Shadowing Practice: Christina Aguilera | On The Record - Learn English Speaking with Video

It's not really on my agenda to really worry about what are people going to think

because then I would be living by their standards and rules.

I take pride in expressing my sexuality as a female.

I think my fans have come to expect that.

If I'm a bitch, then I'm a bitch.

If that's what an assertive woman is to you.

I've come full circle.

Welcome, Christina.

Thank you.

You're on the record with Fuse.

Thanks for coming by.

Thank you.

I know you're feeling a little stuffy today.

A little under the weather, thank you.

Yes, for clarifying so everybody knows.

Bear with me today.

That's supposed to get a little huskiness to your voice.

It's working, you know.

A little bit, a little bit.

Alright, let's talk about your family life.

Do you film everything your son does?

In every single move he makes, you're do -doop, right?

I wish I was a little better about it.

I'm a book person, so I write down everything.

And I'm always journaling and I keep his own specific journal.

I have two pregnancy books where I did massive collages and I was that person.

So he'll get his book one day.

What inspires you now that you would never have thought to notice about life now

that you have a family when it comes to your music or your work?

I would definitely say tapping into my playful side again.

The fun of it involved.

My son Max has been able to help me make peace with my own past

and make me feel like I can have a fresh start in incorporating peace

and safety and having a safe haven for my son and my family that I was never able to have growing up.

And when, you know, you have so much on your plate, as I do, having a strong man by your side is so crucial.

What kind of personality does he have that he provides this sort of rock to you?

Yeah, he is my rock, 100%.

When I met him, I didn't know who really was around me for the right reasons.

It got to a point, you know, where everything's sort of chaotic all around me in my head.

And then he was just that one solid thing right down the center

that just seemed to bring everything into focus and line it up for me and brought me peace and just honesty.

He was a really genuine person, and that to me meant more than anything else in the world.

And he's strong enough to be with someone who's such a bright star?

Did he know he was getting into?

It's a tough challenge.

He knew what he was getting into.

We started dating actually on the set of my Dirty video.

Really?

So he knew what he was getting into.

He's just so accepting, you know, and I have to be with a man that is strong enough to accept me as a strong woman,

a woman that expresses herself, the artist in me.

But he appreciates the person in me, you know, the person that no one really gets to see at the end of the day.

No makeup, sweatpants and old t -shirts.

He's just that guy.

He's my support.

He's my rock.

You've been pretty frank in your music talking about your past and what you went through when you were growing up.

Some people that I know that have grown up in abusive households change their perspective when they have kids.

They either become more empathetic because they know how hard it is to be a parent, or they become less forgiving because they can't believe what a parent can do.

And I wanted to know if you went in one direction or another when you became a parent.

That's a great question.

I would say that I have mixed emotions about that, and at different times I feel both emotions.

That's why I feel that I can make so much peace with it, having my son, because I know that he's so happy,

and that I'm creating an environment that is peaceful and is safe for him to just be a child in.

Your safety seems to come up again and again when you talk.

Because it's so important for every child to feel that they have a safe place to go home to.

And, you know, when I went home, I didn't know what I was going to walk into.

And it was hard, but it was something that drove me.

And sometimes maybe why I'm a perfectionist, because I want to overly control my environment to my liking.

Interesting.

But you know intellectually that you do that.

I'm into whatever is gonna make me feel happy and I'm not hurting anyone, then I do it.

And that's expressing myself as an artist, releasing emotion and pain, getting it out of me.

It's really important.

If I stay bottled up, then I would just probably go into an insane asylum.

That's why it's important for me to talk about it so that I can inspire others to hopefully get their stories out.

Because I'm not the only one that's ever had a painful past or a chaotic childhood or didn't feel safe growing up.

You've really removed the stigma and the shame for a lot of people, haven't you?

I hope so.

I mean, when I get the letters that I do and I'm told that, you know, my lyrics have helped them to speak about their own pain,

then that's the greatest reward of anything.

And you mentioned in a recent article that your relationship with him is pretty much non -existent.

