: A blend of jazz-inspired show-pop, brass-heavy cabaret, and power ballads. Significance

Cher’s first vocal contribution is pure exposition set to a beat. It’s a thumping, mid-tempo electronic track where Tess (Cher) welcomes her audience. Lyrically, it’s simple, but sonically, it’s a mood board of the film’s aesthetic: sleazy disco strings, a four-on-the-floor kick drum, and Cher’s unmistakably processed, resonant lower register.

In the winter of 2010, Hollywood released a film that was less a critical darling and more a cultural curiosity: Burlesque . Starring Cher (returning to the big screen after seven years) and pop titan Christina Aguilera (in her feature film debut), the movie was a backstage musical draped in fishnet stockings and rhinestones. The plot—a small-town girl saves a glamorous but struggling neo-burlesque club—was thin. But the soundtrack? That was a different story entirely.

The friction is the point. Ali (Aguilera) doesn’t save the club by doing a classic fan dance; she saves it by playing a digital synth track over the PA system. The soundtrack is meta-commentary on how pop culture cannibalizes and digitizes old forms of entertainment. You aren't listening to a revival of 1920s burlesque; you are listening to 2010's idea of 1920s burlesque. That lens of artifice makes it fascinating.

For Christina Aguilera fans, the Burlesque Original Motion Picture Soundtrack -2010- is often viewed as a "lost album" in her discography. It allowed her to stretch muscles that hadn't been flexed since her Back to Basics era. The soundtrack opens with "Something’s Got A Hold On Me," a rousing cover of the Etta James classic. Right out of the gate, Aguilera establishes that this isn't just auto-tuned pop; this is a singer paying homage to the blues and jazz roots that inspired her career. Her ad-libs are fierce, and the brass-heavy production sets the tone for the club environment.

is a brilliant mash-up of burlesque striptease and urban pop. It’s all breathy whispers and a wobbling bassline, capturing the tension of the stage. Meanwhile, the bonus tracks— remixes by Johnny Vicious and Dave Audé—transform the theatrical numbers into pure dance-floor anthems, reminding listeners that this album lived as much in gay clubs as it did in movie theaters.

Cher doesn’t belt here; she testifies . The song builds from a whisper to a defiant declaration of resilience. It earned Cher a Golden Globe for Best Original Song. Notably, the track was rejected for Burlesque by Pink (who was initially considered for the role of Ali). Pink later admitted she regretted passing on it, calling it "the best song I ever heard." Cher’s version is definitive: a 64-year-old icon telling the industry to go to hell. It remains her last great signature performance.

The soundtrack also serves as a love letter to the house music and R&B of the late 2000s. The production team—including Ron Fair, Tricky Stewart, and Christopher "Tricky" Stewart—layered vintage big-band horns over thumping 4/4 club beats.