Xtina: A Temptress

In the music video, “Dirrty”, Xtina falls under the category ‘Temptress’ of Kristin Lieb’s ‘Lifecycle for Female Popular Music Stars’. During this period of her career, her songs and even costumes indirectly and directly became about sex. As Lieb puts it, “at this point of an artist’s career is when the clothes begin to fall off”. I will analyze how her movements, lyrics, and costumes are sexualized, proving Lieb’s description of this category.

The music video opens up with a booty shot of Christina Aguilera, immediately bringing attention to her sexuality. She sensually begins to work her way onto the motor cycle, and at this point the camera only emphasis her general body features rather than those that make her an individual- never even showing her eyes. As the video progresses, the setting of the music video takes place in a wrestling rink surrounded by men, as Christina is lowered down in a cage. Eventually, all of the sweaty men are looking at Christina performing in the center- all eyes on her, could it be a metaphor for her attention grabbing presence?

Examining the lyrical portion of this analysis, Christina sings,

Me and my girls come to shake the room

DJ spinning, show your hands

Let's get dirrty, that's my jam

I need that, uh to get me off

Sweating 'til my clothes come off

These lyrics explicitly demonstrate Lieb’s description of a ‘Temptress’. Christina says she is sweating until her clothes come off, and in the music video you can indeed see that. She continues, describing sexualized movements, costume, and message:

Bodies packed, front to back

Move your ass; I like that

Tight hip huggers (low for sure)

Shake a little something (on the floor)

I need that (uh) to get me off

As I was looking through the comments and found a particularly captivating conversation between some users:

People still remember the scandal this video caused, but little did we know at the time that more than a decade later female popular artists would keep pushing the barriers of sexuality. As much criticism as Christina received at the time, she was actually creating an easier pathway for female artists around the world to express their sexuality without ultimate criticism, today. Personally, I think sexuality is a beautiful thing, when not used for the purposes of objectification, and Christina Aguilera, along with other female artists like Madonna and Britney Spears, should be looked up to for artistically expressing sexuality, rather than be categorized under a lifecycle of pop artists.