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News
Aguilera is poised to play a scheming mistress in an American TV movie marking her first venture into acting She is set to join acting stalwarts Robin Givens, Farrah Fawcett and Melissa Gilbert in the small screen adaptation of Jackie Collins' raunchy novel Hollywood Wives: The New Generation. (July 16, 2003)
Target is offering an exclusive six-track CD featuring songs from RCA artist Christina Aguilera and Jive's Justin Timberlake, who are on tour together -- The CD was made available earlier this week. (July 3, 2003)
The Stripped And Justified tour of pop heavyweights Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera is being forced to scale down its venue sizes because promoters are struggling to sell tickets -- Last Wednesday's canceled opening gig in Vancouver, Canada was officially called off because of long delays at the US/Canadian border resulting in insufficient set-up time for the tour's extensive production, but a Chicago radio station claimed many seats were unsold. (June 17, 2003)
Aguilera recently dyed her hair black because she believes that it give her a more mature look -- she said, I had been wanting to go extreme color-wise for a long time. It's where I'm at in my life more right now. It's a little darker and more mature and grown up. (May 9, 2003)
Aguilera has teamed up with the website stubhub.com for a charity auction in which fans can bid on tickets for her upcoming Justified And Stripped tour with Justin Timberlake -- Proceeds from the ticket auction will benefit the Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh. (May 7, 2003)
Aguilera co-wrote Kelly Clarkson's new single Miss Independent, along with producer Rhett Lawrence for her Stripped (2002) album, but it never made the record. (April 10, 2003)
Aguilera will be presented with a special award for her music video Beautiful at the 14th Annual GLAAD Media Awards ceremony at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on April 26 -- The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is recognizing the singer for using gay and transgender images in the clip directed by Jonas Ackerlund. (March 8, 2003)
Aguilera is set to be as ubiquitous on the fashion pages as she is on MTV as the new face of Italian label Versace -- Italian designer Donatella Versace said details of the advertising campaign had to be ironed out but her new outfits were inspired by Aguilera's all-singing, all-dancing success. (March 5, 2003)
Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake have been spotted canoodling in a London club, sparking rumors of a romance The pair attended a celebrity party at the posh Sketch restaurant before moving on to the 10 Room club, where Justin joined R&B act N.E.R.D. on stage; Christina danced as he performed and the two spent most of the rest of the evening strutting their stuff together. (February 22, 2003)
Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera's Justified And Stripped tour will launch June 4 at the America West Arena in Phoenix, Arizona -- The North American outing will take the pair on a 45-date summer trek before wrapping on August 24 in St. Paul, Minnesota. (February 22, 2003)
Aguilera was named the worst dressed artist of the year at Thursday's (February 13) NME Awards in England. (February 19, 2003)
Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake will reunite next month on February 8 for a televised charity concert in Atlanta, -- the NBA All-Star Read To Achieve Celebration, taking place at the Georgia World Congress Center, also features rapper LL Cool J and teen R&B group B2K. (January 16, 2003)
Her parents separated when Aguilera was 6 and friends say she has virtually no contact with her father. (November 12, 2002)
Aguilera was not permitted to get her ears pierced when she was a little girl, but now she has some 11 piercings (in every place one could imagine), she tells Rolling Stone. (November 6, 2002)
Aguilera's new video is being criticized in Thailand and it's not for her scanty outfit -- the protests are aimed at posters in the video that allude to Thailand's sex industry. (October 18, 2002)
Aguilera has admitted she suffered a nervous breakdown earlier this year caused by the brutality of the music industry. (October 12, 2002)
After earning the least sought-after title in showbiz the Doms Dogs Dinner award Aguilera has sorted herself out and is ready to return in November with new album Stripped. (September 30, 2002)
In mid-September, Aguilera will drop Dirty, the first single from her still-untitled fourth record, which is now scheduled for release in late October, 2002.
Dirty was produced and written by Aguilera and Rockwilder (who co-produced last year's hit remake of Lady Marmalade) and features rapping by Redman.
She will shoot her latest video for the track in Los Angeles with Lady Marmalade director Paul Hunter, who has also worked with Eminem, Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz at the end of August 2002.
Other song titles in her latest album may include Beautiful, Fighter, Infatuation and Can't Hold Us Down, a rousing track inspired by the verbal abuse she has received from Eminem and Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst.
By the time she was 10, Christina was singing the National Anthem for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Penguins.
With fans ranging beyond the teen market, she has shown that this 'Genie in a Bottle' has been released - and is soaring.
(1999) When she attended her senior prom with her boyfriend, the envious attendees walked off the dance floor when her song Genie In a Bottle played.
It might be the worst kept secret of the year, but that hasn't
lessened the excitement of announcing the hottest tour for 2003.
The Frontier Touring Company are delighted to confirm that Christina
Aguilera is heading to Australia this December for a limited number
of shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Christina's live concerts are proving that Christina Aguilera is all grown up and can turn on the most action packed, colourful and vibrant of shows.
With dancers, lights, an enormous set, confetti and numerous daring
costume changes, Christina's show disproves the adage that less is
more. With hit after hit, colour and movement, audiences are up and
dancing in their seats from start to finish.
The Seattle Times wrote "flanked by eight backup dancers... Aguilera
veered from sexy to sultry to playful to rock star."
"The cheeky star sang while strapped to a giant 'X' ..., straddled a
pink motorcycle and clambered atop a glossy piano."
With three consecutive Australian top ten hits, Dirrty, Beautiful and
Fighter off her platinum album Stripped, Christina Aguilera is
currently the undisputed owner of the pop princess crown. A fourth
single Can't Hold Us Down is due for release in Australia in
September.
Appearing as Christina's special guest for the tour will be
Australia's own up and coming pop rock artist Emmanuel Carella, who
recently debuted his single Too Beautiful for an impressive twelve
week stay in the Top 40 ARIA chart. His recently acquired position as
TV Hits Hottest Aussie Male Popstar in the July 2003 issue will also
no doubt excite many an audience member!
With a broad fan base and the title of the hottest pop tour to visit
Australia this year, expectations are that tickets will be flying out
the door when this show goes on sale Friday, August 1 through
Ticketek.
Source: Frontier Touring Co
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Rumors:
These are just some rumors taken from Christina's webite. If you would like to know know if something is true or not please email me and i'll try my best to answer them!
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Question: Is that tatoo "Xtina" on the back of Christina's neck real?
Shelly: Yes, it is real. It's really beautiful up close. I love it.
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Question: I heard that Christina and Justin Timberlake were together - is it true?
Shelly: I'm not sure what you mean by "together". They are touring together, but
there is no romance, if that's what you were really wondering. They've been
good friends since they were about 11 years old, and still are. But there is
only a working relationship, not a romantic one.
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Question: I was just wondering if there were any exercises
Christina does to keep in shape, because she has such a great body. I read
in a magazine that she does late night workouts. Thnx 4 ur time.
Shelly: Hi Ashley! Touring is very hard work, and to gain endurance, Christina works with a trainer. She works on the treadmill in the morning before breakfast every morning, takes vitamins to be sure her nutrients are all there, and tries to eat healthier. She's also done kick boxing training before and other regular exercises with her trainer.
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Question: I need to know if Christina has ever recorded (not live) the song 'At Last.'
Shelly: No. Christina has never recorded 'At Last,' but is considering recording it on her CD next year.
More to come soon!
Quotes
- If I was having a bad day, or if something was really getting me down -- boy troubles, whatever -- I wanted to go out and get a new piercing. It was definitely a release for me. Something that made me feel a little more strong or empowered. Because it was something that had to do with me and no one else.
- There is not truth to the rumors that we hate each other. I have no ill feeling for Britney and vice versa. I am proud of all the achievements she has made in her career, she is a very hard working person. I have nothing, but love for her.
- It's disgusting and offensive and above all it's not true. - about Eminem's lyrics in The Real Slim Shady which contained sexual references about her.
- About Britney: Britney's a really cool girl. We were really close back when we were on the Mickey Mouse Club, and even watching her in interviews I find myself missing her lately. I'm really proud of her, how far she's come and what she's been able to accomplish. And to keep it together: It's so crazy out on the road. I gotta give her credit for not just going berserk and letting everybody get to her. I just passed on my number to her through somebody. It's good to have friends in the business who know what you're going through. - Toronto Sun, Thursday, May 18, 2000
- About Enrique: But I do have fun on the side. Enrique and I have actually maintained friendship since the Super Bowl [where they both performed] and he's a sweetheart, sent me flowers when I was sick and everything over the past two weeks. He's just...he's a wonderful person, really down-to-earth and for as gorgeous as he is, you wouldn't expect him to be. It's really cool talking to someone like that. - JAM! Music, Wednesday, May 17, 2000.
- Whatever I do, it's my business. It's not my job to parent America. [responding to charges that she uses her sex appeal to sell albums.
Britney 'Inspired' by Christina Aguilera's success
Pop superstar BRITNEY SPEARS is so confident she'll return to the top of the charts, she's 'inspired' by the runaway success of rivals like CHRISTINA AGUILERA.The ME AGAINST THE MUSIC singer took a year off from the pop scene, and watched from the sidelines as Aguilera hit the big time with hits like DIRRTY and BEAUTIFUL. Punk pop babe AVRIL LAVIGNE and superstar BEYONCE KNOWLES also shot up the charts, making Britney's 'princess of pop' tag less than secure.
Now Britney's releasing her comeback album IN THE ZONE, but she isn't worried her opponents have eclipsed her.
She says, "You know what? Honestly, it's inspiring. I mean, like, in that time off, I would sit there and I wanted to watch Christina, JUSTIN (TIMBERLAKE), SHAKIRA, GWEN STEFANI...
"I wanted to see them dance! I mean, they're all my frickin' peers, man - we're all here to inspire people and lift people up. It was very inspiring.
"When I was out, they were chilling, you know what I mean? Everybody goes through their cycles of coming out and doing their thing, you know. You can't always be at the top so when you do, it's like...yeah!"
Aguilera Backs Anti-Violence Campaign
Pop star Christina Aguilera has offered her backing to a new Scottish campaign against domestic violence.
The American singer, who is performing in Glasgow tonight, has donated artwork featuring lyrics to her new song I'm OK - about her own childhood with an abusive father - for a new art exhibition in the city.
The show, which will be launched next year in conjunction with Scottish Women's Aid, is also being backed by Travis frontman Fran Healy.
In I'm OK, Aguilera describes her experiences with domestic violence as "living in a war called home", and, speaking of the new campaign, she adds, "Any campaign that raises the public's awareness of the issue of domestic abuse is worthwhile and I am pleased to support the Scottish Executive's campaign.
"My own experience has shown that you can survive after going through terrible times at home and I give my utmost support to those women and young people living with the threat of domestic abuse.
"I understand that there is a strong support network in Scotland and the government here raises awareness of how and where to get help.
"Don't suffer in silence because help is out there."
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Gossip
Us Weekly reports Christina Aguilera was spotted having a drink at
the Whiskey Sky bar in Chicago. The non-smoking singer had to split
early though, because the air was too smoky.
Nylon Magazine Article
Christina Aguilera has freckles. You probably never knew this,
because she covers them with makeup. "I'm glad you didn't notice
them," she says, smiling and gazing into her merlot in a Beverly
Hills hotel bar. "I never really like my freckles to show it's my own
thing."
Freckles aren't the only thing Aguilera's uncomfortable exposing.
Talking to her is an elaborate game of bait-and-switch: After every
personal revelation about her abusive childhood, her politics she
dives behind a smokescreen of neat evasions and polite replies. It's
what makes her confounding as an artist and so damned hard to pin
down as an interview subject. And it cuts to the heart of Stripped,
Aguilera's second album (not counting her Spanish-language Mi Reflejo
and a Christmas disc.) It's a beguiling mix of refreshingly personal
ballads and pop-icon gloss.
"It's about being emotionally stripped down from anything you may
have thought of me," she tells me, with a touch of faux-naiveté. "And
it's just me telling my own story. I say it on the record: no hype,
no pretense, no gloss." Of course, that's only half the truth.
There's a ton of hype, pretense, and gloss involved in packaging a
pop icon, even a newly "stripped" one. During recording last year,
she worried aloud to another reporter that the title might be
misinterpreted as innuendo. Then she dropped the "Dirrty" video. (Did
we misinterpret that?) It seemed to play right into the hands of the
world's celebrity voyeurs. Stillgive her credit"Dirrty" was also a
balls-out bid to reinvent her image. It's just that Aguilera saw no
need to ditch the hair extensions, makeup, designer clothes, and
personal trainers to do it.
