Christina Aguilera

BUILDING A 21ST CENTURY STAR

Not long after winning the award for Best New Artist at the Grammys, Christina Aguilera steps inside a black superstretch limo and drives off into the Los Angeles night. Breathless (was it the respectful nods she got from Elton John backstage?), she picks up her cell phone and talks to her mom and then to MTV's Total Request Live host Carson Daly--you know, the people who really count on a night like this. Then she turns to the reporter in the car with her. "Did I sound O.K. onstage?" she asks. "I was in shock. I was preparing at that moment...

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