Bionic is an electropop, futurepop*, and R&B album released by American singer Christina Aguilera.  The album's cover features half of Aguilera's face and half of a robot, with platinum curled hair locks, bright red lips, and long eyelashes. The album represents the empowered femininity, borrowing the cyborgic stereotyped image of being tough, strong and invincible.  

 

In one of the songs, "Prima Donna" talks about the liberated women who celebrate after a hard day’s work, enjoying as much fun and autonomy as the male counterparts.

 

I'm a prima donna
I can rule the world
Don't care who's around me
I can fool the world
So hand's up
Catch this feeling
There's no stopping this
Right now in this moment
I can rule the world

​

The Japanese band Perfume is known for their heavily processed vocals, making use of autotune, Harmony Engine, and vocoders.  Nakata, their producer and songwriter, incorporates the ideas of Future Pop into their music.  Perfume say the music matches the specific time of their lives, which has actually matured with them.

​

*Futurepop is an electronic music genre, an outgrowth of EBM, that evolved in the late 1990s with groups like VNV Nation, Covenant, and Apoptygma Berzerk. It is characterized by the heavy use of sampling and an absence of vocal modification that is popular in many other forms of electronic music, such as Aggrotech. 

​

Works cited:

“Futurepop.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Mar.2020,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurepop.

​

"Bionic.” YouTube,uploaded by Christina Aguilera, 20 Feb 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNfUGbZymsI.

 

“Perfume - Future Pop (Official Music Video).” YouTube, uploaded by Perfume, 21 Sep 2018,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGlFxkWgI84.

​

Images:

Wikimedia Foundation,. "Bionic Album Cover."  Wikipedia, 26 Mar 2020, en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Bionic_(Christina_Aguilera_album).

​

Wikimedia Foundation. “Future Pop by Perfume.” Wikipedia, 7 Jan 2010, en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Future_Pop_(album).