[Dixielandjazz] Metamorphosis

[Steve Barbone]

Good Heavens, Ms. Aguilera now has a 1930's hairstyle and dresses in the old
Hollywood look of understated glamour. More importantly, her new double CD,
"Back to Basics" pays homage to music that originally inspired her.
Jazz/Blues from the 1920's, 30s and 40s. As done by Ella, and Billie et al.

One never knows, do one? Who'll be the first OKOM Festival to realize that
she could headline and bring in a young crowd?

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


NY Times - July 30, 2006 - By LOLA OGUNNAIKE

Christina Aguilera, That Dirrty Girl, Cleans Up Real Nice

CHRISTINA AGUILERA would like to make one thing painfully clear: A happy
marriage hasn¹t made her all sappy. ³Just because I have this newfound love
in my life, that doesn¹t mean I¹m going to play it any softer, or that I¹m
going to change my point of view on sexuality,² said this platinum blond pop
singer, known for her stellar voice, saucy attitude and penchant for chaps.
³I still got the nasty in me.²

That may be true, but Ms. Aguilera, 26, has changed quite a bit since we
last saw her. She¹s traded the ratty, multicolored hair extensions of
yesteryear for a 1930¹s coif, the skanky miniskirts and leather S&M
ensembles for an old-Hollywood look and the drag-queen makeup for a more
understated glamour. Her music has changed as well. Due out Aug. 15, the
album ³Back to Basics,² her first in four years, features more than a
handful of love songs, including the first single, ³Ain¹t No Other Man,² a
rousing, horn-driven ode to her husband of nearly a year, Jordan Bratman.

³Before I met Jordan I used to think that love songs were so corny and I
never really wanted to go there,² she said, ³but now I¹m in a happier
space.²

For ³Basics² (RCA), a double disc of 23 songs, Ms. Aguilera brought together
the disparate talents of the rock songwriter and producer Linda Perry and DJ
Premier, a producer best known for his work with rappers like Jay-Z and Nas.
In addition to celebrating her new romance, Ms. Aguilera pays homage to the
music that inspired her: jazz and blues from the 1920¹s, 30¹s and 40¹s, and
soul. While recording the album, she said, she listened to Ella Fitzgerald,
Eartha Kitt, Billie Holiday and Etta James, among others. They are the
origin of her new look too. ³For me the visual is just as important as the
music,² she said. ³I would never record without my red lipstick. It was my
way of getting into character, sort of like Method singing.²

Over dinner at a trendy Japanese restaurant in the meatpacking District, Ms.
Aguilera recalled the days when she didn¹t have this much artistic freedom.
She burst on the music scene in 1999, during the teen music boom that
produced boy bands like the Backstreet Boys and ¹N Sync, and her label
morphed her into a pop princess singing tunes like ³Genie in a Bottle.² ³I
was very pushed to look a certain way and act a certain way, and it wasn¹t
me,² she said, ³but I played by their rules to get my foot in the door.² It
worked: her album ³Christina Aguilera² hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts and
sold more than eight million copies. In 2000 Ms. Aguilera, whose father is
Ecuadorian, followed with ³Mi Reflejo,² a Spanish-language album, as well as
a Christmas album, both of which sold well.

Though she was widely considered the more talented artist, she was
immediately dogged by comparisons to Britney Spears. Both were blond and
perky, and both began their careers performing together on ³The New Mickey
Mouse Club,² a cavity-inducing show on the Disney Channel. She beat out Ms.
Spears for the best new artist Grammy in 2000, but Ms. Spears, with her
teasingly virginal persona and revealing Catholic schoolgirl costumes, was
the bigger star.

Desperate to liberate herself from her squeaky-clean pop persona, Ms.
Aguilera began acting out. She got tattoos and piercings ‹ nine in total ‹
started calling herself Xtina, and discussed how she broke dishes to relieve
stress. Her hemlines rose, her necklines plunged, and her lyrics grew
racier. ³Dirrty,² the first single from the 2002 album ³Stripped,²
successfully torpedoed her girl-next-door image. But soon her raunchy image
was overshadowing her considerable talent. In the ³Dirrty² video, a
sweat-drenched disaster, she cavorts around in chaps and little else. Ms.
Perry remembered seeing it for the first time: ³I just looked at Christina
and said: ŒAre you high? This is annoying. Why are you doing this?¹ ²

Ms. Aguilera remains unapologetic. ³I knew it was a bold move, and I knew a
lot of people would not be ready for it,² she said. ³The great thing is that
everyone, whether you loved it or hated it, had an opinion about that song,
and everybody talked about it.² And so they did: it was wildly lampooned,
and even parodied on ³Saturday Night Live.²

Ms. Perry said that Ms. Aguilera is smarter and more calculated than people
give her credit for. ³She released ŒDirrty¹ to show everybody that she¹s not
some goody-two-shoes, and she followed it up with ŒBeautiful,¹ ² she said,
referring to the singer¹s wildly popular self-empowerment ballad. ³She was
going to turn people off before she turned them on, and it worked.²

They battled throughout the making of ³Stripped.² ³It was difficult because
she was in I-have-to prove-myself mode,² Ms. Perry said, adding that Ms.
Aguilera was in a ³heavier place² then.

Ms. Aguilera admitted: ³I came with a lot of angst, aggression and attitude
on ŒStripped.¹ All that stuff that IŒd pent up and repressed while making
the first album just came out.²

And, as she said at another moment, ³I had a lot of walls up, a lot of
defenses that came from being young and also being female in this business.²
She added, ³I¹d just about had it with people that I thought I could trust
but couldn¹t.²

But some of her defenses predate her career.

