Aguilera opened up a new vein of controversy in Autumn 2003 by viciously attacking fellow teen-pop musicians. She told Blender magazine, "Look at people like Beyoncé or Britney. They're desperate to come across as sweet, good little girls, but then you see them in photo shoots that are extremely sexual—tight little booty shorts, and not much else. So why do they try to be virginal in interviews?" Concerning her most formidable rival, Britney Spears, she claimed, "These people aren't artists; they're just performers—fake and superficial...I was up for kissing Britney, but Britney wasn't. She was....she seemed very distant, even during rehearsals. Every time I tried to start a conversation with her—well, let's just say she seemed nervous the whole time. I wanted to reach out to her, because I feel she needs somebody in her life right now to help guide her."
In a January 2004 interview with ZOO Magazine, it was revealed that Aguilera is possibly gay or bisexual. In the interview, she said that she enjoys kissing women, and that looking at women arouses her more sexually than looking at men. "I love to see a girl with a good booty," she said.
Aguilera decided to take on a more mature image; this move was widely praised by critics everywhere, who used punchlines like "from crass to class". She eventually dyed her hair cherry blonde. Aguilera recorded a jingle, "Hello", for a Mercedes-Benz ad, and became the new face of Mercedes-Benz. Shortly after, she dyed her hair blonde and cut it short, and took on a Marilyn Monroe look; she is believed by many of her fans to be one of the front-runners of the bringing back of the old Hollywood look trend, along with Gwen Stefani and Ashley Judd. She also appeared at the MTV Video Music Awards to premiere her new single with Nelly.
Christina Aguilera hosted Saturday Night Live on February 21, 2004. She was praised for her impersonation of Kim Cattrall's Sex and the City character Samantha. Then, in April, Christina was forced to cancel her upcoming US summer tour. Many critics shouted that the tickets were selling poorly and therefore Christina decided to cancel it. But Christina struck back that it was because of her doctor's instructions to rest her strained voice. Later, Christina admitted that the real reason for cancelling the tour was because she didn't like the set-up. She said it was too much like the "Stripped" tour and didn't see any point in doing another tour exactly the same.
In the run-up to the 2004 election, Aguilera was featured on billboards for the "Only You Can Silence Yourself" online voter registration drive run by the nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign, Declare Yourself.
In late summer, she released, almost consecutively, two singles. The first one, "Car Wash", was taken from the soundtrack of the hit movie Shark Tale which flopped. It is a collaboration with popular rapper, Missy Elliott, and is a cover version of Rose Royce's disco hit. The second is also a collaboration, but this time as a second single from one of Nelly's double release albums, Sweat, titled "Tilt Ya Head Back". Both singles flopped in US, but did considerably well in other parts of the world; the latter reached number 1 in a few countries like Philippines. "Tilt Ya Head Back", formerly rumored to be "Tilt Cha Head Back", was well-received in the US at first, but quickly deteriorated mainly due to its lack of radio appeal. "Tilt..." recently turned platinum in Australia, for selling over 40,000 singles, while "Car Wash" was Gold for selling only 25,000 copies of the single.
After much delay, Christina's first live recording DVD was released in November, excluding her performance of Make Over. In late December, she officially released a new perfume, Xpose, which has only been available in a few selected European countries not being accepted worldwide. Stripped also reappeared on the UK and Ireland album charts throughout the course of 2003 and 2004, mainly during Christmas.
James David says: Mother Jones?s Torture Playlist includes the music used in American military prisons to torture detainees, and ranges from Christina Aguilera to Sesame Street. Using address labels - sized 2.25? x 0.75? - you can affix these stickers I designed to CDs in your local record shop and make a small political statement about state violence. I?ve developed the stickers below to raise awareness about this form of torture. There's a copyright-free PDF available at the suggested website link. US Gov't torture playlist stickers (Groundswell Collective) UPDATE: Please don't put these stickers on CD cases unless they belong to you. As many people have pointed out in the comments, the artists didn't say their songs could be used to torture, and the record stores don't need the hassle. Previously on Boing Boing: ? Torture playlist...
Published: Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:41:04 GMT - Source: Boingboing.Net - Read the article
