Speaker 1: Okay, Joseph, it is that time again. I'm afraid let's
Speaker 1: go pop quiz. What was Christina Aguilera's debut single. I
Speaker 1: actually know this answer because I'm obsessed with this movie?
Speaker 2: Okay, So what was it?
Speaker 1: Reflection in Mulan. Oh so good. It's so it was
Speaker 1: my favorite Disney princess ever ever, ever that every kist
Speaker 1: didn't because I feel like she looked like the girls
Speaker 1: that I grew up with. Oh my god, that's so
Speaker 1: weird because they were Asian, but she just looked different,
Speaker 1: and she just looked I could see you.
Speaker 2: Being legit obsessed with Mulan.
Speaker 1: I was Mulan. Okay.
Speaker 2: So the very first time that the world heard Christina
Speaker 2: Aguilera on the radio, they hear her ask this question,
Speaker 2: when will my Reflection show.
Speaker 1: Who I am? Inside? Is it any surprise that the
Speaker 1: gays have her back?
Speaker 2: I mean, hindsight is twenty twenty and Reflection was not
Speaker 2: only the single that introduced Christine to her biggest audience yet,
Speaker 2: but that is the track that earned her a record
Speaker 2: deal with RCA.
Speaker 1: That's because of the say it with Me for octave
Speaker 1: vocal range. Reflection made full use of Christina's vocal chops.
Speaker 1: It had a note that nobody else on the label's
Speaker 1: roster could reach, that.
Speaker 2: Note, being E flat five in case you wanted to
Speaker 2: try it at home. So without getting two song exploder
Speaker 2: about it, that means that Christina had to take her
Speaker 2: voice from here.
Speaker 1: To here, and our girl, who had trained herself in
Speaker 1: Mariah Whitney and showtuned Queen Julie Andrews, checked every box
Speaker 1: and hit every note.
Speaker 2: The same week Christina recorded Reflection for RCA, she signed
Speaker 2: with the label. All of this happening two months after
Speaker 2: she turned seventeen. Okay, let's just think about this for
Speaker 2: a second. Joseph, what did you do when you turned seventeen?
Speaker 1: U probably went to Penny Hannah that tracks what did
Speaker 1: you Do? Definitely went to Penny Hona.
Speaker 2: Now, the point is Christina was hardly old enough to
Speaker 2: drive at this point, and she made her radio debut
Speaker 2: that summer at an age where most people have no
Speaker 2: idea who they are belting about.
Speaker 1: It about looking in the mirror and not seeing the
Speaker 1: battie you knew yourself to be. We love a teen
Speaker 1: pop star with her heart on her sleeve, right.
Speaker 2: Olivia Rodrico and the funny thing is before she got signed,
Speaker 2: labels like RCA were asking themselves who is Christina Aguilera.
Speaker 2: According to her first manager, Steve Kurtz.
Speaker 1: The labels didn't know what to do with a six
Speaker 1: year old girl who sang like a Wretha Franklin. How
Speaker 1: are we going to sell her? Come on, you guys,
Speaker 1: you could have just given me a call.
Speaker 2: After just hearing one of Christina's demos, specifically the song Obvious,
Speaker 2: which would eventually become the closing track of her self
Speaker 2: titled debut album, one executive said, we have hundreds of Christina.
Speaker 1: Oh no, he didn't.
Speaker 2: Oh no, he didn't say that, or oh no, he
Speaker 2: didn't have hundreds of Christina's uh uh both Okay, Well
Speaker 2: it's okay boo, because he is going to eat his
Speaker 2: words very very soon. But this is another part of
Speaker 2: the story where things look very different compared to today.
Speaker 2: Young aspiring singers know the power of the brand, But.
Speaker 1: Back then, all Christina had was an incredible voice and
Speaker 1: a suitcase full of cassette tapes.
Speaker 2: And execs are not exactly known for their very strong
Speaker 2: and colorful imaginations. Still, RCA took the plunge with Christina
Speaker 2: off the strength of her demos and her performance on Reflection.
Speaker 1: And they fixed her up with the makeover. She walked
Speaker 1: in with those fabulous curls we saw on Mickey mouse
Speaker 1: Club videos and left with the clean, cropped cut we
Speaker 1: saw in her debut album. Not to mention the white
Speaker 1: u K fates.
Speaker 2: I need to replicate every cell fit that was in
Speaker 2: those videos. Like if I want inspo to look like
Speaker 2: a Z, I should just look at old Christina Vida.
Speaker 2: It would blow their minds now spoiler alert. Christina was
Speaker 2: about to rock it to success throughout the oughts, but
Speaker 2: her multi platinum sales wouldn't put to rest all these
Speaker 2: questions about her, her brand, her musical identity, both on
Speaker 2: the label side and.
Speaker 1: In the media. And when people ask questions, haters come
Speaker 1: ready with answers. Well, haters and paparazzi.
Speaker 2: And rightly or wrongly, many would define Christina's golden age
Speaker 2: with comparisons.
Speaker 1: To you know who.
Speaker 2: That's Brittany bitch strap In y'all, it is a bumpy
Speaker 2: ride to the top. I'm your host Liliana Rosquez.
Speaker 1: And I'm Joseph Carrio and this is becoming an.
Speaker 2: Icon A weekly podcast where we give you the rundown
Speaker 2: on how today's most famous LATINV stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 1: And given the world some extra level Sit back and
Speaker 1: get comfort, because we are going in the only way we.
Speaker 2: Know how, with whenas us, when assas and a lot
Speaker 2: of opinions as we relive their greatest achievements on our
Speaker 2: journey to find out what makes them so iconic.
Speaker 1: So here's what we're going to do today.
Speaker 2: We are going to focus on Exstina's golden age.
Speaker 1: You mean platinum age, honey, her multimillion selling chart topping,
Speaker 1: undisputed icon decade. Wow.
Speaker 2: You phrase that so powerfully, Joseph, I like it. You're
Speaker 2: getting all excited for this now. By the way, this
Speaker 2: era includes her three most beloved albums. And being the
Speaker 2: fans that we are, I think that we do need
Speaker 2: to get just one thing out of the way before
Speaker 2: we tell the tale. Okay, Joseph, imagine.
Speaker 1: That scared you always come with some crazy shape.
Speaker 2: The ocean is rough, the sun is pounding down on
Speaker 2: your back. You have no sunscreen, no no Internet. You're
Speaker 2: stranded alone on a desert island.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, And.
Speaker 2: Since we're talking two thousands, let's just say that you
Speaker 2: have a volleyball for your bestie, a la castaway.
Speaker 1: What do you name said volleyball? I would name it
Speaker 1: my name. I would call it Joe because I would
Speaker 1: be talking to myself, I swear. I would be like,
Speaker 1: snap out of it, bitch.
Speaker 2: Okay, fine, so Desert Island, you've got Joseph and Little Joey.
Speaker 2: What classic Christina album are you and Joe bopping too?
Speaker 2: You can only pick one album? You get all of
Speaker 2: the songs because you're by the way, and I'm generous. Okay,
Speaker 2: I'm not giving you one song. I don't want you
Speaker 2: to kill yourself.
Speaker 1: I was like, okay, I need a really really I
Speaker 1: felt stuck. I would definitely say Stripped because I I
Speaker 1: feel like it has everything I love about Christina and
Speaker 1: it would just take me back to It would take
Speaker 1: me back to a really good place and still kind
Speaker 1: of give me my EMO. If I needed some, I
Speaker 1: get that. What about you? What would you pick? I
Speaker 1: would pick Stripped? Okay.
Speaker 2: Now, hindsight is twenty twenty. When the album came out,
Speaker 2: I don't think it hit for me. I wasn't ready
Speaker 2: for that album. Like as a fan, I wasn't ready
Speaker 2: for the album but now, as a forty four year
Speaker 2: old woman who has been through a lot more than
Speaker 2: I was back then, I have a new found respect
Speaker 2: for what that album represents about her. Obviously, to Joseph
Speaker 2: and I, all three records, Christina Aguilera, Stripped and Back
Speaker 2: to Basics are perfection.
Speaker 3: And Christina was snatched from a moment she was hatched perfection.
Speaker 2: I'm putting that on a T shirt. Icons snatched from
Speaker 2: the moment they're hatched. A perfectionist is what I was
Speaker 2: going to say from day one, from the get go.
Speaker 2: Before she was signed, her manager linked her up with
Speaker 2: producer Roy Hoffman, and with Hoffman, Christina recorded five demos
Speaker 2: in five days.
Speaker 1: I'm hearing the listeners go, so listen, baby cakes. That's
Speaker 1: five days of take after take after take. We were
Speaker 1: wiped out after three hours in the booth last week.
Speaker 1: Imagine if you did that for five days in a row, Leana.
Speaker 2: I mean, imagine five days back to back of singing
Speaker 2: lead and backing vocals. Okay, basically, your throat is bleeding.
Speaker 2: It is on fire, and that is what Christina insisted
Speaker 2: on doing.
Speaker 1: Y laryngitis right now, oh triggered. So when we say
Speaker 1: Christina put in blood, sweat and tears for her bobs,
Speaker 1: We're being dead ass, and that was just for her demos.
