Is Christina Aguilera Copying Lady Gaga's Style and Why?

Christina Aguilera recently premiered the new video for the single "Not Myself Tonight," her first single off her latest album Bionic.Bionic is currently slated for a June 8th, 2010 release according to ChristianaAguilera.com. The overall stylization of the video is highly provocative, which is nothing new for Aguilera who reached new levels of fame for her bawdy performance of the single "Dirty" from the Stripped album.

However, the provocativeness of this single is different in that it is highly unoriginal and once again brings to mind Lady Gaga. The fashions utilized and the style of the video itself call to mind "Bad Romance" - even down to a close up of dramatic high heels, notable because "Bad Romance" featured Lady Gaga wearing several exclusive Alexander McQueen heels featured in fashion video shots.

Christina Aguilera was first accused of copying the stylization of Lady Gaga in November of 2008 when Perez Hilton discussed the striking similarity of Christiana Aguilera's new blunt bang and long, stick-straight platinum blonde hair look with the look Lady Gaga was wearing at the time and sported until later in 2009. At the time Christiana Aguilera stated as released on Perez Hilton: "This person [Lady Gaga] was just brought to my attention not too long ago. I'm not quite sure who this person is, to be honest. I don't know if it is a man or a woman." Catty. When recent discussions of the similarity of her new look when compared to Gaga's Fame Monster stylization brought similar dismissive and somewhat sarcastic responses.

Many people may question why an established artist like Christina Aguilera would stoop to, if not copying, being inspired by another artist's creations, the answer is simple. Christian Aguilera, while always respected for her level of vocal talent, has never reached pop icon status. When Aguilera appeared on the scene, she was shortly upstaged by Britney Spears. Virtually everyone can acknowledge that Aguilera is the better singer of the two, but Britney has far more recognition and a lot more album sales and ticket sales. Britney is an entertainment entity while Christina Aguilera is still a singer.

Practically ten years after these two young ladies appeared on the scene, another young woman with the stage name Lady Gaga emerged. Like Britney Spears, Gaga has become an icon. With only two albums (or 1.5 if you consider the Fame Monster as a re-release) under her built, Lady Gaga has taken the world by storm. Part of this is her sheer talent, and part of it is her sheer genius for marketing herself and always being Lady Gaga. Christina Aguilera has the sheer talent, and it would seem that she is taking cues from Lady Gaga to push herself to the forefront of the current crop of pop stars.

Cited Sources:

http://www.christinaaguilera.com/

http://perezhilton.com/2008-11-11-the-claws-come-out-xtina-takes-a-dig-at-gaga