Christina Aguilera didn't have the best year, performance wise,in 2012; rounding it off with the worst performance of her career at the American Music Awards [here]. It's now 2013, and thanks to the People's Choice Awards, we have our first chance to see/hear if this downward trend will continue into the new year.
Picking a ballad from Lotus- in the form of the Sia assisted Blank Page- the Diva dropped the gimmicks and tight costumes that have so far plagued this era. Instead, Christina chose to share the stage with only a piano and her trusty red microphone, leaving it to her voice to impress. The result was an elegant and mesmerising performance of a great song.
It wasn't perfect, mind. There were problems from the get go with her tuning and timing in her lower register, and this kept reoccurring during the song's verses. This could have been down to control, or it could have been- like she mentioned during her acceptance speech- the emotion of the piece causing the wavering. However, the belting (which was where she needed to shine) was pretty darn spot on, so despite the problems, the overall simplicity and emotion of the performance gave me chills and thrills in equal measure.
The pageant style acceptance speech at the end, as she took her award for winning the People's Voice Award, was something else though. I think someone's resolution this year is to work on improving her public image...
