Christina Aguilera is on some kind of comeback tour. Literally, she’s going on tour, but also: she wants us to know that she’s back. She’s got new music, she’s not your pop princess, she’s dark and edgy and she loves Kanye West. Kanye produced several tracks on her new album, Liberation, but I don’t know if he had a hand in her first single off of this new album, which was just released this week – go here to see the NSFW video for “Accelerate.” True story: at first I just had this video playing as I was writing and I was like “oh hey, this song isn’t that bad actually!” Then I started watching the video and I had to turn it off. The video is no bueno. She’s trying too hard to be “OMG SEXY.” I’m not saying she has to sit around in a nun’s habit, but I cringed and winced several times just watching 50 seconds. Second-hand embarrassment.
Anyway, Christina also covers the latest issue of Billboard, and this profile isn’t… terrible. She seems sober, which is a good thing, and she seems to be a healthy frame of mind. But I just get the feeling that her comeback isn’t going that well. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
She keeps her house dark like a cave: “I like to keep it pretty moody and vibe-y. I’m not a big daylight girl.”
She longed for freedom after years on ‘The Voice’: “I was longing for freedom.” Coming home from the set, she remembers, “I would just take everything off — the makeup, all of it — and would blast hip-hop, or Nirvana, ‘Creep,’ Slayer. Anything like that to get me out of that zone, that TV mode.”
She doesn’t drive, so this is how she rolls: We call up her assistant, who calls up her driver, who quickly ushers us into an enormous black Escalade with shades for the (heavily tinted) windows. Inside, there’s an ice bucket filled with Tito’s vodka and white wine, which Aguilera refrains from imbibing, because despite how dark she has made it in the vehicle, it’s still only 3 p.m.
She’s a huge Kanye fan: “I’ve always been a huge fan of Kanye. Outside of, you know, his controversial aspects, I just think he’s a great artist and musicmaker and beatmaker. The artists that he chooses to pluck from different walks of life are so interesting.”
When asked if she’d ever return to The Voice: She scrunches up her porcelain face and says she would prefer to discuss “positive things.” Still, she can’t help but delve into what was wrong with the show, which was a lot. “It became something that I didn’t feel was what I had signed up for in season one. You realize it’s not about music. It’s about making good TV moments and massaging a story. I didn’t get into this business to be a television show host and to be given all these [rules],” she continues. “Especially as a female: You can’t wear this, can’t say that. I would find myself on that show desperately trying to express myself through clothing or makeup or hair. It was my only kind of outlet.”
The rest of the interview was just about the music really – very little about her personal life. She’s still with that dude, Matt Rutler, and they’re still “engaged” although she doesn’t wear an engagement ring. She built her tour and promotion around the fact that she’s a mother of two and she needs and wants to be home as much as possible. She seems eager to be back in the industry in a big way, but who knows if this is the album which will get her there.
Photo and cover courtesy of Billboard.
She is so talented but her song choices never quite seem to be current or “right”. Just give us a ballad ! It sucks that Kanye is being shunned when obviously this interview and album happened before this week. Bad timing. I always root for Christina. She looks beautiful in these photos . She seems like she still has her Diva ways. Which I do not really mind
Exactly. Her music always seems a bit “off”.
I agree, with the exception of the songs she did with Linda Perry (Producer/songwriter, famous for fronting 4 Non Blondes) on Stripped. Beautiful was the biggest hit. When that album came out, I remember watching an MTV special about the recording sessions. Their creative and sexual chemistry was so palpable. I’ve since tried to find the special online but no luck.
I agree – her voice is incredible, but I rarely like her music. I also think she’s naturally very pretty, but I don’t really care for her style.
An album of ballads would be great.
Same here. Very talented but not a long of songs appealed to me. I did see her in a few episodes of Nashville and there was one particular song that she sung really well. Nothing extra just straight singing with a guitar. That’s what she should be doing.
She had a song on her “back to basics” album called “save me from myself”. It’s so restrained and delicate and beautiful. I wish she would put out music like that.
But I can’t fault her for making the music that she is into, even if she’s not going to sell tons of records.
Yes, her music is always off. She’s very talented, but not very good at picking music, and what bothers me is that she will always chalk it up later on to feeling “stifled” and not having freedom. I wish she was humble enough to accept she’s not good at picking singles or songs. I’m tired of the way she always complains about something after the fact and it is always the same complaint. At some point you have to take ownership.
I hope her new music is good. I miss her
voice.e
I have a soft spot for Christina.
But I bet she wishes Kanye hadn’t gone off the deep end with his insanely offensive “choice” comment.
No kidding. Kanye is the last name any publicist wants in their clients’ mouths at this moment in time.
