14 DAY TRIAL // It’s not uncommon for artists to resort to viral campaigns to promote their upcoming materials. In recent months, Jennifer Lopez has done it, launching a campaign centering on Lola, admittedly an aspiring model and singer who had just put a fragment of a song out there. “iamamiwhoami” has been around for more than a month and, while signs point to Christina Aguilera as being the one behind the weird videos making the rounds, the identity of the artist has not yet been established, MTV says.
What’s clear is that all the videos released so far (3, for more accuracy), seem to be made to build up hype for an upcoming release. They could be fragments of music videos or of music tracks put on weird images, it is being said, hinting at the release of a much-anticipated album. They have no name, being introduced only by sequences of digits that could be either release dates or codes for the presumed album name, which is why these virals have come to be known by the name of the user who uploaded them on YouTube: “iamamiwhoami.”
Theories abound as to who that user might be, with names like Lady Gaga and Goldfrapp being thrown in the mix. However, all signs would seem to indicate that it’s Christina Aguilera who’s actually behind this, especially after the latest video hit the Internet, with something like “Bionic” (the name of her upcoming album) being heard at one point and a blonde woman being featured in it, though her face is not once seen.
“Fans have thrown names like Lady Gaga and Goldfrapp into the ring. Resident weirdos like Bjork and the Knife have been suspected. MGMT, too. Some think Trent Reznor – who has some experience with things like this – is the mastermind. Still others believe that it’s all leading up to the release of Aphex Twins’ next project. But through it all, one name kept popping up with bizarre regularity: Christina Aguilera,” MTV says of the mystery surrounding the identity of “iamamiwhoami.”
“See, Aguilera does have a new album coming soon, an ambitious and reportedly futuristic outing she’s calling ‘Bionic.’ She has been known to adopt an alter-ego or two (remember Xtina?). And the repeated use of fetal imagery in the videos does lend credence to her claims that the birth of her son Max was an inspiration for the record. So, while the clips would represent a rather, uh, ambitious re-imagining of herself, it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility that she was somehow involved in the campaign,” the e-zine further says.
There is one major problem with this theory, though, at least according to Aguilera’s spokesperson. While all fans and most users who’ve seen the latest video would wager money that it’s Christina who’s behind it, her rep says it is “100 percent not [her].” Then again, Lopez’s publicist also said the same of Lola and it did turn out to be her.