Has Christina Aguilera taken a musical wrong-turn?
The Sun is reporting that Christina Aguilera was shocked that her new single has charted at a paltry #14.
You may think that charting anywhere within the Top 40 is a decent result. But for an artist of her calibre and international reputation, anything less than top 10 is a poor showing. She has good cause to be worried.
If you follow the entertainment and celebrity news circuit, Christina’s boobs have been more prevalent than her music. For what seems like at least the last two years, Christina hasn’t really been known for her music.
In my personal opinion, Christina’s situation hasn’t been helped by a lot of stylistic flip-flopping. With every album she’s released, Aguilera has had a major image relaunch too. First she was the all-American teen, then it was that Gothic slut look, and the last time she released and album, it was a…well, 30’s slut look. Now she’s releasing a Greatest hits album
– who is she this time round?
And on to the single – Keeps Getting Better – well, it’s a throwaway track, an album track in an age where nobody buys albums. It just doesn’t stand up to her earlier material.
The thing is, I can’t decide what I want to hear from Christina Aguilera anymore. I think this is precipitated by an image crisis she seems to be having:
- She’s a married woman and a new mother – I kind of expected a maturing of her sound. OK, motherhood hasn’t slowed Nelly Furtado down, but Christina was the empowered antidote to Britney Spears. To hear her ranting on about being a super-bitch just doesn’t work.
- As I mentioned before, Christina has had three major image overhauls for each album. Reinvention is a good thing, but the drastic changes are alienating for fans. What works for Madonna doesn’t work for everybody.
- The tabloids haven’t helped matters by focussing on her ample (and delightful) chest. You could be forgiven for forgetting why she’s famous in the first place.
I’d have liked to see Christina come back a bit more demure, and slightly more tasteful, perhaps edging toward her image at the start of her career. Don’t forget that she’s an amazing singer, and capable of some really good pop tunes.
What’s your take? Do you like the new Christina single or do you agree that she could have managed her comeback differently/
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You are a brilliant blogger i love your work and yes she should consider her future because it looks to me that she will have none
I was not acquainted with your blog, but I had to comment because I think you took an excellent look at it. I have changing relationship with her because I feel she does her best work as a singer and a vocalist, not a pop-star cookie-cutter entertainer.
By ‘reinventing herself’ she leaves the formula that made her good in the first place: “walk Away” “Save Me From Myself”. These two songs epitomize what I love about her. But I honestly don’t know who she is anymore. The changing of your image is a Hollywood pop game; the greats who really were vocalists and musicians first, never engaged in that kind of stuff. Madonna is a fluke not a pattern to be mimicked. Aguilera can do better, but she has to put music first and forget about trying to sell albums or replicate success. See exhibit Mariah Carey.