These are some photos from last night’s ALMA Awards, the awards for Latinos and Latinas in the entertainment, media and sports industries. I looked through the photos, and I feel pretty confident that Christina Aguilera will be the one celebrity everyone will be talking about today. I’m of two minds on this: on one side, I think Christina Aguilera is simply heavier now, and we should stop judging her based on her old pop-star figure. On the other side, I feel the same way about Christina that I’ve felt (in the past) about people like Vince Vaughn and Gerard Butler: she just looks so unhealthy. Like she boozes all day and all night. Anyway, I don’t want to body-snark on her, I’ll just say that this Michael Kors dress is really unflattering on her. Incidentally, this is the same Michael Kors dress that Angelina Jolie wore to the Producers Guild Awards earlier this year. Also: Christina’s makeup and hair are doing her no favors as well.
Eva Longoria was co-host of the ALMAs, and she apparently changed outfits no fewer than seven times. She is flat-out exhuasting, so here’s the one look that I found notable – those panels are actually unlined, meaning that they were sheer straight through. Meaning that in certain angles, people could see Eva’s butt cheeks, and probably a lot more.
I’m not sure why I missed writing about this last week – maybe it’s because Christina Aguilera kind of exhausts me these days. It’s not like she’s “crazy” in a really obvious, harmful way – although I do think she’s kind of crazy. Mostly I just think she’s a narcissist with a drinking problem… and that’s a dime a dozen, generally speaking. That’s my point: Christina isn’t really setting the world on fire with her individuality these days. The only hint of an Un-homogenized X-tina is when she fails, like when she flubs the National Anthem or maybe pees on herself a little while singing at a funeral.
Anyway, Christina is trying to get her music career back on track by using the Jennifer Lopez Comeback Career Path. Christina is now a judge on a popular singing-competition show, and she uses The Voice as a promotional tool for her (faltering) music career. Christina is putting out a new album called Lotus, and she’s already released the first single, “Your Body”. The cover art for the single is the header pic – it’s not good. It’s not awful or anything, but it just feels kind of boring and dated. Like it’s actually Britney Spears circa 2004 or something. Should I even make fun of Christina’s over-the-top weave and the excessive Photoshopping of her body? Eh.
As for the single… it’s not horrible either. It’s like she’s aiming to be inoffensive, I guess. It sounds like a pretty standard pop/dance track, like the song Madonna SHOULD have done for her last album:
Not bad. Not great. I wonder if she wrote it? I can’t find out. Christina described her new album like this: “Album title: Lotus. Representing an unbreakable flower that survives under the hardest conditions and still thrives. There will be a ‘Lotus’ intro to set the tone for the whole record. Conceptually I didn’t target one particular sound/genre. Self expression and freedom (are album themes). The album represents a rebirth for me. There are some beautiful personal ballads on this album. I wouldn’t do a record without them. I’ve been through a lot since the release of my last album, being on (‘The Voice’), having had a divorce. This is all sort of a free rebirth for me.” Blah. She even sounds like J.Lo.
Single cover image courtesy of Christina’s Twitter, additional photos courtesy of WENN.
Christina Aguilera covers the October issue of Lucky Mag, because she’s back to be a “thing” now that she’s on a hit reality show (The Voice). So we will have lots of Christina news and photos for a lot longer than I was expecting. As for her styling for the cover shoot – she looks pretty! I always like it when a magazine does a “makeunder” on Christina, and it’s nice to be reminded of her prettiness underneath all of that orange and red clown makeup. You can read the full Lucky piece here, and here are some highlights:
Christina’s response when she’s complimented about the song “Fighter”: “Awww. That’s why I wrote ‘Fighter,’ I have that need in me to help people. I am all about the underdog.”
Starting out in the music industry: “When you’re young, it’s so easy to get bulldozed,” she says. She was surrounded by people trying to control what she said, what she sang and what she wore. “There were these two ladies who worked at the record label who always wanted to come to fittings and dress me up like a Barbie doll. It was disgusting.”
The success of her Stripped album: “I was 21 and fearless. It was a really great turning point for me to be the artist I’d always wanted to be.”
The difficult years: “Difficult moments in life can either get you down or they can inspire you.”
