If it isn't clear already, I adore Christina Aguilera. I love almost everything about her, and one of my favorite traits is her graciousness, which comes through in several records. Already in 1999, still a teen, she released 'What a Girl Wants', in which she thanks her boyfriend for being kind and gentle and promises to reward him for it, and in the video she also does a sexy dance for him. In a period that was still loaded with female pop records that bashed men for their baseness, Christina reminded everyone that along with the stick there should also be a carrot, and the carrot better come with a bunny. This was still just on the level of principle, but in 2006 there was already an actual man to reward – her husband, whom she just wed. This record, the leading single from her new album, was dedicated to him, and what more can a man ask for than to have his desired superstar wife tell the whole world who's the man?
One of Christina biggest challenges came after her 2002 Stripped album, in which she adopted a skanky image. Those who paid attention realized it was about making an artistic statement and breaking stereotypes, but the world at large is obviously too dumb to get it. Most people viewed her as a slut, and the challenge was to change that image. A decade earlier, Madonna solved a similar problem by going in a romantic, and then mystical, directions. Aguilera, on the other hand, turned to the past, and in 2006 took on the image of a sweet forties pinup girl, and cooked up an album the merged contemporary sounds with the jazz and blues of that decade. It was an interesting musical experiment, albeit not very successful – the album didn't manufacture strong hits like its predecessor. But image-wise it was just the right step, and Christina quickly got rid of the cheap reputation that burdened her, and became a model of good taste. I eagerly anticipate her next step, which is coming very soon.
As mentioned, I wasn't very taken by the other stuff she put out in 2006, but this is an excellent record. Jazzy, funky, one of a kind. Do your thing, honey.
Showing posts with label christina aguilera. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christina aguilera. Show all posts
Friday, January 29, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
37. Christina Aguilera - Beautiful (2002)
Trust Christina Aguilera to provide the decade's prettiest ballad. This is now the third record in my chart taken out of her album Stripped, the album that does what its title promises: presenting her in her nakedness, physically and emotionally. What it exposes is a young lass who is all at once a sensuous and sensual being, an intelligent and opinionated human, and a sensitive and soulful woman. This specific record represent mainly the last two couplets.
The message here isn't trivial. Throughout the modern age, the goal was to "cure" humanity of everything that was considered deviant, ugly or crude, and people were compelled to hide their divergence lest they would become social pariah, or even be locked up. Seventies punk was the first to lash out against this approach, emphasizing and identifying with all things that were considered crude, ugly or deviant, spitting them in the face of society and demanding that it accepts them as well. By the nineties, punk values overtook rock and infiltrated many other places, slowly reshaping the Western psyche. And in the dawn of the new millennium, Aguilera takes this approach to the top of the charts, with a record that is a universal anthem for self-acceptance in the face of a disparaging society, accompanied by a clip showing people learning to love themselves despite their divergence. Both the record and the video had a strong impact when they came out in 2002.
The song was written by Linda Perry, a rocker who had moderate success in the nineties, but remained marginal. Pink, the pop princess whose style was leaning towards rock, acquired her help in writing songs for her second album in 2001, and she subsequently became a songwriter sought by most pop princesses, employing them to invest the mainstream with punk values, and becoming one of the persons responsible for the power of this decade's female pop. This is the crowning jewel of her work, but it is hard to think of anyone who could sing it as well as Christina, and I can't think of any other face I would rather fill my screen in a video whose subject is beauty.
The message here isn't trivial. Throughout the modern age, the goal was to "cure" humanity of everything that was considered deviant, ugly or crude, and people were compelled to hide their divergence lest they would become social pariah, or even be locked up. Seventies punk was the first to lash out against this approach, emphasizing and identifying with all things that were considered crude, ugly or deviant, spitting them in the face of society and demanding that it accepts them as well. By the nineties, punk values overtook rock and infiltrated many other places, slowly reshaping the Western psyche. And in the dawn of the new millennium, Aguilera takes this approach to the top of the charts, with a record that is a universal anthem for self-acceptance in the face of a disparaging society, accompanied by a clip showing people learning to love themselves despite their divergence. Both the record and the video had a strong impact when they came out in 2002.
