Do What You Want with My "Image"?: Christina Aguilera Reflection
"You can't have my heart and you won't use my mind but do what you want with my body... you can't stop my voice, cause you don't own my life but do what you want with my body."
Lady Gaga, Do What You Want
Lady Gaga and Christina Aguilera's "Do What You Want" duet shows the power pop culture has over artist's messages, their image, and the audience.
In the video, Lady Gaga performs her song "Do What You Want" and features Christina Aguilera. Both women are considered leading artist in the industry, yet one of the first things that stand out about the video is not the video itself but the comments under it. As a direct result to the rivaling culture that pop culture imposes on women, many commenters feel like they have to choose one of the women to root for by putting the other one down:
The comments provide an idea of how people perceive both artist, one which is know for her musical messages and outrageous sense of style, the other for her voice and the "female life cycle" that Kristin Lieb proposes. It's interesting because both seem to be aware of the roles they can partake in—innocent, temptress, diva, provocateur. They sing about allowing the media to do what they want with their bodies—"body" standing as a synonym for "image"— while they share the stage and empower each other.
It bring me to one conclusion: women in the music industry are aware of the life cycle they have to fulfill in order to stay relevant, and many of them use that knowledge to their advantage.
Someone else that I think is a prime example of this conclusion is Taylor Swift. In my middle school and high school years, I could not get enough of the good girl image that she drafted through her first three albums. The naivety, the idealism—as a naive and idealist 15 year old, I was completely sold. It was as Taylor Swift started to transition into the "temptress" that I began to question what was going on. It turns out the only ones affected by the "Female Life Cycle" of the music industry aren't only the female artist. The audience, many of whom are not reading between the lines of the narrative, truly take to heart the underlying messages that these artist portray. I've always admired Taylor Swift for her incredible tenacity and ability to control her own narrative. However, I can't undermine the incredible disappointment that my 16 year old self felt when Taylor Swift switched from one image to another. Now, I can understand what she's doing—using the predisposed expectation to her advantage— but I also wonder if like Christina and Lady Gaga, she should try to dismantle the industry's cycle altogether and send a completely different message to us all.
