From the beginning of her career, even when Britney Spears was already “outshining” her on The All-New Mickey Mouse Club, it was clear that Christina Aguilera had la fuerza. The sheer force of will to make it in the music industry not only thanks to her undeniable talent but likely precisely because of it. For in an era of prepackaged bubblegum pop, Aguilera’s voice stood out for its Whitney Houston stylings. What’s more, so did her “ethnic” moniker. Fortunately, this was also the girl who refused to compromise her last name when record executives advised her to change it, having been told it was “too long, too complicated and too ethnic.” Ergo, the suggestion for her to make it easy on audiences with a white girl name like Christina “Agee.” Oh dear. That’s not Xtina at all. It wouldn’t be the first time she was deemed “too ethnic,” in addition to also being deemed “not ethnic enough” by her Latin audience. As she told Latina Magazine, “I’ve dealt with that my whole life. I don’t speak the language fluently. And I’m split right down the middle, half-Irish and half-Ecuadorean. I should not have to prove my ethnicity to anyone. I know who I am.” Sounds like something “Hilaria” Baldwin would say, too.
Like another pop star with Latin roots, Selena Gomez (who released the Revelación EP in 2021 after ten years of promising a Spanish album), Aguilera has decided it’s time to tap back into her own origins again with a six-track EP (one song shy of what Gomez offered), called La Fuerza. And, after all, Aguilera was the OG of seeing the value in a “crossover” album when 2000’s Mi Reflejo came out. But a crossover from English to Spanish, as opposed to the other way around. While the likes of Selena (Quintanilla) and Shakira broke into the inglés market after having established a massive Spanish-speaking audience, Aguilera sought to achieve the opposite at a time when it was definitely not “chic” to do so. Her trailblazing ways were, thus, already being established a couple years before she decided to don the assless chaps and really surprise people.
Unlike Mi Reflejo, however, Aguilera has grown enough artistically to not need to merely repackage and rework already-released material, instead giving us six entirely original compositions ranging from reggaetón/dancehall to mariachi styles.
Inviting us to “come on over” to meet her Latina side again, the EP appropriately begins with “Ya Llegué” (“I’m Here”). With its thumping bassline and playful lyrics, Xtina even finds time to be self-referential to that first song and Spanish-language album that started it all by insisting, “Siempre a mi lado/Como un genio atrapado, baby.”
The genie unleashed anew, Aguilera is off to the races and ready to reinvent her own modern-day version of “What A Girl Wants” by way of “Pa Mis Muchachas” featuring Becky G, Nicki Nicole and Nathy Peluso. And what a girl wants, particularly post-#MeToo, is to feel empowered. Hence, Aguilera and co. singing defiantly, “Cuando estoy llorando/Mezclo mis lágrimas, tequila y limón/Y me levanto/Pa mis muchachas.” In other words, “When I’m crying/I mix my tears, tequila and lemon/And I get up/For my girls.” Sort of like another version of her declaring, “This is for my girls all around the world” as she did on “Can’t Hold Us Down” featuring Lil’ Kim (released as a single in ’03). And yes, Aguilera’s message has always embodied the “strong woman” archetype. Which is why she described the first single from the record as being intended to “empower other strong women; the track is paying tribute to the generations before us who made us who we are, and to the present-day women around us who are inspiring future generations. This is also a song about owning who you are and accepting others free of judgment.” An essentially impossible task for anyone subscribing to either party line.
Things slow down with “Somos Nada”—because what would an Aguilera album be without her getting a chance to really belt it out? As the second single (one she performed during a medley at the 2021 People’s Choice Awards) to have a video, in this particular one Aguilera somewhat dredges up a Rihanna in “Bitch Better Have My Money” vibe as she opens the trunk to reveal a semi-conscious man inside of it. We then flashback to the daytime as Aguilera, seemingly portraying some kind of fed-up “gangster’s moll”—drug dealer in California style—roams the grounds of a vast property lamenting, “Aunque me asfixie el dolor/No pierdo la fe en el amor/Somos las flores naciendo del lodo/Somos nada/Somos todo.” Translation: “Although the pain suffocates me/I don’t lose faith in love/We are the flowers born from the mud/We are nothing/We are everything.” Yes Xtina, speak the verdad.
