When
Christina Aguilera
began her decade of hits back in 1999 she was instantly overshadowed by her fellow
New Mickey Mouse Club
alumni
Britney Spears
, who was first out of the gate with
Baby One More Time
and wound up outselling
Christina
and every other teen pop act this side of
*NSync
in the first years of the new millennium. As the 2000s rolled on,
Aguilera
slowly, surely began to eclipse
Spears
.
Brit-Brit
's downward spiral and arrested artistic development seemed all the stronger when compared to
Xtina
's restless risks and increasingly assured musical vision, a progression that's evident on
Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits
. Arranged chronologically from 1999's
"Genie in a Bottle"
to 2007's "Candyman," Keeps Gettin' Better has a narrative momentum: the squeaky-clean pop singer shatters her image via hyper-sexualized dance tracks which left her free to get crazier, campier, and better, turning into a pop diva that truly deserves that title.
Keeps Gettin' Better
hints at the future with two excellent new songs (the title track and
"Dynamite"
) along with remakes of
and
"Beautiful,""
all done in a chilly electro style that suggests a
Blackout
if
Britney
were in control and knew what she was doing, but what is remarkable about the collection is that
's past holds up, with the candy-pop of
"Genie,"
"What a Girl Wants,"
"Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You)"
still sounding sweet,
"Beautiful"
sounding richly melancholy, and
"Ain't No Other Man"
"Candyman"
wickedly funny, knowing blasts of retro-swing. She may have started out in
's shadow, but
proves that no other teen pop singer of her era has a better track record than
and if the new songs are any indication, the title of this hits comp is no lie either. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine