CASPER
New member
NEW YORK – Compared with epic misbehavers like Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan, Christina Aguilera's arrest for public drunkenness may seem like a minor public relations mishap.
But after a series of very public setbacks — from her last album's flop to the disappointing box office for "Burlesque" to her divorce to her flub at the Super Bowl — Aguilera's latest embarrassment is painting the image of a diva spiraling out of control.
"It's been a rough year for Christina, there's really no other way to put it," said Keith Caulfield, associate director of charts for Billboard.
"I feel a lot of empathy for these artists who end up under a magnifying glass and are not judged for what they do but for things (like) that," said Ken Ehrlich, the producer of this year's Grammy show, where Aguilera performed during a soaring tribute to Aretha Franklin — and subsequently stumbled during her exit.
If 2010 is any indication of how the rest of Aguilera's year is shaping up, the 30-year-old Grammy winner may have more stumbles ahead. Even before her album "Bionic" was released last June, it was generating buzz for all the wrong reasons: the sexually charged video for the first single, "Not Myself Tonight," with its wild theatrics, drew charges that she was copying Lady Gaga's style. The album sold a fraction of her other multiplatinum albums.
"There was a lot of expectations for 'Bionic' to be big," said Caulfield. "You don't expect someone is not going to sell well if they have a history of being successful."
A planned tour was scrapped amid reports of lackluster ticket sales, though Aguilera said it was because she needed more time for her film debut in "Burlesque," co-starring Cher.
More bad news came in October, as she announced plans to divorce Jordan Bratman after a five-year marriage. (The couple have a 3-year-old son Max.) A month later, "Burlesque" came out, but got mediocre reviews and failed to impress at the box office.
But after a series of very public setbacks — from her last album's flop to the disappointing box office for "Burlesque" to her divorce to her flub at the Super Bowl — Aguilera's latest embarrassment is painting the image of a diva spiraling out of control.
"It's been a rough year for Christina, there's really no other way to put it," said Keith Caulfield, associate director of charts for Billboard.
"I feel a lot of empathy for these artists who end up under a magnifying glass and are not judged for what they do but for things (like) that," said Ken Ehrlich, the producer of this year's Grammy show, where Aguilera performed during a soaring tribute to Aretha Franklin — and subsequently stumbled during her exit.
If 2010 is any indication of how the rest of Aguilera's year is shaping up, the 30-year-old Grammy winner may have more stumbles ahead. Even before her album "Bionic" was released last June, it was generating buzz for all the wrong reasons: the sexually charged video for the first single, "Not Myself Tonight," with its wild theatrics, drew charges that she was copying Lady Gaga's style. The album sold a fraction of her other multiplatinum albums.
"There was a lot of expectations for 'Bionic' to be big," said Caulfield. "You don't expect someone is not going to sell well if they have a history of being successful."
A planned tour was scrapped amid reports of lackluster ticket sales, though Aguilera said it was because she needed more time for her film debut in "Burlesque," co-starring Cher.
More bad news came in October, as she announced plans to divorce Jordan Bratman after a five-year marriage. (The couple have a 3-year-old son Max.) A month later, "Burlesque" came out, but got mediocre reviews and failed to impress at the box office.