Christina Aguilera theme by d4v1e-g-unit
Download: ChristinaAguilera_4.p3t
(7 backgrounds)
Christina Aguilera | |
|---|---|
 Aguilera in 2023 | |
| Born | Christina María Aguilera December 18, 1980 New York City, US |
| Other names |
|
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Organization | |
| Works | |
| Spouse |
Jordan Bratman
(m. 2005; div. 2011) |
| Partner | Matthew Rutler (eng. 2014) |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Full list |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Labels | |
| Website | christinaaguilera |
| Signature | |
 | |
Christina María Aguilera (/ˌæɡɪˈlɛərə/ AG-il-AIR-ə, Spanish: [kɾisˈtina maˈɾi.a aɣiˈleɾa];[1] born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Referred to as the "Voice of a Generation", she is noted for her four-octave vocal range, musical reinventions, sustaining high notes including use of the whistle register, and a signature use of melisma throughout her music. Recognized as an influential figure in popular music, she also became known for incorporating controversial themes such as feminism, sexuality, LGBT culture and the sex-positive movement into her work. Aguilera was also honoured as a Disney Legend, for her contributions to The Walt Disney Company.
After appearing on The All-New Mickey Mouse Club (1993–1994) as a child, Aguilera recorded "Reflection", the theme for the 1998 animated film Mulan and signed a record deal with RCA Records. She rose to fame in 1999 with her self-titled debut album and the US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles, "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)". Aguilera also won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist and followed with Mi Reflejo (2000) and My Kind of Christmas (2000); with the former becoming the best-selling Latin pop album of 2000. After gaining more control over her career, Aguilera sought a departure from her teen idol image and released Stripped (2002), which initially had a mixed response. The album later became one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century. Aguilera underwent another reinvention with the release of the critically praised old-school-music inspired Back to Basics (2006). Throughout these periods, she amassed numerous international successes, including the number-one single "Lady Marmalade", alongside "Beautiful", "Dirrty", "Can't Hold Us Down", "Fighter", "Ain't No Other Man" and "Hurt".
Throughout the early 2010s, Aguilera had a moderately successful period with the albums Bionic (2010) and Lotus (2012), with their respective lead singles, "Not Myself Tonight" and "Your Body", topping the US Dance Club Songs chart. She also starred in the 2010 film Burlesque and contributed to its soundtrack, earning a Golden Globe Award nomination. Aguilera returned to the top of the charts with a string of collaborations, including "Feel This Moment", "Say Something", and "Moves like Jagger"; with the latter reaching number-one on the Hot 100, making Aguilera one of the few artists to reach the top spot over three decades. She found critical success with her follow-up albums Liberation (2018) and Aguilera (2022). Her concurrent ventures included a role in the series Nashville (2015), roles in the films The Emoji Movie (2017) and Zoe (2018), becoming an ambassador for the World Food Programme (WFP), performing two concert residencies, co-founding the company Playground, and serving as a coach on the reality competition show The Voice (2011–2016).
