CHRISTINA AGUILERA

Dear Christina,

It’s been some time, but I’m glad you’re back.

You lost me a bit on 2012’s Lotus and threw me for a loop in 2010 with Bionic.

Not sure if you’re in a different place in your life, but there’s something special about Liberation, easily one of the year’s best albums.

Liberation has a wide range of styles and sounds, but it’s also masterfully cohesive (apart from the Demi Lovato duet Fall In Line, which I can’t stand and deleted from my version of the album).

Everything else is epic: Twice shows your voice in top form; Pipe is a sexy Quiet Storm anthem; and Unless It’s With You closes the album and feels like an instant classic, beautiful, raw and honest.

And then there are the jams: Right Moves, featuring reggae artists Keida and Shenseea, is the perfect song to play before going out; rapper GoldLink, with lyrical references to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, shines just as bright as you do on Like I Do; and Accelerate is bouncy and fun (plus, pretty much anything co-starring Ty Dolla $ign at the moment is fire.)

In some ways, Liberation reminds me of Mariah Carey’s The Emancipation of Mimi, her 2005 comeback album that reminded the world to never count out the diva.

Freedom sounds good on you, too, Christina.