The song was written by Linda Perry, a rocker who had moderate success in the nineties, but remained marginal. Pink, the pop princess whose style was leaning towards rock, acquired her help in writing songs for her second album in 2001, and she subsequently became a songwriter sought by most pop princesses, employing them to invest the mainstream with punk values, and becoming one of the persons responsible for the power of this decade's female pop. This is the crowning jewel of her work, but it is hard to think of anyone who could sing it as well as Christina, and I can't think of any other face I would rather fill my screen in a video whose subject is beauty.
Friday, January 8, 2010
18. Christina Aguilera feat. Redman - Dirrty (2002)
So Beyonce showed that black girls have reached a level of liberation that enables them to act all slutty and still be considered decent, but still, there is a level that Beyonce would never descend to. White girls, on the other hand, have reached a level of confidence that allows them to be even more daring, and in this record Christina went all the way. The record was her freedom cry from the dolly image of her early career, and this freedom includes the ability to experience sexuality in all its forms. So Saturday Night Live could mock and say in her name that "when people see this video, they will stop thinking of me as some bubblegum music-industry ho, and start thinking of me as an actual ho", but many got the message. If you want to get down and dirty, that is your right, and it doesn't demean you.
Madonna, of course, said it ten years earlier. But Madonna's handling of sex always had something distant and ironic about it, as if she's just displaying sexuality, not experiencing it from within. Christina represents a freer generation, one that takes sex more naturally, and her attitude is funkier than Madonna's. Her catlike body and vocals do the rest.
Madonna, of course, said it ten years earlier. But Madonna's handling of sex always had something distant and ironic about it, as if she's just displaying sexuality, not experiencing it from within. Christina represents a freer generation, one that takes sex more naturally, and her attitude is funkier than Madonna's. Her catlike body and vocals do the rest.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
12. Christina Aguilera - Fighter (2003)
Rock didn't contribute much to this decade. It had nothing to say. But the power and emotion encapsulated in a rock guitar can still shake and exhilarate us, and served as one of the building blocks to the new pop. Here, Christina Aguilera employs Dave Navarro, Red Hot Chilli Peppers guitarist, to make a record that rocks much harder than anything the Chilli Peppers themselves did throughout the decade.
Christina Aguilera was a pure delight. Intelligent, sensitive, talented, opinionated, creative, sweet, funky and good-tasted, she made pop with class, and was a big part of making this a feminine decade. Her breakthrough came with the wave of girl singers that followed in the wake of Britney Spears, and at first it was just bubblegum pop, but even back then, you could sense that this girl had more depth than the charming but superficial Britney. Rapidly, Christina began to broaden her music, masterfully combining sounds from different eras, and singing in a voice that seemed to reach every note and convey every feeling. And her lyrics were always to the point.
Still, people did not give her the respect she deserves, and regarded her as light entertainment. This record can be interpreted as her answer to them, and as always with her, she takes a positive outlook, and makes lemonade out of lemons. She thanks those who forced her to struggle because it made her stronger, and when we hear her powerful voice overriding even Navarro's guitar, who are we to argue? In a decade that was full of girl-power anthems, this was one of the most compelling.
Christina Aguilera was a pure delight. Intelligent, sensitive, talented, opinionated, creative, sweet, funky and good-tasted, she made pop with class, and was a big part of making this a feminine decade. Her breakthrough came with the wave of girl singers that followed in the wake of Britney Spears, and at first it was just bubblegum pop, but even back then, you could sense that this girl had more depth than the charming but superficial Britney. Rapidly, Christina began to broaden her music, masterfully combining sounds from different eras, and singing in a voice that seemed to reach every note and convey every feeling. And her lyrics were always to the point.
Still, people did not give her the respect she deserves, and regarded her as light entertainment. This record can be interpreted as her answer to them, and as always with her, she takes a positive outlook, and makes lemonade out of lemons. She thanks those who forced her to struggle because it made her stronger, and when we hear her powerful voice overriding even Navarro's guitar, who are we to argue? In a decade that was full of girl-power anthems, this was one of the most compelling.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
5. Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya & Pink – Lady Marmalade (2001)
The pop world, like the world at large, has always been ruled by white males. But we are in a new millennium, and its opening decade was ruled by black music, and by women. This was the decade that saw the sexual revolution taking another huge step forward, and freeing women as well. This was the record that heralded the event, and still symbolizes it more than any other record.