Speaker 2: Now, RCA had put a million dollar budget behind her debut,
Speaker 2: and she and the.
Speaker 1: Label had different ideas about how to use it.
Speaker 2: Christina wanted her debut to feature more unadulterated R and
Speaker 2: B in the tradition, of course, of her idols Mariah
Speaker 2: and Whitney, meaning more extensive ad libs and riffs, but
Speaker 2: the label wanted to push for a more team pop direction.
Speaker 1: And the label ain't about what a girl wants.
Speaker 2: I see what you did there that was really good
Speaker 2: and that track is a perfect example of where things
Speaker 2: ultimately landed. R and B rhythms and instrumentals with hooks
Speaker 2: for days years, and while RCA talked Christina down from
Speaker 2: too many ad libs and extended riffs, the debut still
Speaker 2: sat comfortably in the Mariah Whitney wheelhouse thanks to writers
Speaker 2: and producers like Diane Warren, Shelley Pakin, Pam Shane, and
Speaker 2: fun Fact Robin Thick Robin Dick Well, it was Robin
Speaker 2: before we knew about the Ick. More importantly, Christina even
Speaker 2: got to work with a songwriter who had written for
Speaker 2: one of her idol, fran Gold, who had written songs
Speaker 2: for Whitney Houston, including run to You, which happens to
Speaker 2: be one of Christina's demos.
Speaker 1: Literally all of Christina's dreams were coming true.
Speaker 2: Oh speaking of dreams, fran Gold had also worked with
Speaker 2: our idol, Selena.
Speaker 1: Did you know that she wrote dreaming of you Shut
Speaker 1: Your Button?
Speaker 2: Christina even got to record a song that was originally
Speaker 2: written for the Queen of Tejanah's crossover album track number four,
Speaker 2: so emotional.
Speaker 1: I don't know. This sounds like a good use of
Speaker 1: a million dollar budget, Okay, fair.
Speaker 2: Christina was working with top songwriters and producers, and we've
Speaker 2: seen labels hedge their bets with the artists before on
Speaker 2: this show, Selena being a perfect example.
Speaker 1: Do you remember that cover Callina had debate more than
Speaker 1: her fair share of dues.
Speaker 2: So it says a lot that RCA put its full
Speaker 2: weight behind Christina's debut. But you can bet that Christina
Speaker 2: felt that weight on her tiny shoulders.
Speaker 1: Girl wasn't in camp masketeer no more. She was in
Speaker 1: and out of studio NonStop and working with Whitney's songwriter.
Speaker 1: I'd be so nervesighted. Sure enough, Christina.
Speaker 2: Didn't always feel like she could actually speak up. She said,
Speaker 2: it was really hard trusting in the world, very young
Speaker 2: and feeling like you don't have a voice. She wanted
Speaker 2: to work, but she was afraid of losing what made
Speaker 2: her her.
Speaker 1: Uh whatever that means when you're seventeen and all alone
Speaker 1: in Hollywood with your mom all the way on the
Speaker 1: East Coast, Little Tina didn't have any girlfriend staying out
Speaker 1: with but the women who wrote her songs.
Speaker 2: Oh, that means her only friends were her work friends.
Speaker 1: That makes me sad. Wait, work friends who were decades
Speaker 1: older than her.
Speaker 2: No shade, we are those older friends now. All to
Speaker 2: say she felt lonely, But eventually it was a rap
Speaker 2: on the studio and after all those sessions and struggles
Speaker 2: to make her voice heard, it was time to shoot
Speaker 2: the video for Jeanie in a Bottle on the beaches of.
Speaker 1: The bit Ooho in April.
Speaker 2: Oh, by the way, I know y'all think it's warm
Speaker 2: and hot and sunny in California all the time. It
Speaker 2: is not that shit is cold. The ocean is freezing
Speaker 2: year round in California. April is not a warm month,
Speaker 2: but Christina powered through, just like she had done in
Speaker 2: the booth, and finally, in June of nineteen ninety.
Speaker 1: Nine, Christina came out of the bottle. I think we
Speaker 1: need to take a moment of silence for the video.
Speaker 1: Let's just reflect. I just want to rub the bottle.
Speaker 1: I want to go.
Speaker 2: I just have to say I remember watching the video
Speaker 2: for the very first time, and I was confused.
Speaker 1: Okay, let me tell you why.
Speaker 2: Because her name was Christina a Yilera.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well I saw the name, yeah, and then I saw her.
Speaker 1: And mm hmmm, yeah, that would be weird.
Speaker 2: You're looking at me, deep into my eyes, and I
Speaker 2: think that you see why it felt strange for me
Speaker 2: in that moment.