Is that probably going forward?

It's beyond repair maybe?

I wouldn't say anything's beyond repair,

but I've come this far without sort of a father figure presence in my life.

So it's not something that I really feel the need to entertain.

And it takes time to figure that out, but it feels good when you do.

Beautiful was a turning point and that was a message to your fans

and I did a story once for the Harvey Milk School, this school downtown in New York City, and it was just this gay and transgender anthem

and some kids had it on repeat over and over again and that's all they listened to for weeks!

Wonderful.

And it was so great and I just want to know why

that world is important to you because you sure are important to them.

I think that any environment or place where there's injustice happening, it really triggers me.

I was always unfairly judged or talked about or criticized growing up my entire life,

you know, because I always went against the norm and did things

that were not exactly like my peers per se

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and even wanting in the area

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that I grew up wanting to sort of pursue the career path that I that I wanted to was different.

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Oh people made fun of you for that like oh she wants to work?

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Yeah yeah yeah it was I was a little bit of an oddball in

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that regard so there was some bullying that would happen being picked on

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so I would definitely say anytime I see unfairness happening I step up to the plate and

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and try to be a voice for them.

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Being bullied sticks with you your entire life, doesn't it?

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It does, yeah.

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All the boys think it's cake when they taste mine?

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Well, you had to know that was going to garner a lot of attention, right?

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Well, I've never been racy before in my life.

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Let's get right into your new album, Bionic, which I've been listening to nonstop and there's a lot of playfulness on the album.

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There's a lightness, which I really love.

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What was going on with you when you were putting the album together?

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Well, thank you, first of all.

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And yes, definite playfulness.

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I was inspired by my son to actually just want to get back to just having fun

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and being playful with pop music at its best again.

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You know, when you have a child, you also think about the future and you think about the next generation

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so I wanted to put a futuristic twist on that as well, because that's just where I was inspired to go, exploring different sounds of electronica.

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I got really into sort of electronica music, which I've been into since I was 15 and first heard Prodigy for the first time.

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And knowing that I kind of wanted to dive into that world one day, after exploring the retro world with Back to Basics,

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I definitely wanted to move forward into a futuristic direction with Bionic.

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And yes, that involves a lot of play, A lot of collaborations, experiments with different sound and using different textures of my voice.

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Critics have said that you over -sing sometimes.

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Is that something that has hit home with you?

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As far as critics are concerned, I mean, you cannot please everyone at the same time.

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So I really make music for myself, first of all, because I can't be happy with anything if I'm not, first of all, happy with it.

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And second of all, you know, my core fans who really get and appreciate what I do.

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And they're getting so many different dimensions of everything.

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It's just like, pick a favorite, so it's fun.

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Yeah.

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Well, this leads into the making of Not Myself Tonight, the video.

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Tell us a little bit about the making of it.

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I mean, that was quite the production, wasn't it?

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Not Myself Tonight came out because I literally was not able to be myself for six months.

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I was nearing the end of wrapping my first film, Burlesque.

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And as an actress, it's definitely more of a challenge for me

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because you have to put all of yourself on hold to go be somebody else.

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And so it came up as just a release for me.

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And so you're this typhoon then, and you just...

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Yeah, there's a lot of bondage referencing also within the video

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that reflects to that feeling of being sort of tied up and pent up and not myself.

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And then being able to just let it all go.

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That's why the, ah, ah, at the beginning of the record is sort of

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that moment of release that this is my night and I'm going to be back to myself in a way.

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Some people see little pieces of Madonna's human nature in the video.

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Do you see it or do you not?

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I wasn't thinking of that, actually.

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Where I do make a direct Madonna reference is the eyeglass.

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And Express Yourself was the video, actually, that I took a direct reference from

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and wanted to pay tribute to her by sort of standing on the big staircase with the billowing smoke.

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And she wore that famous Gautier pantsuit and the eyeglass.

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So I thought it would be fun to pay tribute

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and pay homage to such a strong woman that wouldn't be able to have as much freedom.

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Yeah, truly.

