Christina Aguilera – Stripped

Artist: Christina Aguilera

Title: Stripped

Label: RCA

Rating: 8/10

Everyone seemed to wonder what happened to Christina Aguilera. The press has trashed her, she’s tried to shed her pop artist skin, and the question is whether she’s come out of it unscathed. The intro to the record shows she wants to put it all behind her.

Good:
“Can’t Hold Us Down (featuring Lil’ Kim) – Aside from the stellar vocals this track is hot and lets her flex her lyrical and vocal muscles.
“Walk Away” and “Beautiful” – The slow pace doesn’t take away from her chance to shine. This could keep Etta James in suspense.
“Impossible” – written by Alicia Keys and sounds like deep dark soul through and through.
“I’m Okay” – A dark look inside of this star.
“The Voice Within” and “Soar” – These power ballads work. I can hear Mariah screaming ‘didn’t I used to get songs like this?’
“Underappreciated” – The old fans might not agree, but the title says it all and I have a feeling the song won’t get the appreciation it deserves.

Okay:
“Cruz” – You can tell what they were shooting for, but this power ballad doesn’t sound so powerful.
“Dirrty” – This track was used as the first single because they knew that Aguilera had a lot more firepower than this.
“Infatuation” – Here are those hot tamales I was looking for.
“Fighter” – Think ‘Beat It’ without Eddie Van Halen on guitar or MJ on vocals.

Bad:
“Make Over” – Sounds like a bad rock cover.

Stripped is an extraordinary release. The song comes in with Christina Aguilera telling us that she’s not going to take it anymore and she goes out with “Keep On Singin’ My Song” telling the world that she is going to keep it up and won’t let go. It’s a deeper message than most pop artists are willing to contribute. This is pop music, but only in the sense that so was Tina Turner, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. It’s not the pop music today’s generation thinks about when they hear the word ‘pop’. Pop isn’t NSYNC, pop means popular. Sure Aguilera is popular, but don’t let that keep you from passing up this phenomenal record.

+ rae gun