Analysis of a star

How can a music video help to show an image of a star?

Christina Maria Aguilera was born on the 18th December 1980 in New York, although her family are originally from Wexford, Pennsylvania.

Her first appearance on TV was in 1990 when she entered a contest for the Star Search programme. From there she went on to join the Mickey Mouse Club in 1993 until 1994, of which other artists like Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears, were also part.
She officially started her career in music after having signed with RCA records and recorded Reflection, which is the theme song for the animated film Mulan which was released in 1998.

Genie in a bottle which came out in 1999 as a part of her début album which was entitled "Christina Aguilera": The album also included What a girl wants and Come on over baby, and went straight into the charts proving to be a hit for Miss Aguilera, as all three singles reached the Billboard's Hot 100.

Christina portrays the image of an innocent girl, in her Genie in a bottle music video, even though by her body language tells a different story; her movements and actions are quite sexual, which is well noted by the audience, and completely un-childlike. This is supported by the lyrics "Body saying let's go, but my heart is saying no" which demonstrate contradictions within herself, whether or not to resist "temptation".  
Although genies are usually associated with deserts and India, in this music video the beach was chosen for the setting along with the usage of Chinese lanterns to lighten up the balcony facing the beach. The beach which is always represents summer, and also is stereotyped as a romantic setting; where love is found and parties are had with friends.

The artists costume and make up both use strong colours like orange and blues, as well as her clothing being coloured coded; so for example when she was wearing orange trousers whilst dancing, the artist was also wearing a white,blue and orange top as it goes with the trousers. Her use of strong eye-shadow colours such as blues and red/pink lipstick is due to the fashion in the late 90s early 2000. An example is Destiny's Child "Say my name" music video, which also uses bright colours such as orange, blue and white. As Christina is wearing colours that are in fashion doesn't represents her as a diverse artist, as she is not portrayed as original.

Like so many others, Christina has altered her image throughout her years as a successful artist.
Also adhering to the R&B genre rule, that female artists have their stomach on show; a rule Christina Aguilera conforms to, as her abdomen is constantly on show throughout the video. This portrays her as a person who is confident about her body as well as revealing her sexy side. Low key lighting was used during the filming of this video, to ensure that a romantic atmosphere was created.

Elements such as fire, also a convertible red car were used to represent youth and danger, as well as fun, connoting also love which relates perfectly to Christina Aguilera image as an innocence flirtatious yet sexuality teenager. Christina’s conformation to R&B conventions shows she wears heels which make her legs look longer, using trainers only in her dance performances; she also illustrates power as she is not only chasing the guy but she is making sure she herself will be chased.
She also uses reference to parties and drink as well as having many dancing shots, which are dance-pop genre characteristics. The Genie in a bottle video was performance based and there is no strong relationship with lyrics or visuals. 


Common camera mid-shots were used of Christina in this clip, the artists doesn't follow the rule of thirds as she is not located in the centre of the frame. The position, in which she is laying, is rather prerogative as the artists is trying to show off her body and by displaying parts of her thigh, targeting a more male audience. In the music video there are many jump cuts, as it fast-forwards into the evening, only showing the audience at certain events, helping to focus only on the artist’s attention to a young man. As her body language changes throughout the evening towards him; and she becomes more flirtatious towards the end of the music video.

When Christina started her image was all about her talent and youth. She was portrayed as the girl next door, with extraordinary talent, allowing her audience to be inspired and amazed by her achievement. The way the artist carried herself in this video is as if she is trying to sell herself to a male audience, by being sexy and flirtatious. This video places fans in hegemony as girls can be inspired by her style and look up to her, whilst boys may find her attractive.

Christina Aguilera’s next album was “Mi Reflejo”, which was released in 2000 and was completely sung in Spanish. Just a year after her first album, obvious changes in the artist were noticeable; like the red extensions she had added to her blond hair for her album cover. And in her Spanish version of Genie in a bottle, entitled:"Genio Atrapado", in the music video, although it is very basically very similar to her 1999 English version, Christina portrays more sexuality than in the original version, as she tries to break away from the sweet young girl next door image, to exude a more mature personality.
In the same year she then released “My Kind of Christmas”, which featured many of the Christmas classics. Her image remained stagnant in comparison to the changes made between that of her previous album, although her mannerisms portrayed more confidence.

With her fourth album “Stripped”, which was released in 2002; Christina Aguilera came up with a totally innovative and different image.

The song Beautiful which is part of this album was released in November 2002. In this music video Christina Aguilera is presented as a vulnerable person, as her portrayal implies that her fame and fortune have not swathed the fact that she also suffers from insecurities. She also shows herself as a caring and sensitive individual.

This music video is mainly set in an empty room with all the windows covered with newspaper, with the only piece of furniture being an armchair and a mirror. This would seem like if the artist is segregating herself from the rest of the world as if she is ashamed of who she is. The short clip is also filmed in many different bedrooms of the different characters in the story, as it helps to show their personality from their room décor and learn more about them and their problem. Some scenes were shot in the city or on a public bus so that the audience can see the people's reaction towards someone who is not considered to be "normal". 

Christina dressed for this video in simple black clothing; donning vest-top and loose trousers along with bare feet. Her use of piercings on her bottom lip and her nose are to sustain the image that is portrayed of her as a down to earth person, simple and defenceless. Also her hair colour and make up are quite diverse; bleach-blond hair with black extension and very dark eye-shadow, to help maintain her boyish image. Natural lighting was used for this video, to support and depict that everyone is naturally beautiful. 

The use of mirrors are used as a very important symbol in this video, as they are a connotation of the eyes of today's society, as everyone is judged by the way they look. The mirrors represent those who criticize; but the concept of this song is that you learn to like yourself for who you are, and not what you see in the mirror. That it shouldn't matter what people think or say, as she states in her song: "won't bring me down today". Magazines were also part of the iconography of the music video as people are usually inspired by models and use them as role models.

