Christina and Taylor

Christina Aguilera was once what Taylor Swift is now: a teen pop princess on the verge of womanhood. Both released new albums this week. Swift's is a followup to her debut, and Aguilera's is a Greatest Hits with a couple of new songs. Listening to them back to back, Swift's first, I wondered if Swift will be where Aguilera is now. For Aguilera shook off the teen idol tag and was able to find songs (some of them she co-wrote) that let her mature. Now she's a respected singer, and the teen years are long gone. Swift is only 18, but has been writing her own songs since she was in middle school. On Fearless, she's like a running diary of her years up to 2008. The best song is "Fifteen" about, well, being that age and its cusp of adult life. Notice I described Swift as a Pop singer, because there's very little Country about her. Like Carrie Underwood she crosses over because her songs lack that Country twang. Swift is half the singer that Underwood and Aguilera are, but what will keep her around are her songs, which are getting better. By album #3 I expect she'll sing more about life after 18, and that for a young woman could make for even less songs about growing up and more about growing older.