I have chosen to do a case study on Christina Aguilera and look into how she has explored different types of images with each different album that she releases. Christina is a very successful pop singer and has exposed into a international star. Each time she produces a new album it is varied from her previous one and ensuring that she is always current. Her career began at when she was just a teenager and record 'Reflection' for a multimillion Disney movie Mulan. This was very successful and gained her a record contract with RCA Records. Her Debut album titled 'Christina Aguilera' was realised on 24 August 1999 and reached the top of the Billboard 200. This album portrayed her as an innocent girl that young teenagers would relate to. However Christina was dissatisfied with the music and image that her Record company had created for her 'Bubblegum pop' and decided to leave them.
Her second album 'Stripped' showed a very different side to Christina and showcased her raunchiness. It was instantly successful debuting at no2 on the Billboard charts but her amazing vocals were overlooked by her sexually provocative image. She had decided to go completely against her Bubblegum image and started to refer to herself as 'Xtina'. The first song off her new album was 'Dirrty' with it controverisal music video which was had a negative effect on her in the U.S. However this did not discourage Christina she claimed that "the image better reflected her true personality than the image she cultivated back in 1999". Despite all this the media attention the album was still a huge success and the song 'Beautiful' gain her a Grammy for best female pop vocal. This album allowed her to cross over into different genre such as R&B and Rock enabling her to appeal to a variety of different people. Christina was very much in control of her career and image. In attempt to further shift her innocent image she appeared in many sexy photo shoots such as 'Rolling Stones' where she appeared naked with only a guitar covering her and performing with the 'Pussycat Dolls' in the Viper room. This act is know for it's raunchy and sexy dancing. Christina was also caught in a major media story in which she kissed Madonna and Britney Spears at the MTV Music Awards during Madonna's song 'Like a Virgin. She had been successful of changing her image and portraying a different side to her.
Christina's third album 'Back to Basics' showed her embracing a much more mature look which was praised highly by critics. She took on a 'Marilyn Monroe' look with bright blonde hair and red lips portraying the old Hollywood glamour seen in the 1920s. On this album she produced to duets with Miss Elliot and Nelly both of which were not that successful in the U.S but were in other parts of the world. Overall the album did very well debuting at no1 in the U.S, U.K and many other countries. The album had a much more old fashioned and jazz style to it seen in the music and videos. Christina is once again showcasing a different side to her, a much more mature side. Her single 'Ain't No Other Man' reached no2 on the world chart and her follow up singles 'Hurt' and 'Candyman' also did well. Christina co-directed all the videos showing her artistic side and having control over her image. Each album presents different times within Christina's like, the first being her innocents, the second her rebellion and her third showing her maturity. She is a talented singer who knows what image and music she wants to produce. Who knows what her next image will be with her up coming album. Either way she is very successful in the music industry and has achieved what she wanted.
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