Christina Aguilera 

From the moment you first place Christina Aguilera's new album Stripped in your CD player, the transformation she has gone through, both as an artist and a person, is evident.

Nowadays, Christina Aguilera adorns a collection of slender gold chains around her neck; a Playboy bunny logo charm dangles off one, while another bears a flashy b-girl nameplate reading "X-tina," her nickname. A tiny barbell pierces the skin just below her lower lip - a recent companion to the stud in her left nostril. Gone is the "green and inexperienced" fresh-faced former mouseketeer who sang the readymade ballads and spunky, safe pop of her self-titled debut.

True to its title, Stripped, strips away the last remnants of her previous teen idol persona. What's left is a highly personal proclamation of independence and adulthood. The Stripped collection is a melting pot of soul, R&B, rock, hip-hop and Latin influences; a tapestry of songs that are raw, reflective and personal.

"I got a chance to show of all these colours and textures of my love of music and of my vocal range," Christina Aguilera says. "Coming off of the height of being a part of such a big pop-craze phenomenon, that imagery of that cookie-cutter sweetheart, without it being me, I just had to take it all down and get it away from me. And that is why I actually named the album Stripped, because it is about being emotionally stripped down and pretty bare to open my soul and heart."

"A lot of my past is in this record," she explains. "What I was going through on tour, what's in my head about everything, about my personal life. It's like an open book. A storybook, from beginning to end. I'm telling my story."

Yet at the same time, Stripped isn't simply a reaction to the past. "I wanted to explore some of the music that had inspired me coming up," she explains. "I've always been a huge fan of soul. I love real rock & roll and hip-hop, of course, is one of my biggest influences. I wanted it all."

The album is the first step of Christina Aguilera's comeback after an eighteen-month hiatus. Initially, Christina Aguilera spent much of her time at her Los Angeles home where she could catch her breath, and reconnect with herself in the process. "So much had happened in such a short time, and not only in my career. I'd gone through a breakup with my first real love and I began realizing that I should be experiencing a bit more of life than TV and recording studios, hotels and green rooms."

Christina Aguilera steadily began to fearlessly break free from the mass media mask that hid her true self, and the full scope of her talent. "I felt trapped," she admits. "I was under the thumb of people who were mostly interested in keeping me doing exactly the same thing".

However well-intended (and arguably well-deserved) her hiatus was, Christina Aguilera soon found herself unable to resist the lure of a promising creative collaboration. I'm driven," is Christina Aguilera's frank admission. "Even in the midst of touring, I was thinking about what my next album would be, writing bits and pieces of songs in journals and scrapbooks." She soon joined forces with Pink, Mya and Lil' Kim on the smash Lady Marmalade single and video, something which kept her front and centre in the international spotlight even as she began, slowly and steadily, to lay the groundwork for a musical manifesto that would change all the rules. "For a long time, I'd been uncomfortable with the image that had been built around me and my music. It felt like I was pretending, trying to hide the real me, and hurting inside because of it. This time I was determined to step beyond the hype and glitter, to take it back down to the bare necessities. It was like starting all over again."

Christina Aguilera set about to achieve what she wanted with a relentless determination and a willingness to stretch her creative boundaries. "I've always thought recording was about attaining perfection," she reveals. "What I discovered making this album is that getting across real feelings is what's important". As much as possible, Christina Aguilera wanted to have the listener right there in the studio with her, sharing what everything that she was really going through.

And the first and most formidable challenge for Christina Aguilera was to assemble a supporting cast that, in her words, "weren't influenced by my old image." Recorded over an eighteen-month stretch, with Christina firmly at the helm every step of the way, Stripped slowly but surely took shape, not only as an exercise in breathtaking stylistic diversity but as a resonant and revealing look into the mind and emotions of a young woman on the verge of personal and professional liberation.

Linda Perry, the 4 Non Blondes front woman helped her unload a lot of frustration once she also learned to relieve stress by screaming and to accept and even embrace her mistakes.


Christina Aguilera Biography
From the moment you first place Christina Aguilera's new album Stripped in your CD player, the transformation she has gone through, both as an artist and a person, is evident.

Nowadays, Christina Aguilera adorns a collection of slender gold chains around her neck; a Playboy bunny logo charm dangles off one, while another bears a flashy b-girl nameplate reading "X-tina," her nickname. A tiny barbell pierces the skin just below her lower lip - a recent companion to the stud in her left nostril. Gone is the "green and inexperienced" fresh-faced former mouseketeer who sang the readymade ballads and spunky, safe pop of her self-titled debut.

True to its title, Stripped, strips away the last remnants of her previous teen idol persona. What's left is a highly personal proclamation of independence and adulthood. The Stripped collection is a melting pot of soul, R&B, rock, hip-hop and Latin influences; a tapestry of songs that are raw, reflective and personal.

