Beautiful Voices Come In all Shapes and Sizes: Christina Aguilera Response
Hot Mess or DIVA?
In Aguilera’s music video for her song “Beautiful”, she shows her soft side powered by her edginess and sexuality. Originally I would have concluded that this Aguilera video was a mixture of hot mess and temptress. But watching closer and considering the success and range of the song, I believe "Beautiful" put Christina Aguilera to the top as a Diva.
To give context to the song: ""Beautiful" received universal acclaim from music critics, who have ranked it among Aguilera's strongest material. It won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance… "Beautiful" was also a commercial success, topping the charts in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, where it was certified Gold for 500,000 units shipped"
Christina shows her range of acceptance and inclusion in the video, depicting transgender individuals, a gay couple, young weak boys, anorexic girls, all playing with the idea that what people may consider unusual or a 'hot mess' is actually human nature and makes us inherently beautiful. Through this, it depicts herself has a hot mess but plays on the edge of temptress with her powerful voice and simple but sexy outfit, and pushes herself to the top as a diva following the success of the song. Aguilera walks the line of temptress in the music video, but instead of having 'all her clothes fall off' and having the song become about sex, Aguilera focuses on the beauty of sexuality and the body while also appearing tasteful, but bordering sexual herself.
The video that comes right after "Beautiful" on the YouTube playlist is a performance of Aguilera on stage singing “Beautiful”. Here, she looks classy, put together, and elegant and choses a slower paced version of the sing, staying stable at the mic and using her arms as her movement of expression. In both these videos Aguilera shows her powerful voice and how it can back up a song that is simultaneously sad and empowering. Overall in the song, she points out the nature of reality in the way we perceive other people, playing on the idea of a 'hot mess', but also showing her soft, feminine sexuality in the way she carries herself during her performance and music video acting.
source for quote/statistic: Neuman, Melinda; Mitchell, Cail; Morris, Chris (February 21, 2004). "Billboard Goes To The Grammys: Heard Backstage". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 116 (8): 69. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
