Christina Aguilera‘s latest album, the long-awaited ‘Liberation,’ may have been met with critical acclaim galore, but – to date – that fanfare has not been mirrored commercially. Debuting at a respectable top 10 position on the Billboard 200, this week saw the ‘Accelerate’-led project accelerate down the charts at the pace of a whopping 92-spot drop.
And, while the songstress is undoubtedly hoping the set (her first studio album to hit the charts without a top 40 single preceding it) picks up steam after she hits the road in its support (click here for dates), she’s here to remind fans that she is past the point of ‘chasing charts.’ Taking to the LA Times to dish on how her artistry has taken precedence over commercial acclaim, her statements came just days before rumors began swirling herhome, RCA, had dropped the Grammy winner after a string of failed projects.
Now, reps from Aguilera’s camp are looking to silence that claim. Details inside:
Xtina on commercial expectations for ‘Liberation’:
“It is an amazing thing whenever things are commercially received and successful. I’ve had those successes with ‘Genie in a Bottle’ and ‘What a Girl Wants,’ and I was still miserable because I wasn’t connected to the music and wasn’t being able to change it,” she explained. “I’ve done my share of that and I see a lot of artists get into that trap of chasing the charts. After I’m dead and gone, I really want the music paid attention to and not because of where I charted or how commercially successful it was but because the quality has stood the test of time.”
She went on to state:
“Because I am a real vocalist, I have always heard, ‘Why don’t you just stand and do a bunch of ballads?’ That’s just one element of what I do, but it’s not everything. I would be so bored if I sat on the stage and just sang ballad after ballad.”
Aguilera on why ‘The Voice’ was a bad environment:
Look, everybody has their own experience, and I don’t want to devalue anyone’s own experience with any of those shows. As an artist, I believe in artists being able to express themselves how they feel they should. Just know there’s a lot of other people involved in those shows. Certain factors and things are dictated according to what ratings will be. It’s definitely a business. I also saw blatant things that I didn’t think were okay and that I’m sure no one would want to put up with in a work environment. It was important for me to step away. [source]
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The story above made its way onto the net just days before rumors began circulating about her being dropped from her longtime label home RCA. A spokesperson confirmed to our friends at GossipCop the alleged firing ‘is not true.’ Click here to read that full story.