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.
actually has more new material than
, and
Aguilera
responds in kind, turning in passionate performances throughout the 11-song 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 diva-esque she may be, remains remarkable; she needs to learn restraint, but she's clearly a better singer than her peers. Of course,
remains a holiday album, filled with covers of standards (from
"Oh Holy Night"
to
"The Christmas Song"
"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 dance-pop, even if the marvelously titled
"Xtina's Xmas"
(easily the best name of any new holiday song of 2000) is a 90-second 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 dance-pop. It may not add too much to
's catalog, but it does suggest that she may not be a mere one-album wonder. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine