Christina Aguilera

[Miss Modular]

I agree with your point about the industry's scary trend toward manufactured authenticity. The industry has realized that the audience that was geared toward teen pop have realized the phoniness of it all. Hence the emergence of "punk" Avril Lavigne.

But I actually think there is a certain grain of truth to Christina's sluttiness. There's a certain conviction there that I find in her attempt that didn't find in Britney Spears' attempt to appropriate a more "adult" image. In a recent episode of SNL, there was a cartoon where the Peanuts kids went around and dressed up everything around them like they'd dress a Christmas tree. One of them was a hooker on a street. They dressed her up. Before you know it, she was singing "Dirrty". As if "Genie in a Bottle" never even existed. With Britney, people will still remember her for "Baby, One More Time".

I mean, what do a lot of 21-22 year olds think about, seriously? Lots of sexually active young adults think about sex. (That's not to say that all 21-22 think exclusively about sex--that's not true.) I think it's more honest to talk about wanting to get laid than it is to create pseudo introspective confessionals for the sake of "honesty", or to write songs about the validation of a "Skater Boy". Still, you're right--it is scary that the industry has been trying to manufacture authenticity.