With a career spanning over a decade, Christina Aguilera remains one artist whose life and music remain just as topical today as they were when she first started out.
Enjoying her fair show of highs and a number of unforgettable personal lows, to say her public image has been bitter/sweet would be an understatement.
Loved by many, loathed by some, we here at That Grape Juice want to know.
Is Christina Aguilera the performer people just love to hate?
Some time after her debut, well publicized reports surrounding Ms. Aguilera‘s mean girl-esque character began to turn her into the perfect foil for Britney Spears, who although was slowly begin to sex things up at the time, was still heralded as being the ultimate All American Girl.
In time, Christina became the Elphaba to Spears’ Glinda.
The Rosie O’Donnell to her Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
Though it was clear to all that Aguilera was twice the artist Britney could ever be, vocally and creatively, it was becoming apparent that even at her worst Ms. Spears was always going to be the people’s favorite.
So she played it up, replacing ‘Christ‘ with an ‘X‘ to become ‘Xtina‘ and seemed more than happy to play the role the media had written for her.
Her ‘Stripped‘ era served to solidify her status as Pop’s wild card.
Enlisting the help of Linda Perry to help recreate the magic that was Pink‘s ‘M!ssundastood‘ , the LP spawned the cuts ‘Beautiful‘ and ‘Can’t Hold Us Down‘ .
Though it won her critical acclaim, her bold new stance came at the expense of her persona which in turn affected the success of its lead single, ‘Dirrty‘ .
Peaking at #48 on the Billboard Hot 100, its lack luster run on the chart was used to justify the wave of negative press both the song and its supporting video began to receive from all corners of the press.
Fast forward to 2008, after enjoying the success of the ‘Back To Basics‘ era two years earlier Ms ‘Candy Man‘ was readying the release of ‘Keeps Gettin’ Better‘ Greatest Hits Album.
All was going well, until this happened:
This person was just brought to my attention not too long ago. I’m not quite sure who this person is, to be honest. I don’t know if it is a man or a woman. I just wasn’t sure.
That ‘person‘ was of course Lady GaGa, who although at the time was yet to become the household name she is today, already had a increasingly loyal fan base.
Who of course didn’t take too kindly to her comments:
Thus, in what can only be described as history repeating itself, Christina was once again billed as the evil stepsister, spewing shade and jealousy to another blonde more promising than she was.
Unable to shake this image came at the expense of her LP ‘Bionic‘ which saw her status as one Pop’s leading innovators tarnished by claims of irrelevancy and a desperation to compete with a woman she claimed she had never heard of.
Failing to impress both on a commercial and critical front, the album saw the belter come under fire like never before and was ultimately forced to end its campaign after three singles.
Though her stint on ‘The Voice‘ has helped to soften her image, even after a run in with the law sometime before it began airing, we want you to weigh in.
Has Christina been unfairly cast as The Wicked Witch Of Pop Music?
Or are bad career decisions and a questionable attitude to blame for a public image that has taken it fair share of embarrassing blows.