Aguilera is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 90 million records sold worldwide.[2] Considered a pop culture icon and a triple threat entertainer, she has been named one of the greatest vocalists of all time by publications such as Rolling Stone and Consequence of Sound and has been hailed as one of the most successful artists to come out of the 2000s. In 2009, Billboard named her the twentieth most successful artist of the decade, and was ranked eighth on VH1's list of greatest women in music. Aguilera has since been regarded as one of the most influential Latin artists in the entertainment industry, having helped shape the "Latin explosion" in the music industry. Her accolades include five Grammy Awards, two Latin Grammy Awards, six ALMA Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards (VMA), one Billboard Music Award, one Guinness World Record, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Early life and education[edit]
Christina María Aguilera was born on December 18, 1980, in New York City, to Shelly Loraine (née Fidler) and Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera.[3] Her father is an Ecuadorian emigrant from Guayaquil while her mother has German, Irish, Welsh, and Dutch ancestry.[4][5] Fausto Aguilera was a United States Army sergeant, and Shelly Loraine was a violinist in the American Youth Symphony before becoming a Spanish translator.[6][7]
Due to Fausto's military service, Aguilera's family moved frequently, living in New Jersey and Texas.[8] In 1983, they moved to Japan and lived in Sagamihara for at least two years.[9] During her youth in Pittsburgh metropolitan area, Aguilera attended North Allegheny Intermediate High School before leaving there to be homeschooled to avoid bullying she experienced at school.[10][11]
In 1986, the family returned to the United States, and settled in Pennsylvania, where they welcomed her younger sister, Rachel, in 1986.[12] Aguilera has spoken out about her father's physically and emotionally abusive behavior.[13] She noted that this is what made her turn to music, noting that, "growing up in an unstable environment and whatnot, music was my only real escape".[14] In 1987, Shelly filed to divorce Fausto and moved with Aguilera and Rachel to her mother's home in Rochester, a suburb of Pittsburgh.[15] She later married James Kearns with whom she had a son named Michael.[16] In 2012, following decades of estrangement, Aguilera expressed interest in reconciling with her biological father.[17]
Aguilera moving to her grandmother's home allowed her to explore her grandmother's records, which featured mostly soul and blues singers and increased her interest in music.[18] She also began to practice singing in public and competing in talent contests.[19] Following numerous contests, she earned reputation in her neighborhood as the "little girl with a big voice" and received widespread attention from local television and radio programs.[20][21]
In 1990, she performed the popular song "A Sunday Kind of Love" on the reality competition show Star Search, but was eliminated during the semi-final round.[22] Aguilera was eventually invited to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Pittsburgh Penguins hockey, Pittsburgh Steelers football, and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games, and at the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals.[23][24]
Career[edit]
1993–1998: Career beginnings[edit]
In 1991, Aguilera auditioned for a position on The All-New Mickey Mouse Club (MMC), aired on the Disney Channel. She ran against 400 candidates, and while she made the shortlist she was ultimately rejected for not meeting the minimum age requirement.[25] One year later, in 1992, Aguilera received a call from one of the show's producers asking if she was still interested in becoming a "Mouseketeer". She once again competed for a spot (this time, against 15,000 candidates) and was selected to join the variety program the following year.[26] Her fellow cast members included Ryan Gosling, Keri Russell, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake.[27] During the show recordings—which included Aguilera performing musical numbers and comedy sketches—she moved with her family to Orlando, Florida.[28] In 1994, it was reported the series would not return for a new season.[29]
Aiming to begin a music career, Aguilera moved to Japan in 1997. She was selected to record a duet with Japanese singer Keizo Nakanishi, with whom she performed in concert shows around the country.[30] Their song, "All I Wanna Do", was released as a single but failed to reach commercial success.[20] In June 1997, Aguilera went on to Romania to represent the United States in a singers contest during the Golden Stag Festival, but she failed to win over the audience.[31]
Seeking a recording contract, Aguilera recorded numerous demo tapes directed to record labels, including Walt Disney Records, for which she sent a cover of "Run to You" by Whitney Houston.[32] She eventually was chosen to record "Reflection", the theme song from the animated film Mulan (1998), which reached number 15 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.[33] Following the attention she received with "Reflection", Aguilera caught the ear of Ron Fair, the A&R executive from RCA Records, who consequently signed Aguilera to the label.[8] In late 1998, she began to record her debut studio album into which producers reportedly invested over $1 million worth of writers, producers and vocal lessons.[8]
1999–2001: Breakthrough with debut album[edit]
In May 1999, Aguilera released "Genie in a Bottle", the lead single off her long-awaited debut album, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks and became the second best-selling single of 1999.[34] The song became an international success, increasing Aguilera's popularity worldwide, topping the charts in over 20 countries.[35] The single also attracted the attention of conservatives including celebrities such as Debbie Gibson that spoke out against its lyrical content, and was eventually considered "too provocative" to be sung by a teen idol.[36][37] Due to the criticism, Radio Disney replaced the song with a censored version.[38] The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.[39]
Aguilera's self-titled debut album, Christina Aguilera, was released on August 24, 1999, to critical praise, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200.[40] It catapulted Aguilera into fame globally and sold over ten million copies in its first year.[41] It was later certified eight times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA),[42] and it has sold over 17 million copies worldwide.[43][44] Originally, Aguilera's desire was to create material directly inspired by R&B and soul, but the label opted for a more teen pop production due the genre's high financial return in the late 1990s.[45] At the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards, Aguilera won the Best New Artist category for which Time credited the award for "[helping] certify her credentials as a real singer".[46]
I was completely blown away, shocked, overwhelmed and thrilled. I didn't expect it. I've dreamed of that since I was eight years old. I was rambling off the top of my head, my knees were shaking and I'm still floating on air because of it!
