Foreword: This blog post is originally posted on the Blogger/Blogspot version of this blog on July 5, 2015. Today is the 16th year anniversary of the release of the album Stripped.
Christina Aguilera: from sweet to dirrty
The year was 2002. I learned about Christina Aguilera after listening to one of her hits, titled “Come On Over (All I Want is You)”. Weeks later, I bought a bootlegged cassette tape of her first album in what was the worst month of my year. Months later, I read about her controversial single and video “Dirrty” and how it spiked sex tourism in Thailand. Next year,my classmate bought me her Stripped album and invited me to his place to watch the controversial video.
Man, talk about Christina Aguilera. Talk about memories. After watching her video “The Voice Within“, I considered her to be one of the two whitest women in music (the other one was Michelle Branch).
I admit I did not get the best of Miss Aguilera because that time, I was so infatuated with Britney Spears. I missed Aguilera’s transformation from teen pop star to sex symbol (due to the image she exhibited during the Stripped period). And it was a drastic or quick change of image, if you ask me.
Miss Spears expressed full adulthood and maturity after two albums, reason why I somewhat welcomed her persona after the release of her third album Britney. Well, I looked up to her first two albums to find support for Britney and later albums.
Xtina Aguilera’s change of image a shock
About Miss Aguilera, I found just one album, few resources to find support for her drastic change in image. (I am not talking about her Spanish and Christmas albums that Aguilera released before Stripped). It was quick. She had not given her fans – fans of her bubblegum pop persona – enough content to enjoy the best of her. At least, she isn’t fake, like Iggy Azalea, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, and Ariana Grande. But I feared she had alienated her pop fans. Here, I recalled the pop rock band The Moffats.
The change from something teen and innocent to something sexy and racy was necessary to jump-start her career. It was to give music fans something to talk about, and not just about Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, and Vanessa Carlton.
2002 was one of the best years in music, just three years to go before the music would die, and thugs and whores would take over music.
Anytime, I would pick Christina Aguilera over today’s artists. She is way more talented than Iggy, Miley, Katy, Ariana, Taylor Swift, Nikki Minaj, and Beyonce combined.
Music and Memories 
[…] I recall just twenty years ago at this time of the year, that it rained heavily not because there was a storm but because it was the rainy season. On one of those nights, the lights went off, so we had to endure a cold, dark night. After all, I lived in a place where power outages were frequent and familiar.One afternoon, I returned home from school with a cassette tape of A1 songs lent to me by a classmate. This classmate made it possible for me to watch Mandy Moore‘s “Cry” MV, among other music videos, and bought for me cassette tapes of Britney Spears‘ …Baby One More Time and Christina Aguilera‘s Stripped. […]
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