Scripps Howard News Service 2000

One of a celebrity's greatest fears is to be forgotten.

It would be better to get bad publicity, which is at least some acknowledgment that an entertainer has not disappeared from the pop-culture radar and so remains, to some degree, relevant.

Constant visual metamorphosis is one key to getting attention. Ongoing transformation is a keep-your-eyes-on-me technique used successfully by a number of celebs, most notably young female pop singers. Madonna made it an art form beginning in the '80s, Janet Jackson mastered it into the '90s and Beyonce continues to reinvent herself in a new decade.

Associated Press At the MTV Movie Awards in 2001

Although she has yet to achieve the level of superstardom of any of these women, Christina Aguilera has earned a place in the pantheon of celebrity chameleons. In less than six years, she's gone from bubble-gum, teen-mall-girl simplicity to an aesthetic amalgam of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Marilyn Monroe.

With the launch this month of the former Wexford resident's new album, "Back to Basics," there's no time like the present to assess her ongoing visual transformation: