Stripped (Christina Aguilera album)

Background

Following the release of her self-titled debut album in 1999, Aguilera had achieved major success with four worldwide hits, including "Genie in a Bottle" and "What a Girl Wants". Following that, she continued to garner major success with "Lady Marmalade" (2001), a cover of LaBelle which features Lil' Kim, Pink and Mýa. Despite the international success, Aguilera was unsatisfied with the music and image that her management, Steve Kurtz, had created for her, having been marketed as a bubblegum pop singer because of the genre's financial lure. She mentioned plans for her next album to have more musical and lyrical depth. By late 2000, Aguilera decided not to continue the contact with Kurtz. After terminating Kurtz's services, Irving Azoff was hired as her new manager. Following the managerial shakeup, Aguilera decided to create her new style of music on the following album. She also used her new alter ego, "Xtina". She also changed her public appearance and persona, with her hair dyed black and nude photographs on magazine covers.

Aguilera further commented about the event with USA Today, "When you're part of a pop phenomenon, you have so many opinions shoved down your throat. People try to tell you what you should do, how you should act, what you should wear, who you should be with. At the time things started happening for me, it was popular to be the squeaky-clean, cookie-cutter pop singer. But that role didn't speak to me, because it's so boring and superficial".

Recording

In late 2000, Aguilera started to record her then-upcoming material. The recording sessions took place in studios around California and New York City, including Electric Lady Studios in New York, The Enterprise Studios in Burbank, California, Conway Recording Studios, The Record Plant and NRG Recording Studios in Hollywood. According to Aguilera, the recording sessions were much longer than she thought. She further explained that lots of things came up during that time, including her first break-up with her first boyfriend Jorge Santos. Aguilera also believed that the lyrics of Stripped were so personal, and her vocals "represent a rawer, more bare-bones approach as well, with less of the ostentatious riffing that has miffed critics in the past". She stated, "I did the vocal gymnastics thing because it was fun. That's why I like blues, too, because you can experiment more with that side of your voice. But I thought the lyrics on this record are so personal, deep and good that I wanted to make them stand out more than what I could do with my voice technically".

On her new album, entitled Stripped, Aguilera enlisted a wide range of songwriters and producers, notably Alicia Keys, Scott Storch, and Linda Perry. Perry was one of the biggest influences to Aguilera during the making of the album. The singer stated, "She taught me that imperfections are good and should be kept because it comes from the heart. It makes things more believable and it's brave to share them with the world." Keys was featured on the track "Impossible", which was recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. Another notable producer is Storch; he wrote and produced a total of seven songs from Stripped, including two singles. He stated that during the making of Stripped, Aguilera was one of his friends that he cared most; however Storch didn't produce her fifth studio album Back to Basics (2006), later it resulted a feud between the two artists, which was stated by Aguilera in one of the track from Back to Basics, "F.U.S.S.".

Musical style

Musically, Stripped is a pop and R&B album which incorporates elements of many different genres, including soul, metal, hip hop, rock, rock and roll, gospel and Latin. The album broke her teen pop root in the self-titled debut album in 1999. According to Aguilera, she wanted to be "real" in her next records because she was "overworked" at the time she was "a part of the big craze pop phenomenon". Multiple critics criticized its musical style, calling it a lack of musical concentration. On Stripped, Aguilera became the writer of most of the songs. She also revealed that Perry's songwriting on Pink's album Missundaztood (2001) inspired Aguilera a lot. She further commented, "I wasn't a big fan of the Dallas Austin songs, but I really, really loved the Linda Perry song".

