Her voice, indeed, is greater than ever. She sings with better control and more elaborate stylisations - but at times she overdoes it, gorging an entire track with the maximum amount of her vocal callisthenics possible. Jazz appears to be Aguilera's best platform for displaying that talent of hers to best effect - hear "Merry Xmas Baby".

However, amid the impressive melismatic curls, where is the tenderness in her music, voice? The uptempo tracks are best guilty of the latter flaw - Arresting in the audio makeup, but nevertheless overproduced and devoid of the simplicity best rendered in christmas songs. (Track 11, "Christina's Xmas", a meaningless, hip hop interlude that does no good to the album at all.)

This 11-track album will be remembered for the vocal showmanship, but for the holiday spirit, there are better CDs out there.


Christina Calm Down!   December 19, 2000
J. Martin (Woodside, NY)
23 out of 27 found this review helpful

The most gifted singer to come along in a long time is obviously Christina Aguilera. She ahs proven she can sing anything with that powerful belt. On her Christmas CD she chooses christmas favorites and a few original songs. Her rendition of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas will blow everyone away. Other highlight include The Christmas Song and This Christmas. One thing she needs to do is calm down a bit. Her version of O Holy Night is a vocal rollercoaster which easily could have been the highlight of this album, but she feels the need to prove that she really can sing. She already has and I'm sure alot of people would agree with me when I say she should just hit the high note and hold it, that would send shivers up and down my spine. To me it is not appropriate to do vocal acrobatics on standard Christmas songs, but she has an amazing voice and she sings her heart out. I just wish she would calm down.


Disappointing   November 28, 2000
SingingFriar (the OC, CA)
13 out of 15 found this review helpful

When I first saw this album in the store, I was very excited to hear what Christina could do with these Christmas works. I am a classical singer, and Christina is one of the few pop singers I can stand because I think her talent and musicicality are very impressive. Upon finally listening to the album, I became very frustrated. She has a beautiful voice and I found myself shouting at the speakers, "stop that!" She would never hold a note out past a beat and a half in the beautiful "Oh Holy Night." Instead she had to improvise runs for every single note. She never paid any attention to line or the beauty of the actual written music. She just tore through it without really singing the songs. For me, this was very disappointing and frustrating from a singer, who I feel, is better. If you're looking for a Christmas album of beauty and enjoyment of holiday music, I suggest Barbra Streisand's classic one and Jewel's collection. Very artistic, moving and beautiful.


Xtina's kind of Christmas   December 21, 2004
Music_Lover (Trinidad (Caribbean))
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

This is NOT made up of traditional Christmas material. It is made up of songs perfomed the way that Christina Aguilera likes the songs, and though the album is not perfect it is not bad at all.

One this album there are some classic songs and a couple new ones. The classic songs are not sung in the traditional manner, Christina puts little twists and adjusts the vocals to personalise the songs to fit her style of singing. The best classic songs performed here are; Merry Christmas Baby, Have yourself a Merry little Christmas, This Christmas, These are the Special Times and The Christmas Song. These are sung mostly traditionally with little bits added on , like an extended vocal etc..

Then there are the other tracks like Christmas Time and This Year, that she sings that aren't familiar by are also good.

Hark the Hearald Angels Sing and Silent Night are the two that like the least. Hark takes on a whole new sound that doesn't fit with me really and Silent Night is beautiful except towards the end where it turns into a church choir sound.

Though this album has its faults it should be enjoyable to many durng this festive time of year. It is not doubted that Christina has immense talent , however on some of the tracks here she tends to over vocalise a bit. Neverthe less an enjoyable album by a talented young woman.





Not my kind of Christmas   November 29, 2000
Brian P. Kelley (Missoula, MT USA)
15 out of 18 found this review helpful

I've been very impressed with Ms. Aguilera's vocal talents since I first heard them on The Mickey Mouse Club years ago, however this CD is ridiculously overdone. While I am all for artists making song their own, this just seems a way for her and her producers to show off vocal talents while butchering classic Christmas songs. After listening to the first five tracks in complete disapointment I had hoped Oh Holy Night would be of some quality. The beginning was lovely. Using her wondrous voice to accent this songs wonderful writing. Then ruining this beautifully haunting piece with what seems to be becomming her trademark 5 million unneccesary vocal slides. Hopefully she will grow out of this need as Mariah Carey has seemed to do since her first three Albums or so. Bottom line is I would return this CD if the store would let me.