"I got a chance to show of all these colors and textures of my love of music and of my vocal range," Christina Aguilera says. "Coming off of the height of being a part of such a big pop-craze phenomenon, that imagery of that cookie-cutter sweetheart, without it being me, I just had to take it all down and get it away from me. And that is why I actually named the album Stripped, because it is about being emotionally stripped down and pretty bare to open my soul and heart."

"A lot of my past is in this record," she explains. "What I was going through on tour, what's in my head about everything, about my personal life. It's like an open book. A storybook, from beginning to end. I'm telling my story."

Yet at the same time, Stripped isn't simply a reaction to the past. "I wanted to explore some of the music that had inspired me coming up," she explains. "I've always been a huge fan of soul. I love real rock & roll and hip-hop, of course, is one of my biggest influences. I wanted it all."

The album is the first step of Christina Aguilera's comeback after an eighteen-month hiatus. Initially, Christina Aguilera spent much of her time at her Los Angeles home where she could catch her breath, and reconnect with herself in the process. "So much had happened in such a short time, and not only in my career. I'd gone through a breakup with my first real love and I began realizing that I should be experiencing a bit more of life than TV and recording studios, hotels and green rooms."

Christina Aguilera steadily began to fearlessly break free from the mass media mask that hid her true self, and the full scope of her talent. "I felt trapped," she admits. "I was under the thumb of people who were mostly interested in keeping me doing exactly the same thing".

However well-intended (and arguably well-deserved) her hiatus was, Christina Aguilera soon found herself unable to resist the lure of a promising creative collaboration. I'm driven," is Christina Aguilera's frank admission. "Even in the midst of touring, I was thinking about what my next album would be, writing bits and pieces of songs in journals and scrapbooks." She soon joined forces with Pink, Mya and Lil' Kim on the smash Lady Marmalade single and video, something which kept her front and centre in the international spotlight even as she began, slowly and steadily, to lay the groundwork for a musical manifesto that would change all the rules. "For a long time, I'd been uncomfortable with the image that had been built around me and my music. It felt like I was pretending, trying to hide the real me, and hurting inside because of it. This time I was determined to step beyond the hype and glitter, to take it back down to the bare necessities. It was like starting all over again."

Christina Aguilera set about to achieve what she wanted with a relentless determination and a willingness to stretch her creative boundaries. "I've always thought recording was about attaining perfection," she reveals. "What I discovered making this album is that getting across real feelings is what's important". As much as possible, Christina Aguilera wanted to have the listener right there in the studio with her, sharing what everything that she was really going through.

And the first and most formidable challenge for Christina Aguilera was to assemble a supporting cast that, in her words, "weren't influenced by my old image." Recorded over an eighteen-month stretch, with Christina firmly at the helm every step of the way, Stripped slowly but surely took shape, not only as an exercise in breathtaking stylistic diversity but as a resonant and revealing look into the mind and emotions of a young woman on the verge of personal and professional liberation.

Linda Perry, the 4 Non Blondes front woman helped her unload a lot of frustration once she also learned to relieve stress by screaming and to accept and even embrace her mistakes.

"She taught me that imperfections are good and should be kept because it comes from the heart," Christina Aguilera says "It makes things more believable and it's brave to share them with the world." The sonic therapy resulted in several tracks "that were a little difficult" for Christina Aguilera. I'm Ok sounds like a "twisted lullaby," - she confronts ghosts of domestic violence and child abuse (Christina Aguilera and her mother were abused by her father when she was young) and transforms them into talismans of strength and courage. Another of her therapeutic collaborations with Perry is Beautiful, an achingly rich ballad which is "all about being proud of who you are, no matter what people say ... you still know you're beautiful," Christina Aguilera says of the track. "It's an amazing thing to say, 'I'm beautiful,' without feeling like you're cocky. It's a really cool feeling to be able to sing that so raw."

The twenty new tracks that comprise Stripped, including her sensational first single, Dirrty, showcases an unadorned, unfettered and fearlessly outspoken artist who has liberated herself, her soul and her music on an album that is as much a declaration of independence as it is a convincing demonstration of her fierce and original talent. Says Christina Aguilera of her first single, "I loved 'Let's Get Dirty', so I asked Rockwilder to put something together kind of like that for me." She laughs. "What I got was a little too close, but then I figured, 'Why not?' The track is like an answer song to the original, only from a female point of view."

While Dirrty and Get Mine, Get Yours make no bones about celebrating one's libido, Stripped is by no means just a party record. Can't Hold Us Down, featuring Lil' Kim, is a hip-pop feminist anthem about sexual hypocrisy and double standards, a subject that hits closer to home now that she's been taken to task for her in-your-face sexualised imagery. "Can't Hold Us Down" also can be read as an answer to past detractors such as Fred Durst and Eminem, though she said to do so would be "misconstruing the point."

"I'm more interested in helping girls stand up for themselves. That's what the song is about - double standards and how we're supposed to look and act a certain way just to please men. If I have any influence as an entertainer, I want to be optimistic and uplifting, to make this world a little better place to live."

