Christina Aguilera: Dirrty

Max Rewind to 2002 with Yumi Stynes

Like fellow teen-pop alumni Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera was wrestling with how to grow up in public and in 2002, released the album Stripped with lead single Dirrty. The video invited controversy with its imagery of the diminutive singer semi-naked and kinda greasy-looking and Christina Aguilera instantly became synonymous with “skanky”. But the thing that got everyone all moral and affronted, and the thing that no one ever said out loud, the thing that was more worrying than the “intergalactic whore convention” dress-code and the teenage dancers splashing around in overflowing urinals - were the strong overtones of gang rape that director David la Chapelle created. If you could swallow your own discomfort, you got the distinct feeling that in the video Christina was inviting some tidal wave of male aggression upon herself that she, the female boxers, and the camera crew would all be powerless to control. There’s a moment towards the end of the song where Christina’s given water in the boxing ring and spits it out - the connotations are enough to make you gag. Unforgettable.