Sweet refrain

Like most celebs, in person Christina Aguilera is small. Sitting across from me, she’s, well, tiny. Surprisingly so for someone with such a big voice and strong presence. We’re lounging in the stunning penthouse of the Hotel on Rivington in New York, and Aguilera—dressed in a bright pink-and-purple Pucci dress paired with purple Alexander McQueen heels and Stephen Webster rings—is sharing the inspiration behind the notes of her new hit, Inspire. Not to be confused with her latest musical offering, Inspire is Aguilera’s fragrance, launching later this month.

“The fragrance is another outlet for me creatively. It’s a complete blend of everything that inspires me,” says Aguilera.

With multiple Grammy-winning albums, a husband she calls “a strength in my life” and a baby boy named Max, Aguilera’s a busy girl. It’s amazing that she has time to think, let alone create a perfume. But she’s done it. “It’s a product that I thought all women could enjoy and would make them feel more confident. It’s the greatest thing to alter your state of mind or how you feel about yourself before walking out the door, adding that little splash of something extra,” she says, when I ask why she decided to enter the fragrance arena. Clearly it’s a natural extension; Aguilera says she has loved escaping into the fantasy world of beauty ever since she was a little girl—she’d play with her mother’s perfumes and makeup, and sometimes get into trouble for doing so.

So with what is most likely another fragrance success on her hands—last year, her first foray into the fragrance industry resulted in a self-titled scent, which  was released only overseas and took home a European FIFI award (the Oscars of the fragrance world)—Aguilera seems to have the role of perfume “nose” down.
During the creation process, Aguilera first turned to the exotic, night-blooming tuberose flower. “I like to travel with tuberose candles. The scent really makes me cozy and makes me feel sexy. Sexy undertones are always a good thing,” she says. The outcome? A fragrance built around that main note of tuberose from the legendary perfume town of Grasse, France, blended with four fresh, strong but not overpowering flower essences: freesia in the top note, gardenia and rose in the heart note and orange blossom in the base note.

“Tuberose and freesia are tiny, delicate flowers,” says Will Andrews of P&G’s fragrance development team. “But they have this incredible power to build a scent, which is very similar to Christina. She’s small, but she has this really powerful personality.”
Housed in a glass bottle shaped like a teardrop, with an elegant silver topper that perfectly sets off Aguilera’s new pop-art, matte pink-lipped look, the juice is symbolic of the star’s evolution. Gone are the days of the ’40s pin-up-style, heavy red lip. Now, inspired by Andy Warhol’s era and the Tokyo nightlife scene, Aguilera is all about this new direction.

“I love and am inspired by Tokyo at the moment. I love it for its colour and how it’s completely non-stop. And it’s got an energy that, to me, no other city in the world has,” she says. This new personal style was captured on film by photographer David LaChapelle—who worked with Aguilera during her Stripped days—for Inspire’s advertising campaign, and it’s right on time for her forthcoming album, which drops later this year.