: Christina Aguilera - Ain't No Other Man (5/5)

This gets its own review. Why? Because it's going to be the summer's biggest hit. It's been 4 years since Christina Aguilera released her last album, Stripped, between which she managed to avoid starring in tabloid stories, get hitched, and lend her voice to the Shark Tales soundtrack (her "Car Wash" remake), and collaborate with Nelly and Herbie Hancock. Not bad. While her contemporary Britney Spears falls further into embarrasing self-parody, Aguilera has emerged as the class act in pop--the one they all want to emulate.

The first single off her last album, "Dirrty" was a hit in Europe, but faltered in the US. No chance of that here. "Ain't No Other Man" is classy, ballsy, bluesy pure pop fun. Horns blare between lyrical blasts from Aguilera's powerful pipes. It bristles with retro (and I mean '30s, not the '70s) cool and modern sensibility. It appears sample-laden, but is supposedly entirely a new recording. This track is presumably from the first of the two discs that will comprise her hotly anticipated upcoming album. "Just do your thing honey," intones some cheerleading woman between verses. Christina does her thing it indeed.

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