Speaker 1: Why do you think it felt strange for me? Because
Speaker 1: she had blonde hair and blue eyes. Her name was
Speaker 1: Christina Aguilera, Yes, And.
Speaker 2: I don't know if that is because a Mexic Ghana
Speaker 2: and I lived in Texas and I was seeing this happen.
Speaker 2: I don't have a lot of blue eyed, blonde haired
Speaker 2: Mexican friends. I didn't even really understand how different Latinos
Speaker 2: looked until I left Texas, because everyone in my immediate
Speaker 2: community is Mexicano. Like, Okay, my dad's Puerto Rican and
Speaker 2: like he is a fair eyed and fair haired, but
Speaker 2: he's like an anomaly. I was like, that's sad. My
Speaker 2: dad's just my dad. But I did not know girls
Speaker 2: named Christina Aguilera that had like a blonde bob with
Speaker 2: blue eyes, so I was like, huh.
Speaker 1: But then I was like, I'm obsessed with her. I
Speaker 1: remember immediately feeling is this girl trying to take Britney's place?
Speaker 1: I did. I was like, oh no, this girl's not.
Speaker 1: But then I realized she was Latina, and in al Paso,
Speaker 1: and in the north of Mexico there's a lot of
Speaker 1: blonde hair, blue eyed girl, so I mean she looked
Speaker 1: like your friends. Yeah.
Speaker 2: And as excited as Joseph and I were for this song, Christina,
Speaker 2: being the R and B perfectionist that she is, well,
Speaker 2: she wasn't the most excited about Genie in a Bottle
Speaker 2: being her lead single.
Speaker 1: And yet it became the second best selling single of
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine, right after A Queen Mother's share Do
Speaker 1: you Believe in Life After Love? After Love After Love? Share?
Speaker 2: Christina Santana. I just don't know that any year can
Speaker 2: top ninety nine, but Obviously, Genie and a Bottle wasn't.
Speaker 1: All I was obsessed with Come on over Baby. I
Speaker 1: don't know.
Speaker 3: It was just so over a Baby. I don't know it,
Speaker 3: you Rea. It just reminded me of the nineties.
Speaker 2: It is peak nineties like it just it was.
Speaker 1: I don't know. It took me which which one was
Speaker 1: your songs? I mean, I loved I every single song.
Speaker 1: The whole album is so good.
Speaker 2: I mean, you're talking about a very very young artist
Speaker 2: that is just giving you hit after hit after hit. Right,
Speaker 2: it wasn't one song, it wasn't two songs, it wasn't
Speaker 2: three songs.
Speaker 1: The whole album is a bop.
Speaker 2: And by the way, it wasn't just us that loved this,
Speaker 2: because after her singles all climbed to the top of
Speaker 2: the charts, that self titled album did debut at.
Speaker 1: Number one, and here today in twenty twenty four, that
Speaker 1: album is eight times platinum.
Speaker 2: But let's also recall what year the album came out.
Speaker 2: In two thousand, there was one thing that mattered just
Speaker 2: as much, if not more, than the Billboard charts, and
Speaker 2: that was becoming the number one most requesteds on on.
Speaker 1: Total Request Genie in a Bottle was the most requested
Speaker 1: song on TRL for five straight weeks and stayed in
Speaker 1: the top ten for several weeks more.
Speaker 2: And so it came to pass that Christina performed Genie
Speaker 2: and a Bottle on TRL, along with other tracks from
Speaker 2: her album. And that is the day the rumor mill
Speaker 2: hum to Life.
Speaker 1: The Tea for Your Consideration host Carson Daily was out
Speaker 1: that day. So when Christina's being interviewed by the stand
Speaker 1: in host, she says she misses him.
Speaker 2: I can see the US Weekly covers right away. Carson
Speaker 2: and Christina their secret romance exposed, not to mention he
Speaker 2: was actually engaged to Jennifer love Hewitt at the time.
Speaker 1: Big if true, which it wasn't, But now the readers
Speaker 1: had gotten a taste. Everyone was looking for dirt on Christina.
Speaker 2: Of course, rumored romance and risque affairs were common tabloid
Speaker 2: fodder back then, but as we all know, the press
Speaker 2: would find its true paydirt in Christina's supposed rivalry with
Speaker 2: her fellow format.
Speaker 1: Mouseketeer, Britney Bitch.
Speaker 2: Everyone who was around during the days of Britney Spears
Speaker 2: versus Christina Aguilera can remember the arguments, actually remember them
Speaker 2: like they were yesterday, and whether you remember them playing
Speaker 2: out in the schoolyard or at happy hour.
Speaker 1: It's like Britney's a better dancer, Britney's songs are catch here,
Speaker 1: or Britney can't sing bitch. Christina's a real musician, lest
Speaker 1: you forget her four octave vocal range.
