Say what you want about Christina Aguilera – she’s heard it all (and couldn’t care less). Now, on the heels of her 31st birthday, the pop icon is finally ready to set the record straight about her divorce, the tabloid rumors, and her new curves. True to form, Xtina always gets the last word.
Christina Aguilera looks every inch the consummate performer, whether working it onstage in front of thousands of fans – or in the midst of a PR crisis. Perched on a white couch after a photoshoot, her white-blonde hair cascading over her shoulders, her eyelids heavy with glitter, the singer appears calm, poised, and ready to answer tough questions. Having interviewed Aguilera several times before, I know that she’s an expert at delivering smart, sharp commentary on subjects she wants to discuss – and deft at avoiding those that she doesn’t. Recently, there have been a lot of tricky land mines to navigate. In 2010, she filed for divorce from music executive Jordan Bratman, her husband of five years; that same year, her album Bionic proved a critical and commercial disappointment. She didn’t fare much better at the box office: Critics lambasted Burlesque, her feature-film debut costarring Cher, as campy froth. Then came last year’s infamous Suoper Bowl incident, in which Aguilera flubbed the lines to the national anthem. A month later, while out with her boyfriend, production assistant Matt Rutler, she was arrested for public intoxication. (Charges were later dropped.) Continue reading »
Posted by: Maria on January 1st, 2012 @ 5:00 pm
// Tagged: Her World
Graduating with Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears from The Mickey Mouse Club, Christina Aguilera found stardom just as bright. JENNY PETERS looks at how she went from pint-sized talent to mega watt star.
She has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, achieved four #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, won five Grammys, had three top five albums in the USA, is the only artiste under 30 to make Rolling Stone magazine’s list of 100 greatest singers of all time, was a judge and mentor for the highly-underrated talent show The Voice, oh and let’s not forget her feature film debut last year in the Hollywood musical Burlesque. Safe to say there is really no stopping little Ms Aguilera!
Close to home
In Burlesque, Christina played the role of Ali Rose, a small-town girl with a big voice and big dreams. Playing that role certainly wouldn’t be a problem for Christina, who shares the similarity in background (and talent) as the character. The 31-year-old was born in Staten Island, New York, to a US Army sergeant and a Spanish teacher. Her unique look can be credited to her parentage. Dad was born in Ecuador while Mum is of German, Irish, Welsh and Dutch ancestry. As a child, she aspired to be a singer. In fact, she was known as the little girl with the big voice during her younger days, and is still called that sometimes to this day. Continue reading »
Posted by: Maria on October 1st, 2011 @ 4:01 pm
// Tagged: Fabulous
After a trainwreck year, a flopped album and a battle with body demons, Christina Aguilera is back. In her only UK interview, she tells Fabulous how she finally found her voice again.
When we finally meet Christina Aguilera in her hotel in Munich, we are greeted by a tiny diva doll. There are the trademark blonde hair extensions and perfect red pout, perched on top of a gothic throne.
Far from getting up or (God forbid) shaking our hand, the Christina doll doesn’t move or smile, and gives clipped answers to attempts at small talk. It’s going to be a long 10-minute interview!
Over the past 18 months, Christina, 30, has had more ups and downs than her vocal range. We’re here to talk about her new perfume – Secret Potion – but we can’t ignore what’s been going on in her personal life.
“I’ve had a very turbulent year, like everyone goes through in their lives,” she admits cautiously, smoothing her Dolce & Gabbana leopard-print dress. Continue reading »
Posted by: Maria on July 1st, 2011 @ 11:12 pm
// Tagged: W Magazine
The pop diva comes clean about her fall from grace and how she’s singing her way back to the top.
