Christina Aguilera (above) has evolved from Disney sweetie to soul siren. And she says being married doesn't stop her from expressing her sexuality through her music. -- PHOTO: SONY BMG

View more photos

Like Spears, she morphed from Mickey Mouse Club sweetie to bad girl, but now she glitters as the white-hot queen of glam.

After a long wait, Singaporeans can catch Aguilera in all her platinum-blonde glory at her first-ever concert here tomorrow.

The star, 26, whose hits include Dirrty, Genie In A Bottle and Beautiful, is belting out her stuff at the Singapore Indoor Stadium as part of her Back To Basics world tour.

Concert-goers may be catching her in the process of yet another change - she is rumoured to be pregnant.

She may have sold over 25 million albums worldwide, but even as she is set to wow Singaporean fans with her concert, her life may be taking a new direction, going by news reports. She and her music executive husband Jordan Bratman may be expecting their first child.

A report last week in the News Of The World said the couple were spotted visiting New York's Maternal Fetal Medicine Association, and Aguilera was also seen later that day with what appeared to be a baby bump. Her representative refused to confirm the reports.

A career in movies may be beckoning as well.

Aguilera told a press conference early this week when she was in China as part of her Back To Basics tour that she is reading scripts in order to find the right acting role.

So it may be a case of catch her while you can for folks thinking about going to her concert, which takes its name off her most recent album, Back To Basics, featuring a jazz and blues emphasis.

In keeping with that other-era theme, the pop icon will be wearing costumes by designer Roberto Cavalli, known for his sexy take on retro glamour.

Long-time fan David Tan, 37, a sales executive, extols: 'She is essentially a great singer and she did what the chameleon-like Madonna did to stay relevant in the business.'

In the beginning

AGUILERA'S success today is a far cry from her early life.

Born on Dec 18, 1980, on Staten Island, New York, Christina Maria Aguilera had a nomadic upbringing.

Her Ecuador-born father, Fausto, was an army sergeant and her family had to move to wherever he was stationed, such as Japan, Canada and Texas.

According to Aguilera, Fausto was physically and emotionally abusive to her and her mother, Shelly, a teacher of Irish descent.

Her parents divorced when she was seven. After the split, Aguilera, her younger sister Rachel and her mother lived with her grandmother, Delcie Ridler, in Rochester, Pennsylvania.

During these turbulent years, Aguilera found solace in music.

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine last August, she recalls: 'My grandma was the first to realise that singing was something I did all the time. For me, my voice and music were always an outlet. Growing up in an unstable environment, music was my only escape.'

It was her granny that got her hooked on the bluesy tunes of Billie Holiday, Otis Redding, Ella Fitzgerald and Pearl Bailey. 'There's a lot of meat in that music,' Aguilera says. 'I really connected with that pain. At a young age, I just gravitated towards that.'

She adds: 'It has so much pain, so much beauty of raw emotion and passion. It made me want to dance; it made me want to sing.'

So much so that she began singing the songs at local block parties, before moving on to singing the national anthem at the Pittsburg Pirates games and Star Search, the American Idol of the 1990s.

Although she did not win the talent contest, 'the little girl with the big voice', as she was commonly known then, managed to make a few heads turn, namely the folks at Disney, who saw a pop idol in the making.

In 1993, she was recruited for the New Mickey Mouse Club, the long-running teen variety programme, in which her cast-mates were a who's who of up-and-coming stars: Ryan Gosling (a recent Oscar nominee), Justin Timberlake and JC Chase (future N' Sync members), Keri Russell (of the TV drama Felicity) and Britney Spears.

While the show was axed in 1994, the Disney association continued when she recorded the song Reflection for Mulan, the 1998 epic animation about Chinese female warrior Hua Mulan.

This gig quickly led to a record deal with RCA, which touted her as the new pop princess, at a time when bubblegum pop by the likes of Mandy Moore, Spears, BackStreet Boys and 98 Degrees dominated the music charts.

In 1999, her self-titled debut album was released and shot straight to No. 1 on the Billboard charts and sold more than 12 million copies worldwide, spawning four smash singles - Genie In The Bottle, What A Girl Wants, Come On Over (All I Want Is You) and I Turn To You.

In 2000, she also scored a double whammy with Mi Reflejo, in Spanish, and My Kind Of Christmas, a collection of Yuletide favourites.

Stripping to success

Although she was widely regarded as the more talented artist, she could never evade references to ex-Disney colleague, Spears.

While Aguilera later beat her to the Best New Artist Grammy in 2000, it was Spears who snagged the headlines with her sexy persona, which a Rolling Stone reviewer once described as 'a vampishness that appealed to teenagers and paedophiles alike'.

Despite the awards and accolades, Aguilera was dissatisfied with being a squeaky clean pop princess.

When grilled by USA Weekend magazine in 2000 on a being a role model, she says: 'I'm not parenting America. If I can inspire people, that's cool. But to pressure me to set a perfect example, I'll do the best I can, but I've got to be myself and express myself as an artist.'

Bubblegum cuteness has a limited shelf-life. If she was to survive the fallout, then she would need a Plan B fast.

And that window of opportunity to branch out arrived in 2001 when she collaborated with Pink, M'ya and Lil' Kim on Lady Marmalade, the remake of Patti Labelle's 1975 hit for the Moulin Rouge movie soundtrack. Its video, featuring a scantily clad Aguilera, raised eyebrows. The clear message: The little girl has grown up.

Proving that she was serious with the image overhaul, Aguilera followed up this raunchy display by dying her hair black and adopting the moniker X' tina for her second album, the hip-hop infused Stripped (2002).

Stripped she did, for the album cover, as well as for an issue of Rolling Stone.

Lyrically, not only did the songs get racier (the self-explanatory lead single Dirrty), but also darker (I'm Okay revisits her abusive childhood).

Though Stripped was a successful follow-up (it sold 10 million copies globally and birthed three singles, including the Grammy-winning self-empowerment ballad Beautiful), her vocal prowess was overshadowed by her over-the-top risque makeover. The verdict is still out if this transformation was a nice evolution or a nasty mutation.

Either way, Aguilera says she was glad she did it: 'I knew it was a bold move and a lot of people would not be ready for it.

'The great thing is that everyone, whether you loved it or hated it, had an opinion about that song and everybody talked about it.'

Staying grounded

WHEN her Stripped tour ended in 2004, Aguilera retreated from the public spotlight.

During this period, while her pal, Spears, was courting tabloid buzzards with her marital woes and bizarre behaviour, Aguilera was busy establishing herself as a serious pop singer: 'I'm in it for the long run.' And it is this unfettered focus that has kept her grounded.

Others attribute her level-headedness to her close bond with her mother.

But the most influential person in her life right now is her 30-year-old husband Bratman, whom she married in 2005 after dating for three years. She gushes to People magazine in March: 'He's the best friend in the whole wide world.'

And he even received ultimate homage in the song The Right Man, on her latest album, Back To Basics, a double disc set which sees her taking post-World War II jazzy pop nuggets and reinventing her persona once again, this time as a platinum blonde movie goddess.

Instead of sleaze, the album emphasises her sensuality.

What's next for her, motherhood?

She reportedly said earlier this year: 'I do have a schedule for myself and goals I want to achieve, but it's definitely on the list of things to do in the next few years. We'll have fun trying in the meantime.'

But neither marriage nor motherhood would simmer her down. 'I still have a sexual side,' she says in an Australian TV interview. 'Just because I am married doesn't mean I can't express my sexuality through my music.'

She will be honoured on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next year.

As for her next album, her lips are sealed: 'It's good to expect the unexpected.' But this much she will reveal: Her image will change. Again.

douglast@sph.com.sg