Speaker 2: Media coverage of this supposed rivalry wouldn't re it speak
Speaker 2: till a little later.
Speaker 1: In the aughts.
Speaker 2: But the seeds were there from the beginning, before the
Speaker 2: scandals and flashpoints that are burned into our heads, which
Speaker 2: we will get to. The magazines would simply pit their
Speaker 2: talents against each other. And here are a couple of
Speaker 2: quotes from that era.
Speaker 1: People Magazine wrote, quote, Christina's powerful vocal chords sound refreshing
Speaker 1: in an industry inhabited by baby voiced divas like Britney Spears,
Speaker 1: who wear the diva label like little girls where their
Speaker 1: mother's heels.
Speaker 2: Imagine if they made that Instagram post today, like the
Speaker 2: cant they would turned down, They would burn down the
Speaker 2: people building like that is so unacceptable. Okay, wait, they
Speaker 2: get better. Here's one from Entertainment Weekly. Christina Aguilera may
Speaker 2: show her belly button, but in her music and mannerisms.
Speaker 2: It's clear she's anxious not to offend. She's a good
Speaker 2: girl pretending to be bad. Spears, on the other hand,
Speaker 2: seems like a bad girl pretending to be good.
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, that shit just really came out like
Speaker 1: that's I think it's true.
Speaker 2: Just let women be, okay, true, but let women exist,
Speaker 2: Let women exist in their duality, tripleality, quadruplelality. Just just
Speaker 2: let women exist. Please, Okay. And by the way, that
Speaker 2: one continues on Thank You Entertainment Weekly, here's the quote.
Speaker 2: Spears's artificial sweetener voice is less interesting than everything around her.
Speaker 2: But even so, that blandness is a relief compared to
Speaker 2: Aguilera's staggering vocal gymnastics. Hold on, hold on, but I
Speaker 2: do Where are these writers? I know their hands, give
Speaker 2: me the handles.
Speaker 1: If this resurfaces, they would be canceled. They're probably retired,
Speaker 1: old white men.
Speaker 2: So after hearing all of those headlines, it's pretty clear
Speaker 2: where we all got our schoolyard and or happy hour,
Speaker 2: depending on how old you were.
Speaker 1: Barbes about Brittany and Christina. But us Weekly and people
Speaker 1: aren't the only names written in these receipts. Christina's label
Speaker 1: butt into the feud in their marketing for Christina's debut.
Speaker 2: Because while Christina's debut pulled insane numbers, Britney's debut actually
Speaker 2: beat Christina's to market, dropping in January of nineteen ninety nine,
Speaker 2: eight ful months ahead of Christina's.
Speaker 1: So by the time Crazy and Baby One More Time
Speaker 1: had dominated radio, RCAA was ready to market Christina as quote,
Speaker 1: a Britney who can sing.
Speaker 2: You know what, I take it back nineteen ninety nine
Speaker 2: has got to go. I don't know it.
Speaker 1: Oh fuck night, take share, take our girls, leave the
Speaker 1: rest anyway.
Speaker 2: Then came the Grammys, where Brittany and Christina went head
Speaker 2: to head for Best New Artists.
Speaker 1: Alongside Macy Gray and Kid Rock. But let's be wrong, I.
Speaker 2: Mean that wasn't a contest.
Speaker 1: The result made it clear where the industry stood in
Speaker 1: the end. Best New Artists went to the Brittany who
Speaker 1: can sing, Christina Aguilera.
Speaker 2: Christina shook as she received the gramophone and said her
Speaker 2: thank yous, which included both her parents. Round one going
Speaker 2: to Christina, who, by the way, probably didn't even want
Speaker 2: to fight in.
Speaker 1: The first place.
Speaker 2: I wish you guys could see the move that Joseph
Speaker 2: just did in the studio when I told him that
Speaker 2: it is time to talk about her next era. Yes,
Speaker 2: before Christina went on to her next era, which I
Speaker 2: know Joseph cannot wait to talk about.
Speaker 1: Only makes me that much stronger.
Speaker 2: She had an incredibly busy start to the new millennium, an.
Speaker 1: Eighty two night World tour, appearances on Tierra Awards shows,
Speaker 1: and more.
Speaker 2: Eight was NonStop, but the breakneck pace of touring and
Speaker 2: promoting didn't halt her creative momentum. In two thousand, she
Speaker 2: embarked on a project that saw her embracing her roots.
Speaker 2: The Spanish language album Mi Reflejo.
Speaker 1: Mi Reflecho features five songs from her self titled debut
Speaker 1: redone in Spanish, plus four new songs like Final Size,
Speaker 1: Esperanzas and sinot vierrag Nocio, a duet with Luis.
