She's complex, Christina Aguilera. One minute she's thrusting, grinding and showing plenty of skin, the next she's the sensitive balladeer singing about being beautiful.
The American singer showed the full range of her talents last night as she made her Australian concert debut in Sydney.
Aguilera, 22, combined material from her latest album, Stripped, with the more teen-oriented songs such as Genie in a Bottle that launched her into the mainstream four years ago.
The image has changed in that short time but, according to Aguilera, what we're getting now, including with the raunchy video for her song Dirrty, is the real deal. The more mature former Mouseketeer is flouting the music industry machine, she says, in order to express her womanhood.
"I love being a woman," she said yesterday, holding court at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art just hours before her show at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.
Looking more striped than stripped in a grey suit, she spoke at length about how she had been able to assert herself and address important female issues through her music.
Yes, she has body piercings, she admitted, without going into detail. She also fended off questions about her bum, which led into an eloquent speech about the sexist nature of the music industry.
"It's all about being a woman," she said of Stripped. "It's about expressing your sexuality and feeling comfortable with that."
Quite a lot of sexuality got expressed during her performance. While she let hers loose in a variety of costumes, a posse of male and female dancers did its best to keep up.
Last week, the Los Angeles-based singer earned five nominations for next year's Grammys.
"It's great to be nominated even once in your life," she said.
Aguilera admitted that being groomed for stardom when she was a teenager had led to some bad career moves, but she was now more confident and in control of her career.
"It's a crazy business," she said. "I've learned things the hard way, but you just have to move on."
(from: theaustralian.news.com.au) |