Her new album: In the next few months, she’ll drop a new album. “If you love ‘Fighter,’ ” she says, “you’re going to love my new album. As a 30-year-old woman, I’ve been uncovering my independence, and it’s been really fun to explore in the new songs.”
Her role on The Voice: “It’s a big responsibility to help someone express themselves as an artist. I take it seriously,” she says.
Showing off her curves: “Actually, the challenge I’ve always had is being too thin, so I love that now I have a booty, and obviously I love showing my cleavage.” Her advice for her curvy sisters? “Hey, if you can work it and you can own it, that confidence is going to shine through.”
You know what this second-chance career trajectory reminds me of? Jennifer Lopez and American Idol. I wonder if Christina looks at what’s going on with J.Lo and takes it as a cautionary tale – like, “I should stick with a show that gave me a second chance, and just spend my downtime from the show working on my music career.” I am interested to see if Christina sticks with The Voice for any longer than, say, another two seasons. I wonder if Christina’s boy-toy – like J.Lo’s boy-toy – is telling her that she doesn’t need the reality show, that she’s a big enough star without the show.
Let me say this at the very beginning: I am not trying to troll Christina Aguilera. My objective is not to be cruel towards her, nor am I trying to fake “concern” for the state of Christina. Obviously, I think she’s a hot mess, an orange-stained pile of clown makeup, booze and leggings stretched to their limit. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But I only wanted to point out the… oddness of this Christina news.
So, Christina was named “the voice” (eyeroll) of a new charity campaign for Yum! Brands World Hunger Relief. Christina Aguilera = World Hunger Relief. Is that an odd choice? I don’t really know. I do know that watching this behind-the-scenes video of Christina’s PSA shoot made me hungry. Was that the goal? Because I really want some Doritos right now. I blame Christina’s too-orange foundation issues.
We should praise her. It’s nice of her to do this. She doesn’t have to do this, you know? She would be fine just being a boozed-up hot mess, strutting around in hot pants and peeing a little while she sings. But she decided to give back. She answered the call! She answered the call and then had a double vodka on the rocks. For the children!
Christina outside of a taping for The Voice a few days ago:
CB covered some of the celebrities-on-holiday photos earlier today (here), but I’m glad she didn’t cover these in the larger post, because I really want to talk about them. Christina Aguilera was photographed in Malibu over the 4th of July with her boyfriend Matt Rutler and her son. It really looks like Christina and Matt were getting their drink on (HARD) and decided to talk a boozy walk on the beach. Yeah. I’ve totally done that. Back when I used to really drink, I once passed out on the beach – it’s completely disorienting to wake up in that environment. Anyway… we haven’t talked about Christina in a while. I think The Voice auditions are going on now, and I saw something about Christina and Adam Levine working together to see who they were going to bring on to the new season of NBC’s latest hit show. So, Christina is kind of working these days. She’s also releasing a new single next month, trying to re-launch her music career on the success of The Voice. We’ll see if it works.
But really, I just want to talk about something completely superficial: how much do you love/hate Christina’s flag cardigan?!?! I’m tempted to say that I kind of love it. It’s the kind of thing you feel comfortable wearing on Independence Day, but you might feel weird about wearing it on other days. It will be interesting to see if Christina wears it ever again. She should! It’s kind of righteous. I do love it, I’ve made up my mind.
Can you believe that Christina Aguilera and Matt Rutler have been together for more than a year and a half? They got together “officially” in late 2010, but they’ve probably been together for more like two years, right? Because they probably got together when she was still married. So, after supporting her production assistant-turned-boy-toy for almost two years, Christina’s boy is starting to get mouthy and demanding, like one of George Clooney’s pieces. Pretty soon Matt Rutler is going to be giving paid interviews to the likes of Hello! Magazine or Grazia and casually dropping the words “commitment” and “marriage” into the conversation. Rutler wants a ring!! Or so says Star Magazine:
Christina Aguilera is in no rush to become a bride again. Her boyfriend, Matthew Rutler, however is “eager to tie the knot,” a source explains. “He’s always saying, ‘Let’s make this official.’ They already live together and he wants some security. He’s basically become her full-time helper… but she’s still getting over her divorce.”
Another big concern? “Christina is bothered that Matthew has no money and no real job of his own,” says the source. “He admitted that if she did agree to marry him, he’d have to borrow money from her to buy an engagement ring.”
