Music Blogs

So Christina Aguilera is back with a sleek, cybersexy new video, "Keeps Gettin' Better." Before you read on, watch and enjoy:

This sure is a new direction for the little lady, but she's no stranger to radical makeovers. Other than perhaps Madonna, there is no quicker quick-change artist in the pop game than Christina Aguilera.

Let's go back to the beginning, shall we?

OK, like other once-adorable teenypoppers (including her onetime rival Britney), Christina Aguilera was once that innocent. Don't believe us? See for yourself in her first video for the tween-empowerment anthem "Reflection," from the '90s Disney flick Mulan:

Later Christina made her official debut with first single "Genie In A Bottle," and though that "rub me the right away" line seemed a bit scandalous at the time coming from the babyfaced blonde cutie, nowadays it seems downright quaint (especially compared to the saucy stuff she started singing later on):

Of course, like many other teen-girl singers overeager to prove they're now "all grown up" (note: Mariah, Hilary, Britney, Lindsay), Christina soon started shedding her clothes (and, on occasion, her dignity). This erotic evolution began with her Dee Snider-as-concubine getup in the Moulin Rouge burlesque-themed video "Lady Marmalade," and reached its peak (or, some would argue, its nadir) with the first video from her aptly-titled, leather-chapped Stripped album, "Dirrty"--a video so sweaty and sleazy, it was later parodied to great effect by Sarah Michelle Geller on Saturday Night Live:

And so, "Xtina" was born.

But then, Christina really grew up. She married the stable music-biz man of her dreams, Jordan Bratman; became a mommy; and somewhere along the way dropped the whole dirrty-girl act. Gone were the dreadlocks, the possibly infected facial piercings, the clothing-allergic, perpertually exposed abs; and, yes, those leather chaps.

And her musical style changed as well: She started crooning duets with legends like Herbie Hancock in glam Fabulous Baker Boys mode, and her third studio album was the retro-'40s-themed Back To Basics, a real class act:

Well, good for Christina. But we admittedly kind of missed Xtina. So were quite delighted when she returned to the VMAs stage this year sheathed in head-to-toe Catwoman patent leather, sexily purring an electro-rock update of "Genie" that seductively segued into her new dancefloor-filler single, "Keeps Gettin' Better." (Her new album, also titled Keeps Gettin' Better, is mostly a collection of radical remakes of her old hits, including "Genie.")

And so, with this bold, ultramodern new look and sound, we feel Ms. Aguilera-Bratman has come full circle, striking the perfect balance between classy and trashy, sexy and sleazy, clean and dirrty, Christina and Xtina. She keeps gettin' better indeed.