Christina Aguilera - My Kind of Christmas (CD)

All Music Guide

The second punch in a double whammy of stopgap releases in the fourth quarter of 2000, My Kind of Christmas appeared on the shelves two months after Mi Reflejo, Christina's Latin reworking of her debut album. My Kind of Christmas actually has more new material than Mi Reflejo, and Aguilera responds in kind, turning in passionate performances throughout the 11song album. She can teeter on the edge of being too passionate, belting out when she should lay back, but the power of her voice, no matter how divaesque she may be, remains remarkable; she needs to learn restraint, but she's clearly a better singer than her peers. Of course, My Kind of Christmas remains a holiday album, filled with covers of standards (from "Oh Holy Night" to "The Christmas Song" to "Merry Christmas, Baby") and a handful of obligatory new songs. None of the new songs are knockouts, but "Christmas Time" and "This Year" are pretty solid pieces of dancepop, even if the marvelously titled "Xtina's Xmas" (easily the be...st name of any new holiday song of 2000) is a 90second collage trifle that doesn't live up to its promise. But, hey filler is part of a holiday record, and there's actually not too much of it here. Instead, it's pretty tight, entertaining seasonal dancepop. It may not add too much to Christina's catalog, but it does suggest that she may not be a mere onealbum wonder. - Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Read more Less