I'm not sitting there with a guitar in a dark room singing chants or
whatever," Aguilera admits. "Yeah, there's production and stuff that
goes into it. And yes, I'm wearing makeup on the cover of my album.
But as far as the music really coming from the heart, that's what I'm
talking about. I put my heart into it, it was my baby. It
wasn't `Genie in a Bottle, Part II.'"
2003 has been a busy year for the former pop genie: In the past few
months, Aguilera's posed for a new Versace ad campaign (to be
launched in the fall); adopted a women's shelter in Pittsburgh; been
taunted by tabloids and mounted the biggest tour of her lifeco-
headlining in the U.S. with Justin Timberlake. Aguilera aspires to
the kind of career control Madonna masteredand it looks like she's
on her way. During the gap between her self-titled 1999 debut and
Stripped, Aguilera fired her manager and took charge of her career.
That meant taking charge in the studio, too: She cow rote and
executive produced the album, hiring songwriter Linda Perry (of 4 Non
Blondes and Pink fame) to work on the best tracks. Moreover, she
seems intent on bringing the music down to a more personal level.
Aguilera's intimate performance of "Beautiful" on Saturday Night Live
in March proved she's plenty capable of authenticity. The song
expresses a kind of grief and self-loathing/loving that any girl can
relate tocoupled with an intelligence that runs far deeper than many
of her pop peers. In between the dirty stuff, she's singing directly
about her lifespecific people and instancesand also about the real-
life traumas women and girls suffer at the hands of men.
Hardly your typical teen fare. Then again, the former Musketeer says
she never even liked pop music that much in the first place.
"I listened to my Mariahs and Whitneys and whatnot," Aguilera says,
hunching over in her army fatigue pants and boxing shoes. "And I
respect some s.hit that crosses over, like Prince and Madonna." (Yes,
contrary to what you've hear, Aguilera does swear.) "but as far as
bubblegum pop and manufactured s.hit, no. There's no way. I wasn't
going home and listening to the Backstreet Boys when I got done
with `Genie in a Bottle.'
"That's why I got so fed up. I came from such a teen-pop phenomenon
explosion. I was getting to live my dream of having fans and an
audience who sung back my lyrics, but after a while, it was like,
this isn't what I want to be singing. And I was really held back on a
leash by my record label to sing a certain way, to not riff so much,
to not ad lib, to not really go for it vocally on my first record. I
felt caged, and that's why I called my album Stripped. It was me
shedding that skin of being told what kind of artist I should and
shouldn't be. I was just going to be me."
Finding out exactly who that is proves to be pretty tricky. She
dropped a few clues the first night we met, at a fashion show in
Hollywood, just as the invasion of Iraq was heating up. While holy
hell broke loose overseas, the fashion eliteincluding Paris Hilton
and steady retinue of modelsturned out to check their cell-phone
messages and gawk at one another. Aguilera was the guest of honor,
hiding in a dressing room until the end of the show, when she
appeared on the runway in a hot-pink gown so tight she had to hold an
assistant's arm to hop up a single step.
The singer confesses that she wasn't nuts about the dress. "I felt
like I was going to the damn prom, you know what I'm saying?" she
says conspiratorially. But Aguilera dressed up pretty for a good
cause: The fashion show's sponsor, Gillette, donated a chunk of cash
to the Pittsburgh women's shelter she recently sponsored.
After her turn on the red carpet, she was herded through the packed
theater with her entourage. As she walked through the crowd, faces
froze and whispers turned to silenceand then back into whispers. In
this cult of beautiful people, Aguilera was the godheadand she
didn't appear to be enjoying it. She hung her head as if to say,
don't look at me. And as soon as she could do so without offending
anyone, Aguilera made a swift exit and went home to sleep.
"You do get so much put upon your shoulders to act a certain way,"
she says the next day, sounding tired. "And as a female, it's a lot
more pressure. I was talking to the kid in Good Charlotte, Benji,
about this. I'm kind of introverted and I usually don't talk so much.
