The only thing Christina Aguilera has in common with Madonna is this album-cover pose.I swear I'm not writing this just to be nasty, but can someone explain to me why the music press insists on treating someone like Christina Aguilera as if she were an actual "artist" rather than the marginally talented (insert producer's name here) puppet that she is? As far as I can tell the only thing this Genie in a Bottle has going for her at this point is that she's not Britney Spears (which, ironically, is exactly what she longed to be back when her debut came out).
At worst Christina is a trashy version of Debbie Gibson without the songwriting abilities and at best she's a dime-a-dozen "American Idol" "big voice" musical type (think low-rent Mariah Carey, again without the songwriting abilities). And say what you will about Madonna, at least she kept it interesting for a couple decades and knows how to write a song (conjure up the soundtrack of your youth and I assure you a Madonna song will be playing in the background -- but can you even name a Christina Aguilera song?).
Despite all of this, Austin Scaggs of Rolling Stone and Kalefa Sanneh of The New York Times each wrote recent lavish articles about her as if she were the new Joni Mitchell, yet the girl just put out her third album in seven(!) years (not that I'm complaining) and a quick rundown of her so-called hits shows she did not even have a hand in writing a single one of them (yep, even her gay anthem "Beautiful" was a Linda Perry tune).
Back in the good old days Christina would have been a one-hit wonder and faded into obscurity. But somehow we entered this Us Weekly era and because she's young and slutty, the tabloids need "celebrities" to constantly write about. Fine.
But how does this make her an artist again?
23 comments:
Yeah, I'm pretty much with you on this one. For one thing, I hope Christina eventually finds a producer who manages to reel her in and stop her from doing so much running in her singing! Less is SO much more. And it's worse when she sings live; I can't help but think it's just a crutch she uses so she never actually has to hit a note and hold it.
Interestingly, I have Madonna's "Bedtime Stories" CD, but I have the original cover art, where the pic is flipped vertically. Apparently, it was changed at some point after it was released. Maybe I should sell mine on eBay.
Oh yeah, one more thing about Christina. Isn't her accent a little weird, considering she spent most of her formative years in - get this - PITTSBURG, PA?
Maybe that's the only thing she and Madonna have in common - a phony accent.
Are you DEAF? Christina has an amazing, beautiful and unique voice. Who said you have to be a COMPOSER to be a great singer? Can you name an Ella Fitzgerald song? I've spent years working at the Metropolitan Opera and believe me, none of them have written songs. Christina has one of the truly QUALITY voices performing today. I can't think of another singer who's as talented vocally.
I think you're nuts. Britney, Jessica, and even that toher girl on Entourage are pop fluff. Xtina is way, way out of their league. I saw the True Hollywood Story on her so I'm an expert. She hated Genie in a Bottle; the music execs rejected her forst album as too serious and made her do a bunch of crap. But girl's got amazing talent. And have you seen the Drrrrty video? It's the hottest video ever. MMmmmmm.
Dear Kenneth,
NOt that I'm complaining but at least Xtina ain't Britney and she def ain't Jessica. How could you even compare them.
By the way, Kelly Clarkson's Miss Independent is written by Xtina.
Christina has a decent voice, but she should learn how to sing a song live. No one wants to hear your entire octive range on every note of every song. She is no Patty LaBelle. Pleaseeeeeeee.
She may have more talent than Brittany Spears and Jessica Simpson, but that isn't saying much. Is it?
If Christina gets preganant, stays fat and dissapears like Brittany Spears it couldn't be too soon as far as i am concerned.
Later Bitches!!
Whether you think Christina's voice is so much better than than someone else's is purely subjective (this blogger obviously does not and it's his right to think whatever he wants).
The fact that she's allowed herself to become more famous for being famous than for being a singer is not.
I'll tell you one thing -- she's no Martika.
Look, I'm a fan of Xtina just because she's racy, has a great voice and if nothing else she's NOT working with the latest "hot" producer.
