I just don’t get it!
I don’t understand why in the world would people try to lambaste Christina Aguilera for the supposed “attempt to copy Lady Gaga” with her new single “Not Myself Tonight” and upcoming album “Bionic.“
image courtesy of www.holamun2.com
It’s not secret. I adore Christina Aguilera. I have blogged about her so many times. I have a copy of all her albums. I even started saving for the first time in my life just to see her on concert (the Manila leg of her Back to Basics tour). Beautiful is probably my all-time favorite song. She’s really one of the best singers (or artists) out there. She has been since Genie in a Bottle, over a decade ago.
Don’t get me wrong. I love Lady Gaga to pieces, too. Been a fan since Just Dance. My Most Played lists on iTunes and Winamp have her songs. I even have all her music videos on my iPod.
But the comparisons are just absurd.
Today, a Christina Quote is all over the net. It was from an interview in which she addressed this comparison.
“It just comes with the territory. That, in particular, is not even worth wasting the breath to comment on. I’ve been around for over a decade and I think my work speaks for myself.”
And now people are saying how conceited she is, how highly she thinks of herself, what kind of copycat she has become, whatsoever. But man, it’s true. She’s been around for years. And it was only brought up because the DJ asked her about the negative things Akon had to say about her. It’s just sad people never mentioned that. I actually believe it’s a tactful response to the question.
So here, I prepared a list of questions and accusations commonly thrown at Christina with some of my answers.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: Christina Aguilera was out of the music scene for so long sitting her ass off. And now she’s back out of nowhere with the same look and sound as Lady Gaga’s. What’s up with that?
A: What’s up with you? Are you on drugs? She got pregnant! She friggin’ delivered a baby. Of course she would stop for a moment, rest until her vagina healed, spend time with her son and build a family. You know why? Because that’s what people do. It’s not all about fame and glory. That bitch has a heart.
And besides, she’s been doing a film called “Burlesque!”
Also, Aguilera is known for taking too much time preparing for one album. And if you ask why, go ask the Grammy’s why they nominated Stripped and Back to Basics for Best Pop Album.
Q: So what? She still copied Lady Gaga’s music and stole her look!
A: As early as 2008, when she was on Back to Basics tour, she was already very vocal about the theme of her next album, which was still untitled then. She would go to the completely opposite direction of Back to Basics, which is a blast from the past. She declared she would be doing pop again (since Back to Basics sounded like a pop-R&B crossover).
Q: Why does she have to do electronic pop? Not because Lady Gaga made electropop popular, she can sound exactly the same.
A: First of all, Not Myself Tonight doesn’t sound anything Lady Gaga has done, at least for me. Second, is it illegal for anyone other than Lady Gaga to do electronic music? She doesn’t own it. She didn’t invent it. Electronic pop is a music genre. And it is a genre because there are an awful lot of people doing it. It’s in the same way, Amy Winehouse and Duffy are in the same genre. Whitney Houston and Celine Dion are in the same genre. Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias, too. Electronic pop has been around for so long. Janet Jackson‘s music has elements of it in her songs. Britney Spears, too. Heck, Kesha, too. And Black Eyed Peas. And Justin Timberlake. So I don’t see why people are picking on Aguilera.
You see, every now and then, a specific genre rises and enjoys new or renewed popularity. For example, Britney Spears revived teen pop. Taylor Swift gives a few taps to country music. Ricky Martin resurrected the Latin movement. Jennifer Lopez brought the whole craze about the rap-sung collaborations (I’m Real) onto the spotlight way back.
The thing is, if the genre you are gonna enter is already up there, it’s just a matter of injecting your own flavor to it and spin it your way. The Black Eyed Peas integrated rap to it. Lady Gaga fused it with her eccentric moves and fashion sense. Christina will twist it with her amazing vocals. It’s not every day that we hear belting in an electropop track.
But Lady Gaga should take credit for taking this genre to higher mainstream grounds. I love her for that.
Q: Why does she have to change her image and type of music? Christina has her own genre. Is it because electronic pop and Lady Gaga are hot now?
A: What are you, 12 years old? I have news for you. Christina Aguilera changes how she packages herself and her type of music every time she has an album out. It’s a reinvention so fans would not grow tired of her. She was a teeny bopper in her Genie in a Bottle days, a dirrty beautiful fighter-bitch during the whole Stripped stint, and she tried jazz and soul in Back to Basics era as a tribute to her major influences. Now, she’s going futuristic. That’s the thing about Aguilera that you have to understand, she wants to do it all. Just so happened that she picks electropop for her next album.
Q: She’s now trying to pull off a “naughty” image like Lady Gaga, Pink and Katy Perry. Not Myself Tonight has a lyric saying “I’m kissing all the boys and all the girls.” What’s with following the trends?
A: Dude, ever heard of Dirrty? The single that kind of flopped miserably in the US but was a huge success in other parts of the world? If Dirrty isn’t naughty for you, listen to Nasty Naughty Boy in her Back to Basics album. Or, Lady Marmalade!
Here’s the funny thing. When Aguilera came up with Stripped, she took a major risk. She changed her image so abruptly everyone was caught off-guard. They said she was “too naughty,” “too liberated,” “too dirrty.” No one could understand what she was doing until she launched Back to Basics.
Now Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, etc are doing exactly the same thing and people are embracing it. Funny, now that Not Myself Tonight got a little kinky with the lyrics, people say Aguilera is copying everyone else! Wow.
Q: The moans in Not Myself Tonight are annoying. Is she ripping Britney off?
A: Gawd, Britney isn’t the only one allowed to moan in a song. Again, listen to Nasty Naughty Boy.
Q: I bet she’ll dress up freakishly like Lady Gaga does. What do you say?
A: I have nothing to say. But I have something to show you. The following video was Christina Aguilera hosting the MTV Europe Music Awards. If her outfit here isn’t freakish for you, I don’t know what is. And note, this was in 2003. That thing you expect her to do in the future? Aguilera has done that already.
By the way, that’s just Part 1 of 6. Go look for the remaining five parts.
Q: Why did she pretend she didn’t know Lady Gaga in an interview in 2008 when she stole her style for the promo for Keeps Getting Better?
A: For all you know, she may really not have known about Lady Gaga then. Even Gaga said that controversial statement put her on the map because she was relatively unknown in the business. I’m not sure I buy Christina’s statement but come on, that was like two years ago. It’s 2010. Lady Gaga is famous now and Obama is now president. Move on.
Q: Why do I still hate her?
A: Maybe because you’re a hater. If that’s the case, then nothing I say will ever make a difference.
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I agree, you cannot compare christina and lady gaga, there are lots of difference particularly in their achievements. Besides, Christina is already an institution in the pop music, ok lang kung kay britney nila kinompare si christina because they are in the same era.
i have nothing against christina’s talent. the girl can sing and perform
why is she an underdog in the business?
well she mostly makes bitchy comments regarding co-artist when she releases an album.
also, she releases albums in huge gaps, and seems to try to fit in on what’s “uso”.
she sometimes oversings
lastly, it seems like she doesn’t commit to the changes she tries every album genre, i know madonna was able to pull that stint but in christina’s case, parang lumalabas na wala syang sariling image.
this is just my opinion
i still love some christina music.
I love Lady Gaga to bits, like I know that she’s one of the most intelligent pop artist we have, but i must agree that no one can compare Christina to Lady Gaga, as much to compare Lady Gaga to Britney Spears. Like, they are all around the scene even before Lady Gaga thought of doing pop music. Kung baga nandun na sila sa level na sa palagay ko, hindi pa abot ni Lady Gaga.
Lady Gaga’s style was all around na for a longer time. Bago pa man pumutok sa kasikatan si Gaga, may mga weird outfits na ding sinusuot si Rihanna. Electropop na rin ang genre ni Britney. Robotic ang mga damit ni Beyonce. O kung gagawin nating mas-OA pa, Tina Turner.
) Pero siguro na-establish lang talaga ni Lady Gaga na ganon ang image niya since pag lumalabas siya at halimbawa, kumakain sa labas or something, ganon pa rin ang suot niya.
Anyway, about Christina’s move, I guess medyo nahuli na nga siya when we talk about the boom of the electopop genre during the late 2000s. Actually, her Keeps Gettin Better single off her greatest hits was already late. Kaya naja-judge siya for this issue ng copying. Personally, bilang very impressed ako kay Christina lalo na sa Back to Basics album niya, sana she geared towards the other side of “Modern” and “Weird”, not that side where Lady Gaga is. Kasi andami na nilang nandun. Lady Gaga, Beyonce. Christina is supposed to be somewhere above there, ahead of them. Hahaha.
So to sum that up, Christina and Gaga is not on the same level. Mas mataas si Christina talaga. And also I’m practically not a fan of Christina’s look and sound for this recent album. But I wont love her less because of that.
I LOVE YOU! WELL SAID! ISA KANG ALAMAT! I agree, I agree, I strongly agree.
)
They are two of the most talented female singers ever. I love the way they sing, perform, dress up and write songs!
Those who are saying that Xtina’s copying Lady Gaga doesn’t really know what Xtina’s sound is like. Dirrty… Filthy… Nasty
Btw, Stripped is my top favorite music album ever.
