Christina Aguilera Reflects On Her Career, Motherhood And How She Looks To Empower Women Today

It has been 24 years since Christina Aguilera released her hit song “What a Girl Wants,” with its catchy message about taking charge of what she and other women need for themselves. Now two decades and five Grammy awards later, the music superstar is taking her powerful messaging to the next level, announcing today that she is the new co-founder and Chief Brand Advisor for female sexual wellness brand, Playground.

Crediting itself as the first and only FDA-approved personal lubricant brand on the market, Aguilera, 42, was first introduced to the team at Playground by her fiancé, Matthew Rutler, ultimately choosing to join forces alongside fellow co-founders Catherine Magee and Sandy Vukovic.

Aguilera told Forbes, “We don’t take enough time in nurturing and loving the region below, which is also the epicenter and the most important part of a woman’s body, and it deserves the same high quality as any other product you’re putting into your body. I’m so excited that beyond my music and beyond just talking about or singing about these messages, I can put a direct product in people’s hands that truly they can empower themselves with.”

The water-based “Genie in a Bottle” (if you will) is available for purchase on the Playground website and Amazon for $25 each, with playful options like Date Night, which Aguilera has said is her favorite, with its champagne and vanilla essence, to Love Sesh, After Hours and Mini Escape.

“What I say about Playground and how we’re different is it’s just not about sex,” Magee said. “Sexual wellness is about our sexuality, our sexual experiences and how that connects to our sexual health. Christina brings a powerful voice, a voice that can create conversation that is so needed.”

In many ways, this latest venture for Aguilera is a full circle moment in her celebrated career, since starting out in the entertainment industry during a time that was very different for females of all ages.

“As a young girl growing up in the business, there’s a lot of male-dominated opinions about how you should look, how you should be,” Aguilera said. “I would hear men talk about sex all day – didn’t really have the same experience about women.”

She remembers her grandmother not letting her watch Madonna music videos during her childhood, “because there’s a big shame stigma around the topic of sexuality, especially female sexuality.” Aguilera credits her mother Shelly for encouraging her to feel okay about her sexuality, and to embrace that as a positive thing for women.

Fast forward to 2003, Aguilera showed the world a first of what would become many signs of her female independence when she performed alongside Madonna and Britney Spears during their still talked-about VMAs moment these 20 years later.

“The minute I was able to truly be myself and have my own vision, my own voice outside of the label perspective or somebody else telling me or interpreting what my sexuality should be – I wanted to make sure I came with messages that were authentic to me, and also empower women.”

Growing up during a time when social media did not yet exist, Aguilera does see the benefits of modern technology, saying that now more than ever, we are exposing each other to different conversations and our own personal journeys in a positive way.

So, would Aguilera call herself an entrepreneur today? “Absolutely! I’m an innovator and pusher of new ideas and conversations, and that’s exactly where I want to progress in my own personal ventures.”

Magee jumped in, calling Aguilera a “pioneer,” which she said is the best type of entrepreneur. “Anybody can start something, but what we’re trying to do is create change and a movement. I really believe we’re going to create a big sexual wellness movement that’s going to make these type of products an everyday product for people everywhere.”

The Playground team has high hopes with its 2023 sales goal, with an expected growth rate of 3,000% year over year, as they look to enter more online and brick and mortar retailers later this year.

Between Aguilera’s new leadership role at Playground, her ongoing music career and other interests today, I wondered how she would say that her business outlook and what intrigues her, professionally, has evolved most over the years.

“I’ve run the gamut of experiencing a lot of things in my career that I can be so proud of, and happy that from day one, I’ve always tried to instill messages and positivity for women. Now at this point in my life, also being a mother and a provider, and thinking more outside of the narcissistic tendencies where it’s always artist, creative-based and all about myself – I can expand further into wanting to pass down to my daughter’s generation, and for her own well-being as a future woman.”