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Main >> Previous Updates >> December 2003 >> Article ID 3368
 The Portland Mercury Anticipates Xtina's Upcoming Concert | Type: Internet Article |
| | Lady Sings The Blues; Xtina is Better Than You Think | Jun 05, 2003 | by Andrew Miller
 In its cover story on Avril Lavigne, Entertainment Weekly dubbed its tomboy subject the "Anti-Britney," a dubious tag that, to her credit, she shrugged off vigorously. "It's stupid," she said. "She's a human being. God, leave her alone!" Lavigne also reserved peculiarly parental concern for Christina Aguilera, four years her senior. "Poor girl," she confided, after expressing her precocious disgust at Aguilera's "Dirrty" video.
Poor Christina, indeed, but Lavigne's pity is misplaced. What's unfortunate is that this torch-jazz vocalist could reduce Norah Jones to cinders. Instead, she wastes her work on horny dudes who watch her videos on mute, and mall-addled teens who didn't get the "Billie Holiday? I love him!" joke in Clueless.
"Walk Away," a strikingly soulful non-single from Aguilera's Stripped, and "At Last," a brilliant Etta James cover, rank with the most riveting renditions of blues or jazz compositions in recent memory. Yet these glimpses of Aguilera's inner Ella are as frustrating as they are riveting, given that she often opts for less compelling material.
Apparently, America narrowly missed out on a very different brand of phenom. "Billie, Etta, and Ella were Christina's idols," says Shelly Kearns, Christina's mother. (For someone who sifts through 1,000 fan letters a day, many of which are undoubtedly dirrty, Kearns is unfathomably friendly.) "She's loved their music since she was in elementary school."
However, the opportunity to become a complete-package performer--singing, dancing, video-vamping--proved more alluring than a stationary spot at a jazz-club mic. Early returns weren't promising; as far as debuts go, her self-titled disc was more Debbie Gibson than Stevie Wonder.
Though Stripped, on which she co-wrote most of the tracks, marks a positive step, Aguilera still suffers from inclusion in dramatic press-release statements: "In a world where Christina Aguilera is considered a serious vocalist, real talents like [Nü-metal Band X] don't get a fair shake.'" But barring a Mariah-style breakdown, Aguilera will outlast the supposedly more credible acts on the other side of these comparisons. She'll also produce one or more true classics--a daunting assignment for ostentatiously compassionate upstarts such as Lavigne. |
 Source: The Portland Mercury | |
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