Christina shines at VH1 storytellers

Christina Aguilera at VH1 storytellers | Live performance
Christina Aguilera's VH1 Storytellers finally aired and it was one heck of a show. Had this aired before Bionic released, she may have had a better chance of first week sales and catching a hit with "Not myself tonight". Because not only did she put on a bunch of strong performances, but we got to see Christina behind the voice, the toxic fumes of peroxide perms and the 3 inch layes of make-up.


"Bionic", "Not myself tonight" & "Beautiful"

She did the damn thing with "Not myself tonight". If she'd been rolling out performances of this calibre earlier on and putting them up on iTunes she could have had bigger success with the song. I still think "Not myself tonight" belongs in a dustbin. But I sit through every live performance of it, where-as I would never intentionally play the song off of the album.

I love seeing and hearing the people behind the music, especially those who seem to shy from the spotlight. So it was great to see Linda Perry accompany Christina on "Beautiful" and hear her talk about working with Christina. She's a woman doing the damn thing with the song writing and producing, which I don't think she gets enough credit for. Despite being such a huge driving force behind P!nk's surge in popularity with M!ssundaztood and Aguilera's with Stripped.


"I'm OK" & "You lost me"

"I'm OK" was one of my favourites from Stripped. It brought the album title home completely, as most of Linda Perry's songs did. You can clearly hear Christina's voice breaking and that she's fighting back tears on the album version of the song. I remember reading stories of how Christina was on the floor singing this song in the studio and that Linda would not allow any re-take and wanted to keep every missed note and voice crack in the song. Christina did a great job with the performance, but the album version still feels more heartfelt to me. Perhaps because she wasn't completely at peace with the situation back then or because she looks so glammed up on stage that it took away from the performance. I dunno...

"You lost me" was killer. It was this performance that we all heard and fell in love with back when a sneaky fan recorded it on their phone. Not just anybody can sit on a floor curled up and belt how Christina did. She did an amazing job.

This was one of Christina best appearances so far. Not only did she have her live performance game on lock, but she also came off really warm and nice in the segways. No interview I've watched for her Bionic promo had her come off this well and give this much insight into her and her craft. So it was great to see. This having aired may give her a nice boost in sales, because she really did come off well from start to finish.

Comments

  1. it was great. no better treat for an xtina stan. i'm ok had my eyes watering, not gonna lie.

    another advantage of doing a show like this is to distance herself from any comparisons to other artists. like, after watching this, there's absolutely nothing gaga about her. two totally different personas. i love that there were no backup dancers throughout. and when you think about the pop stars who can get up and do a show like storytellers, the list is incredibly short. it really takes a seasoned performer and artist to make a show like this captivating, and christina really, really delivered.

    p.s. bionic goes #1 in the uk! congrats!

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