Speaker 2: Fonsi and Christina, unlike her parents, was not fluent in Spanish,
Speaker 2: so the album was a little bit.
Speaker 1: Of a challenge, and if it ain't clear yet, our
Speaker 1: girl loves a challenge.
Speaker 2: Like facts, facts, you guys are basically the same.
Speaker 1: Not what do you mean right?
Speaker 2: You?
Speaker 1: Genie? Your genie?
Speaker 2: I have a Genie a bottle anyway, Christina worked with
Speaker 2: Rudy Perez, the producer who worked with the Gloria Stepan,
Speaker 2: Mark Anthony, and Jlo, among others, to rework the material
Speaker 2: and worked with a vocal coach to learn how to
Speaker 2: sing in Espanol.
Speaker 1: So All I Want Is You became Solemente Too, which
Speaker 1: became Christina's first single to top the Billboard Hot Latin
Speaker 1: Song charts.
Speaker 2: While some critics knocked the album as an attempt to
Speaker 2: cash in on the quote unquote Latin explosion that Christina
Speaker 2: said of the album.
Speaker 1: My message, as in all my music, stands for being
Speaker 1: fearless to explore who you are. It's never too late
Speaker 1: to open a new door. Although it's scary to dive
Speaker 1: into a territory that isn't your first language, it still
Speaker 1: doesn't erase who I am and how I want to
Speaker 1: express myself in all aspects of what intrigues and inspires me.
Speaker 2: Not so fun fact, before her debut, RCA had considered
Speaker 2: giving Christina a more Anglo friendly stage name, like Christina
Speaker 2: A g Oh.
Speaker 1: I just threw up a little bit in my mouth,
Speaker 1: so seriously it's the coffee, but christ.
Speaker 2: Held onto her name and told interviewers she was proud
Speaker 2: of her heritage.
Speaker 1: This is what we love about our girl. After everything
Speaker 1: that happened with her dad, she easily could have turned
Speaker 1: her back on being Latina, but she's aware of every
Speaker 1: part of her that makes her stronger.
Speaker 2: You're just dying to get to the destination, aren't you?
Speaker 2: But things would get a bit held up for Christina.
Speaker 2: After all the burnout from her tour, she decided to
Speaker 2: cut ties with her manager and sue him for fraud.
Speaker 2: After Kurt's countersuit, the two reached an out of court
Speaker 2: settlement in two thousand and one, so she found a
Speaker 2: new manager, irving as Off, and began to find a
Speaker 2: better work life balance.
Speaker 1: And started dating one of her back up dancers, because
Speaker 1: dancers nano balance.
Speaker 2: She began to take more control over her life, her music,
Speaker 2: and her looks.
Speaker 1: Starting in two thousand and one, Christina made a sport
Speaker 1: out of turning heads on the red carpet. Let's get
Speaker 1: into some.
Speaker 2: Of these looks, okay, Joseph and I are evaluating relooks
Speaker 2: from this era. Christina at the VMA's in her tiny
Speaker 2: denim belt. I guess it's supposed to be a mini skirt,
Speaker 2: Christina at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards in a shredded velvet
Speaker 2: dress with very curly, big hair, and most importantly, Christina
Speaker 2: at the two thousand and one Grammys when she did
Speaker 2: her all over blonde braids. Do you want to talk
Speaker 2: about the makeup? Oh, because if anybody is going to
Speaker 2: break down a look, especially from this era, I think
Speaker 2: one of the biggest differences. Yes, the hair, Yes, the clothes,
Speaker 2: but we've got to talk about the makeup.
Speaker 1: You know what happened? I like it, I do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I quit the podcast. Yeah this is there is
Speaker 2: a liar in the boot.
Speaker 1: No, but you know what I'm going to I do
Speaker 1: not deal well with liars. Okay, No, why because she
Speaker 1: really changed her look for all of these events, right,
Speaker 1: it was everything was different. I like that. She definitely
Speaker 1: didn't style herself like anybody at the time. She was
Speaker 1: like Julia Fox like she was like but people weren't
Speaker 1: treating her like that, right, People are like, oh, Julia Fox,
Speaker 1: you're so cool. Like I thought this stuff was cool
Speaker 1: and so like edgy, but like people weren't about it,
Speaker 1: Like when she had those fucking dreads Bach in the Grammies.
Speaker 2: You're absolutely right, here's what happens. Let's go back to
Speaker 2: the year that it was, like, let's actually go back there.
Speaker 2: People did not have the same level of admiration and
Speaker 2: respect for individuality when it comes to personal style back then.
Speaker 2: May include it, right, And so while Christina's hair and
Speaker 2: makeup and looks might not have been your taste level,
Speaker 2: it was her taste and it was her individuality and
Speaker 2: it's what made her unique. And to be that bold
Speaker 2: and that fearless in two thousand, right, Like that's power, man,
Speaker 2: that's real identity. That's like really owning your identity and
Speaker 2: saying fuck all y'all.
Speaker 1: It was like Gaga forward. We can't think about it
Speaker 1: like that. Now she was ahead of time.
Speaker 2: You're right, and now we really get it, Like she
Speaker 2: was having fun, she was expressing her identity. And we
Speaker 2: want our musicians and our fistas to show up like this.
Speaker 2: I'm bored when artists are just like basic betties, Like
Speaker 2: I want to see them show up like this, don't you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that's they all show up the same
Speaker 1: kind of still.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because they don't want to get ridiculed. They don't
Speaker 2: want to they don't want to be individuals. And this
Speaker 2: is of course, her showing up looking like this in
Speaker 2: her most truest expression. After RCA had tried to make
Speaker 2: her just another blonde pop star.
Speaker 1: Christina agh the Brittany who could think. You know.
Speaker 2: She was tired of that noise. She wanted to express herself.
Speaker 1: She wanted her reflection to show who she was.
Speaker 2: And just like reflection amped up audiences for her debut,
Speaker 2: Christina's performance in Lady Marmalade, alongside Maya Pink and Low Kim,
Speaker 2: produced by Missy Elliott, gave audiences a hint of what
Speaker 2: to expect from her follow up.
Speaker 1: Wilder looks and vocals, in your face visuals, and unapologetic
Speaker 1: sexual let tee but listen.
Speaker 2: As in your face and eye catching as Lady Marmalade was,
Speaker 2: the world was not prepared for Dirty.
Speaker 1: Carl I was not prepared for Dirty.
Speaker 2: The lead single off of two thousand and two Stripped
Speaker 2: and its provocative video was about as clear a statement
Speaker 2: as you can get from an artist. Christina had the
Speaker 2: creative control she had yearned for, and she was.
Speaker 1: Taking us to the floor. Goodbye bubblegum pop, Hello rock
Speaker 1: hip hop, miniskirts and mud wrestling. That's hot.
Speaker 2: But that didn't mean ballads were off the table, because
Speaker 2: the follow up single to Dirty was of course Beautiful,
Speaker 2: whose Glad Award winning video shows marginalized.
Speaker 1: Communities confronting their reflections, coming to grips with who they
Speaker 1: are and who the world expects them to be.
Speaker 2: Duality was the name of the game on Strip, which
Speaker 2: alternated between confrontation and vulnerability over twenty tracks, and the
Speaker 2: rest of the singles showed listeners exactly what to expect.
Speaker 1: Because next came fight Her, a song for her father,
Speaker 1: the kids who bullied her, the manager who did her
Speaker 1: wrong but cannot follows.
Speaker 2: Followed by the feminist anthem Can't Hold Us Down, and
Speaker 2: the ballad the Voice within.
Speaker 1: Can't Hold Us Down was my faith ver Rent. The
Speaker 1: words made me emotional when I first heard It's it's silly,
Speaker 1: but I was like, that's so crazy that girls feel
Speaker 1: like that, because I was a young gay thinking about
Speaker 1: my girlfriend. Yeah, I was just kind of like, what,
Speaker 1: it's good. It is good. I'm just I'm surprised.
Speaker 2: I'm a fashion girl, like I am a visual learner,
Speaker 2: and I learned how to be dirty from that video.
Speaker 2: Yap Now Stripped followed through on Christina's way for creative
Speaker 2: control and gave us to be honest. I think her
Speaker 2: most honest music to date, including some of her most
Speaker 2: beloved anthems.
Speaker 1: But the critics didn't get it. They panned dirty and
Speaker 1: called it desperate and shrieking, which rude and called stripped,
Speaker 1: uneven and unfocused. But it didn't end with critics.
Speaker 2: Fellow pop stars such as Jessica Simpson and Yes, I
Speaker 2: Hate to say It. Shakita said that Christina had gone
Speaker 2: quote unquote too far with the sex appeal.
Speaker 1: You hate to see the girls go after each other,
Speaker 1: and unfortunately Christina was not above it herself.
Speaker 2: From two thousand through two thousand and two, Christina had
Speaker 2: been peppered with questions about you know who in virtually
Speaker 2: every interview down for it.
Speaker 1: That's got to be exhausting, I mean, and our girls
Speaker 1: stayed on message. We're great friends. We're so busy, we
Speaker 1: never get to see each other anymore. We're completely different artists.