Love them both, but errr no serious comparisons, please!
love this yoshke
Amen to that. Gag Lady 12 y.o. fans take note!
Boy you are wrong about Jennifer Lopez bringing the rap-sung craze. Mariah Carey pioneered that in 1995 with the Fantasy Remix feat. ODB.
hello. funny you mentioned Mariah, I was just watching her performance of We Belong Together on MTV Movie Awards on Youtube. God, she’s just so great.
Anyway, yes I believe Mariah could have started the rap-sung collaboration thingum. I agree.
But I think, it was J.Lo that gave it a new life and popularity with I’m Real. I could be wrong though, I’m not sure. But as far as I remember, it was J.Lo who ruled the charts then along with Ashanti et al.
I hope I’m wrong though. I love Mariah. J.Lo, not much.
i love you for loving mariah as well!
hehehe
it’s just sad that mariah even jlo has less airplay these days in US radio.
and i <3 we belong together. hehehe
Kudos!
Nice one.
christina and lady gaga is incomparable….they are really different..they’re just both pretty.
I also don’t get the comparisons except that, to me, they sorta look like sisters.
oh well, I’m not obsessed fans of the two, but I love Christina Aguilera, her voice… gaad.
so much crazy fans out there who if they don’t like the artist, they hate ‘em.
tsk.
hey im a huge fan of christina,xtina or baby jane..her songs really worth listening..every album has its own image..like on her genie in the bottle are”she’s such a sweet girls back then ” but she suddenly broke the wall of being an innocent and reinvent herself as dirrty..and many folks out there sayin she’s copying brit cuz brit was the first pop boomer who did sexy image..but look at lady marmalade,,she’s starting to become a naughty there.and stripped is the most adorable album..nothin i can say but excellent!..she’s putting her feelings,emotions in some of her songs there such as walk away,beautiful ,impossible..when it talks about dirrtyness thing in music and videos,,christina is great too..in her 2006 back to basics,,she did a two image there..first the marilyn monroe inspired look(which is her heroine according to her)and a circus theme which britney used in her circus album..and when christina released decades of hits:keeps gettin’ better she did a robotic sounds which affected her image , so she reinvent herself again..but instead,,people criticized her just because of a new comer who supposed to be not in the industry if it was not in christina’s name..yeah im talkin bout gaga..you know guys,,gaga is good yeah but the thing that she made her famous is because of her ‘weird’ and ‘idiotic’ dresses..she have to make herself like a fool to have some attention…and now tina’s back..lets see who will rule the music industry!
look! lady gaga has nothing to do whit art and music! her songs will be long forgothen in 2 years, as same as her! christina didn’t copy her, she was whit the bionic style before lady gaga was whit poker face(the song super girl)! so gaga its just a pupet! everybody love christina aguilera cause she has spirit and a great voica! gaga is a piece of junk like all her outfits and music.
real artist like aguilera shouln’t be compared whit sluts like gaga that shows her vagina in a music video!
lady gaga yeaaaa
Would this article have anything to do with Christina’s damage control PR team? What’s with the FAQ?
i love christina so much and i must say n her every album worths tlga. she’s a real genius and i heard bionic and asteeg ang mga kanta. mgaganda. mlalaman mo n pnaghirapan tlga not like other artist n bsta mkpagrelease lng ng album. u all should buy BIONIC. 100% satisfaction guaranteed
they both have own originality!!
Haha.. I’ve always liked Christina.. I liked her better than Britney before… (late 90′s ba or early 2000′s?, when people were like Team Britney or Team Xtina. But i like britney too.. i just like Christina’s voice and songs more.) She has a lovely voice and her song don’t need too much editing just to sound good. And she has been flexible and hard working. I don’t know what’s with people who compare celebrities in a bad way. I never got to understand their point.
See, this article was going all right for me personally, until I noticed the FAQ.
Your argument would have been better if you didn’t degrade everyone that said something against Christina Agulera. I’d like to hear more about this from someone that has a neutral standpoint, not an avid Christina Agulera fan.
Personally, I haven’t seen a time when Christina wasn’t just going along with the crowd. I’m pretty neutral about her in regards to her music, I don’t see what is so great.
When you look at pop culture, and some of the music released by artists pior to her releases, you notice some similarities. When Pink and the Dixie Chicks performed a song slandering what former President Bush was doing, you notice that Christina (along with others, she’s not alone) started taking on a serious tone, and “Beautiful” was born.
I’m not here to slander Christina, but besides her cookie cutter songs she’s released throughout the years, she’s really contributed nothing noteworthy. And that same thing goes for other pop artists, who take whatever’s relevant and put a little glitter on it to make it look like they’re own moderately original work.