Christina Aguilera lands her first #1 single in 10 years; is she set for a real comeback?
It’s been 10 long years since Christina Aguilera last topped the Hot 100 with “Lady Marmalade”, but this week the catty Kween returns to the summit alongside pop-rockers Maroon 5, as “Moves Like Jagger” moves 4-1 with ‘Airplay Gainer’ honors and the biggest digital sales of the week (217,000).
It’s not just a huge accomplishment for Aggie, whose popularity took a nosedive after the release of her last album Bionic, but it’s also a big deal for Maroon 5; Just like Christina, Adam Levine and Co. hit a stumbling block with their last album too, so “Moves Like Jagger” marks a huge chart comeback for both acts.
Now the question is: Will this success spread over onto Christina Aguilera’s upcoming studio album?
The peroxide blonde has worked hard at rebuilding her image after the damage that the Bionic era did, and so far it seems to be working. She’s made a conscious effort as of late to publicly give her fellow divas props (“Love you Adele!” she recently tweeted) rather than deservedly tearing them down (“I don’t know if it is a man or a woman,” she once said about Lady GaGa.). The blogs and media have definitely cooled off their Aggie witch hunt, and except for snarky stories about her constantly fluctuating weight, there doesn’t seem to be too many anti-Aggie articles around these days.
And then of course, there’s The Voice. The reality talent show was NBC’s highest rated new series of the year, and actually posted an increase in ratings as the show went on. And unlike many country-specific talent shows like American Idol, the US series of The Voice has been sold internationally, airing across South Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as down under in Australia/New Zealand, and a couple of other countries across the globe.
But really, one of the best things to happen to Aguilera’s career has unfortunately been her divorce and drunken tabloid exploits. It’s more than a little wrong to say, but the turmoil and scandal in her personal life has given Christina her edge back. It was her bad girl side that partly helped make Stripped the success that it was, but by the time Bionic rolled around, Aggie had no definable image other than being a frumpy happily-married mother with a bit of an ego and not much else. And remember, this is a woman who has always had strong concepts around her albums, whether it be the Lady Marmalade look, the Dirrty era, or her stint as a 1920′s flapper; with Bionic, her style looked basic and felt contrived, and hearing her sing about how amazing married life and motherhood is, being cheated on, and wanting to hit the clubs and pop her pussy, made for a terribly confusing inconsistency.
Now with every pop star under the sun wearing cheese blocks on their heads, Ronald McDonald wigs, and meat dresses, any obviously put together image Aggie rocks will end up looking faker than Nicki Minaj’s rear end, but thanks to the reality TV aspect of The Voice and Aggie’s highly-publicized personal problems, she should be able to get away with just being herself on her next album. Things are already sounding promising, with the diva aiming to create an honest and heartfelt album in the vein of Stripped and Adele’s 21, but also with a current chart-friendly sound, with one of the album’s collaborators comparing one of her new tracks to a better version of Leona Lewis’ clubby “Collide”.
All the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place for Christina to make a comeback, but things could still go either way. Let’s all hope for an Emancipation of Mimi, rather than a Workin’ Overtime.