Meanwhile, insiders reveal that she’s still flirting up a storm with her fellow judge Adam Levine!
[From Star Magazine, print edition]
I totally think this guy is nothing but a K-Fed, but I also think this is probably the exact gender reversal of whatever George Clooney has. That being said, I do believe Rutler probably earns his keep in ways we can’t even imagine. There’s wrangling a drunken Christina every single night. Babysitting. Cleaning up all of the orange-makeup stains which are on EVERYTHING. “Performing” in bed every time drunk-as-hell Christina wants it. He’s part gigolo, part babysitter, part maid, and part assistant. Basically, she should probably be giving him more money. Or she could just put a ring on it. Maybe that will shut him up.
Yesterday we learned all about Christina Aguilera and Adam Levine’s ongoing feud, which those of you who watch “The Voice” have known about for some time. The show had its finale on Tuesday night, and the drama between two of the judges has overshadowed most of the news about the winner. “The Voice” earns excellent ratings and is going to continue on for a third season, of course. This has at least one of the other two judges, Cee Lo Green, worried about how this is all going to play out when half the panel members can’t get along. I think he’s half-confirming that those stories we heard about shouting and name-calling backstage are true. Aguilera and Levine aren’t just yelling at each other when the cameras are rolling. Here’s more:
“It’s getting a little old and a little inconvenient for everyone,” Green, 37, told Us Weekly of the bitterness between Aguilera, 31, and Levine, 33, which came to a head on Monday’s show when Aguilera slammed Levine’s singer Tony Lucca over a “derogatory” cover of Jay-Z’s “99 Problems.”
Although Green tells Us he was only peripherally aware of the brouhaha that went on behind the scenes regarding Lucca’s song choice, the coach wants the negativity to end — and fast.
“Adam hasn’t come to me and spoken to me [about his issues] and neither has Christina. But whatever it is, I’m hoping that we can get over it,” Green admits. “It’s not something that we should carry over into season three. I want the integrity of the show intact.”
Some of you floated the theory that this whole thing was staged for ratings, but I think that it’s genuine. Aguilera is a narcissistic diva who takes things personally because it’s all about her, and Levine is a jerk who enjoys pushing her buttons.
As for Aguilera’s issue with Levine’s contestant Tony Lucca, who was on The Mickey Mouse Club at the same time she was as a teen, one of their former co-stars told TMZ that XTina and the other young girls on the show were all “in love” with Tony, who was the “alpha male” on the show back then. So that might explain why she gave him such a hard time.
A source tells Hollywood Life that XTina is so difficult on the set, that the crew “hates her.” Hollywood Life has a ton of stories on this, including some exclusive quotes from Lucca that make it seem like he’s their insider source. The crew has supposedly worked out a whole system for dealing with XTina when she gets in a tizzy during rehearsals. This description cracked me the hell up.
“When things get heated — on and off set — the people in makeup have been told to go to Christina and work on her so she doesn’t start complaining or yelling. If she starts carrying on and making a scene [with the other coaches], the people in makeup act like a pit crew and rush to her to keep her quiet.”
This is just what we’ve been hearing from the tabloids, so I don’t doubt it. Their source also claims that they doubt XTina will be around next season. I’m not so sure that’s true, though, when her antics get so much attention. There are plenty more stories on Hollywood Life about XTina, and I won’t bother to recap them all. You can read them here. It’s all about how she’s a nasty piece of work on set. Lucca claims he won’t even get into the same elevator with her she’s so unbearable.
As you probably already know, Christina not only wore a dress on the finale of The Voice that was so precariously low cut it looked like her boobs were about to pop out, she also wore what amounted to studded granny panties. Here are some photos of that, thanks to Hollywood Life.
Christina talks at 3:11 into this video. Adam and Christina start arguing around 4:15. At 4:45 Christina says “I motivated you,” which bolsters this story that “99 Problems” was aimed at her.
