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I Didn't Mean to Turn You On - Got Soul?
By Tonya Pendleton, BET.com Staff Writer
Posted Dec. 17, 2002-- While R&B music in general experienced one of the steepest fall-offs in recent history (quick, aside from Musiq name a good R&B album that you've heard of that came out in 2002) it certainly didn't deter several White artists from coming hard for that territory. Damn, Eminem got a lock on rap, does this mean R&B is next? Well, thankfully for the future of R&B as made by Black artists - it ain't that easy to make good soul music.
Just ask Justin Timberlake. If it wasn't enough that he's a White boy from Memphis (home to Elvis Presley, who as we all know promoted what was then a completely Black music style to the White mainstream) he may have cleverly deduced that doing an album of N'Sync knockoffs wasn't the way to gain artistic credibility.
With ubiquitous producers Neptunes and Timbaland in tow, as well as an assist by R&B schlock song master Brian McKnight, Timberlake attempts to walk on the already well-trod ground of blue-eyed soul. While his resulting project, coyly titled Justified, isn't bad, it doesn't quite have the street cred that Timberlake was going for. The Neptunes and Timbaland seem like they saved their best B tracks for this project -and why not? The musical exploitation of Black folks has been going on for years. So why not get paid off a White guy and save the good sh** for the artists you're really feeling?
Timberlake's real problem, though, is his thin voice. It's pretty but lacks the gusto that most R&B artists take for granted. While his project is worthwhile for the effort he made not to be limited by his boy band roots, as a soul act, Timberlake is mediocre at best.
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I Didn't Mean to Turn You On - Got Soul?
By Tonya Pendleton, BET.com Staff Writer
There are White women who've attempted to do soul music, with limited success except for one very big exception. A few artists over the years have experienced crossover success by marketing their music to Black audiences. Pink and Madonna come to mind, but both abandoned those early forays into Black genres to forge their own sound. But Teena Marie, you may remember, never even tried to pretend she was anything but a Black girl who just happened to be in White skin. Shania, Celine, Faith, no matter how much they may share a mic with Mary J. or Aretha on "Divas Live," are pop singers. Mariah - that's a whole 'nother column.
But Christina Aguilera has been the biggest surprise of the year. Okay, the wardrobe is a little, um, slutty, and the "Dirty" video was a little unexpected to say the least from a chick who started out singing pop ditties like "Genie In A Bottle." But if there is any White girl out here who has the chops to be a full-fledged soul diva it's Xtina, as she's known to her friends. If ma had come out in a Teena Marie vein, Black folks would have been loving her from the door. Her singing skills are undeniable. Her first tour even included her rendition of the Etta James soul classic "At Last."
But there's a lot of hating going on over Stripped, Aguilera's third album. (Second in English.) Why? Cause she doesn't always like to appear in public fully clothed? So how come we ain't mad at Li'l Kim? The girl is 21. I'm not sure I want to claim every outfit I wore at that age. But back to the important stuff here, like Aguilera's voice. Does anybody think that "Lady Marmalade" got a Grammy because of Mya's vocals? Aguilera sang circles around her and Pink and would have out-blown anybody else who tried to step to her. On Stripped she shows more musical versatility than I would have ever given her credit for - from pop power ballads like "Beautiful" to anthemic smokers like "Fighter" and soulful R&B joints like "Impossible."
This girl got Alicia Keys to write and produce the latter for her, which proved to me that Keys is a little more talented than I
originally thought. Aguilera also makes good use of another soulful White boy -- Roots/Dr. Dre associate Scott Storch -- together, they power up a few soul songs that provide telling details about Aguilera's broken relationship with dancer Jorge Santos.
Aguilera ably handles several genres with her seemingly limitless chops, but is at her best on the more soulful songs. For someone who started out on the Mickey Mouse Club, Aguilera sounds like a soul shouter from a church way down bottom. I wish she would do a straight-up R&B album. This girl's voice is like a Ferrari stuck in a 45-mile zone. Damn, if only she could open up and let it really rip... But until then, Stripped comes very, very close.
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Christina Aguilera Wants Men Of Color
By Chuck 'Jigsaw' Creekmur, BET.Com Staff Writer
October 24, 2002-- Pop sensation Christina Aguilera has recently announced her preference for men of color, not white men, even though the sultry Latina has more appeal in mainstream circles.
"I want the boys with the flava! He's got to have some flava and edge to him," the 21-year-old singer told Rolling Stone magazine in an upcoming issue.
In the issue, she also criticized Jennifer Love Hewitt, because of the actress' apparent preference for Caucasian men.
"She wants a bunch of white boys [that] I don't want. I would scare the s**t out of her if she came to one of my sleepovers," Aguilera said.
Still, the singer said, she doesn't harbor any prejudice to white people, but emphasized she isn't accustomed to going out with them. "I don't discriminate because of color. I actually dated my first [white guy] recently."
Recently, the singer has generated controversy with her latest video, "Dirrty," a song that features Def Jam's Redman. The overt sexual depictions in the video have angered certain groups.
"It may have a couple of indecent scenes, but it is exactly how I wanted it to be. I'm not interested in moralists. I am happy, and the video is certainly not pornographic. I feel good in sexy outfits. I hate conservative people, and hey, I'm only 21 and in no circumstance want to dress like a square," she told the German magazine YAM.
Aguilera's latest set, Stripped, is scheduled to drop on Tuesday, October 29.
Wodie Gone Tales 12: Let's Get Dirrty
By Jon Caramanica, BET.com Staff Writer
Posted Nov. 1, 2002-- Prim, precious Christina Aguilera: What has become of thee? In the heavily spun video for "Dirrty," her collaboration with the sloppy, grinning Redman, she gets naughty, and it ain't by nature. Director David Lachapelle, a corruptor of young ingenues if ever there was one, puts Christina in a steamy shower, lets her grind on all manner of hired hand and, in the process, vaporizes her old image. This isn't the girl from the "Mulan" soundtrack. This isn't even the doe-eye from "Genie In A Bottle." To hear Christina tell it, whether in interviews or on the spoken intro to Stripped, her second album, this is the real her that's been waiting to be revealed.
Truth is the only things waiting to be revealed are Christina's privates. Damn near everything else is on display these days, whether it's via the scarf-cum-tank top she wore to the MTV Awards this summer or the nothing at all she wears on the cover of the latest Rolling Stone. And check out the photos in the CD booklet. From bleached-blonde bohemian, hair dangling over breasts, to distressed nude mermaid fresh out of the overwhelming sea to Madonna-esque empowerment poses, Christina bares it all.
It'd all be one big joke, no one would care at all, if it wasn't so painfully clear that Christina's talent so easily outstrips her desire to use it. "Genie In A Bottle" was a monster of a song that, if it hadn't come out so quickly on the heels of Britney Spears, would have been appreciated as more than the breathy musings of another teen bursting into post-pubescent sexuality.
Just this week, when Christina sang "Beautiful," a cut from her new album, on "Late Night with David Letterman," it was clear why we're indulging her sartorial and sexual confusions. She can sing. Saaaaaaang. Imagine Alicia Keys singing "Impossible," the track she wrote for Aguilera. She wouldn't be able to give it nearly the range and oomph that Christina does.
If Christina had been allowed to be Mariah Carey, a teen diva seemingly above hyperfetishization, her career could be blooming in an entirely different direction. As it stands, she's trading in the currency of flesh in order to get her music heard. Tis a pity, because there are many great moments on Stripped. Mawkish assertions of independence and the odd rock miscue aside, it shows her to be a mature vocalist and a songwriter with emerging skills. Why, then, all the scintillation? What's worse than Christina being pushed down dangerous paths is the fact that she thinks she's doing the exploration herself, and in so doing, has found the path to true independence. In a few years, when she has a Liz Phair backlash, we'll see who's really stripped.
Wodie Gone Tales Vol. 11: Justin-fy My Love
By Jon Caramanica, BET.com Deputy Music Editor
Dear Justin,
At the risk of being uncomfortably familiar, let me just say this: I'm really feeling you right about now. It's not about the music, no matter how closely you canoodle with the Clipse and Pharrell, or how much you channel Michael Jackson or Prince. It's not about how good your "human beatbox thing" is, as the guy from Full Force told Vibe last year.
It's not even about Britney, although that got you some points back when it was tough to determine whether anyone in 'NSync was, in fact, getting any.
No, what I'm really feeling is your perpetual childhood, your easy allegiance with the desires of your younger days. How else to explain your pair of post-Brit flings (doe-eyed dancer Jenna Dewan aside)? First there's Janet. Miss Jackson, if you're nasty. Are you nasty, Justin? Did a couple of years with pop's thickest princess leave you randy enough for the divine Miss J?
You're probably too young to remember her as Penny from "Good Times," or even from her turn on "Diff'rent Strokes"? More likely she got you open on "Black Cat." And she certainly captured your attention with the sex-slave dance routines in the video for "If" (a pubescent fave of mine, for sure) and the boho, polysexual leisure of "That's The Way Love Goes." Naturally when your boys covered that song for MTV's "Icon," you would take the Janet lead, all cute with your falsetto. But who knew you would take Janet too? The reports of y'all sucking face down in Miami are priceless. Sure, Janet's having a mid-life crisis - how else do you explain Jermaine Dupri? - but science has preserved her well. Much as you're validating, she's sure as hell validating you. We salute you for stepping up to the task.
But Alyssa Milano? This, my friend, is the coup de grace. For a whole generation of youngsters reared on the boob tube, the tomboyish Sam(antha) from "Who's The Boss?" was the crush to have - great smile, fun attitude, overalls. In other words, completely non-threatening, even though she was a girl. She's grown up into a fine specimen; if only one could say the same of her career. Nevertheless, dating her must be like reaching through the television and grabbing hold of a piece of your childhood lost. Beautiful.
Sure, it might not all be as pure as I'd hope it to be. Britney wasn't too far from the truth when she accused you of using all these famous women to gain media attention. But then, who are you supposed to date anyway? Since you've broken double-digits in age, you've been trapped in the television. It's not like you can swing by the Hardee's and pick up the check-out girl for a night at the movies.. So since fame is an inevitability, reach for the stars. The stars of your youth, that is. In this game, there's never any need to age.
Yours,
Jon
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