—Aguilera on winning Best New Artist at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards.[47]
After the album's release, "What a Girl Wants", topped the Hot 100 and is recognised as the first new number one entry on the chart for the 2000's decade.[48] The song was also nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards.[48] This was followed with "I Turn to You" which reached number three there,[40] and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" which became Aguilera's third number one song and achieved worldwide success.[49] She also released a cover of "The Christmas Song" in November 1999 which peaked at number 18 and became the second highest charting position of the song after the original in 1944.[50]
In May 2000, Aguilera embarked on her debut concert tour, Christina Aguilera in Concert, which toured North America, Latin America, Europe, and Japan until February 2001.[51][52] Her success continued to rise with the release of her second studio album, Mi Reflejo, in September 2000 which topped both the Billboard Top Latin Albums and Latin Pop Albums for nineteen consecutive weeks.[53] The album featured Spanish-language versions of several songs from her debut album along with new songs, and had Latin pop themes.[54] Three singles were release for the album including the Spanish version of "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" titled "Ven Conmigo (Solamente Tú)", "Pero Me Acuerdo de Ti" and "Falsas Esperanzas".[55] The latter two were performed at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards.[56] The album went on to be the best-selling Latin pop album of 2000 and was later certified six times Latin platinum by the RIAA.[28][57] Mi Reflejo also reached the platinum stats in Argentina, Mexico, and Spain.[58] At the 2nd Annual Latin Grammy Awards, the album won Best Female Pop Vocal Album.[59]
In October 2000, Aguilera also released her third studio album, My Kind of Christmas, her first Christmas album, which reached number one on the US Top Holiday Albums chart.[60][61] The album received generally polarized reviews at the time but has since gone on to retrospectively receive praise.[62] Aguilera starred in a holiday special, My Reflection, which aired on December 3, 2000, on ABC.[63] Aguilera's commercial success saw her being named the 2000 Top Female Pop Act by Billboard.[64] The same year, she also filed a fiduciary duty against manager Steve Kurtz for "improper, undue, and inappropriate influence over her professional activities".[65] She eventually hired Irving Azoff to manage her career, aiming for control of her career and image.[65]
On January 16, 2001, Aguilera featured on Ricky Martin's "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely", which topped charts internationally and peaked at number 13 on the Hot 100, becoming her fifth top-20 hit in the US.[66][67] The song was ranked at number 65 on VH1's "100 Greatest Love Songs",[68] and was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards.[69] In April of that year, Aguilera featured alongside Lil' Kim, Mýa, and Pink on "Lady Marmalade" from the soundtrack for the film, Moulin Rouge! (2001).[70] The song received positive reviews and topped the Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks, becoming Aguilera's fourth number one.[71][72] The song also won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year.[73]
In August 2001, Warlock Records released Just Be Free, a demo album recorded by Aguilera between 1994 and 1995 while she was looking for a recording deal following the end of The All-New Mickey Mouse Club (MMC).[74] She filed a suit against the label and the album's producers aiming to stop the release of the album; however, both parties came to a confidential settlement to release the album, in which Aguilera lent out her name, likeness, and image for an unspecified amount of damages.[75]
2002–2004: New image with Stripped[edit]
With a new management, Aguilera started moving away from her teen pop niche and began working on a new project.[76] She cultivated a new image by adopting the alter ego Xtina, dyeing her hair black, and sporting several tattoos and body piercings.[77] Aguilera's new persona was widely criticized by media outlets.[78][79][80] In September 2002, she released the controversial song, "Dirrty", which garnered mixed reviews and peaked as number 48 on Billboard Hot 100.[45] The song's accompanying music video generated controversy for depicting overtly sexual fetishes,[81] and attracted the attention of conservative organizations and moralists who sought to have the video banned on MTV.[82] The video also sparked protests in Thailand and was eventually banned on the country's local television.[83][84] "Dirrty" topped the charts in the UK and Ireland,[85] and has gone on to become a cult classic.[86]
Oasis #2
Oasis theme by d4v1e-g-unit
Download: Oasis_2.p3t
(5 backgrounds)
.jpg)
In ecology, an oasis (/oʊˈeɪsɪs/; pl.: oases /oʊˈeɪsiːz/) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment[1] that sustains plant life and provides habitat for animals. Surface water and land may be present, or water may only be accessible from wells or underground channels created by humans. In geography, an oasis may be a current or past rest stop on a transportation route, or less-than-verdant location that nonetheless provides access to underground water through deep wells created and maintained by humans.
