Christina Aguilera has recalled how she had to battle music executives to be allowed to record using her last name.
During an interview staged for Billboard Latin Music Week, the “Beautiful” hitmaker – whose father hails from Ecuador – revealed that she was encouraged by label bosses to take on a stage name at the start of her career but refused as she wanted to celebrate her heritage.
Christina insisted she is “proud” of her surname and added: “Something that I really embody and understand is that, you know, this is a name that has been tried to be taken away from me on numerous occasions coming up in this business. It’s not the easiest name for everyone to pronounce. It’s been butchered a lot.”
Noting that she rejected some “bad names,” the 41-year-old continued: “I was like no, ‘I’m Aguilera, I’m proud of where I come from.’ My father being from Ecuador.”
Christina has now celebrated her name further by calling her second Spanish language album, Aguilera.
“(I wanted to) pay nod, and tribute to that,” she explained. “Why not come full circle in all of the chapters and close it on a name, my name.”
Aguilera debuted in May and was nominated for two Latin Grammy Awards.
