Cartman_2k's Full Review: Stripped by Christina Aguilera
Wow. Finally, after waiting for almost 4 years Christina Aguilera finally released her sophomore album. Before I bought the album I was beginning to wonder if Christina was going to keep her ‘bad and naughty girl’ on the entire album. It’s okay to have one rowdy song, but a whole album full of ‘em would be quite boring.. So, what did I get?
First Of All, Let’s Talk About the Beautiful Fighter and Her Dirrty History
Christina Maria Aguilera was born on Staten Island, New York December 18th 1980, which means that the beauty is almost 22 years old. Her mother is Irish and her father Ecuadorian. When she was just a little girl she discovered her talent; and aged 12 she joined the Mickey Mouse club (other stars that were in the Mickey Mouse club features Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez.)
When she was 14 she moved to Japan to record a song with a Japanese pop star. The song wasn’t a big hit, but at least it was a good start for little Christina. Back in the US, 18 years old she recorded the song Reflection for the Mulan soundtrack. RCA noticed her talent, and signed her immediately. Almost a year after she had signed the record deal she released her self-titled debut album. It went straight to #1 (selling 8 million copies) and so did all of the singles from the album. In 2000 she released Mi Reflejo and My Kind Of Christmas. After this the world didn’t hear that much from her; except for two singles she made together with others, the ordinary Nobody Wants To Be Lonely featuring the monotonous hip-shaking Latino star Ricky Martin, and the raunchy, unoriginal song Lady Marmalade with Lil’ Kim, Mya and Pink.
And then.. in September she made her comeback..
What??!! It’s Impossible! Christina Is Stripped and She’s Had A Major Make Over!
Tracklisting and rating (max 5 stars)
01. Stripped Intro (*****)
02. Can't Hold Us Down (featuring Lil' Kim) (*****)
03. Walk Away (*****)
04. Fighter (*****)
05. Primer Amor – Interlude (*** ½)
06. Infatuation (****)
07. Loves Embrace – Interlude (****)
08. Loving Me For Me (****)
09. Impossible (*****)
10. Underappreciated (*****)
11. Beautiful (****)
12. Make Over (* ½)
13. Cruz (****)
14. Soar (****)
15. Get Mine, Get Yours (****)
16. Dirrty (featuring Redman) (*****)
17. Stripped Pt. 2 (*****)
18. The Voice Within (****)
19. I'm OK (*****)
20. Keep On Singin' My Song (*****)
The first single off the album is Dirrty featuring Redman. It seems that some people think it’s too raunchy, too dirty, too nasty, too.. agh.. whatever. It depends on what type of music you like. If you’re conservative or simply like things to be clean, you probably won’t like this song. I don’t know why I even include this song in my review, because it is nothing like the rest of the album. If you love it or you hate it, don’t judge the entire album by this song; even though there is one song that is pretty similar to it lyrically, Get Mine, Get Yours, a great song which would have been even greater if the lyrics weren’t over-raunchy.
The album starts off with an intro called Stripped, where she tells us that we can get to know the real her. It’s just her. Stripped. It’s a nice way to start off the album, and what she says in this intro is true.. we really do get to know the real her.
And then we move on to the laidback yet invasive song Can’t Hold Us Down featuring Lil’ Kim. It’s basically just a continuation of the Girl Power that was in the 90’s. The song is about girls standing up for themselves and not taking all the s**t that they get just because they dress the way the want and fool around when they want to. I’m not a particularly big fan of Lil’ Kim, but she sounds okay on this song. Definitely a great song for all feminists, and it’s a potential hit.
The next song is my favorite song by far on the album, Walk Away. It’s a slow melancholic song about a girl who wants to escape from a destructive relationship. It’s obvious that Christina has experienced this herself, because you can hear that her emotional commitment is enormous. It’s not like anything you would expect from Christina, but also the best song I’ve ever heard from her.
Every time I try to grasp for air, I am smothered in despair. It’s never over, over.
Seems I’ll never wake from this nightmare, I let out a silent pray,
Let it be over, over,
Inside I’m screaming, begging pleading no more…
Another favorite of mine on the album is Impossible, a song written and produced by Alicia Keys. Alicia Keys is, together with Tori Amos my favorite artist and I simply love everything about her. You can hear that the song is very Alicia Keys’ish, and with Christinas amazing voice on it, the song is almost as good as it gets. What would have made it perfect would have been if it was a duet, but you can’t get everything you want either.
The song that sounds the most like something Christina would have done in the past is probably The Voice Within. It’s a typical cliché ballad, and it wouldn’t have been anything out of the ordinary if it wasn’t Christina that sung it. It’s just that Christina makes the song so much more than the typical ballad; she gets to show off her talent for all it’s worth, without getting too annoying. But how on earth could Glen Ballard (the man “behind” Alanis Morissette) have written this song? Where has the edge and spunk gone? Oh well.
Christina also shows us that she can handle singing rock songs perfectly on Fighter. In a way it reminds me of a stronger, edgier version of Britney’s “I Love Rock N’ Roll”. Whoooaaa! What a spunky and energetic song! She tells her ex(friends/boyfriends/who knows) that all they did just made her stronger and made her a fighter. I think it can be a huge hit if RCA releases it as a single.
Makes me that much smarter
Makes me work a little bit harder
It makes me that much wiser
So thanks for making me a fighter
There are so many good songs on this album that it’s impossible to talk about all of them. The Beyonce Knowles “Work It Out”ish Underappreciated, the Latin inspired Infatuation, the beautiful uh… yeah.. Beautiful and the heartbreaking I’m OK. I like em all, but I can’t go on forever.
The only song on the album that I don’t like is Make Over, which I think is pure plagiarism. If you’ve ever heard the Sugababes hit Overload (Christina even says overload a couple of times in the song) you will hear that this song sound almost exactly the same, and that’s not what I want to hear from Christina. I want originality!
Whoa.. That Sounds Like A Good Album!?!
Yeah, it really is. I am surprised that Christina Aguilera has managed to mature that much over the past few years, and that it is so well reflected in her music. It seems that Christina gives a lot more of herself on this album, and her freedom makes her more confident and the song quality is heightened. I always thought that Christina Aguilera was a stupid blonde, but writing 14 of the songs herself proves me wrong.
This is probably one of the best albums that will be released in 2002; so if you want a mature album from a wonderful artist, or you are looking for the perfect gift for your kid, buy this album.
True to its title, Stripped, the audacious new RCA Records release from Christina Aguilera, strips away the last remnants of her previous teen idol pe...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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