Never been a huge fan, but she really never fit in the pop sphere. They tried to make her a Britney, and she could never be an Amy. Ok always root for her HARD.
I thought she handled that question well, though. She essentially implied that she doesn’t always agree with Kanye’s views but greatly respects him as an artist.
Honestly, I thought she comes off well here. What she said about The Voice makes complete sense to me and I can see how she would find that environment creatively stifling.
That single is going to go nowhere and not because of Kanye.
Yeah I mean, I didn’t even know it came out. I do read a lot about pop culture and music and if it slipped past me, it’s probably slipping past most everybody. I think a lot of it is she seems like a relic. Whereas you can associate Britney with a lot of different eras, Christina never seems current.
I like Christina. Although popular I feel that she didn’t get her due, that she could have been a bigger star.
Agreed. I think that they made her out to be the “bad one” to Britney’s “good one” and she ended up not being as played on the radio because of it back in the day. She ended up having to be controversial to get the headlines, instead of being able to just focus on her music to get them.
When did Christina not get played on the radio (until Bionic)? Her first two albums were monster hits.
Christina is always complaining and never points the finger at herself for failed projects. Try having some class and not throw your opinions everywhere. She brings it on herself. What people respect about Britney is she is truly humble and hardworking. You don’t get the body she has overnight and trainers have complimented Britney and JLo just get the job done. Christina just got sloppy and lazy and she didn’t complain when she got the people’s choice awards she was praising Mark Burnett or the checks. Mariah Carey was the 1st choice for The Voice Mark said that himself.
I think the competition with Britney actually made her stay relevant.
Does anyone else get weird vibes from her ‘I’m not a big daylight girl”-routine? This made me wince, too: ‘Inside, there’s an ice bucket filled with Tito’s vodka and white wine, which Aguilera refrains from imbibing, because despite how dark she has made it in the vehicle, it’s still only 3 p.m.’ It feels like the journalist is hinting at substance abuse, right? Weren’t there rumors about her being an alcoholic a while ago?
Eh I don’t know. I’m big on mood lighting in my apartment. When I moved in I changed all the canned lights into pendant lights and got a really beautiful hanging “statement” (if you can call it that lol) light fixture for the dining room. I don’t like daytime or direct overhead lighting because it’s harsh. I’m not an addict or anything–low lighting is just more soothing to me.
Omg, someone like me. My family thinks I’m weird, but I can’t stand overhead lighting…has to come from lamps or pendants as task lighting or ambiance. I’m also not a daylight person, and yeah, I’ve been called a vampire before lol. I live with headaches and migraines and bright sun just kills me, and it’s always hot and sunny here. I keep my surroundings cave-like as well. Dark and cold.
Thirding here, I hate light! I’ve been called a vampire before. I especially have a deep seated hatred for anything fluorescent and I’m always dimming the light at work. I covered all of my windows with UV blocking curtains at home as well. Light… boo hiss!
Fourth! Can I join this vampire coven?
The glare from bright sunlight hurts my eyes. Unless it’s overcast, I always go out in the daytime with sunglasses on. Filtered light is best, so no bare windows. And fluorescent light is the devil.
Me too! My bedroom is like a cavern in the morning. Any light while I’m sleeping is so annoying. I do like lying in the sun. But I have had the lights in my office removed, because fluorescent lighting is so aggravating to me.
Christina has a lot of issues – she always has. She’s just not trotting them out for the reporter.
It’s almost dark here and I just got up, going out for a walk soon.
Chrissyms, I disagree with your characterization of the discussions around Kanye and one station saying they’ll be muting him (but not R. Kelly or Chris Brown) as him being “shunned”. But if that’s what you think, I’ll say that I don’t think it sucks that Kanye is being shunned. It’s fitting.
Sucks for Christina because he produced part of her long awaited album. She is starting the roll out for it. For her it is bad timing.
True. From that perspective I agree with you.
You made it 50 seconds? I barely got past her molesting that glass of milk.
IKR??? That made me LOL, actually. Putting her tongue in it and having a drop of milk dripping from her chin… YEAH, WE GET IT, IT LOOKS JUST LIKE SOMETHING ELSE, WINK WINK, OMG THAT’S TOTALLY HOT.
I was like, oh lord … she’s not … she’s not really going to – ohhhh she’s doing it.
**facepalm**
I had two thoughts about all the tonguing and whatever it was that they dropped on her face. One, filming that must be a drag: “OK Christina, now we’re gonna pour this stuff all over your face, make out with it, have some fun!” –Take 5….Two, how many artists now could just stand up and sing the damn song with nothing else going on, and make it work. I actually think she could. The fault in that is not necessarily with the artists but with what the fans will watch. We’re like a nation of the numbed who just need bigger shocks to even pay attention.
