The Christina Aguilera Mega-thread

[rmcrae]

OMG ooooold lol. Still can't believe I wrote all that. Truth be told I haven't listened to a full album since Bionic, despite my 'sadness' of her flopping since then. Haven't even listened to Back to Basics in years despite my thinking it was probably her direction with the most potential . Plus I evolved to also think her flopping's partly her fault as well, with all her absurd 4-year breaks between albums. Girl, you make pop music that's mostly love and sex songs, it really doesn't need that much time lol.

Wouldn't say I'm a hater or anything now though, she still makes me nostalgic for my childhood.

Ditto on the long (in pop years) breaks between albums. It really bit her in the ass with Bionic and made it seem like she was copying Gaga when she'd been heading towards the electropop route before Gaga was huge. I'll never understand why bonus tracks like Monday Morning and Birds of Prey weren't included on the main record since they're far more representative of the sound she was aiming for.

Haven't listened to Lotus in a long time, but really liked it and was annoyed with the lack of promo for it. I remember Christina performing Around the World with Cee-Lo on The Voice and Just a Fool on Ellen, but that was it. A missed opportunity there.

 

[JarodA]

Ditto on the long (in pop years) breaks between albums. It really bit her in the ass with Bionic and made it seem like she was copying Gaga when she'd been heading towards the electropop route before Gaga was huge. I'll never understand why bonus tracks like Monday Morning and Birds of Prey weren't included on the main record since they're far more representative of the sound she was aiming for.

Haven't listened to Lotus in a long time, but really liked it and was annoyed with the lack of promo for it. I remember Christina performing Around the World with Cee-Lo on The Voice and Just a Fool on Ellen, but that was it. A missed opportunity there.

My theory? She probably still likes music/performing but is satisfied with her millions since a long time ago. If nobody hears it besides her hardcore fans who cares? Who could blame someone? Everyone knows the music industry sucks. She obviously doesn't have that same drive a lot of artists do to record and tour a new album every year.

 

[rmcrae]

 

[JarodA]

She looks less like she's on the Pete Burns trajectory now, that's a start . I kid - kind of.

I randomly thought today, will she do more of a retro thing with live instruments at some point again? I guess she'll continue chasing pop, or R&B, but that's not going to sell lol.

 

[rmcrae]

She looks less like she's on the Pete Burns trajectory now, that's a start . I kid - kind of.

I randomly thought today, will she do more of a retro thing with live instruments at some point again? I guess she'll continue chasing pop, or R&B, but that's not going to sell lol.

I found that pic on Twitter and a lot of the comments accused her of being on Ozempic or other weight loss drugs. Whatever it is, she looks great.

A Back to Basics-styled record would be great, but I wish she'd do a proper soul record. More songs like Loving Me 4 Me or Impossible.

 

[JarodA]

A couple of weekends ago I saw the 2018 Melissa McCarthy movie 'Life of the Party' and didn't know Christina was going to make a cameo lol. It was the laziest thing I'd ever seen though. She 'performed' Fighter but didn't even make new vocals, just lipped to the 2002 track. I don't know whose decision that was but I thought something about it just about summed up her career post-'Bionic' or so .

I don't mean to diss completely just, I get the feeling something really killed her love for the business .

 

[rmcrae]

A couple of weekends ago I saw the 2018 Melissa McCarthy movie 'Life of the Party' and didn't know Christina was going to make a cameo lol. It was the laziest thing I'd ever seen though. She 'performed' Fighter but didn't even make new vocals, just lipped to the 2002 track. I don't know whose decision that was but I thought something about it just about summed up her career post-'Bionic' or so .

I don't mean to diss completely just, I get the feeling something really killed her love for the business .

Never seen it, but remember the ads for that movie. I'm assuming the characters attended her concert or something?

 

[rmcrae]

No idea who Haus of Teddy is, but cool art.

 

[JarodA]

Never seen it, but remember the ads for that movie. I'm assuming the characters attended her concert or something?

I won't spoil too much in case you ever feel like seeing it (not worth it as a Christina fan just for the cameo, trust me lol)

One of the characters (kind of an outcast wallflower so it's a big 'surprise') is, in the movie, someone who knows her.

Her cameo does not take place at a concert .

 

[rmcrae]

Nothing on the new music front, but she posted this on Twitter today.

 

[rmcrae]

That's nice, but when are we getting a new album?

 

[rmcrae]

The original idea for the Bionic cover (glad we got the other one).

