0

Tweet

Christina Aguilera’s Come-bad... I Mean Comeback!

Christina Aguilera is back: the old her is gone, she’s feeling brand new and she wants us to know, that if we don’t like her, we can basically eff ourselves! The music video for Not Myself Tonight, Aguilera’s lead single off of her upcoming album titled Bionic, is exactly what it promises to be: Aguilera, not being herself.

The music video felt like it was just an amalgamation of classic Madonna videos. Not Myself Tonight had an omnipresent S&M, fetishist quality to it due to the latex bondage outfits — which is a direct rip-off of the Human Nature video; but the stylists thought they could cover that up by saturating them in Swarovski crystals (even her nether region had bling!). The collective dancing scenes in front of a cathedral-esque stained glass window were too reminiscent of Like a Prayer. Furthermore, Aguilera standing on top of a steamy staircase equipped with a monocle, whilst the scene cuts to buff shirtless men dancing in the rain is the premise of Madonna’s Express Yourself, is it not? And those weren’t even as awful as the perfume product placement Aguilera slaps us in the face with; gee, I wonder what they smell like... oh that’s right desperation.

Now, it may sound like I just completely threw her — and that lacklustre video — under the bus, but it’s only because I know that she’s capable of something better. What is so disheartening about Aguilera is that she used to be at the forefront of pop music; for example, her music video for Fighter — so avant garde! And now, it feels like Aguilera has digressed, doing things that have been done before and is playing catch up, instead of actually moving forward with her music and vision.

Plus, her image reinventions before each album release just seems so contrived: first, she was wholesome; then she became the girl that could make the women hanging around street corners of Hastings Street blush; then she stole Bette Davis’ Betty Jane persona and was all about retro soul music; now, it’s about that whole Madonna, Lady GaGa dance fusion. I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with reinvention but it has to look organic and effortless to the audience.

So far, Aguilera’s come-back isn’t convincing me that she’s fully tapped into her pop diva prowess just yet. Maybe Aguilera can talk Beyoncé into teaching her a thing or two about being a diva — oh wait... she’s already worked with GaGa, whom she called a man, but who is now more relevant and successful than her!

Come what may, to Christina A., but she’s beautiful; words won’t bring her down — that or she just simply doesn’t give a “OWW!”