Inside a soundstage at Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles last week, Christina Aguilera is talking about the inspiration behind her 2006 album, "Back to Basics," on which she paid tribute to the soul and blues artists who originally inspired her to sing.

Christina Aguilera Fashion Evolution Gallery | Tour Dates

Or at least that was what she was talking about. Now, seemingly out of nowhere, she's describing the impetus that led to "Bionic," her futuristic new disc. "Sorry," Aguilera tells the 200 or so audience members gathered for this taping of VH1's "Storytellers." "I get ahead of myself sometimes. But they can edit this. Cut and paste!"

Below: Christina's Billboard Cover Story Q&A Video


As it happens, "cut and paste" goes a long way toward describing the choppy postmodern vibe on "Bionic," due June 8 from RCA. A pronounced about-face from the warmly retro-fied "Back to Basics"-which has sold nearly 1.7 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan-the 18-track set contains gleaming, beat-driven collaborations with a host of edgy dance-music acts, including M.I.A., Le Tigre, Peaches and Switch; more mainstream talent appears, as well, in the form of Polow Da Don, Tricky Stewart and longtime Aguilera confidante Linda Perry.

To be sure, "Bionic" comes loaded with the requisite number of radio-bait hooks, not to mention a handful of stately ballads destined to appeal to fans of the singer's 2002 smash, "Beautiful." (That single's parent album, "Stripped," has sold more than 4.2 million copies, while Aguilera's 1999 self-titled debut has sold nearly 8.2 million. "Keeps Gettin' Better," a 2008 greatest-hits set originally available exclusively at Target, is at 351,000.) Yet with its grinding synth scapes and throbbing dance-punk grooves, "Bionic" also serves as a characteristically bold artistic statement from one of pop's least apprehensive superstars. As Aguilera puts it in "Not Myself Tonight," the album's lead single, "I feel brand new/And if you don't like it, fuck you."

Below: The official video for "Not Myself Tonight."


"There's some rebellion to it," Aguilera says with a laugh, curled up in an armchair at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills a few weeks prior to the "Storytellers" taping. The singer, 29, has just finished a day of on-camera interviews, and at long last the heels have come off and the hair has come down. "But there's no proving element to me," she's quick to add. "At this point in my career, I'm over any and all weird comparisons or negativity."

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