None of us are watching “The Voice,” so we all feel a little unqualified to talk too much about whatever is going on with that show. Apparently one of Adam Levine’s contestants, Tony Lucca, sang a rock version of Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” on Monday night’s show. After his performance, judge Christina Aguilera chastised him for singing a song that could be considered derogatory toward women, since it contained the word “bitch,” although NBC made sure the word was edited out before it aired. (Sidenote: bitch should not be a dirty word.) XTina said “Your beautiful wife and your daughter and family are here tonight, and I just thought, you know, the lyrical connotation was a little derogatory towards women, but all-in-all, it was good fun.” Then when Adam tried to explain that the song was about dealing with adversity, Christina spoke up that it was about problems with women and they got into an argument about it, with a lot of cross talking. (That happens at 4:15 in the video above.)
Christina has taken issue with Lucca, a fellow Mouseketeer alum, in the past. Apparently she sort-of knows him from when they both were child stars on The Mickey Mouse show, and Lucca has kept in touch with Justin Timberlake. So any beef she has with him may be somewhat personal for her.
According to Radar Online, Levine had Lucca sing that song as a message to Aguilera for giving Lucca a hard time. Aguilera supposedly was “highly offended” and blew up about it during rehearsals. Adam and Christina got in a big fight, with Adam calling Christina the c-word and Christina demanding Adam be fired. Radar’s source said:
“Adam went right up to Christina and said ‘you’re the biggest f***ing c***. Obviously Christina was appalled and hissed that Adam should be fired. She’s sick of being treated this way.
“Christina is so sick of Adam being looked at as the golden boy of the show. If America knew how disgusting he was, they would be appalled, she always says.”
Anyway this feud is heating up between Christina and Adam Levine, which has been brewing for some time. Christina thinks Adam is trying to annoy her, and given her reaction it’s working. Here’s that story, thanks to Radar Online:
“Adam is making it more about getting at Christina this season and he’s very good at getting under her skin,” a source close to the show exclusively tells RadarOnline.com.
“He comes off as a really great guy, but he’s very smart the way he takes jabs at Christina. Adam’s very subtle and doesn’t use words, just sneaky actions. She is sick of the way she’s being treated and she’s disgusted with Adam.”
“Christina really takes it to heart when Adam does these things. She doesn’t know why he does it, she doesn’t understand why he’s being so mean,” the source says.
Adam and Christina collaborated on the pop hit Moves Like Jagger, and while the source says they used to have a “brother sister relationship,” there is no love lost between the two of them anymore.
“It’s just weird the way Adam is treating Christina. She’s the only girl there and she doesn’t think the coaches should be against each other,” the source tells RadarOnline.com.
You can tell just from the clip of the show above that these two don’t get along. If Adam is deliberately provoking Aguilera, it’s obviously working like a charm. She’s getting her hackles up and responding to him, which is only egging him on. He’s doing it because it gets to her. Two divas trying to work together on a TV show are unable to get along. It’s not surprising.
US Weekly reports that Aguilera has apologized to Lucca for calling him out on Monday’s show. Lucca waxed poetic to US about what he learned from Christina’s criticism on the show. He said “Her criticism for the most part has inspired me and led me to a higher plane than I might not have found otherwise.”
Kelly Osbourne is still talking about Christina Aguilera. Some of you dispute Kelly’s version of events, some of you cosign them, and all I know is that over the past year, this Kelly-Christina War has seemed rather one-sided. As in, Kelly keeps saying bitchy things about Christina and Christina never says anything about Kelly publicly. Kelly has always claimed that Christina used to mock her for being “fat” years ago. After Kelly lost weight and Christina gained weight, the tables were turned and Kelly used her bully pulpit to fat-shame Christina. Well, here’s the latest. Kelly was on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live” and Andy Cohen asked her about Christina. Kelly didn’t go off, surprisingly enough:
From foe to friend? After years of publically feuding with Christina Aguilera, Kelly Osbourne is calling a truce – sort of! During a Plead the Fifth segment on Watch What Happens Live, the Fashion Police host was forced to say three nice things about her rival – and she did.
“You and my girl Christina Aguilera have been in something of a feud,” host Andy Cohen quipped. “Say three nice things about Christina Aguilera.”
“I think she’s looking way better right now, she’s got a great voice and she’s got a beautiful son,” Kelly responded with a straight face.
Aguilera and Osbourne have been at odds for several years, with their famous feud dating back to 2002, when Kelly slammed the singer on The Osbournes TV show.
