Due respect to Mrs. Carter, but before "Drunk in Love" there was "Not Myself Tonight." And before "Partition" there was "Sex for Breakfast."
The record speaks for itself: Christina released an album negotiating her roles as a ~sexy lady~ and doting mother two years before Blue Ivy was even born.
#JUSTICE4BIONIC
Nicki, Jessie, and Ariana's all-lady super-collab "Bang Bang" could only compete for the silver medal after the gold standard that was "Lady Marmalade."
And that whole chaps thing? Christina did it.
While Lady Gaga and other pop stars now make it a habit to cater to gay audiences, Christina was advocating for LGBTQ rights back in 2002 when George W. Bush was president and marriage equality wasn't a given.
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You know how Sia writes all your favorite pop songs? From Beyoncé to Britney to Rihanna? Well, you can thank Christina, who commissioned the indie singer-songwriter's first mainstream pop collaboration back in 2007 for Bionic.
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Without "You Lost Me" there would be no "Pretty Hurts," no "Perfume," no "Diamonds." Basically, without Bionic, pop music would've come to a grinding halt.
#JUSTICE4BIONIC
Hilary Duff's famous belted-onesie-and-gold-tube-top tour look? That's pure "Come on Over"-era Christina.
And she made her ~platinum presence~ so integral to the success of The Voice that her successors also had to be blonde bombshells.
Let's talk about the "Fighter" video. Its Björk-inspired, avant-garde aesthetic heralded a decade of arty visuals in mainstream pop.
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Christina was a feminist before it was a popular stance for pop stars.
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She released "Can't Hold Us Down" a decade before Beyoncé's iconic moment on the VMA stage. She was fighting the patriarchy years before Lena Dunham explained feminism to Taylor Swift. When it comes to feminism on pop radio, Christina was a pioneer.
#NeverForget