I don’t understand people who openly criticise their employer. I think that should be private, you always learn something from every job.
And it gave her a comeback vehicle, to boot. And so tone-deaf to me; you worked what – 13 weeks a year – and you’re complaining that you felt like a hamster on a wheel and needed freedom?? Bish, most people work 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year, with only 2 weeks vacation.
Exactly, woo-hoo, 13 weeks of her life. The others tour around the show and have put out multiple albums. And the show gave her a vehicle to publicize and push her then new album Lotus and the singles off of it. The response was underwhelming to say the least. She’s just bitter that she didn’t have a fan base behind her and didn’t gain a fan base off of The Voice and everything flopped coming from that album.
Adam and his band got a lot of momentum off of The Voice regarding their music. He has said so. I’m sure it helped Blake. Nada for Christina. And she never tours and hasn’t since I believe 2006. So what fan base she had I think is long thinned out. I remember when she was pushing Lotus, her vocals weren’t great, seemed strained at the high range, and her look felt so dated.
Christina has an amazing voice when she isn’t doing vocal gymnastics that exhaust you listening to her. I loved the ballads off of Bionic. Her voice was sublime. She had tones to her voice I never she she had, because she wasn’t belting the songs out from beginning to end. What a waste of a spectacular voice on this new single. Her voice sounds autotuned, and the song sounds dated actually.
It was easy money. She was not particularly good on the show. Are we sure she was even invited back? I’m not so sure. May be some serious deflection going on here.
I don’t either – unless there were some seriously bad things happening there, I find it best to say “It was fine while it lasted, but I’m done with that chapter now.”
She made $10+ million per season too.
That too.
To be fair, that show seems to be a boys’ club, and they love their backstories. In the end, though, the winning contestants rarely go anywhere. They get locked into a record contract and then dropped when they don’t sell. At least American Idol has started careers and produced artists who go on to win awards. The Voice comes off like a showcase for the judges and not the contestants. Cristina was not a good fit.
I watched The Voice for the first seasons and it quickly morphed into the Adam/Blake douche-bro show. She is right that it didn’t seem to be about the music but which coach would “win” the show and who had a better sob story. That is why I think none of the winners had major success, mostly teen girls voting with Adam because they thought he was hot, or country fans voting with Blake. She was probably not a good fit for that show.
I had read that this season the only bright spot is Kelly Clarkson who actually seems excited to be there and that Adam and Blake are just going through the motions at this point. They really should have rotated those 2 out, their shtick got stale IMO. The show is successful but it goes on too fast, one season ends and the next one begins right away. Maybe if they had a longer season you could focus more on the singers and they might have more success after the show. Sorry, but if my job sucked, I should be able to say so even though I took money for working there. People talk about how their former job wasn’t their favorite all the time.
I do agree her song choices are not always the best, but I have several of her albums and her voice has always been one of my favorites. I could do without all the sexpot stuff, she does not need it, her voice alone could carry her. I think she does take risks musically and they don’t always pay off.
As for the dim house, I can identify. I worked the night shift for 20+ years and I keep my bedroom dark and cave-like. Even now that I don’t work that shift anymore I still like it that way. My sunglasses are also very important to me LOL
The country contestants do though – just not the pop ones. Numerous former contestants have been nominated for country music awards of some sort (Swon Brothers, Cassidy Pope, Rae Lynne and I think there was someone else). They aren’t anywhere near as big as the former America Idol stars, for sure.
What us “normals” know is that you never burn your bridges .
I love RiRi, glad to see her today. I did not see Celine’s thread yesterday…
To the Celine fans, if you want a treat, go to Youtube and type in, African boy sings Celine. He sang without any accompaniments just raw talent, his voice sitting on a step. You will get goose bumps.
That’s cool! Especially since Celine shared it and it went viral, as the video I watched says.
I didn’t make it but 40 seconds into that video. I don’t like that song at all and the “sexual innuendo” needs more innuendo and less try-hard.
She needs to stop messing with her lips. I noticed it in the carpool karaoke – which was great fun to watch – but she can’t even move her face well now that she’s overdone her upper lip. She used to have cute lips and now they are so obviously fake.
didn’t Miley already make this video? and I think I’ve already heard a song exactly like this on the radio..?
Bingo. All I could think of was “that’s so Miley” 2014
I don’t care for Miley at all and even I thought ‘Hasn’t Miley done that video already?’ The up-close filming of her licking stuff and the glitter mouth?
But that might be very typical Christina – always a bit late to the game. She also tries very hard to be sexy. In my opinion she has a great voice but she is not a good performer. It doesn’t come to her naturally and I always cringe watching her perform.