Comparing her to Madonna and saying Madonna keeps doing "interesting" things is absolutely ridiculous though. That two-bit singer/actress/hooker has been ripping off international DJ's albums (oh sorry, collaborating with them) for YEARS (read Mirwais, William Orbit).
So if you don't like Ms. Aguilera, fine. But don't try to get all snobby and throw in Madonna and Debbie Gibson. Seriously.
I like both Madonna and Christina, but this post is filled biases and inaccuracies.
In terms of songwriting, Madonna didn't write some of her biggest hits ("Material Girl" and "Like A Virgin"). Christina had a #1 hit, Come On Over (All I Want Is You), which she co-wrote at 19. But why does this matter? Whitney Houston is not a songwriter but she is considered one of the "greats".
As far as the album cover, Madonna didn't invent that post. More than likely the pose is taken from a still of Marilyn Monroe or some other blond bombshell. Madonna knowingly and admittingly takes pop culture and recycles it as she sees fit. She even got sued for it (see video for "Hollywood"). For Madonna's last album most of the imagery is taken from the movie "Tommy."
You should really listen to the "Back to Basics" before commenting on it. Especially the second disc because it shows her writing ability and vocal versatility. The song "Save Me From Myself" is a beautifully written song sung in a husted tone with just a guitar as backing.
We have to stop comparing everything to Madonna because music has such long list of talent artist that preceded her.
Wow, you touched a gay nerve, huh? Xtina's new album is definitely not her best (that would be Stripped, which was actually a great album). This album is a combination of weak filler and self-congratulatory fluff.
We get it Chrissie, you done good last time out. Too bad you're riding the wave of your previous successes and throwing in some kitschy cuteness on that weird second disc.
She's definitely no Debbie Gibson. And you win major points in my book, just for mentioning Debbie in a positive light!
I'd just like to say how I LOVE that none of you "Xtina" supporters who are totally freaking out right now are brave enough to use any identifying signatures. Or even a fake one. Like anyone's going to take you anonymous (drama) queens seriously.
Yeah, you're right ... Christina "wrote" "Come On Over" -- and so did
Johan Aberg, Chaka Blackmon, Ray Cham, E. Dawkins, Ron Fair, Shelly Peiken, Paul Rein and Guy Roche!!!
You obviously know nothing about the music business and how these writing credits work ...
You make some good points CMR, but you kind of undermine yourself when you bring up two Madonna songs from 20 years ago when she wrote "Lucky Star" "Angel" "Crazy for You" "Into the Groove" "Live to Tell" "Open Your Heart" "True Blue" "Causing a Commotion" "Who's that Girl" "La Isla Bonita" "Cheris" "Express Yourself" "Oh Father" "Vogue" "Rescue Me" "Deeper and Deeper" "Erotica" "This Used to be My Playground" "Rain" "I"ll Remember" "Secret" "Take a Bow" "Human Nature" "You'll See" "Frozen" "Ray of Light" "Beautiful Stranger" "Don't Tell Me" "Music" and Xtina co-wrote one song with 15 other people, but had nothing to do with any of her other hits ...
*SNAP* LOL
I hardly think Ken thinks Madonna invented the pose on that CD cover and is accusing Christina of copying her.
It's called photo editing -- it's something that is done to illustrate and enliven a story.
Come on, people!
Jellybean, my post wasn't about who has the most hit songs. I brought up the older songs to illistrate that in the early stages not all of Madonna hit songs where written by her. It was to point out that Christina DID write a hit song ... a #1 song, no matter if 15 other people help. She still got credit.
Madonna has been around nearly 25 years to Christina's 7, and only had release 3 proper albums compared to Madonna's 10 ... of course she is not going to have a long list of songs like Madonna. However, she did co-wrote nearly all of her 2nd (18 of 20 tracks)and all of the 3rd. Stripped was critical success for her and seems like Back to Basics will be as well ... even though it should have been 1 album to get rid of the filler. So why are her songwriting skills questioned?