Not one to leave a Latina mami without her hips shaking for too long, Xtina then transitions back into the reggaetón rhythms of “Santo” featuring Ozuna. With a chorus that repeats the urging, “Santo, sálvame” (literally meaning: “Saint [not West), save me”—or, if you prefer, “‘Holy One,’ save me”), Aguilera transports us to a dance floor somewhere far away where it’s warm and maybe even to a time before corona existed. And only Corona abounded instead. Spinning her usual sensual Xtina poetry in Spanish, she describes, “Nos perdemos en la oscuridad, pa’ que nadie nos vea/No me he ido y me quiero quedar, dime lo que deseas/Porque la noche ha llegado a su fin/Y sin ti, papi no me quiero ir/Déjame ver que tus ojos me dicen.” To the blancas, that means, “We get lost in the dark, so that no one sees us/I haven’t left and I want to stay, tell me what you want/Because the night has come to an end/And without you, papi/I don’t want to go/Let me see what your eyes tell me.” Probably something, ultimately, to the effect of what Lana’s own “watercolor eyes” do. And, speaking of Del Rey, who once declared on “Ultraviolence,” “Yo soy la princesa,” on “Como Yo,” Xtina more suggestively says the same (while also intermixing English into Spanish): “Una princesa elegante/Encima de su elefante/Estoy botando picante/Make it hot, make it hot if you want me/Estoy pensando en ti/No veo las nubes pero llueve aquí/Me quité to’ pa’ ti/Pero si no llegas va todo pa’ mi.”
Apparently feeling very confident by the end, Xtina decides to conclude with a song titled “La Reina.” Big words from a woman throwing her hat in with “legitimate” Latina queen bees like J. Lo, who has also been more attuned, of late, to seeing the value of recording in Spanish (hear: “Cambia El Paso”). Nonetheless, Aguilera experiments with a tried-and-true “Cielito Lindo” sound here (something, in fact, one could perhaps even imagine making its way as a bonus track onto Madonna’s 2019 Madame X record, had she expanded past the territories of Portugal and Cape Verde).
Once again showing her predilection for female solidarity (a not so favorite pastime of Courtney Love’s), Xtina sees fit to cry out at one point, “Mujeres/Dónde están mis reinas?” Although it is a tale told from a jilted lover’s perspective, Aguilera still owns her queen’s status through the tears, singing, “Y lloré, y lloré, y lloré/El día que tú te fuiste/Y juré, y juré, y juré/Que ningún hombre volverá a ponerme triste/Y aunque sigas siendo el rey y no haya nadie que te comprenda/Aunque sigas siendo el rey/Te quedaste sin la reina.” This translating to a sentiment Scarlett O’Hara could get on board with: “And I cried, and I cried, and I cried the day you left/And I swore, and I swore, and I swore/That no man will make me sad again/And even if you are still the king and there is no one who understands you/Although you are still the king/ You ran out of queen.” One supposes that means more of Aguilera’s “queendom” for the rest of us to be lavished with.
And indeed, she is in full form on La Fuerza, showing herself to possess just that—even in spite of all the Britney shade that’s been coming her way. As though we are, in fact, right back in 2000 when Mi Reflejo initially came out. Ah, would that it were true. There’s so much we could do differently. Instead, we’ll have to see the silver lining in the present, with Aguilera completely coming into her own as a Spanish-language singer. And it would seem there’s plenty more where this came from as, like Miley Cyrus before her, Xtina has vowed this is the first installment in a three-part musical series. But then, we never did see Miley’s She Is: Miley Cyrus trilogy come to full fruition (only getting She Is Coming, but not She Is Here or She Is Everything due to personal reasons like a fire and a change of heart). Hopefully that won’t be the case for whatever Xtina has in store to complement this EP.
