With Christina Aguilera‘s latest LP ‘Bionic’ currently no where to be seen on the charts, new reports are suggesting that her long-time label RCA are concerned with the singer’s ‘headstrong’ attitude.
Aguilera, 29, is said to have bumped heads with the label many a time over the direction of the album…an album which went on to become, not only a commercial catastrophe, but the lowest selling of the star’s career.
Full story below…
Via NY Post…
Christina Aguilera’s new album, “Bionic,” is doing so poorly, music insiders say her label RCA is in “rescue mode.”
Sales for Aguilera’s fourth album have barely hit 200,000 in five weeks of release. It debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard charts and quickly fell out of the Top 10. (In comparison, Drake’s “Thank Me Later” sold about 450,000 in its first week.)
The tepid sales come as Aguilera canceled her summer tour, citing inadequate rehearsal time between the album release and the tour dates. Plus, with the release of her sexually charged video for “Not Myself Tonight” — in which she wore bondage gear and kissed women — critics slammed her as a Lady Gaga knockoff.
Music-industry insiders said Aguilera misjudged the market.
Her early albums seemed rebellious and edgy compared with Britney Spears’ and Jessica Simpson’s, but she’s now competing against more avant-garde acts such as Gaga, Rihanna and M.I.A.
In the four-year lag since her last album, “Back to Basics,” Aguilera has had a child, Max. Now, a source said, she “wants to compete with her peers, but there is a disconnect because, over the years, she’s been a mother and a wife, not a rocker.”
Plus, said insiders, Aguilera has not been willing to adapt. “The label has done its part, but she’s headstrong. There have been candid conversations between her and the label about connectivity, but it doesn’t seem that she’s been open to that dialogue.”
An RCA rep denies any panic, saying Aguilera “is a pillar of the RCA Music Group and is an undeniable talent with one of the greatest voices of our time. She continues to push herself as an artist, and we are behind her efforts 100 percent.”
If Aguilera is the pillar of her label, it looks like that ship is set to sink Titanic-style – just like ‘Bionic’ did. Harsh-sounding perhaps, yet I fail to see how selling 181,883 copies of your latest album (total) – after a huge promotional push – equates to being the cornerstone of one’s label. If anything, at this point, for all her talent, Aguilera is pretty much a commercial liability – based on the millions of $$$ wasted on her (good, yet) dead-on-arrival album, as well as the public perception of her (see: unoriginal, catty, unlike-able).
The worst part of the whole sha’bang is that it’s not at all hard to believe that the ‘Dirrty’ singer was ‘difficult’ to work with during the album’s creation. A personal observation of Aguilera, ever since ‘Stripped’ success, is that she has exuded a certain cockiness about her abilities and ear for ‘good music’. However, while I agree she is one of this generation’s premier talents, her musical output has been rather patchy. Yes, her earliest material spawned notable hits, and ‘Stripped’ elevated her to that next level; yet her output since then doesn’t warrant such self-praise. After all, 2006’s ‘Back to Basics’ was drier than toast (with sales to match), and the audio garbage that was the new songs on 2008’s ‘Keeps Gettin’ Better’ compilation are best left forgotten. Not to speak of ‘Bionic’.
Needless to say, RCA will be calling the shots on her next project, which I have a strong feeling will be out much sooner than the four years Aguilera likes to take between albums (they will be looking to regenerate the lost $$$ spent on this LP). Whether folk will be checking for ol’ Chrissy is another story. I guess time will tell…