WHEN Christina Aguilera was six years old, she would escape the chaos and trauma of her family by thinking of Julie Andrews singing “The Sound of Music.” “I watched her twirl around those mountains, and she was just so free,” Aguilera recalled when we met to talk about her nightmare tabloid year of divorce, flubbed lyrics, falls on national television, winding up in the wrong bed, and (finally) triumph. “I felt caged by my childhood. And unsafe: Bad things happened in my home; there was violence. The Sound of Music looked like a form of release. I would open my bedroom window to sing out like Maria. In my own way, I’d be in those hills.” Aguilera paused. She is small and, as she spoke, was nearly swallowed by a large, overstuffed couch in the lobby lounge of the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Manhattan, where she was staying. Aguilera looked more “Oliver” than von Trapp—she was dressed like an urchin in a large gray sweater and black leggings, and her bright yellow hair was barely visible under a sideways schoolboy cap. Her skin was pale; she was not wearing her trademark red lipstick but, as a kind of concession to girlishness, had on sky-high platform stripper heels. “Sometimes,” Aguilera continued, “especially in the last six months, I still feel like going to the window and singing out all my troubles.” She looked down, laughed quietly, and shook her head a little. “I laugh a lot lately. People expect me to cry, but I always laugh when things go wrong.” Continue reading »
The fourth-place network (finally!) has a big, flashy hit as NBC’s execs, talent and producers open up about the drama behind the talent show’s making, why it works and how the Peacock could use this to plume its feathers once again.
Just two months ago, if NBC had been a craps table in Vegas, the dealer probably would have put on a coat — the network’s cold streak was that bad. But this spring, with new players from Comcast at the table, the network rolled the dice yet again on another big show, The Voice.
This time, the wager would be record-setting and the odds long. For starters, it was another music competition — and the broadcast graveyard is littered with them. (Anyone remember NBC’s Grease: You’re the One That I Want?)
At $2.3 million per episode, Voice was the costliest new unscripted series in NBC’s history. But the network was starving for a hit, and Voice — a huge success in Holland that had displaced the Dutch version of Idol and The X Factor as the country’s top show — seemed to show promise. Continue reading »
Posted by: Maria on May 1st, 2011 @ 1:44 pm
// Tagged: Douglas
Christina Aguilera is probably the most powerful voice among pop divas. Why do they determine petite American woman in any style she revealed in our author Andreas Tölke
From childhood she had a dream: singing. The little girl with the big voice has grown up now. That they sold around 50 million albums and fat is topped only by Madonna as an artist, would never have dreamed Christina Aguilera. Moreover, the New Yorker, a style icon. Why? Because they can be forced into any style. A strong woman who does what she likes. In every respect. Be it in the cinema, where Christina Aguilera made her debut in “Burlesque” alongside Cher, be it as a model for Versace and with their own scent creations. “Secret Potion” called her new perfume – the diva herself as a balanced composition with a lot of glamor. In the hotel “Bayerischer Hof” in Munich we met Christina Aguilera to the interview. What you can not read: She laughs, as bright and carefree, that your heart aufgeft. And with one voice … But you know, yes. Continue reading »
Posted by: Maria on November 1st, 2006 @ 7:26 pm
// Tagged: Blender
Trading chain mail, chaps and NC-17 piercings for sequins, gowns and “cozy” matrimony, Christina Aguilera reinvents herself as a fiercely ambitiousretro-diva with a crush on Louis Armstrong … and Jessica Simpson.
If you want to meet Christina Aguilera, you have to go through a guy called Bob. The name is innocuous enough, but the guy sure isn’t. Bob is a professional bodyguard, and he looks the part: tall, with a gleaming shaved head, the shoulders of a defensive lineman and forearms approximately the size of, well, Christina Aguilera.
