Back with a new album, the ever-changing pop powerhouse teams with a gang of queer collaborators and boasts of “kissing all the boys and the girls.”
Christina Aguilera first caught the public’s ear with the 1999 pop hit “Genie in a Bottle.” This and her next single, “What a Girl Wants,” made her an instant star, and her self-titled debut album went all the way to sextuple platinum. With her vocal range, however, she had so much more to give. Her follow-up album, Stripped, featuring the single “Beautiful,” really set her free. “On that first album, I was creatively stifled,” Aguilera told OUT’s Joshua David Stein. “On Stripped I was like, I don’t give a fuck.”
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Not only did she find herself with Stripped, but Aguilera also knows herself and is not afraid to be open about it. Her upcoming album, Bionic, features the single “Not Myself Tonight,” which includes the line “I’m kissing all the boys and all the girls.” Aguilera explains, “I don’t get to kiss all the girls and the boys, but my husband knows that I get into girls. I think it’s fun to be open and play.”
She may not ever be with a woman, but make no mistake, she has the full support of her gay cadre. Aguilera’s friend and collaborator Sia explains, “I feel like Christina’s probably supporting the majority of the lesbian scene in Los Angeles because she really only works with gaylords, like her dog walker, her personal trainer, her cowriters.” As Stein puts it, “Bisexual or not, Aguilera is queer in the word’s most literal sense.”
Also in the June/July issue of OUT:
Hot List 2010 — Out proudly presents its annual roundup of all things scorching, including True Blood’s new blood, the Scissor Sisters, Kelis, and more!
Pillars of Salt — Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black goes to Salt Lake City to discover a group of dogged gay activists transforming the Mormon capital.
John Waters — From his friendship with a notorious Manson girl to his freezer full of poppers, the beloved king of filth forever lives in a world of extremes.
Visit OUT.COM for the full interview and more web-exclusive photos. The June/July 2010 issue of OUT goes on sale May 25.