No tracking or zooming were used as all shots were still images, this helped to connote the concept of the song that in today's society it is all about a person’s image, which can be captured it in a photo. Frequent close up camera shots of the artist’s eyes were made to show her emotions and vulnerability as she tries to relate to her audience with self-esteem problems, such as anorexia, homosexuality or transgenders issues, as well as and being bullied. As she attempts to bring up their confidence level by singing the words: "We are beautiful in every single way"! 

The editing is music driven as it goes to the beat of the song; this is a genre convention of pop music. Continuity editing was the general editing technique that was used as it helped the music video to flow as well as portraying that if nothing is done about their problem it will have an impact on their future life. 
Both soft rock and pop usually have heavy story lines and concepts, as they are narrative based. Christina Aguilera is a traditionalist to these conventions in this music video as there is also a strong relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. 

Christina Aguilera is not viewed as a product as she is trying to support her fans, as she is not trying to sell her talent or show off but she is instead portraying herself as a ordinary person.  Hegemony is for the artists as fans see her a someone they can relate and look up to. A good image of the artist is shown in this music video. 

“Back to Basis” which is the follow up to “Stripped”, which was released in 2006, was Christina fifth album; this yet again showed a different image to the previous ones associated with the artist, as she took on a more glamorous depiction. With songs like “Candy-man”, “Ain't no other man” and “Hurt”, the artists revealed a more vintage side to herself, in all of the settings, all three music videos were set in precedent times; and by also using strong narratives and/or themes, helped to broaden the artists variety of audience to more mature listeners. 

In 2010 Aguilera released her sixth album “Bionic”, this was not a success for the artists as it received mixed reviews and compared to her previous albums it bought in the least amount of the sales by comparison. For this album the artist chose to go for a more electro-pop genre and an entirely sexual image. The two main songs in the album “Not myself tonight” and “Woohoo” both connoted sex and portrayed Christina Aguilera as a sex object.   

Her latest album Lotus was released November 2012 whilst the lead single, Your Body was purchasable from September 2012. 

In this music video it helps to show the artist in a totally different way from when she started in 1999, it show the audience a different side her from an sweet pretty girl, to a sexy aggressive woman.

She has developed and matured her image as her audience have matured with her. An obvious transformation is her make up, in this video she is wearing red lip stick, and lots of eye make up, whilst in her first video she was hardly wearing any to show her natural beauty.

As in her first video she is still wearing colourful and bright colours that contrast each other. 
Her clothing shows the audience her curvy body; she is now seen more of a sexual object which was used to attract a male audience rather than just girls. 

In this music video they are many references to murder as she is killing men; this shows her as an independent and powerful woman as she portrays men negatively as to be interest only by the way she looks. Her attitude towards men has changed from her first song as before they were portrayed in a more positive light, almost as they were responsible of her happiness, whilst in this music video Christina Aguilera shows that she is the one in charge and that men are "below" her.

In this music video there is a strong relationship between her lyrics and her visuals, as she explains that "I am a freak, I'm disturbed" which relates well to the way she kills men, for being interested in her. This music video conforms to some R&B genre conventions as the artist is always showing off her body and is portrayed in a very sexual manner, although there aren't any references to a big lifestyle, as she lives in a portable home, with other girls and a man, who we assume are her friends. Although Christina still portrays herself as glamours as she wears lots of jewellery.

Compared to her previous videos, Christina Aguilera shows a increased quantity of change of setting and clothing, which could convey to her genre conventions, as well as it represents her in a more glamorous way, and also helps to make the music video more appealing to her target audience.
A colour which is really dominant in this video, is pink; this shows that Christina is a very girlie girl in comparison to her previous videos as she is almost represented as a tomboy, showing her development in her image as an artist. This is mainly shown by her pink van and pink hair.
In her previous songs, Christina focused the music video on her ability to sing, by so focusing on more concept based music videos. Whilst in this video compared to her previous, the focus in mainly on her image, her body and her sexuality, and so focuses less on performances and concepts but more on narratives in order for her characteristics to be portrayed better.

Dye's Star theory suggests that celebrities are constructed by institution's in order to relate to a specific target audience and generate a profit. So meaning that the stars are only built on the purpose of making money. Christina Aguilera has been created in order to target a specific audience, as from her years in the industry, she went from a "teen pop sensation", thus targeting teenagers all over the globe, to "sexual rebel", which enticed a majority of men in her music. Her target audience in relation to her music are 15 to 35 year olds. This shows that Miss Aguilera is not an actual person and supports the theory that she has been created by the institutions in order to make a profit by targeting a specific demographic. Christina is known as a "petite vocal powerhouse" which is what differentiates her from other artists, and also what appeals to her audience as they admire her and inspire her talent, which leads to an idolisation.
New artist such as Ariana Grande have been inspired by Christina as they have replicated her image as a "teen pop sensation" in order to become like the star itself. Although due to her over sexuality this could lead to a negative impact on her audience as she is seen as a role model.

Christina Aguilera has developed her image significantly throughout her career as an artist, from pretty innocent girl to a strong powerful woman to seductive and very sexual. From starting off as a young talented girl she developed her image in order to fit in with the rest of the mainstream culture. Although her voice is unique, her style of clothing and music always followed the fashion. Christina Aguilera has changed her image, -not only her clothing style, but also her mannerisms and her attitude towards herself, due to the change in society, and so has developed into an artist that would appeal to the young audience of today. Although she has grown up, she still targets the same age group 18-30 year olds, making sure that she changes her image in order to appeal to them.