Why we won’t ‘Always Love’ Christina Aguilera’s ‘Bodyguard’ tribute

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When we heard that Christina Aguilera would be performing a medley of music from The Bodyguard soundtrack to honor the film’s 25^th anniversary, we weren’t mad.

When she hit the stage at last night’s American Music Awards, we had nothing but high hopes for the high notes we were expecting her to hit with ease.

While not our first choice, we presumed she would pull off a powerful performance without breaking a sweat. The woman can sing.

Unfortunately, X-tina’s rendition of “I Will Always Love You” left much to be desired. As in…we desired her to sing the song we know and love—not a hacked up version with ridiculous runs and an awkward arrangement.

The first few acapella notes of the film’s biggest song were going fine until she dragged the first “love you…” a bit too long. Things went all the way left when she got to the second round of “love” and decided to toss out all her remaining Fs and just sang the words and notes however she wanted.

#AMAs Damn y’all petty???? I think Iggy did ok, what was wrong with her performance? ??‍♂️???#ChristinaAguilera pic.twitter.com/BJ8LJUCYIF

— IG:AsRockinkofficial (@AsRockink_JA) November 20, 2017

The thing is, you don’t hack up a Whitney song during a Whitney tribute. Just sing the song the way we like it, OK? We all know you like to do backflips with your voice but now is not the time to take liberties. It’s also not the time to fall flat, which she did…more than once.

At first, we thought the girl was battling some nerves. Did she just skip that high note? Is she flat? No, she’s sharp. There must be something wrong with those things in her ears. Pull those joints out and get back on track, girl. You got this. Shake it off.

While we watched from backstage and wondered if someone had spiked our Perrier, it looked like several members of the audience were as puzzled as we were by the performance. Pink made a very obvious stankface around the time we started raising our eyebrows.

Aguilera’s rendition of “Run To You” was a bit better, but still not as good as we needed it to be. As the medley continued, Christina seemed to recover for the most part and by the time she got to “I’m Every Woman” everyone was on their feet and feeling the love and forgetting the flubs.

After the performance, Viola Davis was singing her praises. “I think Christina was probably the best artist to pay tribute to her,” she said. The actress admitted to “waring out” three copies of The Bodyguard soundtrack.

Was it touching? Yes.

Was it great? No. Sorry girl.

The show was already awfully light on POC and we can think of a few folks who may have had better luck on the mic.

We get it. Jennifer Hudson is going through some thangs. Maybe she wasn’t in the mood for a medley of love songs at the moment. But where was Deborah Cox? Was Toni Braxton too busy with Birdman? I mean, damn. Could we not pull Leona Lewis away from whatever the hell she has been doing for the past ten years to do a little Whitney for the fans?

While Christina’s performance drew praise from her peers (including screw faced Pink) Twitter was ready to READ.

Here’s a few of our faves:

https://twitter.com/tcaxo_/status/932431295560417280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yahoo.com%2Fmusic%2Fchristina-aguilera-pays-tribute-whitney-houston-draws-mixed-reactions-amas-032209325.html

https://twitter.com/youresexsis/status/932447760925671424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yahoo.com%2Fmusic%2Fchristina-aguilera-pays-tribute-whitney-houston-draws-mixed-reactions-amas-032209325.html

When Brandy sees Christina Aguilera pic.twitter.com/OmkqxArYDy

— Khadi Don (@KhadiDon) November 20, 2017

Brandy getting her essay ready for ig. pic.twitter.com/iLF3fQm5nF

— WHATMOREDOYOUWANTFROMMEEEEE?!?!? (@bookofbitchery) November 20, 2017