Christina has always tried to hard to be sexy instead of just letting it happen. And considering her history of co-opting black culture, she and Kanye seem like a match made in thirst.
Too late to edit. too not to.
Pathetically bad song, even worse video. I cringed all the way through. WTF?!!? All the tongue was really off-putting & gross. Trying so hard to be sexy, and only achieving “cringey”. And the whole thing just felt so “passé” & out-dated.
My god that video! Way too much sexual innuendo for no reason. It made me cringe. And the song is bad, even though she’s a good singer herself. The other two features were pointless and added nothing to the song. Just the unnecessary need for rap in everything. Aren’t we over that yet?
She’s like Rita Ora in that respect, who has a very good voice but never found her footing, and her image has always been that of a budget singer.
The Voice put her back on the map for a good period of time. Fine if she doesn’t want to partake anymore, but I hate it when actors/singers bash the things that gave them a boost.
She’s another one with low self esteem who isn’t confident in herself. Clearly she doesn’t feel sexy or whatever / so she constantly has to tell people and try to prove how sexy and edgy she is. Meanwhile, most of us can suss out the BS and it just seems forced and lame.
I see this too. She shoves in our faces how sexy and empowered she is, there are even songs telling this in the most didactic way as possible, lol.
Christina is once again trying to force mojo. Part of her problem is that none of her music has come from a really authentic place since Stripped – it’s always a part of an act that she puts on. Back To Basics did it well, but Bionic and Lotus didn’t. She has bad taste when left to her own devices, and I wonder what kind of people she has surrounding her – Christina is pretty famously not so nice.
This. She calls herself an artist, and I believe she doesn’t listen to people. And the result is patchy albums and usually albums a step or more behind what is current. And even her looks have been dated.
Years ago several friends of mine worked on The Voice and one was assigned to Christina as one of her lackeys – the job no one wanted. She was a full-blown narcissistic diva to crazy levels.
Please, tell us more?
xox
She is extremely talented but always tries to damned hard! I loved Dirrty but I always felt like she was trying to one up Britney. She never needed to one up anyone, the girl is as talented as they come. Her song choices have sucked in forever. She needs to embrace her talent (as does Mariah Carey) and stop trying to be relevant in a pop world. She could be Adele, she could be Celine Dion. They have huge fan bases without trying to be something they aren’t.
She was one upping Britney long before Madonna had her panic attack over Lady GaGa. But Madge got over it and Xtina still uses this as her brand while Britney whimsically dances in her rented Vegas desert mansion with her once beautiful face all sliced up. This world is f–ked.
Her face is morphing into Julianne Hough.
christina is the human version collab of julianne hough and chrisppy.
Just watched the video, omg that part with the glass of milk….nooo. I’m not even offended, it just looked silly.
I wasn’t offended either. I was just embarrassed for her.
oh please. she is that TV mode.
She has a musical instrument that is a great gift – her voice. I get the vibe that she has no clue of who she is because she tries to morph into other performer’s images. (Anyone else get a strong Gigi Hadid vibe from the earlier photo yesterday?) Anyway, I wish her all the best in a tough industry.
She tries hard to be sexy just like Taylor Swift used to try on the adorkable pop princess. Almost all those mainstream pop singers force an image, that’s why I love so much Adele, Janelle Monae and Corinne Bailey Rae.
So. Much. Tongue.
I’ve been a fan since Stripped, but I agree with most of the comments about her never really finding a clear musical direction. Lotus was a good album, but she put out bad singles and she looked terrible during that period. The new song is okay, but the video is absolutely awful. You’d think she’d learn at some point that putting out overly sexualized videos does not work for her (Dirty, Bionic, Your Body). And of course this song comes out while Kanye is making enemies left and right. She just can’t catch a break!
I hope she spills some more tea when it comes to The Voice. It’s definitely a boys club. Didn’t they fire her??
I didn’t care for the song. The video was AWFUL. I will say this, though, she looked pretty in the ‘normal’ parts of the video. I never think of her as very pretty, but maybe it’s how she always tries to look so outlandish – totally her prerogative, but I don’t think she carries it off well. She looks better with a more natural look.
The song just sounds like it is badly produced
Drank her $, now needs moreeeee
In the words of Peter Griffin about Xtina, “You look like if I touched you, you’d be sticky. And frankly, you smell bad. You are pretty much offensive to all 5 senses…. like salty garbage.”
I think Peter #NailedIt !
She seems cursed with her comebacks. Kanye is a bad choice of the moment.
At first she was lesser known that Britney but way more talented. Now she seems so irrelevant, it’s a pity… It’s also clear she doesn’t feel sexy but tries way too hard to prove herself. Oh well… What did go wrong? Beautiful, Fighter, quite a few great songs…