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If it wasn't for the ones that came before.

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It's a different kind of sexuality that you're exploring than in the dirty video, for sure.

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Yeah, it's definitely my sexuality that I'm exploring is how I've come full circle.

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As a woman, being more in touch with my body, it's just a more sophisticated presentation of it.

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You really suffer for your art, though.

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Some of those costumes could not have been easy, right?

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chaps and all those things.

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I get into the dress up.

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I do.

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I get into the dress up.

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I always have Lady Marmalade.

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You know, you think, you know, corsets and push -up bras aren't, you know, necessarily that comfortable.

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But for me, I really, I get into the whole costuming of it.

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So you're not like, oh, get me out of here.

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That's where you're so comfortable.

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Oh, when I'm done with the scene, I'm like, get me out of this right now.

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I want to put on my cozy robe and my slippers or flip -flops and be done.

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Millions of people are reacting to your visual imagery and as an artist I know you want to provoke.

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Was there ever a point where you thought, you know what, this is the wrong kind of attention, I don't want it, I'm uncomfortable with it?

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Well I think what an artist does isn't try to provoke, they just do.

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Because I think artists tend to want to explore their own personal boundaries.

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And I think for a lot of people it's just too much sometimes.

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But I can't think about that, you know.

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It's not really on my agenda to really worry about what are people going to think of it

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and is it too much for them?

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Because then I would be living by their standards and rules and how they would live their life and not mine.

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So why did you choose to work with Nicki Minaj on Woohoo?

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I mean, she is the biggest thing right now and you just nailed it when you grabbed her.

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She's great.

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I thought it would be fun in the girl anthem vein to get other females on it.

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And Nicki Minaj was an obvious choice.

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And that track has gotten a lot of attention.

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You know, there's lyrics like...

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Woohoo!

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Yeah!

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Why would it?

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Yeah!

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All the boys think it's cake when they taste mine.

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Woohoo!

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And you had to know that that was going to garner a lot of attention, right?

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Well, I've never been racy before in my life, you know, with songs like Dirty and whatnot.

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Yeah, I think my fans have come to, you know, expect that from me, that it's just part of of how I enjoy expressing myself.

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And I really take pride in expressing my sexuality as a female.

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I feel like it's so much frowned upon or made women to feel shame.

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And really, I think the female body is beautiful and I take pride in it.

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So more power to the woohoo.

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If I'm a bitch, then I'm a bitch, if that's what an assertive woman is to you.

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How did you come up with Xtina?

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I realize I don't know the genesis of that.

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Yeah, Xtina actually was a nickname given to me by the man that signed me, Mr. Ron Fair.

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He gave me that name.

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I was like, Xtina?

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And he's like, yeah, you know, like, Xmas, Xtina, you know.

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I was like, oh, I didn't think about that.

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And so I kind of adapted it on my stripped record.

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I took it on as sort of this, you know, nickname that I let everyone know about, and then it just sort of caught on.

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Now that some time and distance have passed from Dirty, what do you make about the tsunami of attention that that video received?

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Oh, I look back at it and I'm so proud of it.

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It did get a lot of attention and a lot of controversy stirred up, you know.

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I think that that's all about what artistic expression and creativity is, you know, where it stems from is making people feel something and making people,

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you know, evoking emotion in them.

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And, you know, opening subjects up for conversation.

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And I think that's what Dirty really did.

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It was my, I'm 21 years old and I don't give a record.

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And it was just really fun for me to be free of all inhibitions and everything that I felt.

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And I'm proud that I had the balls to do it, to be honest.

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It's true.

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It's like, you know, so many people were so, you know, ruffled feathers about it and it's just like, you know, what is the big deal?

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You refer to yourself as a super girl and a super bitch.

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I mean, have you been called a bitch before?

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I think every woman at one point in their lives or another has been called a bitch.

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And, you know, for a long time I had a real problem with that word.

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I didn't like it, you know, and I thought it was derogatory.

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But then, I don't know, I've gotten to a place now where I've made a lot of peace with it.

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It's been so overused and made to seem so derogatory towards women

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that I've almost adapted it into an empowering feeling for myself.

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If I'm a bitch, then I'm a bitch.

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If that's what an assertive woman is to you.

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So I adapted it as sort of a vag of honor.

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Yeah.

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I think a lot of people don't know about you is that there's like a trillion charities and causes that you're, you know, helping out.

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I recently became a WFP, World Food Program, ambassador for the UN.

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It was just so funny because I was like, you know, I could really see how Angelina goes to these places and, you know, starts wanting to adopt these children.

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I mean, they're so beautiful and they're so full of life and hope for what they represent, you know.

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So I go and I help feed these children

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and get to know about their lives and the mother's lives and try and help these families.

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Is this true that in 2005 you gave your wedding gifts to various charities in support of Hurricane Katrina?

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That stuff is not on people's radar a lot of times.

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It doesn't need to be.

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I do it because I want to do it, and I feel like I'm in a very fortunate position in life,

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and it's a necessity for me to sort of want to help where I can.

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What's the biggest misconception about you, do you think?

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Oh, what isn't a misconception?

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Sometimes maybe my seriousness.

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I'm really silly and really goofy when it comes down to it.

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I'm really playful and I get, yeah, I get really silly.

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And I think some people find that I can be very closed off and guarded, but really on the flip side, I'm super open.

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So you think that people perceive you as being serious?

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I've gotten that, yeah.

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Uh -huh.

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And I do, I think, see how people can see that sometimes, or maybe that I come off even cold.

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But, you know, there was a long time where, you know, being in this business, everyone's just coming at you, and they want, and they want, and they want, and then finally comes a point where you do want to shut down and,

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you know, not let everybody in.

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But at this point in my life, you know, I think that has even come full circle, and that only comes with feeling more and more comfortable in your own skin.

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Right.

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Let's talk about burlesque.

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Now, they wrote the part with you in mind.

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Did that mean you had to audition, or did they just offer it to you?

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They offered it to me, actually.

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Yeah, the script showed up at my door, and you know what happened?

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They had seen the work that I did when I hosted SNL, Saturday Night Live, and I was Samantha from Sex and the City, and they were like, you have the chops,

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and they just were very supportive of me.

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And the idea of burlesque really intrigued me.

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The beautiful women, the art of the teas, the sensuality involved.

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I just said, it's a no -brainer.

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It really allows me to venture into a whole different person.

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She has different pain in her past.

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But she's meaty and she's a fighter.

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So it was something I could sort of relate to so

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that I could bring on the tears where I had to cry.

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I mean, it was very emotionally draining at times.

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You know, you really have to be in control of your emotion and turn it on, turn it off at the drop of a hat.

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You don't have much autonomy on a film set, and it's a very controlled atmosphere.

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And for you, getting to do what you want all the time, was that a strange thing for you?

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I mean, it must have been an adjustment, was it not?

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It's definitely an adjustment.

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I mean, I'm not going to lie.

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I don't lie anyway, but, you know.

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I'm not going to even beat around the bush.

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Yes, it was definitely something that I had to get used to.

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So it was very interesting getting into the whole world of acting and film.

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It's just a completely different animal than music.

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I thought it was funny that you noticed

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that the burlesque dancers were really young and that suddenly for the first time you were like the older lady, which would be surreal.

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Yeah, it was so funny because if you think about it, you know, I've been doing this since I was six years old, performing in front of audiences and then recorded my first album at 16, 17.

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So being in this for a while and always sort of being the young one, It was always like everyone was up here and I was like, oh, how old are you?

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19. It's almost like an embarrassing thing.

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And now it's almost like, hey, wait a second.

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What happened here?

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One of the choreographers on the film was 19 years old.

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And I was like, what?

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Whoa, wait, wait.

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Where did time go for a second?

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You know?

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A decade later.

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Well, thank you.

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Wish you a joy and a pleasure.

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Thank you for having me.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing Practice: Christina Aguilera | On The Record - Learn English Speaking with Video

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What is the Shadowing Technique?