Whether discussing the subject in interviews or writing about it in her
lyrics, Ms. Aguilera has always been open about the domestic violence she
and her mother endured at the hands of her father. On ³I¹m OK,² from
³Stripped,² she sings,

Hurt me to see my mother¹s face

Every time my father¹s fist would put her in her place

Hearing all the yelling I would cry up in my room

Hoping it would be over soon

She sings about it again on ³Basics.² ³Oh Mother² praises her mother for
escaping her father, and ³The Right Man² is about moving beyond a painful
childhood by looking toward a future with Mr. Right. Singing about physical
abuse, she said, is therapeutic. ³Growing up with the childhood that I had,
I learned to never let a man make me feel helpless,² she explained, ³and it
also embedded a deep need in me to always stick up for women.²

She says that she has grown up ‹ and ³healed a lot² ‹ since those days.
(Making the new album, Ms. Perry said, ³we only had one fight.²)

Ms. Aguilera said, ³My husband broke down so many walls.² She beams when
discussing the man she calls her ³best friend and backbone,² and the family
they hope to start in a few years. ³It took a bit of time, but he did it.²

After dating for more than three years, the two were married last November
in a lavish ceremony in Napa Valley, Calif. ³I was never one of those girls
that dreamt about her wedding day,² Ms. Aguilera explained. ³I was always so
focused on my career, and boys were second.² But her partner¹s patience won
her over. 

³I¹ve never really had a heartfelt relationship with a man besides my
husband,² she later added. It was a realization that came to her as she
considered who would walk her down the aisle. She chose to walk solo. And to
not invite her father. ³He never made an effort to be there, so why now?²
she said. ³I¹ve gotten through life thus far.²

But no longer having to do so, at least not alone, clearly means a great
deal to her. ³It takes a strong man to be by my side and deal with this
lifestyle,² she said, ³and it takes a very strong man to give me the freedom
to do what I need to do artistically, and he¹s that.²

With red lips, skintight jeans and a plunging sleeveless sweater that showed
off her ample chest, Ms. Aguilera looked like a Vargas illustration come to
life when she strutted into Sony Studios in Midtown one sweltering summer
evening. She was there to play tracks from ³Basics² for an audience of more
than 20 music industry people. A wine, Champagne and hors d¹oeuvres spread
was set out on a buffet table. ³I hope you guys got a chance to get a little
liquored up,² she purred. Scented candles burned as she candidly shared the
stories behind several of her songs. On the uptempo ³Makes Me Wanna Pray,²
she sings, ³Your love has brought me to a higher place/Every day I¹m amazed
and it makes me want to get down and pray.²

She said that song, like ³Ain¹t No Other Man,² was about Mr. Bratman, who
sat quietly by her side throughout the listening session. On ³Nasty Naughty
Boy,² a sexy striptease, she declares, ³I want to give you a little taste/Of
the sugar below my waist.² ³You know I¹ve got to throw something provocative
on there,² she said. ³It¹s just me.²

DJ Premier was shocked to get her call, but Ms. Aguilera said she was drawn
to him because of the jazzy sound he gave the rapper Gang Starr in the early
90¹s. ³He searches through his vinyl, finds the obscure pieces and reinvents
the old,² she said. ³You never know if you¹re going to vibe with someone,
but we immediately hit it off.² She said it helped that he maintains a much
lower profile than many of today¹s celebrity producers. ³Isn¹t it enough to
just make the beats anymore?² she asked, mildly annoyed. ³What are you,
starved for attention?²

She likes that his sound is not ubiquitous. ³I have no interest in working
with the Neptunes,² she said of the omnipresent producing team. ³A lot of
what¹s on the radio sounds the same because everyone is using the same
producers. Music is suffering because nobody wants to step out on a limb and
go for something different. Everyone wants to stay in their safety box,²
which Ms. Aguilera said she has absolutely no interest in doing, even if it
means upsetting her label.

³When we played the first single for the label,² DJ Premier recalled, ³they
didn¹t think that¹s the way she should start the project. But she was like:
ŒI don¹t care. This is the one.¹ That¹s why I love her, because she doesn¹t
give a damn what anyone thinks.²

Making a double CD was a risk, Ms. Aguilera later acknowledged. ³I did kind
of shoot myself in the foot, because it costs more to put out a double
album, and the label isn¹t always so happy about that, and statistically
they don¹t sell as well,² she said, ³but I think it¹s important to be
fearless whenever you¹re doing something for your art.²

But Clive Davis, head of RCA Records, said his label had no misgivings. ³She
has turned into one of today¹s most cutting-edge artists,² he said. ³She
brings a whole fresh look to Top 40 and expands the horizon of what a pop
artist can do. Everything from the video to the performance is coming from
her and she deserves full credit.²

As Ms. Spears, a proud hillbilly and soon to be mother of two, attempts to
clean up her image and quash speculation that her marriage to a backup
dancer turned rapper is on the rocks, it¹s her former rival, Ms. Aguilera,
who has found the road to respectability. And the once-dirty singer is
convinced that it is she who will have the last laugh. ³Just like I knew I
was going to be far more than that genie in a bottle, I knew I wasn¹t going
to be that girl in the chaps forever,² she said. ³I¹m in it for the long
run.²