Bionic (Christina Aguilera album)
Bionic is the sixth studio album by American singer Christina Aguilera. It was released on June 4, 2010, by RCA Records. Inspired by Aguilera's taste for electronic music, Bionic is characterized as an electropop, futurepop and R&B record. The first half consists of electronic songs incorporating synthesizers and electronic beats, while the second half displays a balladic production. The album's main themes include sex and feminism.
Bionic
June 4, 2010
2008–2010
- (Burbank)
- Kung Fu Garden
- The Bank
- The Boom Boom Room
- The Red Lips Room (Beverly Hills)
- (Los Angeles)
- Dubsided
- Larrabee
- No Excuses
- Record Plant
- Dreamland (Hurley)
- Mr. Dan's (London)
- Mad Decent Mausoleum (Philadelphia)
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Bionic received mixed reviews from music critics upon its debut. The record opened at a peak of number three on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 110,000 copies, selling 500,000 album-equivalents as of June 2018. Internationally, the album peaked inside the top ten in most countries, including a number-one debut on the UK Albums Chart. At the time of its release, Bionic was the lowest-selling UK Albums Chart number-one album of the last eight years.
The album spawned a number of singles: "Not Myself Tonight" was released in April 2010, and "You Lost Me" was released in June; "Woohoo" was released in the United States and some European countries, while "I Hate Boys" was released exclusively in Oceania. Bionic was promoted in mid-2010 by television performances, such as Aguilera's appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, the ninth season of American Idol, Today and MTV Movie Awards. A concert tour, titled The Bionic Tour, was initially planned to support the album, but was ultimately canceled due to Aguilera's heavy promotional schedule for the album and then-upcoming film Burlesque (2010).
Title and artwork[edit]
The album was originally titled Light & Darkness; however, in February 2010, Aguilera announced that it would be titled Bionic. Bionic's cover artwork was designed by D*Face.[71] The album's cover, which was unveiled on March 25, 2010, features half of Aguilera's face and half of a robot, with platinum curled hair locks, bright red lips, and long eyelashes.[72] Ruth Doherty from InStyle called the cover "super-cool" and compared Aguilera's look to that of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator film series.[73] MTV Newsroom's Kyle Anderson named it "delightfully strange" and opined that the cover artwork features references the cover artwork for Tokio Hotel's third studio album Humanoid (2009) and Madonna's music video for "Bedtime Story" (1994).[74]
Commercial performance[edit]
Unlike Aguilera's previous studio albums, Bionic had trouble maintaining commercial success in the international markets. On the week ending June 26, 2010,[134] the album debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 110,000 copies.[135] However, those first-week sales were comparatively less than those of Aguilera's previous studio album Back to Basics (2006), which peaked at number one with 346,000 copies sold.[135] The following week the album fell to number nine with sales of 36,388 copies.[136] In its third week, Bionic dropped to number twenty-two.[137] Bionic has sold over 1.15 million tracks in the United States.[138] As of August 2019, the album has sold 332,000 copies in the United States.[139] As of June 2018, the album has moved 500,000 album-equivalent units in the United States, being certified by RIAA as Gold.
The album ranked as the year's seventy-sixth best-selling album in the United States.[140] On the week ending June 26, 2010, Bionic debuted at its peak position, number three, on the Canadian Albums Chart.[141] The following week, it charted at number nine.[142] In the United Kingdom, Bionic debuted atop the UK Albums Chart, becoming Aguilera's second consecutive studio album to debut atop the chart[143] with 24,000 copies sold. It became the lowest-selling UK Albums Chart number-one album in eight years[144] but the record was later broken by Marina and the Diamonds and Newton Faulkner in 2012.[145] However, in the album's second week on the chart, it made the UK Albums Chart history when, on June 20, it registered the largest drop in chart history for a number one album by falling twenty-eight places to number twenty-nine, selling 9,754 copies that week.[146] This was beat by The Vamps in 2017, when their album Night & Day fell thirty-four places from number one to number thirty-five. Bionic has been certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
Bionic fared somewhat better in mainland Europe. It debuted atop the European Top 100 Albums, becoming Aguilera's second consecutive studio album to top the chart,[147] staying atop the chart for one week.[148] During the twenty-third week of 2010, the album debuted atop the Greek Top 50 Albums, replacing Soulfly's Omen,[149] and receiving a gold certification from IFPI Greece.[150] Another successful charting territory for Bionic was Switzerland, where the album peaked at number two,[151] staying within the chart's top twenty-five for five consecutive weeks.[151] The album also managed to peak within the top ten in Austria, Belgian region of Flanders, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain and Sweden. On the week ending June 12, Bionic debuted at number twenty-three on the French Albums Chart.[152] As of December 2010, it has sold over 10,000 copies in the country.[153]
The album peaked within the top ten in both Australia and New Zealand. On the week commencing June 14, the album debuted and peaked at number three on the Australian Albums Chart. It remained in the top five in its second week, and descended to number sixteen in its third week.[154] Bionic was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments exceeding 35,000 copies.[155] In New Zealand, the album peaked at number six.[156]
Notes[71]