Burlesque: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Background

In early May 2010, Aguilera announced that she would embark on the supporting concert tour for her sixth studio album, Bionic. However, her management team announced shortly afterwards that the tour was postponed due to Aguilera's promotion for her first feature film, Burlesque (2010), in which she starred alongside Cher. Aguilera reported that she would reschedule the tour in 2011, though the tour never happened.

Burlesque was released in November 2010. The film was met with mixed reviews from critics, who criticized it for being "campy and clichéd", yet praised Aguilera's acting debut. The accompanying soundtrack, Burlesque: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, comprises ten songs: eight performed by Aguilera and two performed by Cher. It was Cher's first major release since her compilation Gold in 2005. Producer Tricky Stewart stated that the collaboration with Aguilera on Burlesque soundtrack was "a crazy opportunity different from anything [he]'ve ever done before". Danja was looking forward to working with Aguilera on the soundtrack, however it was not done.

Composition

Burlesque: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack comprises ten songs: eight performed by Aguilera and two performed by Cher. The soundtrack has a "brassy, jazzy" sound inspired by jazz, in contrast to Aguilera's last electronic music-inspired studio album Bionic (2010) but similar to her fifth 1920s, 1930s and 1940s-influenced studio album Back to Basics (2006). Four of the songs performed by Aguilera are cover versions, two of Etta James' works: "Something's Got a Hold on Me" and "Tough Lover", a cover version of Marlene Dietrich's "Guy What Takes His Time", and a dance version of "The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson, including the "unmistakable" drum beats and guitar riff in the original version. "I Am a Good Girl" "sticks to the sassy swing of a bygone musical era", while "Express" has the similar musical style to Aguilera's previous single "Lady Marmalade" and lyrically evokes sexual theme as Aguilera "seductively" sings, "Show a little leg / You gotta shimmy your chest". The uptempo number "Show Me How You Burlesque" has a "modern sounding" dance production, but "lack of melody and strong hooks". The power ballad "Bound to You", co-written by Sia Furler, has the same musical style to "You Lost Me" which was also co-written by Furler from Bionic, features Aguilera's strong vocal delivery.

The two songs performed by Cher are: "Welcome to Burlesque" and "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me". "Welcome to Burlesque" was described as "a 'Cabaret'-style oompah that shows both skill and humor". The power ballad "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" features Cher's powerful vocals.

Promotion

In August 2010, a video containing a scene from the film featuring Aguilera performing "Something's Got a Hold on Me" was released onto YouTube. Later in early November, a clip featuring Aguilera performing "But I Am a Good Girl" from the movie was also released. On November 17, 2010, Aguilera performed the track "Bound to You" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. On November 19, 2010, she performed "Something's Got a Hold on Me" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Aguilera performed "Express" at the American Music Awards of 2010 on November 21, 2010. The following day, Aguilera performed "Something's Got a Hold on Me" on Conan. On November 23, 2010, Aguilera performed "Show Me How You Burlesque" and "Beautiful" during the season finale of the eleventh season of U.S. television dancing competition Dancing with the Stars.

"You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" performed by Cher was the first song to be released from Burlesque. On November 24, 2010, a digital remix extended play of "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" was released via iTunes Stores worldwide. On December 7, the digital remix version of the song was purchased for sales onto iTunes Stores. In the United States, the single impacted adult contemporary radio stations on January 15, 2011. "Express" and "Show Me How You Burlesque" performed by Aguilera were the two next singles from the soundtrack, respectively: "Express" impacted Australian contemporary hit radio stations on December 6, 2010, while "Show Me How You Burlesque" was made available for digital sales on February 4, 2011.

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic gave the soundtrack three out of five stars, commenting that "some of this stuff is quite good". Slant Magazine's Eric Henderson provided a mixed review, writing that the soundtrack "seems to indicate her efforts are coming from a similarly era-straddling psychological place". Jim Farber from New York Daily News criticized Aguilera for her "vocals offer the same distracting loop-de-loops and showy tics", but complimented Cher that she "balances both aspects ideally". A reviewer from Blogcritics labelled the album a "grab bag of tracks that don't really add up to cohesive album". Leah Greanblatt from Entertainment Weekly gave the album a "B" score, naming it a "shamelessly diva-fied mix of balladry, Broadway cabaret, and backroom boogie-woogie" and complimented on its musical departure from Aguilera's previous studio album Bionic. In a positive review, Billboard editor Kerri Mason praised Burlesque as "a campy celebration of diva-dom and an over-the-top, triple-threat performance". James Wigney of The Advertiser praised Aguilera's "vocal gymnastics", but was mixed towards Cher's numbers on the soundtrack. Maura Johnston from The Village Voice named "The Beautiful People (from Burlesque)" as the thirteenth worst song of 2010, calling it "an interesting failure."

Commercial performance

On the US Billboard 200, Burlesque debuted and peaked at number eighteen during the week of November 28, 2010, selling 63,000 copies in its first week. It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, having sold 707,000 copies in the US as of September 2014. On the Australian ARIA Albums Chart, the soundtrack peaked at number two. It was certified Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association in 2015 for selling over 70,000 copies. Burlesque peaked at number 16 on the Canadian Albums Chart and was certified gold by the Music Canada for shipments of 40,000 units in the region. The soundtrack also gained commercial success on several record charts: peaking at number five in Austria and New Zealand, and number eight in Switzerland.

Track listing

All songs performed by Christina Aguilera, except two, which are performed by Cher.

Notes

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic.