the wrong move wasn't release an album during 2004 and 2008.

It was the absolute best decision of her career... It was fresh, nobody was doing it, it didn't feel gimmicky 'cause she said she loved Blues/Soul/Etta James and whatnot since she was literally 8 and started to explore this landscape in Stripped even... and she got into this position of being taken seriously as an artist for the first time.

 

Christina's brand IS Back to Basics and she should've believed in it and expanded the world she was creating, touching 60s/70s in the future and so on. 

 

Also, for sure it was a commercial decline, but still one of the best selling albums of 2006.

It should have been shorter (and cheaper), but other than that it was the correct move.

 

B2B set her apart, cemented her place as a vocalist-first type of artist, earned her respect. Not to mention, it's her best work and the one that's truly held up. Stripped is... a product of its time. B2B is timeless. Maybe it misses that one song that could really be a global smash (ANOM and Candyman were not exactly that universal), but other than that, I can't fault it. Her other option, based on the trends, would be a LoveSex / Loose / Dutchess type of urban pop album but homegirl wanted to scream on the beat, you couldn't do that with radio friendly urban pop.

 

Everything that happened after was the wrong move.

Nah, B2B was the right move, and she should've explored more classic sounds. 

I dunno. I love B2B, but I always felt that it being released as 2 discs sort of hurt the album's momentum because some of the songs could've easily been scrapped and the good ones could've all fit into a single 12-song album and been a masterpiece imho. But the 4 year gap between Stripped and B2B is what hurt the most. When you're a young artist you really can't afford to disappear from the spotlight for years, you need to release a new album every 2 years at least in the first 10 years of your career

The main problem with B2B was the length, especially considering the direction. I still haven't listened to that album in full. 

2 hours ago, Digitalism said:

She lost me with that album.

Eventhough the visuals were great, the sound was very boring outside the lead and hurt. 

The 4 year breaks made it worse. 

The disrespect for Candyman 

nah that was a great era and album. while everyone and their loteral grandma was working with Timbaland she went the opposite route. also she had a very good image at the time. her main problem was not releasing Bionic in 2008.

No. B2B didn't hurt her career. What hurt her career was the long wait for between albums and Bionic arriving late to a sound that was being done by better and more prominent names. Had she been quicker on the uptake, she would've been fine. 

2 hours ago, Kimi said:

was she supposed to change her race 

 

Well it looked like she was trying to there for a little bit

29 minutes ago, BadHabits said:

The disrespect for Candyman 

Not that cringe fest 

2 hours ago, glitch said:

People talk about her "radical shifts" when she was still just a screaming blonde lady every era. The only shift that was truly radical was Stripped and that was the height of her fame.

radical being a combination of blackfishing and britneyfishing

Quite the opposite; it was the perfect decision at the perfect time.

Like Katy, Xtina suffered from waiting too long in between projects. 

B2B was actually really unique and refreshing back in 2006, setting her apart from mainstream pop girls and also very impressive between a large group of listeners. 
I think selecting Not Myself Tonight as the lead single of Bionic was so wrong, then afterwards everything went downfall except for Burlesque. 

Christina problem is she has always had terrible management. You can tell they had no idea what they were doing with her with such poor terrible decisions from her debut era onwards. 

 

She should have released an album in 2004 & 2008. She should have fit another full length Spanish album in that decade as well. 
 

She completely jumped ship on the B2B. Sure she got pregnant but ending a era early to make fans wait four years is crazy. 
 

RCA dropped the ball badly on her. 

30 minutes ago, CalvinZeng said:

downfall except for Burlesque

I will never understand why they didn't use Burlesque as a tool to rebrand or fix her image at the time. RCA should have quickly turn it into a full length studio album the same way Britney turn "Britney" into her album when it was originally a soundtrack. 

It's her best album (Bionic is 2nd)  so it was the right move in that regard. Waiting so much between eras is what really hurted her commercial success

3 hours ago, Kimi said:

was she supposed to change her race 

 

Why not, she has more new faces than albums now 

B2B was a correct move. It strengthened her credibility.

 

Its what happened after (aka Bionic) that was a complete disaster

Back to Basics was a success worldwide, and since it was a double album, it was sold for double the price. If they had added one or two more songs, it would have counted as double the sales.

Was a good choice, she was coming off a highly successful sophomore album, she had just gotten married, she was in a different place then she was with stripped and we got some of her best performances and best looks that era. Like she truly pulled that aesthetic off. 

Idk why they didn't add the 2 extra songs to count the album as double since it was a double album. 

Yes, she milked the stripped era (for a good reason) but she should've released something in between. The music and image was also a drastic change that didn't help her case 

3 hours ago, SoundsandSongs said:

I disagree with Keeps Getting Better. It made 0 year end charts except Canada at #85 and German Airplay at #70. I couldn't find any certifications for it either.

 

It's streams are truly bad at 15m and 43m views on YT, which is low for a 2008 song.

 

That is not a hit. It's units are probably on par with any random MPG album track.

It was actually in the top 40 on BB hot 100 for over two months (and the lower end of it for longer), so it was indeed a hit. It wasn't gargantuan (I did say sizable), but it shot the top 10 its first week and stayed in the 20s and 30s for a good while. I don't know what metrics carried it - maybe it was radio rather than streams or purchases, I don't know - but something did. 
 

Compared to Not Myself Tonight and Your Body which couldn't even debut in the top 20 and fell off quickly after, KGB had a good run and showed she still had solid support in some metrics after B2B. 

Edited August 28, 20251 yr by HeavyMetalAura

No, Xtina's problem were her long ass breaks, by 2006 she was already competing with Beyoncé, Fergie, Gwen, Nelly, Rihanna, Kelly C. She basically killed her own momentum.