Like I said on my previous comment, I am a fan of both artists. All of their albums reside in iPod (American Life probably gets more play than the others).
And to Anonymous at 5:37pm, as a former BMI and ASCAP member ... I know how song credits are given.
Is that so? So tell us then -- 'cause I'm sure Vanity. Apollonia and Sheila E. "wrote" all of those songs back in the day, too! LOL!
>>>And to Anonymous at 5:37pm, as a former BMI and ASCAP member ... I know how song credits are given.<<<
Well, Kenneth, I guess you now know what to blog about if you ever want a slew of comments!
And I'm not only signing my name, but providing my link.
Suck it, all you anonymouses. (I mean, really, is there such a risk in just typing your first name with your comment? Kenneth can track where you came from anyway using your IP address. Sheesh!)
I guess you are reffering to Vanity et al because they are connected to Prince. Shelia E. wrote most of her first album "The Glamorous Life" on her own with Prince producing (but that depends on who you ask). It wasn't until her second album that Prince was added as a songwriter (i.e. Love Bizzare). Vanity 6 first album could been all been written by Prince, but credits state otherwise. Vanity's second album on Motown Record (removed from Prince) she got sole writing credit.
Song writing credit is a tricky process because it is not just writing lyrics. If I wrote a lyrics and someone else wrote music during a collaboration, we get 50/50 credit. If I wrote the song a day before the music was composed, I could claim 100% credit. When artists "sample" other artists they are giving writing credit. And there are crooked people who just give themselves a writing credit to get royalties, but did absolutely nothing.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney always shared song credit as "Lennon-McCartney", even though in reality they only 5% of their songs together. It all depends on your arrangement.
Anonymous 5:47pm, if that's your real name, if you have some additional information that I maybe be missing...please, share you expertise. I am open to getting some further insight on this matter.
Kenneth, love the blog ... even though I disagree on this one particular post.
CMR -- thanks for sharing some of your insight with us. You touched on what I was getting at (while sort of missing the point while you did!). That point being even when you do see an artist's name attached to a song, it doesn't necessarily tell you the full story. There's a lot of quid pro quo that goes on in the music industry:
I'll let you produce and write for me (THE STAR) in exchange for co-writing royalties.
I'll sleep with you in exchange for co-writing royalties.
I'll record a song you wrote 10 years ago if you give me co-writing credit.
etc.
Prince famously wrote "Manic Monday," "The Glamourous Life" and "Take Me With U" for the Apollonia 6 album (the "Manic Monday" demo is easily obtained online) but then decided to give away two of the songs to "lady friends" at the time. Sheila E. seems to have "taken full credit" (wink wink) whereas Susanna Hoffs chose not to (so it was credited to "Christopher")
Michelle Phillips famously lived off her "California Dreamin'" royalties but readily admits that all she did was take dictation from her then-husband John who told her he'd give her 50-50 credit if she "wrote this down" for him.
So all I was saying is what you see (on paper) isn't always what you get. I see someone's named tossed in with writing credits of a half-dozen other people and my eyebrows raise :-)
Are you DEAF?
Oh wait. Somebody already said that. :(
I know just because you see the name credited doesn't mean they wrote the song (previously stated: "And there are crooked people who just give themselves a writing credit to get royalties, but did absolutely nothing" & the Beatles songwriting arrangement).
And regarding Shelia E., the song writing credit is equivocal. Some sources say she wrote but some say Prince wrote it.
Credit, is credit. I know about the shady deals, but unless you know for a fact someone didn't write a song, it is just speculation.
first of all nice site!
haha i laugh at people like you! never compare christina to "no talent" madonna! i can see you dont know how to criticize.... so u better zip ur ugly mouth!
thist just in i enjoy christina's back to basics! particularly the song candyman, save me from myself, understand, hurt and etc.... you better grab a copy!
if you learn and enjoy christina's music then u have a taste in music.
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