Songs and lyrical content

The album's opening track, "Stripped Intro", describes her musical changes as she sings, "Sorry that I speak my mind/ Sorry don't do what I'm told". The follow-up "Can't Hold Us Down" featuring Lil' Kim is an R&B and hip hop song which incorporates elements from dancehall toward its end. Lyrically, it talks about the theme of feminism, and was suggested that it is toward rapper Eminem and Fred Durst. The third track "Walk Away" is a piano ballad where she uses a "clever" metaphor to talk about an abusive relationship. It is followed by the fourth track and third single from Stripped, "Fighter", which incorporates strong elements from rock and arena rock. It talks about a woman wants to thank a man who has done something wrong to her, and was inspired by Aguilera's unhappy childhood. It is followed-up by the interlude "Primer Amor Interlude", the flamenco-inspired latin pop track "Infatuation", and the interlude "Loves Embrace Interlude", respectively.

"Loving Me 4 Me" is a "sultry" classic R&B ballad. The follow-ups "Impossible" featuring Keys incorporates a piano theme, and "Underappreciated" talks about the pain of a break-up. The piano ballad "Beautiful", which talks about the theme of self-respect, was deemed as the album's highlight by many critics, who praised its overall production. The next track "Make Over" is a salsa and dance-rock song that features a garage-rock beat. It was sued in the United Kingdom for illegally sampling the Sugababes' song "Overload", The Guardian also noted similarities between the two songs. Later, the ASCAP organization had added the songwriting credits of Sugababes to the song. "Cruz" is a rock ballad that is musically similar to works of Michael Bolton. The two next tracks, "Get Mine, Get Yours" and "Dirrty" talk about the theme of sexual intercourse, and have been described as "majestically filthy". The latter is the remake of Redman's "Let's Get Dirty (I Can't Get in da Club)" (2001), and also features the rapper. The follow-up is the interlude "Stripped Pt. 2". The empowering ballad "The Voice Within" talks about trusting oneself. "I'm OK" is a ballad which incorporates strings and discusses Aguilera's abusive childhood with her father, and the final song from the album, "Keep on Singin' My Song", incorporates elements from drum and bass with gospel choir.

Singles

"Dirrty" was serviced as the lead single from the album on September 14, 2002. Perry and Aguilera's management wanted to release "Beautiful" as the lead single. However, Aguilera wanted to release a seriously "down and dirty" song to announce her comeback, so RCA Records decided to release it as the first single. Upon its release, the song received mixed reviews from critics; some of whom criticized its sound and negatively compared it to Britney Spears' "I'm a Slave 4 U", while the others chose it as a stand-out track from Stripped. Its accompanying music video, directed by David LaChapelle, was criticized due to its sexual content, and sparked protests in Thailand. However, it was a worldwide hit, achieving certifications in Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

The album's second single, "Beautiful" was written solely by Perry. Rush-released following the controversial "Dirrty" on November 16, 2002, "Beautiful" garnered positive critical reception. Commercially, the single gained impact on charts worldwide, peaking within the top five in many countries, as well as achieving certifications in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Its music video, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, garnered positive reaction from media outlets by touching on anorexia nervosa, homosexuality, bullying, self-esteem, and transgender issues. The video was honored at the 14th GLAAD Media Awards due to its positive portrayal of the LGBT community. "Beautiful" was listed as one of the greatest songs throughout the 2000s decade by Rolling Stone and VH1.

"Fighter" was released as the third single from Stripped on March 13, 2003. The single was well received by most critics, as well as managed chart success in several countries and achieved gold certification in the United States and Australia. Its accompanying music clip, directed by Floria Sigismondi, was inspired by the director's dark theatrics and moths. The album's fourth single "Can't Hold Us Down" featuring Kim, was released on July 8, 2003. It garnered mixed reviews from music journalism, and gained moderate success commercially, achieving gold certification in Australia. The album's fifth and final single "The Voice Within", was released October 27, 2003. Critics complimented the simple piano ballad, which talks about the theme of self-respect. Both music videos for the two songs were directed by LaChapelle, who previously directed the clip for "Dirrty". On March 14, 2008, the song "Walk Away" entered the Danish Tracklisten chart at number 35, despite not being released as a single.

Touring

Aguilera also supported Stripped by embarking on two different tours. In summer 2003, Justin Timberlake and Aguilera embarked on the Justified and Stripped Tour, which took place in North America. Talking about the tour, Timberlake revealed that "She's got one of the most amazing voices I've ever heard. That homegirl can sing ... this is why I am standing here". Several tour dates were cancelled and rescheduled due to the collapse of lightning systems. An extended play entitled Justin & Christina was released exclusively at Target Stores in July 2003 to promote the tour. The CD contains four remixes of Aguilera and Timberlake's songs from their two albums, and two new tracks. In late 2003, The Stripped Tour, the former's extension, happened without Timberlake's acts. The tour took place in Europe, Japan and Australia. The former grossed total US$30,261,670, becoming the sixteenth highest-grossing tour of 2003. In summer 2004, Aguilera was expected to return to North American during the second leg of the tour. However, the 29 tour dates were cancelled in the last minute due to the singer's vocal strain. On November 15, 2008, an accompanying video release of the tour, Stripped Live in the U.K., was released worldwide. On December 8, 2004, a compilation album which includes Stripped and the DVD was released in the United Kingdom.

Live performances

Promotion for Stripped started on October 28, 2002, when Aguilera appeared at Chicago radio station B96's Halloween Bash and performed four songs from the album, "Dirrty", "Get Mine, Get Yours", "Beautiful" and "Impossible". The same day Aguilera performed "Beautiful" on the Late Show with David Letterman, wearing a black gown, a black fedora, and black heels. She also performed "Dirrty" and "Beautiful" on Top of the Pops; later the show was broadcast in October 2002. On November 1, 2002, Aguilera appeared on The Today Show and performed "Beautiful" and "Impossible". On November 4, 2002, Aguilera was invited as a guest on The Daily Show to promote Stripped. At the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards, Aguilera performed "Dirrty" with rapper Redman on November 14, 2002, recreating the stage as a boxing ring while entering the stage riding a motorcycle and wearing chaps during the performance, as seen in the music video for the song. On December 15, 2002, she performed "Dirrty" during the 2002 VH1 Awards. On January 13, 2003, Aguilera performed "Beautiful" and "Impossible" on the American Music Awards.

Aguilera gave a performance of "Beautiful" on Saturday Night Live on March 15, 2003, where she also sang "Fighter". At the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, Aguilera performed with Madonna, Britney Spears and Missy Elliott during the ceremony a medley of Madonna's songs "Like a Virgin" and "Hollywood" and Elliott's "Work It" on August 23, 2003. Towards the end of "Hollywood", Madonna kissed both Aguilera and Spears during the performance, making huge tabloid stories and fuss from the public, and marking it as one of the most iconic performances from the MTV Video Music Awards history. Later that night, she also performed "Dirrty" and "Fighter" with Redman and guitarist Dave Navarro. On January 16, 2004, she performed "Walk Away" on the Late Show with David Letterman. On February 8, 2004, Aguilera performed "Beautiful" at the 2004 Grammy Awards, where she also won a Grammy Award for the song.

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 55, based on 14 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews". Billboard was positive toward the album, writing that the album is "a must-heard recording rich with pleasantly surprising depth". In a mixed review, E! Online wrote, "If she had just shown up and sang her ass off, Stripped would've been a better show". Josh Kun from Spin commented, "As an artistic statement, Stripped is all over the place–it's a move toward hip-hop, it's a move toward rock, it's ghetto, it's Disney". Jancee Duncan of Rolling Stone provided a three-out-of-five-stars rating for the album, calling it an album for grown-ups, yet criticized its lack of musical concentration. Blender wrote a mixed review, yet commenting that it is better than Britney Spears' works. Writing for BBC Music, Jacqueline Hodges said that the album "is as full-on bold and over the top as most of Christina's outfits ... much of this seems to be an exercise in stretching the vocal chords to weak backing tracks". Jim Wirth for NME commented that Stripped is a Mariah Carey album. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine commented that the album is "so overproduced and overwrought that it could easily pass for a Janet album".

In a negative way, The Village Voice criticized the album as a "nü-Mariah on mood stabilizers, extended with pseudo-pastiches of semi-popular songs". Todd Burns for Stylus Magazine was also negative toward the album, giving it an "F" score and wrote, "in between ten to twelve mediocre/good songs, we have eight to ten songs that would be better served as B-sides". Q provided a two-out-of-five-stars rating and commented that "Sadly, bra-burning rhetoric and gospel warbling make poor substitutes for addictive songs". AllMusic's editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine also wrote a negative review, commenting that the album is "the sound of an artist who was given too much freedom too early and has no idea what to do with it". Writing for The New York Times, Jon Pareles also provided a negative review, commenting that Stripped "is a blast of excess that risks alienating Ms. Aguilera's old fans without luring new ones, and it's bursting with misguided energy".

Stripped garnered multiple Grammy Awards nominations. At the 2003 Grammy Awards, the lead single "Dirrty" gained a nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. A year later, the album was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album, while "Beautiful" garnered one win for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and one nomination for Song of the Year. "Can't Hold Us Down" was also nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals that year.

Commercial performance

According to Nielsen SoundScan, Stripped debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 330,000 copies (only behind Eminem's 8 Mile, which debuted at number one with first-week sales of 702,000 copies). The album stayed on the chart until 2004, and was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. By December 2009, Nielsen SoundScan reported that Stripped had sold 4,234,000 copies in the region, became her second highest-selling album in the United States, only behind Christina Aguilera, which had sold 8,207,000 copies. As of August 2014, the album has sold over 4,383,000 copies in the country alone. In Canada, Stripped debuted at number three on the Canadian Albums Chart with first-week sales of 14,000 copies, and was eventually certified triple platinum by Music Canada.

Elsewhere, Stripped also garnered commercial success. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number 19, and peaked at number two there. It became Aguilera's best-performing album in the country, spending 102 weeks within the top 100 of the chart, and was certified six times platinum by British Phonographic Industry. Throughout Europe, Stripped also peaked within the top ten charts of several countries, including Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, and Norway. Due to its success in the continent, Stripped was certified triple platinum by the European International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) for shipping more than three millions copies in the region and was the best selling pop album by a female that year. In Australia, the album garnered quadruple platinum certification by the Australian Recording Industry Association for shipments of 280,000 copies in the country, despite only peaking at number seven on the chart. As of June 2006, Stripped had sold over 12 million copies worldwide.

In the United Kingdom, the album became the 29th best-selling album there throughout the 2000s decade, becoming the second highest-selling album by a US female artist in the country during the decade, only behind Norah Jones' Come Away with Me. As of 2011, the album had sold 1,850,852 copies alone in the UK, and was ranked at number 73 on the list of 100 best-selling albums in the United Kingdom during the same time. As of November 2016, Stripped had sold a total of 1,980,000 copies in the United Kingdom. In March 2015, the Official Charts Company revealed that Stripped had become the 40th best selling album of the millennium.

Impact

Following its release and five successful singles, Stripped became one of Aguilera's strongest albums on charts. In the United States, the album became the tenth best-selling album of 2003, and Aguilera was ranked as the fifth most successful pop artist of the year. She also became the most successful pop female act throughout the year, with six chart entries. Likewise, Aguilera was the fourth most successful female musical act on the Billboard 200 chart, and the thirteenth overall. Due to the successful single releases, the magazine ranked Aguilera as the second best-selling female singles artist on the Hot 100, only behind Beyoncé, and the Top Female Mainstream Top 40 act.

Selena Gomez's second studio album Revival cited Stripped as one of her inspirations saying “That’s one of my favorite albums and that was kind of what I started off Revival as, some sort of story. I mean, that album for her was incredible — ’Beautiful,’ ’Can’t Hold Us Down,’ all of that — that’s the stuff that I love,” she said. “That was an album, that was complete on my record. I have ’Rise,’ ’Survivors,’ ’Revival,’ ’Kill Em With Kindness.’ My stuff is full on, it’s an album, it’s a piece, it’s something that I’m proud of.”

The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits are taken from the liner notes of Stripped.