Christina Aguilera
Often referred to as the
“voice of her generation”, and hailed by Celine Dion as “probably the best
vocalist in the world”, you could say that it would have been hard for
Christina Aguilera to not have a long
and successful career in music. However, if ability is a natural gift, then
skill is something acquired through dedication and hard work. Despite
Aguilera’s singing prowess, there are few performers around today who are as
committed and hard working as she.
Over the course of her career, Aguilera has been compared to such musical luminaries as Whitney Houston, Barbara Streisand, Mariah Carey and Aretha Franklin. However, despite her obvious talents she initially drew criticism from some quarters for grand-standing and over-singing, both in her recorded material and live performances, and also her “crass” image and dance routines. She took note of this, and as she matured in age her appearance and performances grew with her. Eschewing her raunchy image, Aguilera dyed her hair blonde and styled herself on Marilyn Monroe. Her most recent music also reflected this 1920s-1940s theme. When talking about 2006 album, ‘Back to Basics’, Aguilera described it as, “a throwback to the 20s, 30s, and 40s-style jazz, blues, and feel-good soul music, but with a modern twist.” This change clearly sat well with her army of fans, as the album sold a mind-boggling 4 million copies across the world.
Since then, her fans have eagerly been awaiting her next album, but Christina is not an artist to be rushed. She launched into the ‘Back to Basics Tour’ in 2007, which made a cool 90 million dollars worldwide. After featuring on the soundtrack to movie ‘Shine a Light’ in 2008, she then released a greatest hits compilation to celebrate her ten successful years in music. Only when she felt ready did she then begin writing and recording a new album, ‘Bionic’, which is due for release in June 2010. While working on the record, she has collaborated with the likes of Goldfrapp, Santigold, Ladytron and Tricky Stewart, who commented, “She's mixing it up again. She's singing R&B again, she's doing pop. She's doing it all, but she's found a way to make it all meet in the middle because she's so many different things. She's a real serious musician.” The album’s first single, ‘Not Myself Tonight’, was released at the end of March 2010, to an overwhelmingly positive reception by the critics. MTV’s James Montgomery notably described it as, “a whirring, whooshing thing, full of blaring synthesizers and spare snares speeding along over pounding, four-on-the-floor beat...the kind of track you'd expect to hear rattling the speakers at the massive, multi-level clubs of Europe.” If the album can match the quality of the lead single, it looks like it’s time to start saving those pennies. Christina’s back: and how.
