It was a truly special night for Christina Aguilera, who not only took our breath away with a killer performance of her ranchera song “La Reina,” from her Grammy-nominated new Spanish-language album, “Aguilera,” at the 2022 Billboard Latin Music Awards on Thursday the 29th, but she was also honored with the Spirit of Hope Award. Aguilera accepted the award with such grace and gratitude and delivered his acceptance speech in English which was translated into Spanish.
“It’s so nice to be in a room where they can say my name correctly and beautifully,” she said proudly. “Thank you so much Billboard for this award. To my Sony team, you guys are amazing, I couldn’t be more grateful.” Yesterday in an interview with Hola! at Billboard Latin Music Week, Aguilera shared the pressure she faced earlier in her career to change her last name. In fact, wrestling is what inspired her to call her latest album “Aguilera.”
“You know, that’s a name that’s been tried to take away from me many times in this business,” she said. “It’s not the easiest name for everyone to pronounce. It’s been butchered a lot.” During her acceptance speech tonight, Aguilera addressed Hurricanes Fiona and Ian, which have deeply affected Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Florida, while encouraging guests and viewers to consider donating to the Red Cross to support and bring relief to the victims of devastating natural disasters. She also shared her personal story of wanting to change the world with her music.
“When I entered the industry, I promised myself to use my voice for something deeper to make a change. Sharing my story was essential in helping others. It means so much to grow with my fans over years,” she said. .
Aguilera released her first Spanish-language album “Mi Reflejo” in 2000. We couldn’t think of a better way for her to celebrate her long-awaited return to Latin music. Congratulations Xtina!