The word oasis came into English from Latin: oasis, from Ancient Greek: ὄασις, óasis, which in turn is a direct borrowing from Demotic Egyptian. The word for oasis in the latter-attested Coptic language (the descendant of Demotic Egyptian) is wahe or ouahe which means a "dwelling place".[2] Oasis in Arabic is wāḥa (Arabic: واحة).
Description[edit]
Oases develop in "hydrologically favored" locations that have attributes such as a high water table, seasonal lakes, or blockaded wadis.[3] Oases are made when sources of freshwater, such as underground rivers or aquifers, irrigate the surface naturally or via man-made wells.[4] The presence of water on the surface or underground is necessary and the local or regional management of this essential resource is strategic, but not sufficient to create such areas: continuous human work and know-how (a technical and social culture) are essential to maintain such ecosystems.[5][6] Some of the possible human contributions to maintaining an oasis include digging and maintaining wells, digging and maintaining canals, and continuously removing opportunistic plants that threaten to gorge themselves on water and fertility needed to maintain human and animal food supplies.[7] Stereotypically, an oasis has a "central pool of open water surrounded by a ring of water-dependent shrubs and trees…which are in turn encircled by an outlying transition zone to desert plants."[8]
Rain showers provide subterranean water to sustain natural oases, such as the Tuat. Substrata of impermeable rock and stone can trap water and retain it in pockets, or on long faulting subsurface ridges or volcanic dikes water can collect and percolate to the surface. Any incidence of water is then used by migrating birds, which also pass seeds with their droppings which will grow at the water's edge forming an oasis. It can also be used to plant crops.
Geography[edit]
Oases in the Middle East and North Africa cover about 1,000,000 hectares (10,000 km2), however, they support the livelihood of about 10 million inhabitants.[9] The stark ratio of oasis to desert land in the world means that the oasis ecosystem is "relatively minute, rare and precious."[8]
There are 90 “major oases” within the Sahara Desert.[4] Some of their fertility may derive from irrigation systems called foggaras, khettaras, lkhttarts, or a variety of other regional names.[10][11]
In some oases systems, there is "a geometrical system of raised channels that release controlled amounts of the water into individual plots, soaking the soil."[11]
History[edit]
Oases often have human histories that are measured in millennia. Archeological digs at Ein Gedi in the Dead Sea Valley have found evidence of settlement dating to 6,000 BC.[12] Al-Ahsa on the Arabian Peninsula shows evidence of human residence dating to the Neolithic.[13]
Anthropologically, the oasis is "an area of sedentary life, which associates the city [medina] or village [ksar] with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system."[14]
The location of oases has been of critical importance for trade and transportation routes in desert areas; caravans must travel via oases so that supplies of water and food can be replenished. Thus, political or military control of an oasis has in many cases meant control of trade on a particular route. For example, the oases of Awjila, Ghadames and Kufra, situated in modern-day Libya, have at various times been vital to both north–south and east–west trade in the Sahara Desert. The location of oases also informed the Darb El Arba'īn trade route from Sudan to Egypt, as well as the caravan route from the Niger River to Tangier, Morocco.[8] The Silk Road "traced its course from water hole to water hole, relying on oasis communities such as Turpan in China and Samarkand in Uzbekistan."[8]
According to the United Nations, "Oases are at the very heart of the overall development of peri-Saharan countries due to their geographical location and the fact they are preferred migration routes in times of famine or insecurity in the region."[10]
Oases in Oman, on the Arabian Peninsula near the Persian Gulf, vary somewhat from the Saharan form. While still located in an arid or semi-arid zone with a date palm overstory, these oases are usually located below plateaus and "watered either by springs or by aflaj, tunnel systems dug into the ground or carved into the rock to tap underground aquifers." This rainwater harvesting system "never developed a serious salinity problem."[9]
Palm oases[edit]
In the drylands of southwestern North America, there is a habitat form called Palm Oasis (alternately Palm Series or Oasis Scrub Woodland) that has the native California fan palm as the overstory species.[15] These Palm Oases can be found in California, Arizona, Baja California, and Sonora.[15]
Agroforestry[edit]
.jpg)
People who live in an oasis must manage land and water use carefully. The most important plant in an oasis is the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.), which forms the upper layer. These palm trees provide shade for smaller understory trees like apricots, dates, figs, olives, and peach trees, which form the middle layer. Market-garden vegetables, some cereals (such as sorghum, barley, millet, and wheat), and/or mixed animal fodder, are grown in the bottom layer where there is more moisture.[16] The oasis is integrated into its desert environment through an often close association with nomadic transhumant livestock farming (very often pastoral and sedentary populations are clearly distinguished). The fertility of the oasis soil is restored by "cyclic organic inputs of animal origin."[14] In summary, an oasis palm grove is a highly anthropized and irrigated area that supports a traditionally intensive and polyculture-based agriculture.[1]
Responding to environmental constraints, the three strata create what is called the "oasis effect".[1] The three layers and all their interaction points create a variety of combinations of "horizontal wind speed, relative air temperature and relative air humidity."[9] The plantings—through a virtuous cycle of wind reduction, increased shade and evapotranspiration—create a microclimate favorable to crops; "measurements taken in different oases have showed that the potential evapotranspiration of the areas was reduced by 30 to 50 percent within the oasis."[14]
The keystone date palm trees are "a main income source and staple food for local populations in many countries in which they are cultivated, and have played significant roles in the economy, society, and environment of those countries."[17] Challenges for date palm oasis polycultures include "low rainfall, high temperatures, water resources often high in salt content, and high incidence of pests."[18]
The oases consist of almost unbroken forests of date palms, divided up into many gardens that are separated by mud walls and intersected by innumerable irrigation and drainage ditches… In the shade of the palms are grown many other kinds of fruit trees—oranges, olives, figs, apricots, peaches, pomegranates, and jujubes—interlaced with large grape vines that often hang in festoons from the palm trunks. Beneath the trees are small plots of garden vegetables, barley, and alfalfa. Neither date palms nor other trees are planted with any regularity, and the growth is often so dense that the garden resembles a tropical jungle. Very beautiful are these gardens in the spring, when the apricot and peach trees are in blossom here and there among the palms and the figs and vines are putting forth their leaves. In autumn, when the dates are ripening, the color effects, especially when the tops of the palms are lit up by the last rays of the setting sun, are something that once seen can never be forgotten. The great clusters of fruit, displaying every tint from bright yellow, through orange, vermilion, and maroon, to plum purple and chestnut brown, with their brilliant yellow or rich orange ivory-like stalks, contrast superbly with the dull bluish or gray green of the feathery crowns of foliage. It is small wonder that a whole folklore of poetic legends and proverbs has grown up around the date palm in the regions where it flourishes.
— Kearney, Thomas H. (1906-09-06). Bulletin: Date Varieties and Date Culture in Tunis.
Distressed systems[edit]
Many historic oases have struggled with drought and inadequate maintenance.
According to a United Nations report on the future of oases in the Sahara and Sahel, "Increasingly ... oases are subject to various pressures, heavily influenced by the effects of climate change, decreasing groundwater levels and a gradual loss of cultural heritage due to a fading historical memory concerning traditional water management techniques. These natural pressures are compounded by demographic pressures and the introduction of modern water pumping techniques that can disrupt traditional resource management schemes, particularly in the North Saharan oases."[10]
For example, five historic oases in the Western Desert of Egypt (Kharga, Dakhla, Farafra, Baharyia, and Siwa) once had "flowing spring and wells" but due to the decline of groundwater heads because of overuse for land reclamation projects those water sources are no more and the oases suffer as a result.[19]
Morocco has lost two-thirds of its oasis habitat over the last 100 years due to heat, drought, and water scarcity.[11] The Ferkla Oases in Morocco once drew on water from the Ferkla, Sat and Tangarfa Rivers but they are now dry but for a few days a year.[11]