 

[JarodA]

I miss her... although not most of her work has survived in my fandom long-term, I don't think she's had a true vocal successor in pop. Some girls even after her might have more range live, but she did and still does have a certain vocal it factor. I'm just gonna say it, if she ever did a duet with Beyonce, I already know ahead of time that Bey would probably sing 'better,' but Xtina would still out-'presence' her overall.

I have some more evolving thoughts... in the past I blamed her long breaks between releases. That's probably part of it. But, I saw a Reddit thread asking people why they think she fell off, and a few people raised similar interesting points kind of saying the same thing. Basically, some people thought she was actually too diverse in her sound and that she never let any one sound/style of hers grow into a strong enough brand (and perhaps different single choices also could've helped with this) and so basically apart from her voice she wasn't known enough for anything.

As an amateur music-maker myself who enjoys and aims somewhat for a diverse 'genre hopping' approach, if I were thinking in terms of 'singles' (or at least songs to particularly emphasize a little more) when it would come time to release online, I'd probably aim for songs with some commonality between them, and I'm hardly some marketing expert... it just seems intuitive that pitching to fans of one genre a little bit more and then giving them follow-ups is more likely to 'solidify' a fanbase. You risk boxing yourself in a tiny bit more that way, but I think if you're stylistically versatile, people will find that out organically and it doesn't have to be your main selling point.

-

'I Turn To You' is back on my 90s ballad playlist. Along with 'Nobody Wants To Be Lonely' on a different one since long ago. None of her edgy, eclectic or hyper-sexual stuff . It's similar with Mariah. My two faves of hers (at the moment) are 'Someday' (album version) and 'Dreamlover,' all early songs of the two artists where they didn't have full say over the sound. Record exec types get a bad rap, sometimes justified, but I think when it comes to pop singers they also sometimes have an accurate ear for what will suit them etc.

 

[rmcrae]

I miss her... although not most of her work has survived in my fandom long-term, I don't think she's had a true vocal successor in pop. Some girls even after her might have more range live, but she did and still does have a certain vocal it factor. I'm just gonna say it, if she ever did a duet with Beyonce, I already know ahead of time that Bey would probably sing 'better,' but Xtina would still out-'presence' her overall.

I have some more evolving thoughts... in the past I blamed her long breaks between releases. That's probably part of it. But, I saw a Reddit thread asking people why they think she fell off, and a few people raised similar interesting points kind of saying the same thing. Basically, some people thought she was actually too diverse in her sound and that she never let any one sound/style of hers grow into a strong enough brand (and perhaps different single choices also could've helped with this) and so basically apart from her voice she wasn't known enough for anything.

As an amateur music-maker myself who enjoys and aims somewhat for a diverse 'genre hopping' approach, if I were thinking in terms of 'singles' (or at least songs to particularly emphasize a little more) when it would come time to release online, I'd probably aim for songs with some commonality between them, and I'm hardly some marketing expert... it just seems intuitive that pitching to fans of one genre a little bit more and then giving them follow-ups is more likely to 'solidify' a fanbase. You risk boxing yourself in a tiny bit more that way, but I think if you're stylistically versatile, people will find that out organically and it doesn't have to be your main selling point.

-

'I Turn To You' is back on my 90s ballad playlist. Along with 'Nobody Wants To Be Lonely' on a different one since long ago. None of her edgy, eclectic or hyper-sexual stuff . It's similar with Mariah. My two faves of hers (at the moment) are 'Someday' (album version) and 'Dreamlover,' all early songs of the two artists where they didn't have full say over the sound. Record exec types get a bad rap, sometimes justified, but I think when it comes to pop singers they also sometimes have an accurate ear for what will suit them etc.

Funny you should mention that Reddit thread cus I came across it myself a few months ago. I remember a specific comment about how the singles from Stripped didn't represent the sound of the record as a whole so a Fighter fan may be disappointed it's one of a few rock songs and so on. Christina's subsequent albums were more cohesive and uniform in theme, but she had the misfortune of Bionic being released just as Gaga was exploding and critics accused it of being a copycat despite it being in the works long before Gaga came along. I remember checking the deluxe version from the library and wondering why bonus tracks like Monday Morning and Birds of Prey were excluded from the main release since they captured her original vision. I actually like Lotus, but it flopped along with Liberation (which I haven't heard). It'd be nice to hear a new English record from her whether it flops or not. It's safe to say her chart-topping days are behind her, but that doesn't kill her talent.

 

[rmcrae]

Someone did a mockup of Christina with Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter Tour poster braids.



Now she's being dragged as "racist" on Twitter for a hairstyle from almost 25 years ago.