Michael and Prince. Janet and Madonna. Beyonce and Rihanna.
Historically, there are certain names that are consistently paired and often pit against each other in music.
One of the most notable groupings is Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears.
Both were beacons of the late 90’s wave of blonde bombshells who would go on to blow all the way up in the early 00’s – carving out success narratives that still resonate today.
In recent years, their paths have taken very different courses – Xtina into TV and Spears to Las Vegas where her ‘Piece of Me’ residency has proven a hit.
Still, the latter surprised many given that Sin City “had-slash-has” a reputation for being the arena ageing acts go post chart relevancy.
Clearly, it’s a sentiment Aguilera’s manager Irving Azoff seems to subscribe to.
During an interview on Pauly Shore‘s podcast, the legendary industry force shot down suggestion that the ‘Your Body’ singer should embark on a Vegas run like Britney’s.
Find out why below…
Azoff, drawing on the politically correct “with all due respect,” explained his view that – unlike Spears, Jennifer Lopez, and other divas who’ve inked Vegas deals – Xtina hasn’t peaked yet.
Instead her focus is her almost complete new album, a return to The Voice next Spring, and touring her new music worldwide.
Listen to Azoff expand on the matter in his own words below…
Easy as it may be to shoot his comments down (especially following the chart performance of Christina’s last albums ‘Bionic’ and ‘Lotus’), we see where he’s coming from. And, in many ways, agree with him.
Unlike some of her older counterparts, Xtina isn’t quite at the stage of her career where the industry’s unfair age bias would seriously affect her charting ability. A point highlighted by her success with her features on recent hits by A Great Big World and Pitbull.
What’s more, the reality of the matter is that Team Britney were – from we’re standing – almost forced to pursue the residency as a means to spin the fact that she no longer possesses the ability to compete in the modern climate. Hence the smart play to tuck her away in Vegas, market and milk her name, and make her money copious amounts of money in the process.
Christina, on the other hand, still has much of her range and ability to perform when not glued to that lucrative red chair on The Voice.
That said, so as for this Azoff’s words to not come and haunt him at a later date, we just hope he and the rest of Team Xtina have cultivated a potent plan to relaunch her in the music marketplace.
Because, talent and relative youth aside, any more missteps and it may be be hard to ever recover.