One late afternoon in early September, Bob is on the floor of Radio City Music Hall, watching his employer step through some sassy jitterbug-cum-hip-hop dance moves to the blare of “Candyman,” a 1940s swing pastiche from her album Back to Basics. The occasion is a rehearsal for Fashion Rocks, an all-star benefit concert to be broadcast two nights later by CBS, and Radio City bustles with activity. Rihanna’s dancers hurry up the aisles to catch cabs back to their hotel. Elton John’s manager hisses into a cell phone. A headset-wearing TV producer shouts, “Where’s Daisy Fuentes?” Just then a sound ripples through the air and freezes everyone in their tracks: Aguilera has reared back and unleashed one of her sky-scraping vocal blasts, which seems liable to send the balcony of the venerable Art Deco theater crashing down into the orchestra seats. Continue reading »
Posted by: Maria on October 1st, 2006 @ 5:59 pm
// Tagged: Cosmopolitan
This singer has gone from a pop princess to an überfemale powerhouse who calls her own shots. And though she spills a lot on her latest chart-topping album, Back to Basics, she saved some juicy scoop just for Cosmo.
Christina Aguilera has always had a retro quality about her, and when she shows up for her Cosmo interview at Manhattan’s celeb-studded Hotel Gansevoort, that aspect is definitely there. From the neck up, she looks one hundred percent old Hollywood, with a preened head of platinum-blond hair, screen-siren red lips, and alabaster skin. But from neck down, she’s pure new Hollywood – in skinny jeans, a tank, and a teeny cardigan, all of which show off her petite yet curvy figure.
The 25-year-old singer seems stuck between two eras, which is coincidentally (or perhaps not so coincidentally) the theme of her latest album, Back to Basics. The first disc of the two-disc set is packed with the kind of stuff that’s earned Christina global praise and three Grammy Awards: powerful, from-the-gut ballads and addictive dance beats. The second disc is a tribute to her favorite old-school musical influences: R & B and jazz singers like Billie Holiday, Otis Redding, and Etta James. Both discs courageously address her troubled upbringing. Continue reading »
Posted by: Maria on October 1st, 2006 @ 5:36 pm
// Tagged: Glamour
Stronger, blonder and more loved-up than ever, the super-sexy Christina Aguilera has entered a new phase of her life – both professionally and personally. Lori Gottlieb gets her to dish the dirt on why her marriage is anything but mundane.
All the posh clientele at a Beverly Hills hotel turn to stare when Christina Aguilera walks in. Perhaps they recognize the famous 25-year-old singer, who has sold more than 25 million albums worldwide. But it’s more likely they’re wondering who this sophisticated beauty is. Gone are the barely there clothes, multiple piercings and ratty dark hair of the Dirrty days. The striking 5ft 2in bombshell with the platinum blonde hair, full red lips, eyes like headlights and ample cleavage could be anyone from a younger, more delicate Madonna to the reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe.
This is the latest version of Christina Aguilera, who has mastered the art of reinvention. The former pre-teen Mouseketeer had successfully pulled off personas ranging from bubblegum pop star with her chart-topping single Genie In A Bottle, to sexual provocateur in S&M gear, and now, retro-Hollywood glamour girl. The new look coincides with her double album, Back To Basics, which pays tribute to her favourite childhood music – vintage soul, blues and jazz. It’s a bold career move, one that echoes a shift in her personal life as well. Continue reading »
Posted by: Maria on October 1st, 2006 @ 5:25 pm
// Tagged: Cosmopolitan
She’s been through an emotional spin cycle – but now Christina’s emerged from the other side of Dirrty a very together lady indeedy.
Christina Aguilera has always had a retro quality, and when she shows up for her Cosmo interview, she looks like a 1940s Hollywood star, with platinum-blonde hair and bright red lips. But from the neck down, she’s all new Hollywood – in skinny jeans and a cropped cardi, which show off her tiny, yet curvy, frame.
The 25-year-old multiple Grammy winner seems stuck between two eras, which s coincidentally the theme of her latest album, Back to Basics. The daughter of an army sergeant father and musician mother, Christina’s parents divorced when she was seven, and she and her mum moved in with the grandmother. Before the split, Christina witnessed her father frequently abusing her mum – but she found comfort in singing. “I would…line up my toys and talk to them,” she says. “It’s the way I coped. I would lie under my bed singing and thinking to myself, “One day I’m going to get out of here and be a famous singer”. Continue reading »
"The Prayer" feat. Chris
"Fighter" feat. Team Xtina
Interview