“If you live on the internet, you know that haters, you know that trolls, they’re just-- they’re the nature of the beast. They come with the territory,” Alison Haislip told LA TV Insider Examiner when we caught up with her at The Voice earlier this week.
Here’s the thing: some of these performers are still so young, and so new to the public eye, let alone any semblance of fame, so Haislip told us that the one thing she is really cognizant of is that while she’s back in the V-Room with the contestants, Tweeting along with the show and interacting with their fans, she makes sure they understand how to let any criticisms roll off their back.
It was a really good point to make, especially considering The Voice semi-finalist Frenchie Davis endured a bit of controversy of her own during her previous stint with reality television. Developing a thicker skin is something Davis shared with us that her own coach, Christina Aguilera, is really helping her to do.
“We had a wonderful chat about becoming thicker skinned, which is something that I have to work on because underneath all of whatever this comes across as, I have a very big heart, and I’m a little sensitive…There have been times when I’ve called my mother crying because I read something mean about myself somewhere, and you know, what I admire about Christina is that she just remains Christina no matter what people say about her,” Davis told us.
So Haislip tells the contestants-- and this is good advice for anyone dealing with online bullies, really-- that if they see something negative about themselves or the show, they have to ignore it.
“Don’t acknowledge it; you’ll only fuel the fire! It’s hard to sometimes, but you know, I think they’re learning that as they go along,” Haislip wisely advised.
WHEN Christina Aguilera was six years old, she would escape the chaos and trauma of her family by thinking of Julie Andrews singing “The Sound of Music.” “I watched her twirl around those mountains, and she was just so free,” Aguilera recalled when we met to talk about her nightmare tabloid year of divorce, flubbed lyrics, falls on national television, winding up in the wrong bed, and (finally) triumph. “I felt caged by my childhood. And unsafe: Bad things happened in my home; there was violence. The Sound of Music looked like a form of release. I would open my bedroom window to sing out like Maria. In my own way, I’d be in those hills.” Aguilera paused. She is small and, as she spoke, was nearly swallowed by a large, overstuffed couch in the lobby lounge of the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Manhattan, where she was staying. Aguilera looked more “Oliver” than von Trapp—she was dressed like an urchin in a large gray sweater and black leggings, and her bright yellow hair was barely visible under a sideways schoolboy cap. Her skin was pale; she was not wearing her trademark red lipstick but, as a kind of concession to girlishness, had on sky-high platform stripper heels. “Sometimes,” Aguilera continued, “especially in the last six months, I still feel like going to the window and singing out all my troubles.” She looked down, laughed quietly, and shook her head a little. “I laugh a lot lately. People expect me to cry, but I always laugh when things go wrong.”
For Aguilera, who is 30, things started to go seriously haywire sometime around June 2010 when her album Bionic was released. Although she has sold more than 30 million records worldwide, won four Grammy Awards, and been a star since age 12, when she *appeared on The Mickey Mouse Club (alongside Justin Timberlake and her then best friend, Britney Spears), Aguilera’s audience did not respond to Bionic’s fusion of hip-hop beats, disco rhythms, and nonmelodic vocals. There were no compelling sob-inducing anthems like “Beautiful,” Aguilera’s signature song, an empowerment ballad from 2002 that speaks to the proud but wounded bird within us all. Instead, Bionic ventured into new territory: Its techno-fueled sound didn’t utilize Aguilera’s greatest strength, her soaring, multioctave voice. Instead, she seemed to be trying too hard to be hip—to be current rather than classic. “It’s an artistic swerve,” Jon Pareles wrote about Bionic in The New York Times. He dismissed Aguilera’s attempt at reinvention, describing her new *incarnation as a “one-dimensional hot chick chanting come-ons to club beats.”
While Aguilera once owned the little-girl-with-the-big-voice pop-star niche, with Bionic, she willfully entered the land of Lady Gaga. In the press, she pretended not to care or notice. “Oh, the newcomer?” Aguilera told reporters when asked about Gaga. “This person 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.” Despite her feeble claims to confusion over Gaga’s gender and her uncharitable reluctance to give her credit, the video for “Not Myself Tonight,” *Bionic’s first single, had eerily similar tableaux to Gaga’s smash video “Bad Romance.” Image for S&M image, they matched up. Old fans of Aguilera’s weren’t intrigued by her revamped identity, and new fans didn’t materialize. As the album sputtered, her 20-city summer tour didn’t sell and was canceled, at a cost of millions. There were rumors that her record company wanted to drop her. Things were not good.
Interesting article. There are many things that I totally disagree with, but I think it's more built to show that Chrissy's now back in full force and making that Mariah-esque comeback!
'The Voice' poll: Has Christina Aguilera's image rehab been successful?
Just a few months ago, Christina Aguilera was at a career low point. Over the span of about four weeks, she had messed up the words to the National Anthem at the Super Bowl, been arrested for public intoxication, stumbled at the Grammys, and gotten sued. Oh, and lest we forget, all that came right her album Bionic tanked, her movie Burlesque flopped, and she filed for divorce from her husband of five years. Phew! Maybe words can’t bring Xtina down, but it sure seemed like a string of public misfortunes could.
Then something wonderful happened: Aguilera’s next project, The Voice, became a bona fide hit. And like Idol judge Jennifer Lopez before her, suddenly, the public began to see the diva in a whole new light.
During the singing competition’s first few episodes, Aguilera came across as easygoing, funny, and charming — and it didn’t hurt that the show immediately reminded us that the lady can still sing like nobody’s business. Xtina seems to care deeply and genuinely about the big-voiced women she chose to be on her team. And, at one point, she even joked about her Super Bowl flub, which just served to humanize her even more.
But in more recent weeks, Xtina’s behavior on The Voice hasn’t been quite as endearing. She has a habit of interrupting her fellow coaches, and a tendency to default to weird sexual innuendo while giving her post-performance commentary. (Exhibits A, B, and C: Patrick Thomas.) There’s a fine line between understandable confidence and off-putting narcissism, and sometimes Aguilera unwittingly crosses over it. (See: That “Candyman” name-drop.) Her low-cut ensembles and dramatic makeup have also drawn a ton of criticism from Voice fans. But for the record, she looked indisputably lovely last night.
All in all, then, it’s tough to say whether the four-time Grammy winner’s stint on NBC has resuscitated her image the way she arguably wanted it to. So I’m turning to you, PopWatchers, to see if we can reach a consensus. After watching her onscreen for eight weeks, do you like Aguilera more or less? Has her behavior made you yearn to go out for sushi and gossip with her? And if not, what do you think Xtina could do to get herself back in your good graces? Vote in the poll below to let us know what you think.
Im really anticipating this era. I really believe shes gonna bring it hard. Bionic was awesome but the public doesn't agree for whatever reasons so now Aguilera can improve and own this era!
WTF is Perez problem? Why can't he just leave her alone? Ofc she will get paid more. SHE HAS SOLD MORE of the other artists combined. Not to say the double combined. Not to say that her voice is truly amazing(one of the greatest of all time) and songs of hers are truly classics. Perez should cover stories about lindsay and paris and leave the legends alone.
WTF is Perez problem? Why can't he just leave her alone? Ofc she will get paid more. SHE HAS SOLD MORE of the other artists combined. Not to say the double combined. Not to say that her voice is truly amazing(one of the greatest of all time) and songs of hers are truly classics. Perez should cover stories about lindsay and paris and leave the legends alone.
WTF is Perez problem? Why can't he just leave her alone? Ofc she will get paid more. SHE HAS SOLD MORE of the other artists combined. Not to say the double combined. Not to say that her voice is truly amazing(one of the greatest of all time) and songs of hers are truly classics. Perez should cover stories about lindsay and paris and leave the legends alone.