And how symbolic it is that it was part of the Moulin Rouge project, the movie whose plot was located in the famous burlesque theater, opened in Paris in 1889. While the dominating culture aspired to repress and sublimate sexuality, and "high" art pieces that dealt with sex always transformed it into something else, the Moulin Rouge appealed to people who simply wanted to enjoy their sexuality, and offered rhythmic and orgiastic music, thus becoming one of the starting points for pop culture. It had no artistic aspirations, but it provided a space which allowed creative people to operate, and these people took the free spirit of the Moulin Rouge into artistic avenues. What they created slowly undermined the dominant culture, gradually releasing sexuality from its oppression.
But the dominant culture also dictated that only men enjoy sex, so the loosening of restrictions was something that pertained only to males. The Feminist movement, which arose simultaneously, accepted this division, and instead of demanding that women too would be allowed to enjoy sex, it demanded to "protect" women from the male sexual drive. And so, everyone kept teaching girls that sex is something they should be repelled by, and they remained oppressed. But, yet again, pop was there to undermine the accepted divisions, and offer alternatives. In 1974, the black female group LaBelle released the record 'Lady Marmalade', which turned the male paradigm on its head: the song tells of a white guy who is seduced by a creole lady in New Orleans, and after spending the night with her he cannot go back to his old bourgeois life, because he knows there's something better out there. It's the old story of "once you go black, you never go back", but here, instead of a black man and a white woman, it is a black woman and a white man.
And this attitude kept working underground, reaching its peak in the dirty rap made by Missy Elliott in the late nineties. And in the beginning of the naughties, the girls who grew up on LaBelle, Madonna, Missy Elliott et al. already had a different consciousness. A new wave of pop princesses took over the market, quite innocent at first, but swiftly they began to develop a skankier attitude, free of puritan inhibitions. We are in the Moulin Rouge, the song is 'Lady Marmalade', our hostess is Missy Elliott, and the strippers are Mya, a half-Italian-half-black R'n'B singer; Pink, a white pop tart with a rocking vocal; Lil' Kim, a black rapper; and Christina Aguilera, a half-Latina-half-white minx with a tremendous voice. All these different styles and origins, which in the past imposed such strong dividing lines, all come together now in harmony, and they all have just one demand: voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir? I dare you to tell them no.
And how symbolic it is that it was part of the Moulin Rouge project, the movie whose plot was located in the famous burlesque theater, opened in Paris in 1889. While the dominating culture aspired to repress and sublimate sexuality, and "high" art pieces that dealt with sex always transformed it into something else, the Moulin Rouge appealed to people who simply wanted to enjoy their sexuality, and offered rhythmic and orgiastic music, thus becoming one of the starting points for pop culture. It had no artistic aspirations, but it provided a space which allowed creative people to operate, and these people took the free spirit of the Moulin Rouge into artistic avenues. What they created slowly undermined the dominant culture, gradually releasing sexuality from its oppression.
But the dominant culture also dictated that only men enjoy sex, so the loosening of restrictions was something that pertained only to males. The Feminist movement, which arose simultaneously, accepted this division, and instead of demanding that women too would be allowed to enjoy sex, it demanded to "protect" women from the male sexual drive. And so, everyone kept teaching girls that sex is something they should be repelled by, and they remained oppressed. But, yet again, pop was there to undermine the accepted divisions, and offer alternatives. In 1974, the black female group LaBelle released the record 'Lady Marmalade', which turned the male paradigm on its head: the song tells of a white guy who is seduced by a creole lady in New Orleans, and after spending the night with her he cannot go back to his old bourgeois life, because he knows there's something better out there. It's the old story of "once you go black, you never go back", but here, instead of a black man and a white woman, it is a black woman and a white man.
And this attitude kept working underground, reaching its peak in the dirty rap made by Missy Elliott in the late nineties. And in the beginning of the naughties, the girls who grew up on LaBelle, Madonna, Missy Elliott et al. already had a different consciousness. A new wave of pop princesses took over the market, quite innocent at first, but swiftly they began to develop a skankier attitude, free of puritan inhibitions. We are in the Moulin Rouge, the song is 'Lady Marmalade', our hostess is Missy Elliott, and the strippers are Mya, a half-Italian-half-black R'n'B singer; Pink, a white pop tart with a rocking vocal; Lil' Kim, a black rapper; and Christina Aguilera, a half-Latina-half-white minx with a tremendous voice. All these different styles and origins, which in the past imposed such strong dividing lines, all come together now in harmony, and they all have just one demand: voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir? I dare you to tell them no.
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