“She doesn’t sing that way because she’s had it easy.” This is how Tess (Cher), the long-suffering owner of the nightclub at the center of Burlesque, defends her new star, Ali (Christina Aguilera), to the club’s jealous, deposed marquee attraction, Nikki (Kristen Bell). The same phrase could substitute as a marketing mission statement for Aguilera herself, who, throughout her decade-long adult career, has deftly incorporated triumph-over-trauma into her brand.
Aguilera's narrative, presented to the world via lyrics, music videos, and interviews, begins with an abusive father and single mother, moves on to battles with depression and bad body image, and has recently been updated to include now-mother Aguilera’s very public divorce. Through it all, she seems to repeat a pattern: Admit crippling vulnerability, as in the hit ballad “Beautiful,” and then boldly, bitchily, and nakedly (often almost literally) embrace the pain, as in the single “Fighter,” in which she thanks an unnamed tormentor, because “If it wasn't for all of your torture, I wouldn't know how to be this way now, and never back down.”
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