Whenever I walk into a room, I kind of walk with my hat down low."
Even now, in the bar, Aguilera is tucked in a corner with her trucker
cap angled again the room. "A lot of people expect me to walk up to
them and be like, `Hi! How ya doing?' and I'm just not like that. I'm
more of a shy, keep-to-myself kind of person. Especially when you've
had years of people wanting so much from you."
"I'm different in an interview," she admits. "It's more intimate and
personable." In fact, it might be the merlot, but Aguilera does seem
to be opening up. Talk turns to politics, and I think we're on to
something juicy. A certain pop diva comes up in conversationthe one
with the rocks and the actor boyfriend. Aguilera's eyes roll. "I just
read this article where they asked her, `So what are your views on
the war?' And she said, `Oh, I don't really think about that kind of
stuff. I leave it up to him'and she points to [her boyfriend]. I
understand if you say, `I'd rather keep my opinions to myself,'"
Aguilera says, exasperated. "But to admit you don't have any opinion
of what's going on in your country and the world? I was just like,
wow. So what, I'm just here to look pretty and entertain? It's just
deeper than that to me, you know?"
I do knowand I'd like to know a little more. I ask her how she feels
about touring with Timberlake and vamping it up on the fashion runway
during a time of international conflict. Suddenly, she bunts. "We all
have our own opinions, which I prefer not to speak about, just
because everyone has their own opinion. You can look at it like, how
superficial are we for going to this fashion show while our country
is at war, but I feel like that's what entertainment is for. You
can't sit in front of the TV 24 hours and watch CNN. Sometimes we
need to take a break or we're just going to go insane."
Then I notice what Aguilera is wearing around her neck. It's a silver
pendant in the shape of a gun. "It goes with another necklace I'm not
wearing that says UNITE," she ways. "So the gun and the UNITE kind of
contradict, but they kind of go along with each other." In other
words, she's a support-the-troops girl? A "yeah" is the strongest
reply I get. Case closed. Next subject.
Stripped is a deeply personal record, in its way. With the song "I'm
OK," Aguilera has come out as a survivor of an abusive father. It's a
revelation that adds a deeper sense of purpose to her music and a
strange new dimension to hypersexual image.
"I'm sorry if this sounds cheesy or whatever, but I love the fact
that an reach people, and I do have messages in my music, through
domestic violence, what I went through. Back in the dayI was 15I
was praying on my balcony in Wexford, PA, I said, if I make it, one
of my goals is to give back and really try to spread the word and
build shelters. I'm getting to it now, in honor of my mom, in honor
of other people going through it that need that voice to tell them
it's OK."
Of course, many draw a direct link between domestic violence and
objectification of women in the media. If Aguilera is aware of the
possible contradiction she presents, she doesn't let on. She
presents "Dirrty" as nothing short of a Madonna-esque _expression of
female sexual power.
"Look at all these hip-hop videos where girls are swinging on poles
and having champagne splashed on them. They're obviously being
objectified. They're not in the forefront, they're not demanding
these guys to step off. They're in the guys' environment. In my
video, I'm in my environment. The guys have entered my world because
I allowed them to. Anybody who looks at that and is like, `Oh my god,
that's horrible for women,' I think that they have almost been
brainwashed by society. I'm not being objectified.
"I do like to empower women to be comfortable with their bodies,
their sexuality. We're always taught to have our legs crossed and sit
a certain wayboys are allowed to be rambunctious. I'm going on about
this topic, but it's true."
Of course, it's easy to be comfortable with your body when you've got
a perfect one. I tell her this, and she turns bashful: "Not really,
but thank you. I just entered the world of realizing you can't eat
everything you want all the time." The widespreadand sometimes
viciousreports of her weight gain have hung over Aguilera in the
press for months, but she seems unbothered: "I do lie having more
meat on my body. I'm very comfortable being thicker."
At moments like this, she seems just like any other young American
woman making her way in the world: insecure, then cocky; ambitious
but terribly concerned with others' views of her. It's kind of like
the freckles thing. She's scared to show them, but she wants to show
themand maybe, someday, she will.
"I'm growing into my freckles," she says, and it almost sounds like
she means it.
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