After wrapping season 10 of The Voice in 2016, Christina Aguilera announced her departure from the popular talent show, insisting she wanted to focus her attention on her eighth studio album, Liberation, which she went on to release two years later in June 2018.

But it was during her promotional campaign for her latest body of work where the “Dirrty” hitmaker revealed the real reason behind her decision to leave The Voice after six seasons on the show, and why she ultimately decided to step away from the competition — even though she was earning a reported $17 million each year.

Xtina was open and honest when she said that shows such as The Voice don’t really try and find the next big superstar; its focus is never centered around the music, nor are the contestants ever coached in a way that could make them stand a chance to actually have a career of longevity in the music business.

If you think about it, she makes a fair point. How many people from The Voice — winners or losers — have gone on and had successful careers? We’ll wait.

The Voice - Season 8
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Why Did Christina Aguilera Quit ‘The Voice’?

In the midst of a promo run for her album Liberation, Christina shed light on why she needed a break from reality television and what led to her decision to no longer reprise her role as a judge on The Voice.

From the outside looking in, it’s hard to believe that anybody would turn down a huge $17 million yearly payday, but to Christina, she didn’t appreciate the production aspect of how things were run behind the scenes of the competition series — particularly since its aim is to work on discovering the next big singer.

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And while the “Can’t Hold Us Down” vocalist felt optimistic about how her contributions could potentially help aspiring singers on their journey on the talent show, she quickly realized that The Voice has no actual intentions of developing a superstar.

During a candid chat with Billboard, the mother of two said that when she first joined the series back in 2011, the format and goals of what the show was to accomplish were totally different from what it became by season 10 when she announced her departure following her sixth run.

"It became something that I didn't feel was what I had signed up for in season one,” she said. “You realize it's not about music. It's about making good TV moments and massaging a story.”

And while Christina was earning plenty of millions for her position on the show, she couldn’t stand the changes that came about the longer she said, which included filtering her words and obeying a set of rules that made her judging position hold little to no purpose.

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"I didn't get into this business to be a television show host and to be given all these [rules]," she continued. "Especially as a female: You can't wear this, can't say that. I would find myself on that show desperately trying to express myself through clothing or makeup or hair. It was my only kind of outlet.”

"When I stop believing in something, then it's like, 'What am I doing here?’ I think I did choose to, no pun intended, take a chair for so long and do something very commercial for my little ones. But at a certain point I felt like I'm not even doing them a service by cheating myself and what I'm here to do. They should be seeing Mommy live her best life."

If you’re going to be a watch on a huge TV show and are made to conform to a set of rules that prevents the person from being themselves and giving critical feedback, it’s understandable why Christina would see why she doesn’t really need to be there, to begin with.

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It would also explain why so many of the show’s judges have quit over the years, including Adam Levine, who responded to a fan’s question on Instagram, asking whether he would ever return in the future.

His response: “No thank you.”

In September 2020, Christina hinted that she had been working on new music, which could very well be for her ninth studio album, though the blonde beauty hasn’t announced a release date for the project just yet.

Talking to Zane Lowe on Apple Music about her next record, she said: "I've been in the studio all of quarantine, actually, experiencing new people, new relationships, new writers, COVID-safe, of course.

"There's many different ways to do it. The Zoom sessions are not going to cut it, but, I mean, there's ways of getting tested, and I'm at the convenience of my own home studio. So I have that advantage …. So yeah, I'm making music that is really meaningful to me right now."

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