Other songs, such as the sensual Latin jazz number Infatuation and the funkier Underappreciated, are more specific, tracing steps in her relationship with ex-boyfriend Jorge Santos, one of the dancers in her live shows and videos. The lyrics to Infatuation find her falling in love, and in Underappreciated, out of it. Then there's Impossible, the much talked about collaboration with Alicia Keys.

For Christina Aguilera, it all begins by getting real. "I'm completely excited and I'm not really scared, because this is me," she confidently asserts. "I can't hide. I'm not a puppet. I can't just sit up there and keep doing the same kind of music. It's time for me to explore." And explore she will; up next is a tour with former fellow mouseketeer Justin Timberlake, and a movie if she has her way. If the content of her album is anything to go by, she almost certainly will. And that is by no means a bad thing.

A January 2004, ZOO magazine (a Danish men's tabloid magazine) article reported that Aguilera is possibly bisexual. The article quotes her stating in an interview: "I find it hornier looking at women than men. Sorry, I love experimenting with my sexuality. If that means girls, then so be it." The article also reports that Christina enjoys casual sex: "I have casual sex, I love casual sex. But that doesn't mean I'm incapable of keeping my legs together", Aguilera was quoted as saying.

Aguilera later decided to embrace a more mature image; this move was met with more praise than criticism, with articles using punch lines such as "From Crass to Class". She eventually dyed her hair cherry-blonde and recorded a jingle, Hello, for a Mercedes-Benz ad, becoming the new face of Mercedes-Benz. Shortly after, she dyed her hair blonde and cut it short, and took on a Marilyn Monroe look; she is believed by many of her fans to be one of the main proponents (along with Gwen Stefani and Ashley Judd) in bringing back the 1920s-1940s Hollywood glamour look.

In the run-up to the 2004 United States presidential election, Aguilera was featured on billboards for the "Only You Can Silence Yourself" online voter registration drive run by the nonpartisan, non-profit campaign "Declare Yourself". In these political advertisements, Aguilera was shown with her mouth sewn shut, to symbolize the effects of not voting. She appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss the importance of voting and having a say in the future.

In late summer 2004, Aguilera released two singles. The first, "Car Wash", was a cover of the Rose Royce disco song recorded as a collaboration with rapper Missy Elliott for the soundtrack to the film Shark Tale. The second song is also a collaboration, but this time as a second single from one of Nelly's double-release albums, Sweat, titled "Tilt Ya Head Back". Aguilera copied another legendary look for the video: Marilyn Monroe's. Both singles failed commercially in the U.S., but did considerably better in other parts of the world.

After much delay, Aguilera's first DVD live-recording from a concert tour, Stripped Live in the UK, was released in November 2004. In late December, she officially released a fragrance, Xpose, which has only been available in a few European countries.

She dated Latin dancer Jorge Santos for two years until the relationship ended in September 2001. She began dating music executive Jordan Bratman in late 2002 (Christina has said he is not in the music business, despite what many think). After dating him for almost three years, their engagement was announced in February 2005. They were married on November 19, 2005, in the Napa Valley.

The VH1 program The Fabulous Life of... Christina Aguilera (2002) estimated that the singer has a net worth of between thirty and forty million dollars.

Aguilera collaborated with jazz artist Herbie Hancock on a cover of Leon Russell's "A Song for You", recorded for Hancock's album Possibilities, released in August 2005. Aguilera and Hancock were later nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Christina went back to her Mickey Mouse Club roots when she helped open the 50th Anniversary for Disneyland by performing "When You Wish upon a Star".

Christina performed at "Unite of the Stars" charity banquet in Johannesburg, South Africa in late 2005 with stars such as Diana Ross and Westlife in aid of Unite Against Hunger, and she also performed at the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund at the Coca-Cola Dome on November 9. She held a full headlining concert the next day at the same venue.

She has also shown an interest in becoming an actress throughout her career. Although Aguilera has been offered many projects over the years, she continues to insist that she is looking for a particular role. She is said to prefer ones similar to those played by Angelina Jolie. She still avoids roles that portray herself, or any character resembling her.

Aguilera collaborated with Andrea Bocelli on the song "Somos Novios (It's Impossible)" for his album Amore, released in early 2006. The song leaked to the Internet on January 21, 2006.

On the TRL Awards in late February 2006, Aguilera played unmixed, unmastered raw clips of songs from her upcoming album.

In the March issue of Rolling Stone magazine, it was confirmed that the album title is Back to Basics and she's considering a double-disc album. She also revealed that the album will be released in late-spring. She graced the cover of ELLE UK magazine, confirming her work with Mark Ronson, and P. Diddy. Christina also revealed that she is still looking into movie roles and she plans on getting pregnant within the next 18 months. "I've always wanted to be a young mother", gushed Christina.

Promosquad recently released a one minute preview of Christina's new single, "Ain't No Other Man", in their promotional phone survey. No confirmation on the single's release date, however Billboard Magazine confirmed a June release date for Back to Basics via RCA Records.

Christina is set to perform at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, being broadcast June 8, 2006. It is unknown at this time if she is performing a new single or older material.