Christina Aguilera's vamped up persona has moved her far from the sweet teen princess label, but the sizzling 21-year-old says that her provocative new album, Stripped is simply designed to let people "see the bare me". And she assures that her risqué new image and sound – seen in the controversial clip for her latest single, Dirrty – is the real deal.
The video for the tune has been banned in Thailand and is only shown during night time hours in many countries – the singer admits that "obviously jaws are dropping" – but Christina's happy to push the boundaries. "I needed to be myself," she explains.
"The label wanted to push the cookie-cutter, kind of play-it-safe, almost virginal kind of imagery that wasn't me," the Genie In A Bottle singer tells the Associated Press. "I really wanted to squirm away from that, because I really thought it was... untrue of what I was about, and it was really, really hard for me to live up to that anymore."
Though stars from Christina to J Lo have gained fame for sporting barely-there outfits, not all music fans are thrilled about the trend. Nearly nine out of ten of hellomagazine.com readers who voted in our recent on-line poll opined that today's pop divas should opt to keep their clothes on.
"Sell your talent not your body" was the message sent by 87 per cent of those who logged on to voice an opinion about the less clothing-is-more approach in pop music. Twelve per cent, however, fully support the contrasting philosophy, agreeing "the more flesh, the better".
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
