Christina
Aguilera just released her big, bold Back to Basics.
She’s also managing her career, enjoying her
marriage, and speaking up for her LGBT friends. A gay
press exclusive with the 25-year-old superstar.
Christina
Aguilera can also whip your ass at Donkey Kong.
“I’m extremely good at video
games,” asserts the Staten Island, N.Y.– born,
Pennsylvania-raised singer between sips of Pellegrino in the
bustling bar of L’Ermitage Hotel in Beverly
Hills. “People come over to my house after a
night of going out just to try to beat my scores. I have all
the top scores.”
Spend a little
time with Aguilera—after giving her swell new CD,
Back to Basics, a listen—and you
come away believing the petite platinum-blond with the
plus-size pipes can do whatever she sets her mind to.
And no monkey is going to stop her. “I love absorbing
information,” she explains, gesturing to a
coffee table book about pinup artist Alberto Vargas
she’s using as inspiration for her next video,
“Candyman.” “I’m always
looking to go new places. That’s hard sometimes,
because you’re setting yourself up for people
loving it or hating it, but I’m willing to take
that risk.”
As pop risks go,
Back to Basics is a doozy: an unapologetic
“concept album” in two parts inspired by
vintage soul, jazz, and blues. Disc 1 features retro
sounds and samples set to modern beats; the more
theatrical second disc reunites Aguilera with Linda Perry,
the out songwriter-producer behind the singer’s
2003 Grammy-winning ballad “Beautiful.”
“They’re like my babies, my fraternal
twins,” gushes Aguilera of the discs. “I
wanted to use elements of the music that influenced me, from
the ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s, and reinvent
them in a modern way. I accomplished exactly what I
wanted to do.”
The lyrics on
Back to Basics reflect a more hopeful, romantic
Christina, attributable largely to her marriage last year to
music executive Jordan Bratman. “I was in an
extremely heavy space during the recording of
Stripped,” admits Aguilera, referring to her
polarizing 2002 disc. “With Back to Basics I
was able to focus on a brighter, lighter side of
myself.”
As if on cue,
Bratman strolls into the bar to remind his wife that they
have dinner reservations in a few minutes. Aguilera lights
up. They’re clearly crazy about each
other—but in a way that seems sane, particularly
by showbiz standards. Before heading to dinner, Bratman
confirms that his new wife does have mad video-gaming
skills. Then Aguilera stands up onto a pair of do-me
pumps that match her red lipstick. “I have to go to
the bathroom,” she announces, “but while
I’m gone, Jordie can tell you what else
I’m good at—if you know what I mean.”
With that, she lets out a husky Mae West laugh. She
begins to step away, then says, “That was a
joke.” Uh-huh, right.
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