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Main >> Article ID 11471
 Christina the chameleon | Type: Internet Article |
| | Christina the chameleon | Jan 08, 2009 | by Seto Nu-Wen
 In the volatile music business, image means everything. And pop star Christina Aguilera has learnt how to reap its rewards handsomely.
Female pop singers have always been mistresses of reinvention. Think Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Britney Spears.
But there were those who felt they didn't need it, artistes like Beyonce, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey who depended on their powerful lungs to sell themselves.
Then there's Aguilera - a singer known for her vocal strength but yet, has found the need to constantly recreate her image.
The 28-year-old pop starlet recently released her greatest hits album, Just Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade Of Hits, which is out in stores now.
Here's a look back at her many reincarnations through the years.
2008: MODERN MAMA
As we hit 2009, who knows what Aguilera will do next.
For the current album, the new mother (she gave birth to son Max Liron in January last year) has gone back to her platinum locks but continues to keep us guessing. One minute, she's a space-age babe with a stun gun, helmet and futuristic get-up. The next minute, she's channelling Andy Warhol's pop art with a kooky flair.
At a red carpet appearance in October in London, she surprised many with her nod to the '60s - big bangs, black stockings and psychedelic prints.
Whichever way this talented singer is heading next, you can be sure, her style just keeps getting better.
1999: CUTE GENIE
When Aguilera burst onto the scene in 1999, she was cute with a capital C.
Her self-titled debut was filled with radio-friendly pop tunes like Genie In A Bottle and What A Girl Wants.
And her videos were wholesome fare, where Aguilera flashed no more than a belly button over her prairie skirts and loose jeans.
Perhaps that teeny-bopper image was a legacy of her years on Disney's hit TV show The Mickey Mouse Club, where she sang and danced along with fellow Mousketeers Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.
2001: BIG-HAIRED WOMAN
Perhaps it was to compensate for her petite size.
But in 2001, Aguilera was suddenly all about the hair.
And at every appearance, she seemed to find new ways to experiment with how to enhance the volume of her follicles.
There was her scary poodle look at the 2001 American Music Awards. Then she shot an ad campaign for Versace (right) with teased, emaciated blonde locks.
But her most iconic hair moment was for the video for the song Lady Marmalade. The cover version, sung with Lil' Kim, Pink, Mya and Missy Elliot, was from the soundtrack of the movie Moulin Rouge!
In the video, the singers dolled up as burlesque dancers with fishnet stockings, feather boas and garter belts.
Aguilera, in particular, appeared larger than life, thanks to a hairdo that made her look like a getai extra.
But big hair won the day.
The Lady Marmalade video went on to scoop two awards at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2001, including the prestigious Video Of The Year.
Acknowledging the power of her hair, Aguilera accepted the award saying: 'I guess the big hair paid off.'
The fashion police disagreed. Aguilera appeared on Mr Blackwell's Ten Worst Dressed Women's List twice - in 2000 and 2002.
2002: STRIPPED AND SLUTTY
By 2002, it was time for another change.
This time, Aguilera was facing heat from her chart arch-rival Spears, so she decided to up the sex ante for her second album, Stripped.
And like the album title, she happily doffed her threads.
There was the infamous Rolling Stone cover where she posed naked with just a pair of boots and a strategically placed electric guitar.
Then there was the music video for the first single Dirrty, where Aguilera donned a pair of hot pants and leather chaps, and gyrated in a boxing ring with a bevy of mud-slicked, half-naked dancers.
On her Stripped Tour, she dyed her hair jet black and spent most her time on stage wearing very little.
She later joked to US magazine Maxim: 'We had fun working with certain clothes, or the lack thereof.'
Critics slammed her for trying too hard and being a bad role model. But Aguilera later claimed the sexed-up image was more like her real self than the cultivated teeny-bopper.
2005: OLD-SCHOOL CLASS
Three years after she launched the slutty look, Aguilera did a 180-degree turnabout.
The turning point can probably be traced to her 2005 marriage to her boyfriend of three years, music executive Jordan Bratman.
Around the same time, Aguilera was working on her third album, Back To Basics, where she delved into a more mature sound - old-school soul and '30s jazz classics.
When the album came out in 2006, gone were the hideous leather chaps and slashed bikini tops.
Instead, Aguilera was all sophistication in classy evening gowns and a stylish perm. |
 Source: The Eletric New Paper | |
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