Christina Aguilera--The Comeback Kid? /
The late '90s brought an influx of new and talented young
faces—Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys,
N’Sync, Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore and Christina Aguilera. Of all the
acts to come out of the teen pop explosion, Aguilera was the best. Though she was never as popular as Spears
(she always trailed Spears in the popularity race), she reigned supreme in the
class of ’99, so says the Grammy’s (the singer
won Best New Artist over Britney Spears at the 2000 Grammy’s). She was young
and gorgeous with a range that rivaled the late-great Whitney Houston. She was in a league of her own and everyone knew
it.
But something happened to Aguilera’s career in 2003. The singer put down her microphone and
picked up her assless chaps. The first single from her sophomore effort, ‘Dirty,’ which featured Redman failed to crack the top 40 on
the Billboard Hot100—a chart that Aguilera
dominated just three years prior. Many in the industry thought the singer’s
career was over—another talented artist selling sex
instead of her bombastic pipes. At the height of her sophomore album release,
Aguilera was being ridiculed by the media and the mothers that trusted her with
their young daughters.
Despite the massive criticism, Stripped managed to debut at No. 2 on
Billboard’s Hot 200. Shortly after the album’s
release RCA records released ‘Beautiful,’
a soulful ballad, pinned by former 4 Non Blondes front woman Linda Perry. The
song resonated across the globe and became a world-wide anthem for the bullied,
ridiculed and unwanted. As time progressed people discovered that despite Aguilera’s image, she was nevertheless a musical force to be reckoned with. Despite its lead
single, Stripped was filled with big ballads, gospel choirs, bluesy tracks
and sexy baselines. Critics said
that the record was musically scattered—lacking focus, but fans loved it. It
was during this era that X-tina was
born—the antithesis of Britney Spears and
everything bubble gum pop. It was clear that this was Aguilera’s musical
direction—and she owned it!
In 2006, Aguilera released the long-awaited follow up to 2003s Stripped. Back to Basics was, once again a departure from everything X-tina. She introduced a new polished look and a brand new sound. Without a care in the world, the 26-year-old singer put out a throwback, double disc album paying homage to the singers she considered “the greats”—Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, James Brown, Gladys Knight and many more. The singer ditched the producers that brought her the success of Stripped and called on hip-hop extraordinaire, DJ Premiere to produce the album’s lead track “Ain’t No Other Man.” Despite the album’s throwback theme, fans flocked to it, making the album No. 1 in over 20 countries. Even with the tune’s unconventional format, ‘Ain’t No Other Man’ managed to become Aguilera’s sixth top 10 single. The album won Aguilera another Grammy and enough critical acclaim to solidify her as the new “Queen of Pop” (this was during Spears’ public decline).
What was interesting about Aguilera’s now infamous Bionic era was the lack of urgency shown
by Aguilera and her camp when Bionic
was being defeated. Pictures began to surface of Aguilera noticeably larger and
seemingly unfocused. The media and the blogesphere pounced. Bionic was laid to rest just five
months after its release date. In the early months of 2011, Christina Aguilera
announced that she and her husband of five years were filing for divorce. Again
the media pounced, but fans knew that something was drastically wrong. During
that year Aguilera experienced a series of setbacks, she fumbled (no pun intended) the words to the National Anthem at the biggest sporting event ever—the Super Bowl, and after a rousing tribute
to Aretha Franklin during the 2011 Grammy ceremony the singer nearly tumbled off
stage (she later claimed that the train
of her dress was caught in the heel of her stiletto). Though Aguilera’s
mishaps became the laughing stalk of the music industry, fans across the world
were in near-mourning status. Following the Grammys, there would be a new dawn
for Aguilera and her army of “fighters”
and it would come in the form of a new and fresh reality singing competition—The Voice. Aguilera served as the only
female judge on a panel that included R&B/hip hop sensation Cee-Lo Green,
rock/pop bad boy Adam Levine and country crooner Blake Shelton. It was this
show that saw the return of X-tina. On the show, Aguilera did was she does
best—she polarized primetime viewers. For some, she was what talent
competitions were lacking—a diva with unparalleled range who loved hard and
coached even harder. But for others, Aguilera came across as a know-it-all
privileged pop star—on Twitter, “bitch” became synonymous with Christina
Aguilera. Though The Voice did
little to repair the singer’s tarnished image, it did galvanize her fanbase.
She reminded the folks that may have jumped ship to cruise with Gaga and Katy
Perry that she was still pop’s HBIC and a flop album was
not going to stop her reign. It was entertaining to say the least—watching fans
and foes debate Aguilera’s outfits and choice of words every Monday and Tuesday
night. As a critic of the show, I saw the world talking about Christina Aguilera
again. Whether they loved or hated her, Aguilera was on the forefront of
everyone’s brain and plastered on the cover of every tabloid in America .
And in true pop diva form—Aguilera rose to the occasion. The spark that fans
thought was gone forever had reemerged—X-tina was back! By the time the live
shows began for The Voice season two,
Aguilera had a new body and a new attitude.