“Maybe she is just becoming the fat b*tch she was born to be. I don’t know. She was a c**t to me. She called me fat for so many f***ing years,” she continued, “so you know what? F**k you, you’re fat too.”
In April 2012, she refused to relent during an interview with Glamour.
“Sometimes it’s other people’s voices you have to shut out. That’s what happened with me and Christina Aguilera, which people don’t understand. She called me fat for years,” Kelly explained.
“One night on Fashion Police I said, ‘F—k you. Now you’re fat too.’ I didn’t say I wasn’t fat. I said, ‘Now you know how it feels.’ And I’m sorry, but I stand by that. I make a point on the show never to say anything about anybody that I wouldn’t say directly to their face. I’m famous, and she’s famous; it doesn’t mean I can’t stand up for myself.”
Is this Kelly attempting magnanimity? Because it still seems pretty bitchy - “I think she’s looking way better right now.” Not “she looks good.” Whatever.
As for the story about the UK boy-band The Wanted calling Christina a “total bitch” last week… well, some of you seem to think that The Wanted started it all, based on some sketchy information from an alleged insider on The Voice. Maybe The Wanted boys were nasty to Christina first, I don’t know. I didn’t get my panties in a wad over the story because I think Christina IS a bitch, and she owns it, for better or for worse, and I‘ve heard enough stories about her bitchery and drunken shenanigans to know that Christina is not a very pleasant person. Anyway, some of the boys from The Wanted issued a half-hearted apology to Christina, saying: “We shouldn’t have said it to be honest with you. We think manners cost nothing, you know what I mean? The rest of the judges were really nice, and she didn’t even walk over and talk to us. We apologize for the comment.” Okay, that was super-bitchy too! Haha.
My mother watches The Voice, thus, I have to hear all of her thoughts on the judges. She says Cee Lo Green is “creepy” and she likes Adam Levine and Blake Shelton, but she always has harsh words for Christina Aguilera. Considering I’ve never watched the show, I only have one question: what did you expect? Christina is a well-known monster. Every story about her these days involves her narcissism, her boozing, her ridiculous makeup, hair and clothing issues, and her general bitchery. Anyway, a few weeks ago, The Voice had some guest stars on – the UK boy-band The Wanted. I don’t know anything about The Wanted, so don’t ask. I was just watching this video (below) of the boys being interviewed, and they seem just like normal British lads, nothing special, but nothing horrible either. Anyway, during the interview, The Wanted lads claimed that during their appearance on The Voice, Christina was a total bitch to them. Around the 3-minute mark, that’s when they start talking about Christina.
Them’s fightin’ words! British boy band The Wanted performed their new single on The Voice last week–and didn’t hold back when asked about their experience in a recent interview with radio station 92.3 NOW FM.
Judge Christina Aguilera “is a total bitch,” the band’s Tom Parker ranted in the video. “She might not be a bitch in real life, but to us, she was a total bitch. She just sat there and didn’t speak to us. Wouldn’t even look at us.”
“She was quite rude,” his bandmate, Siva Kaneswaran, added. “Who does that?”
Max George–who shared a friendly backstage smooch with Jennifer Lopez when the group recently stopped by American Idol–agreed with his pals’ assessments. “She was a bit scary, to be honest.”
When asked to compare their time on the two shows, George explained, “J. Lo’s hot, Christina’s nothing special.”
The Wanted performed on The Voice the same night Justin Bieber showed up to debut a preview of his “Boyfriend” video–and say Aguilera was equally cold to the “Baby” crooner, making a face as Bieber went in for a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
Aguilera, for her part, denies she snubbed the 18-year-old.
“Haha,” the singer tweeted last Wednesday. “Can’t a girl have a little Bieber Fever after getting kissed by the Biebs?”
Part of this stuff (especially the Bieber thing) is that Christina is being pushed as “the bitchy judge” as a stereotype to get people to hate-watch the show just to see Christina’s latest act of bitchery. Like, people used to watch American Idol just to see Simon Cowell be rude and mean. But another part of it is that Christina’s default setting is pretty bitchy and monstrous. She just doesn’t seem like a nice person. At all. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, and being nasty and rude (and drunk!) has obviously gotten her this far. So whatever. I doubt Christina is losing any sleep over this. And by “sleep” I mean “she passed out after doing two dozen tequila shots.”