Speaker 2: It's giving the old New York la. We have to
Speaker 2: catch upline like. It's not that you don't mean it,
Speaker 2: but you both know that you are not going to
Speaker 2: see each other.
Speaker 1: And when friends grow farther and farther apart. That means
Speaker 1: more room for.
Speaker 2: Messiness, and we will remind our listeners that every reporter
Speaker 2: with a microphone from two thousand to two was dying
Speaker 2: for that mess to break through, and they got their wish.
Speaker 2: In two thousand and.
Speaker 1: Three, Christina kicked off the year with a bang in
Speaker 1: supportive strip. She announced a joint tour between herself and
Speaker 1: Justin Timberlake.
Speaker 2: A pretty clear potshot at Brittany, with whom he had
Speaker 2: just broken up with because he said that she cheated
Speaker 2: on him.
Speaker 1: Lies. Fast forward to August the two thousand and three
Speaker 1: MTV Music Video Awards, featuring the legendary Brittany Madonna on stage.
Speaker 2: Kiss that rocked a country at a very conservative moment
Speaker 2: and was kind of seen as a passing of the
Speaker 2: pop queen crown from Madonna to Brittany, except.
Speaker 1: That when Madonna drew away from Brittany, she went on
Speaker 1: to kiss Christina too, but the camera cut away right
Speaker 1: at that moment to get a reaction shot from JT.
Speaker 2: Four months later, in December of that year, Blender magazine
Speaker 2: publishes a now infamous interview with Christina. Christina questions Brittany
Speaker 2: and Beyonce for acting quote unquote virginal and interviews around
Speaker 2: the subject of sex and dating while performing provocatively in
Speaker 2: their videos.
Speaker 1: One easy answer for why they did that it was
Speaker 1: two thousand and three.
Speaker 2: We were not accepting back then, we were not our
Speaker 2: best selves, and Christina also notes her dissatisfaction with MTV's
Speaker 2: editing of the Madonna Kiss and remarks that Brittany had
Speaker 2: been distant in rehearsals.
Speaker 1: Christina would insist that she was misquoted, and on TV
Speaker 1: appearances she would say publicly that she wanted to talk
Speaker 1: to Brittany about the article. But the next year, Blender
Speaker 1: would publish an interview with Brittany featuring some choice words
Speaker 1: for Christina.
Speaker 2: And thus the Brittany Christina feud the press had been
Speaker 2: itching for for years was made real. Years down the line,
Speaker 2: Christina and Brittany would state that they're on good terms,
Speaker 2: but this would mark the ugliest chapter of their friendship.
Speaker 1: Knowing what we know now, it's tough to look back on.
Speaker 1: There's just all kinds of inch.
Speaker 2: You have to imagine that after years of being pestered
Speaker 2: about Brittany and interviews, it was hard for Christina to
Speaker 2: not let some thing slip.
Speaker 1: And with everyone coming for her after stripped and after
Speaker 1: all her wild looks, with Shaki and Jessica Simpson coming
Speaker 1: for her.
Speaker 2: Long story short, Christina got her hands dirty. So as
Speaker 2: Brittany approached the bottom of her spiral in the late
Speaker 2: two thousands, Christina went back to basics.
Speaker 1: Goodbye jet black hair and booty shorts, Hello old Hollywood
Speaker 1: looks and Broadway cost Her two.
Speaker 2: Thousand and six album was a salute to Billie Holliday,
Speaker 2: Etta James, and Ella Fitzgerald, a gloss up throwback of gospel,
Speaker 2: boogie woogie and soul, modernized with beats courtesy of Mark
Speaker 2: Ronson and hip Hop Royalty DJ Premiere.
Speaker 1: The album made its mark, debuting at number one in
Speaker 1: the US and topping charts all over the world.
Speaker 2: In February of two thousand and seven, Christina accepted another Grammy,
Speaker 2: all done up in her curly blonde Baby Jane look.
Speaker 1: That same month, Britney shaved her head. It seemed as
Speaker 1: though Christina had.
Speaker 2: Won, except let's keep it real, nobody wins when women
Speaker 2: fight with each other. And for all of Christina's insistence
Speaker 2: that there was nothing to compare the two pop stars,
Speaker 2: who can better inspire and motivate an artist than appear.
Speaker 1: From way back. As Christina entered the twenty tens, Brittany
Speaker 1: would be fighting her own battles and Christina would be
Speaker 1: fighting hers.
Speaker 2: On the next Becoming an Icon, Christina reaches a new
Speaker 2: low of her own before reclaiming what makes her her.
Speaker 2: Becoming an Icon is presented by Sonoo and Iheart's Michael
Speaker 2: dudda podcast network. Listen to Becoming an Icon on the
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast