Stripped (Christina Aguilera album)

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". 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. 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 and production==

In December 2000, Aguilera announced that she would begin recording material for her fourth studio album in February 2001. Aguilera had initially planned for the album to be released in the spring or summer of 2001, but in July, she said she intended to release it that fall. According to producer Steve Morales, RCA Records offered Aguilera an advance of US$5 million that year to complete the record sooner, which she rejected. In September, a representative for Aguilera said that the album would not be released until 2002. In January 2002, a rep for RCA Records said the album would be released that June. By June, the record had been set for a tentative September 17 release; in August, it was ultimately postponed to its final release of late October. Aguilera later remarked that recording sessions had taken much longer than she first anticipated. Perry was one of the biggest influences to Aguilera during the making of the album. ==Music and lyrics==

Musically, Stripped is a pop and R&B She further commented: "I wasn't a big fan of the Dallas Austin songs, but I really, really loved the Linda Perry song". It is followed by the fourth track and third single from Stripped, "Fighter", which incorporates strong elements from heavy metal 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 follow-ups "Impossible" and "Underappreciated" explore jazz and funk. The Guardian also noted similarities between the two songs. "Soar" is one of two tracks written for Stripped by Rob Hoffman and Heather Holley centered around themes of self-empowerment. The two next songs, "Get Mine, Get Yours", an R&B track, and "Dirrty", a hip hop and R&B-leaning anthem talks about the theme of sexual intercourse, Additionally, a gospel-tinged song "I Will Be" appears on the twentieth anniversary version of Stripped, released in 2022. The track was composed circa 2000 by Aguilera, Heather Holley and Rob Hoffman, and the singer mentioned it in her interview for Rolling Stone in July 2000. Previously it was released as the B-side to "Dirrty" in the UK. ==Release and promotion==

" during Justified and Stripped Tour at the TD Waterhouse Centre in Orlando, Florida on July 15, 2003 Stripped was first released internationally on October 22, 2002 and in the United States a week later by RCA Records. Aguilera appeared at a Chicago radio station B96's Halloween Bash on October 24, and performed four songs from the album–"Dirrty", "Get Mine, Get Yours", "Beautiful" and "Impossible". Four days later, 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; the show aired in October. On November 1, Aguilera appeared on Today and performed "Beautiful" and "Impossible". On November 4, Aguilera was invited as a guest on The Daily Show to promote Stripped. At the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards on November 14, Aguilera performed "Dirrty" with rapper Redman, 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 4, she performed "Beautiful" at the 2002 VH1 Awards. On January 13, 2003, Aguilera performed "Beautiful" and "Impossible" at the American Music Awards of 2003 (January). Aguilera gave a performance of "Beautiful" on Saturday Night Live on March 15, where she also sang "Fighter". At the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards on August 28, Aguilera performed with Madonna, Britney Spears and Missy Elliott a medley of Madonna's songs "Like a Virgin" and "Hollywood", and Elliott's "Work It". On January 16, 2004, she performed "Walk Away" on the Late Show with David Letterman. On February 8, Aguilera performed "Beautiful" at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards, where she also won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the song. Aguilera also supported Stripped by embarking on two separate tours. In summer 2003, Justin Timberlake and Aguilera embarked on The Justified & Stripped Tour, which took place in North America. == Singles ==

"Dirrty" was serviced as the lead single from the album on September 3, 2002. Perry and Aguilera's management wanted to release "Beautiful" as the lead single. and sparked protests in Thailand. However, it was an international hit, achieving certifications in Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. as well as achieving certifications in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Its music video, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, garnered critical acclaim 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 (2003) due to its positive portrayal of the LGBT community. "Fighter" was released as the third single from Stripped on March 10, 2003. The single was well received by most critics, The album's fourth single "Can't Hold Us Down", featuring Lil' Kim, was released on July 8, 2003. It garnered mixed reviews from music critics, "The Voice Within" was released on October 27, 2003 as the fifth and final single. Critics complimented the simple piano ballad, which talks about the theme of self-respect. "Infatuation" was released as a promotional single in Spain on September 22, 2003. "Walk Away" peaked at number 35 in Denmark on March 14, 2008, despite never being released as a single. ==Critical reception==

Stripped received mixed reviews upon release. 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. 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". Rob O'Connor from Yahoo! Music called the album "sophisticated", noting that is "includes actual artistic input from the artist herself", which, he thought, was "a wonder in these modern times". Jim Wirth for NME commented that Stripped is a "Mariah Carey album" comparing it to Carey's 1999 Rainbow. Dotmusic's Ian Watson gave the album a high score (eight out of ten points), and commented, "Forget all you know about Christina Aguilera. She's discovered sex, rebellion, rock'n'roll and, at one amazing instant, drum'n'bass." He also added that Aguilera's voice "can shatter planets". 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". Accolades ==Commercial performance==

Stripped debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 330,000 copies, behind Eminem's 8 Mile: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture, which debuted at number one with first-week sales of 702,000 copies. The album stayed on the chart until 2004, and was certified five times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). By December 2009, Nielsen SoundScan reported that Stripped had sold 4,234,000 copies in the country, becoming her second highest-selling album in the United States, behind her self-titled debut studio album (1999), which had sold 8,207,000 copies. As of 2018, the album has sold over 4,423,000 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 certified triple platinum by Music Canada. Elsewhere, Stripped was a sleeper hit, debuting low in many countries and eventually turning into a commercial success. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number 19 on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number two. It became Aguilera's best-performing album in the country, spending 102 weeks within the top 100 of the chart, As of April 2021, Stripped has sold a total of 2,050,000 copies in the United Kingdom. In March 2015, the Official Charts Company (OCC) reported that Stripped had become the 40th bestselling album of the millennium in the country. Throughout Europe, Stripped peaked within the top ten in several countries, including Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, and Switzerland. It was one of the bestselling albums in Poland in the first half of 2003. Stripped was certified triple platinum in Europe by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) for shipping over three millions copies in the continent and was the bestselling pop album by a female artist of 2003. In Oceania, Stripped debuted at number thirty-three on the Australian ARIA Albums chart on November 10, 2002 and peaked at number seven in October 2003, spending a total of 67 weeks on the chart. It also peaked at number one on the Australian Urban Albums and spent more than two hundred weeks on the chart as of June 2007. It was a top-five hit on the states album charts in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. In New Zealand, Stripped peaked at number five. It spent 46 weeks on the chart and became Aguilera's longest-charting album there. It was certified quadruple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of 280,000 copies in the country, In Japan, the album reached number thirteen on the Oricon's chart. Stripped has sold over 12 million copies worldwide. == Legacy ==

Stripped became one of Aguilera's strongest charting albums. They noted that:Ultimately, Christina defining herself as Stripped was not an ode to her sexually empowered image, but representative of her peeling back layers and getting to the music and emotions that make up the vocal powerhouse as a human, including all her darkness, fears and insecurities. In an interview with People, Demi Lovato said that their album Tell Me You Love Me (2017) was inspired by Stripped. They stated that they "grew up listening to Christina Aguilera" and explained that they were "inspired by the black and white artwork". Sabrina Carpenter has also stated that after she heard the album, she "knew that [she] wanted to sing" and she began to see "songs as a part of what [she] could do to showcase and develop [her] own voice". The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Justin Myers of the Official Charts Company called the album "a phenomenon". Despite the heavy criticism received upon release, Stripped has gone on to earn acclaim. The album's fifteenth anniversary in 2017 saw several critics reevaluate the album in a more positive light. Vice writer Sophie Wilkinson stated in a retrospective review, "Stripped still has merits beyond the cliché of a former teen star removing her saccharine casing to reveal her womanhood". She added that the album relayed feministic messages and that "15 years on, the album still gives any woman the confidence to speak up and be heard, to take charge of her sexuality and ownership of her body, or even just sing along loud enough to amplify its messages". In a Billboard article, Jeff Benjamin praised Aguilera for her feminist sentiment on the album's second track and fourth single "Can't Hold Us Down", while maintaining an openly sexual image, noting that it was not expected of feminists to be sexual at the time of the album's release. Benjamin also praised the album's ability to shift between genres and the personal content featured. He went on to say that Aguilera was continuing the legacy that "Aguilera helped build after the likes of Donna Summer, Madonna and Cher".'' HuffPost noted that with Stripped, Aguilera led the charge at the beginning of the 21st century in influencing and introducing the next generation feminist rhetoric into pop culture. In 2018, the enduring impact of Stripped was noted by the Los Angeles Times and several other pop media outlets including Fuse, Genius and Vinyl with consensus; "Stripped proves as the blueprint for honest and raw female pop". Crack writer Emma Garland wrote that the album "is best measured by its cultural impact on those it was always intended for – a mass audience of young people who [...] had spent much of the late 90's and early 00's being patronised by an industry that served them dynamic but spiritually void bubblegum pop washed down with empowerment slogans from the Spice Girls". Carcy Magazine noted that with the release of Stripped Aguilera became "the queen of misfits", as she tackled "youth's silenced torments — mental health, sexuality, eating disorders", and she "shattered the schizophrenic denial of an industry both puritanical and sex-obsessed". ==Track listing==

• Storch • Aguilera • E. Dawk }} • Aguilera • Storch • Morris }} • Storch • Aguilera • E. Dawk }} • Aguilera • Storch }} • Storch • Aguilera • E. Dawk }} • Aguilera • Storch • Morris }} • Storch • Aguilera • E. Dawk }} • Aguilera • Storch • Morris }} • Storch • Aguilera • E. Dawk }} • Aguilera • Storch • Morris }} • Storch • Aguilera • E. Dawk }} • Aguilera • Perry • Keisha Buchanan • Mutya Buena • Siobhán Donaghy • Felix Howard • Cameron McVey • Paul Simm • Jonathan Lipsey }} • Perry • Aguilera }} • Aguilera • Rob Hoffman • Heather Holley }} • Hoffman • Holley }} • Aguilera • Steve Morales • Balewa Muhammad • David Siegel }} • Morales • Muhammad }} • Aguilera • Dana Stinson • Muhammad • Reginald Noble }} • Rockwilder • Aguilera • Muhammad • Cameron }} • Aguilera • Glen Ballard }} • Aguilera • Perry }} • Aguilera • Storch }} • Storch • Aguilera • E. Dawk }} }} Notes • signifies a vocal producer Sample credits • "Make Over" interpolates "Overload", as performed by the Sugababes. Later pressings of the album contain songwriting credits for Keisha Buchanan, Mutya Buena, Siobhán Donaghy, Felix Howard, Cameron McVey, Paul Simm and Jonathan Lipsey; these credits were absent on initial pressings of the album. • "I'm OK" contains an audio sample performed by Ellen Muth and David Strathairn from Dolores Claiborne, a film based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. ==Personnel==

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Stripped. Production • Christina Aguilera – vocal arranger and producer (2-4, 6, 8, 10, 16, 20) • Glen Ballard – arranger (18), producer (18) • Rich Balmer – assistant mix engineer (12) • Tony Black – recording (9) • Scott Campbell – recording (18) • Andrew Chavez – assistant engineer (11-13, 19), assistant mix engineer (12) • E. Dawk – vocal arranger and producer (2-4, 6, 8, 10, 20) • Brian Douglas – assistant engineer (13) • Ron Fair – executive producer, A&R • Tony Flores – assistant mix engineer (14, 18) • Brian Gardner – mastering • Alex Gibson – assistant engineer (18) • Jay Goin – assistant engineer (18) • David Guerrero – engineer (11-13, 19), assistant mix engineer (12) • Jeri Heiden – art direction & design • Rob Hoffman – producer (14), recording (14) • Heather Holley – producer (14) • Alicia Keys – producer (9) • Anthony Kilhoffer – assistant engineer (18), assistant mix engineer (2, 4, 15) • Mark Kizula – assistant engineer (18) • Stephanie Kubiak – production assistant (18) • Aaron Leply – assistant engineer (2-4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 16, 20) • Jolie Levine-Aller – production coordinator (18) • Tony Maserati – mixing (2, 4, 15) • Peter Mokran – mixing (14, 18) • Steve Morales – producer (15) • John Morichal – assistant engineer (2-4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 20) • Glen Nakasako – art direction & design • Miranda Penn Turin – photography • Dave Pensado – mixing (3, 6, 8-13, 16, 19, 20) • Linda Perry – producer (11-13, 19), engineer (11, 12) • Oscar Ramirez – recording (2-4, 6, 8, 10, 14-16, 20) • Rockwilder – producer (16) • Rafael Serrano – assistant engineer (11) • Jamie Sickora – assistant mix engineer (14, 18) • Shane Stoner – recording • Scott Storch – producer (2-4, 6, 8, 10, 20) • Kevin Szymanski – assistant engineer (2-4, 6, 8, 10, 13, 20) • Joann Tominaga – music contractor (14) • Davy Vain – assistant engineer (11), Pro Tools engineer (11) • Scott Whitting – assistant engineer (2-4) • Ethan Willoughby – assistant mix engineer (3, 6, 8-11, 13, 16, 19, 20) • Wassim Zreik – recording (2-4, 6, 8, 10, 14-16, 20) Musicians • Christina Aguilera – lead vocals, background vocals • Alex Al – bass (14) • Maxi Anderson – background vocals (14), choir vocals arrangement (18) • Glen Ballard – guitar (18), arranger, keyboardist (18) • Alexandra Brown – background vocals (14) • Jasper Cameron – vocals producer and arranger (16) • Matt Chamberlain – drums (18) • Anson Dawkins – choir vocals arrangement (14) • Eric Dawkins – choir vocals arrangement (14, 20) • Darryl Dixon – horns (9) • Richard Dodd – cello (11) • Crystal Drummer – background vocals (2) • Uriah Duffy – bass (9) • Mike Elizondo – bass (18) • Ron Fair – strings arrangement (15) • Aaron Fishbein – guitar (4, 10), electric guitar (15) • Damon Fox – keyboards (11) • Brian Frasier-Moore – drums (14) • Larry Gold – strings arrangement & conduction (3, 4, 8, 20) • Eric Gorfain – violin (11) • John Goux – guitar (4, 8, 18) • Gary Grant – horns (10) • Lily Haydn – viola (19), violin (19) • Jerry Hey – horns (10) • Daniel Higgins – horns (10) • Charlean Hines – background vocals (2, 10) • Rob Hoffman – guitar (14), programming (14), orchestral percussion (14), Rhodes (14) • Kameron Houff – drums (2, 4, 20) • Rufus Jackson – bass (9) • Paul John – drums (9) • Randy Kerber – keyboards (18) • Alicia Keys – arrangement (9), backing vocals (9), piano (9), other instruments (9) • Erica King – background vocals (2) • Lil' Kim – featured vocals (2) • Michael Landau – guitar (14) • Tarus Mateen – bass (4, 8, 10, 20) • Fred Maxwell – horns (9) • Brian MacLeod – drums (11) • Steve Morales – drum programming (15), arranger (15) • Balewa Muhammad – vocals producer and arranger (15, 16) • Dave Navarro – guitar (4) • Linda Perry – bass (11), guitar (11, 19), piano (11), strings arrangement & conduction (11, 13), music programming (12), other instruments (12, 13) • Greg Phillinganes – B3 (14), piano (14) • Shanti Randall – viola (11) • Redman – featured vocals (16) • Bill Reichenbach – horns (10) • Nolie Robinson – background vocals (2) • Bill Ross – orchestra arrangement (14) • David Siegel – keyboards (15) • Alfie Silas – background vocals (14) • Toya Smith – background vocals (2, 10) • Ramon Stagnaro – acoustic guitar (6) • Mike Stinson – drums (13) • Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson – drums (8, 20) • Dan Warner – electric guitar (15) • Maxine Waters-Willard – background vocals (14) • David Watson – horns (9) • Arthur White – guitar (9) • Dwayne Wiggins – guitar (9) ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts Decade-end charts All-time charts ==Certifications and sales==