Christina Aguilera

**Christina María Aguilera** (born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Referred to as the "Voice of a Generation", she is credited as one of the artists responsible for reviving teen pop in the late 1990s. Aguilera has used her vocal ability to address such topics as sexuality, feminism, and domestic violence. She has frequently reinvented her image, becoming known for her unconventional looks. Her works have generated both critical praise and controversy in the media, with which Aguilera is often cited as an influence by other artists.

Born in New York City and raised in Pennsylvania, Aguilera began her career as a child star after appearing in various television programs during the 1990s, including The Mickey Mouse Club (1993–1994). In 1999, after signing a recording contract, she transitioned to pop music with her ***self-titled debut album***, that included "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants", and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)", establishing her as a bubblegum pop artist. Aguilera assumed artistic control with ***Stripped*** (2002), for which she changed the course of her career. The music video for "Dirrty" sparked controversy for exploring Aguilera's sexuality, causing the departure of her teen idol image. "Beautiful", "Fighter" and "The Voice Within" were top-ten songs in various countries. Her fifth album, ***Back to Basics*** (2006), was received with favorable reviews and had the successful singles "Ain't No Other Man", "Hurt" and "Candyman". In 2010, Aguilera starred in the film ***Burlesque***, which was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Outside of her work in the music industry, she was a coach in the television reality show The Voice (2011–2016) and appeared in the series Nashville (2015) and The Emoji Movie (2017).

Now, in 2021, Aguilera signed with **Confluence Records**, under **Warner Music Group**, working in a new album with dance and electropop producers. On September 12th, Aguilera dropped a hotline number through Twitter, announcing through the call a buzz and a lead single for September 17th and October 1st respectively. The song "Sweaty & Steady" was officially announced as the buzz single on September 15th, with its release set for the 17th.

## Artistry

Critics have described Aguilera as a soprano, possessing a four-octave vocal range (from C3 to C♯7), being also able to perform the whistle register. American A&R Producer Ron Fair once considered that she had "pipes to be the next Barbra Streisand or Céline Dion". In an article for Slate, Maura Johnston opined that although the singer acts in the contemporary pop music, she has "an instrument that despite its ability to leap octaves has a low-end grounding similar to that possessed by opera singers". Highlighting her vocal versatility, Joan Anderman from The Boston Globe stated that she is "a real singer [...] blessed with the sort of breathtaking elasticity, golden tones, and sheer power that separate the divas from the dabblers". Aguilera is also recognized for making use of melisma in her songs and performances; Jon Pareles, writing for The New York Times, analyzed her vocal abilities, emphasizing that "she can aim a note as directly as a missile or turn its trajectory into an aerobatic spiral of leaping, quivering, scalloping melismas". According to critics of Rolling Stone magazine, she has been modeled her "dramatic and melismatic technique" following steps of artists like Etta James.

Generally referred to as a pop music singer, Aguilera has experimented with different musical genres throughout her career. She explains that she always tries to bring something new in her projects and "experiment with [her] voice" because she "get bored" when repeating her inspirations, in addition to verbalizing her preference of working with more "obscure" collaborators and that she is not necessarily inclined to contact "the number-one chart-toppers in music" because of their popular demand. Alexis Petridis, columnist from The Guardian, recognized that her "boldness in reinventing herself" was always "one of her most impressive facets", while Kelefa Sanneh from The New York Times highlighted her "decision to snub some of the big-name producers on whom pop stars often rely".

Regarding the themes of her music, Aguilera stated that she feels a "sense of responsibility" to reference portions of her personal life so that "people that can relate might not feelas alone in the circumstance". In most of her songs, love was present among the subjects covered, as well motherhood, marriage and fidelity; however, she also wrote themes that dealt with the opposite, such as domestic violence and abusive relationship. Her behavior with sex also occupies a part of her repertoire; in an interview she stated, "If I want to be sexual, it's for my own appreciation and enjoyment! That's why I like to talk about the fact that sometimes I am attracted to women. I appreciate their femininity and beauty". Recognized for including feminism in her art, Aguilera denounced the double standard for the first time in "Can't Hold Us Down" (2002), explaining that men are applauded for their sexual behaviors, while women who behave in a similar fashion are disdained. Writing for The Guardian, Hermione Hoby noted that she "incites a sisterly spirit of collaboration [and] not shy of the odd feministic declaration herself".

## Discography

***Pre-Confluence Records***

* *Christina Aguilera* (1999)
* *Mi Reflejo* (2000)
* *My Kind of Christmas* (2000)
* *Stripped* (2002)
* *Back to Basics* (2006)
* *Bionic* (2010)
* *Lotus* (2012)
* *Liberation* (2018)

***With Confluence Records***

* TBA
	+ "Sweaty & Steady" *(Buzz Single)*

## Filmography

* *Burlesque* (2010)
* *The Emoji Movie* (2017)
* *Zoe* (2018)