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Main >> News Listing >> June 2004 >> Article ID 5120
 Christina: Growing Up and Away | Type: Internet Article |
| | 4 (non) Blondes | Jun 10, 2004 | by Malcom Mayhew
Once, Britney, Christina, Jessica and Mandy were barely distinguishable pop stars. Now each is showing her true colors.
Five years ago, the only ones who could tell them apart were, possibly, their parents. Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Mandy Moore and Jessica Simpson looked alike, sounded alike and even acted alike. Same hair color (blond), same music (fluffy, innocuous pop), same videos (looked like workout tapes).
Half a decade later, however, each has not only managed to stick around -- a feat unto itself in pop music -- but also to strike out in her own direction. Who'da thought?
Jessica Simpson
Age: 22
First time we saw her: August 1999 at a "coming-out" party at the Gypsy Tea Room in Dallas, where the Richardson-based singer performed a three-song set to local music-industry types to inaugurate the arrival of her debut, Sweet Kisses. We yawned until she broke into the ballad, I Wanna Love You Forever. Even the cleaning crew stood dumbfounded; the girl can sing.
Flashback: Simpson had moderate success with Kisses and Forever. Her biggest moment, perhaps, was opening for Ricky Martin at Madison Square Garden. Unfortunately, the show is memorable to her for another reason: She ripped her leather pants onstage. Thankfully, mom was handy with another pair of pants.
Road she took: Jessica Simpson got lost in the blonde blitzkrieg and was pretty much a wash until she appeared in another medium, television, first with a recurring role on That '70s Show and then on Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica, her reality program with husband Nick Lachey. As a result of the show's popularity, sales of her latest disc, In This Skin, have been boosted.
Hair is she now?: The only one who has stayed blonde.
Current project: Besides Newlyweds, Simpson is hawking edible body creams called Dessert Beauty. What she says about the Deliciously Kissable Lip Fragrance Gloss: "The best … never sticky, and my lips look full and taste sweet. Makes your breath nice, too."
ABC recently rejected her sitcom. But rumors are that she'll star in the big-screen version of The Dukes of Hazzard as, of course, Daisy Duke.
Simpson will be in town July 10 at Smirnoff Music Centre in Dallas.
Britney Spears
Age: 22
First time we saw her: Dec. 30, 1998, opening up for 'N Sync at the Bronco Bowl in Dallas. We were so clueless about her impending success that we profiled the other opening act, Bewitched. Talk about missing the boat.
Flashback: With the success of her debut, 1999's … One More Time, Spears led the teen-pop revolution of the late '90s. The Spice Girls might have left the door ajar for her, but Spears kicked it open, wearing both high heels and sneakers, preaching the values of abstinence while at the same time sexily cavorting on MTV.
Road she took: Unlike Aguilera, Simpson and Moore, Spears can barely sing. She has made up for it, though, becoming the most controversial female pop star since Madonna. Men's magazine FHM this year voted her the world's sexiest woman.
Hair is she now?: Back in March, London's Evening Standard reported that Spears had been spotted with brown hair, though photos this month showed her back to platinum blond.
Current project: Criss-crossing the country on her Onyx Hotel Tour, which, during the song Breathe on Me, features Spears performing "raunchy bed-based gyrations," according to a review of one of her British concerts.
She'll be here Aug. 2 at Smirnoff Music Centre in Dallas.
Mandy Moore
Age: 20
First time we saw her: June 2000 when she played pop radio station KISS FM's KISS Party with Bon Jovi. So unimpressed, we went and got a Coke.
Flashback: Moore wasn't even old enough to drive when her first record, the falsely named, dance-pop disc So Real, came out. Hoping to capitalize on the Britney boom, her record company re-released it a year later and changed her image from innocent to not-so-innocent.
Road she took: Moore wasn't having any of it. Not only did she change her hair color, she switched career paths, focusing on films (A Walk To Remember, How To Deal) rather than music. When it came time for her to do a new record, she freaked everybody out by putting out Coverage, an all-covers disc made up of rock/folk renditions of songs by Elton John, Carole King and Joni Mitchell.
Hair is she now?: To avoid getting tagged a Britney clone, she whacked off her hair and painted it dark brown.
Current project: Her latest movie, Saved!, opens tomorrow.
Christina Aguilera
Age: 23
First time we saw her: We dogged her in August 1999, when she performed at a radio station festival at Six Flags Over Texas because she appeared to be lip-syncing. There was a very weird moment when she walked offstage: She needed a hit from an oxygen tank; we didn't ask.
Flashback: Aguilera's first single, Genie in a Bottle, was typical teen pop but huge, putting her in direct competition with onetime friend Spears. For a while, the two were as competitive as they were interchangeable. There still exists a McCartney/Lennon conflict between the two, only the question isn't talent as much as: "Who's hotter?"
Road she took: Of the four, Aguilera's the one who made a serious bid to be a singer. Yes, she has changed her look more times than Marilyn Manson, and with each image change, it seems, fewer and fewer clothes are involved. Underneath the hair spray and makeup and flimsy pop music, a pretty decent voice is begging to get out.
Hair is she now?: Black. Er, brown. Um, strawberry. Well, what day is it?
Current project: Recovering from vocal strain; because of it, she had to ax her Stripped Tour, which included a May 29 Dallas show. Guess she has more time now to color her hair. |
 Source: Star-Telegram | |
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