CULTURE

Christina Aguilera Drops New Music for the First Time in Six Years

Xtina is back!

by Zoe Weiner

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Christina Aguilera/Youtube

After six years of the world patiently playing “Bionic on repeat, Christina Aguilera‘s new music has finally arrived. On Thursday morning, Aguilera released the video for “Accelerate,” the promotional single from her upcoming album. The track features rappers Ty Dolla $ign and 2 Chainz, and reaffirms XTina’s status as the fearless provocateur with powerful pipes that we’ve always known. “Get that moola, power / You on fire tonight / You can get it how you want it / That’s it, go tonight,” she challenges her fellow “boss ladies” in the video, while sitting cross-legged in a power suit. The intermittently black and white video, directed by fashion photographer Zoey Grossman, alternates between images of the singer looking boardroom-ready and sultry close-ups of her face covered in syrup and glitter.

In addition to the new video, Aguilera also released the track list for Liberation, her eighth studio album. Per Entertainment Weekly, the album will feature 15 tracks, including “Deserve,” “Sick of Sittin'” and “Liberation,” titles that make it pretty clear that the #bossb*tch vibes of “Accelerate” will continue throughout the album.

The track list also confirms that Aguilera will, in fact, be collaborating with Demi Lovato on a song called “Fall in Line.” The pair has hinted for months that they had something in the works. “Love Demi — She’s my girl, big things are coming!” Aguilera told People back in January. For her part, Lovato recently told People that the “Genie in a Bottle” singer has always been an inspiration for her own work. “I grew up listening to Christina Aguilera. She was one of my idols growing up, she still is,” Lovato said.

As a possible clue to the direction of the rest of the album, the only other featured act on the album are Jamaican dancehall singers Keida & Shenseea. According to Billboard, Kanye West produced this teaser singer and one other track on the album (it’s called “Maria,” and, yes, it samples The Sound of Music). Hip-hop producers Mike Dean, Eric Danchick and Che Pope (the latter two associated with West’s GOOD Music) also contributed.

Though Aguilera has spent the last few years away from music, focusing on her family (she has two kids with fiancé Matthew Rutler), serving as a judge on The Voice, and doing some acting, it’s clear that this genie is back out of the bottle. Hence the album name, Liberation.

Related: Christina Aguilera Performed All Her Early Aughts Hits, From “Dirrty” to “Beautiful,” During “Carpool Karaoke”

Exclusive: Behind the Scenes of Demi Lovato’s Tell Me You Love Me Album Cover Shoot

Behind the scenes of Demi Lovato’s Tell Me You Love Me album cover shoot, photographed by Angelo Kritikos.

Behind the scenes of Demi Lovato’s Tell Me You Love Me album cover shoot, photographed by Angelo Kritikos.

Angelo Kritikos

Behind the scenes of Demi Lovato’s Tell Me You Love Me album cover shoot, photographed by Angelo Kritikos.

Behind the scenes of Demi Lovato’s Tell Me You Love Me album cover shoot, photographed by Angelo Kritikos.

Angelo Kritikos

Behind the scenes of Demi Lovato’s Tell Me You Love Me album cover shoot, photographed by Angelo Kritikos.

Behind the scenes of Demi Lovato’s Tell Me You Love Me album cover shoot, photographed by Angelo Kritikos.

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