Christina Aguilera’s "Not Myself Tonight" Music Video Review

Christina Aguilera’s "Not Myself Tonight"

Music Video Review

By our guest blogger, Gabrielle Corrado

After a long hiatus, Christina Aguilera is back in the spotlight. The former pop princess, who first catapulted to fame with the teenybopper anthem "Genie in a Bottle," has released the video for her new single, "Not Myself Tonight," off her recently released album "Bionic."

While Christina is indeed back on the scene, can we really call it a comeback? Her fans and critics alike are doubtful. The singer, famous for her undeniably impressive vocal range, was once fearless in her career choices--her material pushed the limit, with raunchy hits like “Dirrty,” and her chameleon-like persona only further added to her appeal. In her youth, Christina was the angelic blonde crooning a heartfelt ballad in one breath and the raven-haired temptress wearing chaps and writhing on the floor in the next. After a failed relationship with one of her back-up dancers (a la Britney), Christina married music exec Jordan Bratman in 2005 and gave birth to son Max soon thereafter. While one might think that such a huge transition in Christina’s life would provide her with endless new material, I must respectfully disagree.

"Not Myself Tonight" feels stale to me. Fine, her body looks great, and yes, I do think Christina is gorgeous. Do I think she’s inspiring, innovative or captivating in this video? Not even slightly. Her dance moves look stiff and robotic, the costumes are unoriginal, and the concept is yawn-inducing--Christina prances around in a catsuit. Christina shakes her derriere wearing killer black patent heels. Christina winds her taut body around a much younger man and just looks plain silly and desperate. The entire video reeks of a low-budget Lady Gaga impersonator. The irony of this striking similarity, however, is not lost on me or her other critics-- in a 2008 interview with the Los Angles Times, Aguilera dissed Gaga big time when she responded to accusations that she was attempting to copy Gaga’s style by declaring, “I’m not sure who this person [Lady Gaga] is, to be honest.”

Nice try, but you’re not fooling anyone. In the US, "Bionic" positively bombed--Christina was christened "Floptina" by blogger Perez Hilton. Christina fared even worse across the pond--her album hit the top spot on the Official UK Album Chart before dropping to #18 in its second week, resulting in the biggest drop from #1 in the history of the UK charts. As the title of the track suggests, Christina most definitely is not herself, but I suggest she either regain some semblance of her once-fearless persona or go back on hiatus.