Christina Aguilera has told Sky News it is “magical” to see her hit film Burlesque being brought to London’s West End – and also opened up about her rise to fame in the late 1990s.
The US star topped the US and UK charts with Genie In A Bottle in 1999, before finding an even bigger audience with her acclaimed album Stripped and hits including Dirrty, Beautiful and Fighter in the early 2000s.
In 2010, she starred in Burlesque alongside Cher, Julianne Hough and Stanley Tucci, and now, 15 years later, is a producer for the stage version of the show alongside the film’s original director and writer, Steven Antin.
Speaking ahead of the show’s gala night, Aguilera told Sky News presenter Leah Boleto she has enjoyed taking a backseat and seeing the fresh interpretation of her character – a small-town girl turned into a star.
“It’s just so beautiful to see the talent that’s on this stage and to absorb it and appreciate the fresh takes on things,” she said. “I love actually taking a step back and a backseat… it’s beautiful to see the reinvention.
“When you’re in it, you focus on the choreography, all these different elements, that being able to take a backseat and being more of a visionary of the bigger picture, it’s really a special thing.”
Aguilera said she had been “blown away” by Jess Folley, who plays her character Ali in the show, and has fully embraced the “powerhouse vocals” as well as the vulnerability needed for the role.
“She just is doing such a magnificent, magnificent job and likewise inspires me as well,” she said.
Aguilera said she would love to see her film co-star Cher popping by to see the show in London.
“She’s always welcome to grace us with her incredible, iconic presence. And I’m just so grateful that I had the time to be with her. I mean, looking back, it’s just – did that even happen?”
Aguilera arrived on the scene at the same time as Britney Spears, at a time when young female pop stars were celebrated, sexualised and scrutinised.
After the success of her debut album, she took a different direction with Stripped – embracing her sexuality and famously taking on a less girlish image with chaps, a nose stud and black streaks in her hair for the Dirrty video, and opening up about her life and emotions through songs such as Fighter and Beautiful.
She also took on the patriarchy in Can’t Hold Us Down, a duet with Lil’ Kim, and performed on the hit cover of Lady Marmalade alongside Lil’ Kim, Maya and Pink for Moulin Rouge!
“I always want to stay true to authenticity,” she said. “And for me, with that first album it was wonderful to get my foot in the door…
“It’s important to me that I stepped out on my own and reflected all sides of me as a woman, embracing my sexuality and sensuality, and my body… Dirrty, I just loved those chaps and everything about that was just so fun and raw.”
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So would she do it all again, then? Or would she prefer to be an artist starting out now?
“The ’90s, it was a pretty special time in music. And it was a time when you could still like go to Virgin records or like wherever and look at the CDs, look at the packaging. And, you know, sometimes the authenticity is missed.”
However, the good thing about social media now is that it has given stars the means to tell their own stories, she adds. “You have an opportunity now to really present yourself in ways that it’s not just about the music, to become more the narrator in real time… this is what it is like, be your own voice rather than reading about yourself in an article.”
But still, she wouldn’t swap. “It has to stay where it was.”
Burlesque The Musical is showing at The Savoy theatre in London now
