Monday, March 29, 2010

Is Christina Aguilera toning down her talent to stay relevant?

While I was reading a recent interview with Christina Aguilera's longtime friend and collaborator Linda Perry from the group 4 Non Blondes, one part of her sit down stuck out the most to me.

The songwriter was discussing what we will be getting from Christina Aguilera on her new album Bionic. This new album marks the first album from Christina in 4 years. Her last release was Back To Basics in 2006



In the interview, Linda pointed out that Christina has decided to tone down her impressive vocals on this new album and that she will give a more subtle vocal performance as oppose to what we are accustomed to seeing from the big voiced singer.

I found that to be interesting and a bit disappointing because I've always admired Christina for her talent and loved that she didn't sound like anyone else.

When we look at music today, we see that talent takes a back seat to providing enough shock value to keep people interested. There's nothing new with this formula as many artists have used in the past and have gone on to have lucrative careers; however, when everyone is doing it, it does become a little annoying and redundant and does limit fan appeal.

Some have even said that talent doesn't really matter anymore. What's most important is the radical gimmick that will get people talking about you and accumulating a large following.

Hopefully, Christina's decision to tone down the one thing that has made her household name will not backfire on her. Staying true to one's talent and not being moved or effected by what most people are identifying with as being hot isn't really the way to go.

Take Monica for instance who most thought she wouldn't do well with the poor marketing she received. She is estimated to move more that 160,000 units in her first week.

No gimmicks. No silliness. Just plain talent. The revelation that her children father was dipping in another woman's honey definitely revved up appeal but that could have been a blessing in disguise.

Year's from now, these so called gimmicks will be seen as silly while those who are talented will be remembered as legends.

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