Stripped

Performer: Christina Aguilera
Artist: Eve; Alicia Keys; Redman; Linda Perry; Dave Navarro; Glen Ballard; Lil' Kim
Engineer: David Guerrero; Shane Stoner; Wassim Zreik; Linda Perry; Oscar Ramirez; Scott Campbell; Rob Hoffman
Producer: Christina Aguilera; Balewa Muhammad; E. Dawk; Glen Ballard; Jasper Cameron; Linda Perry; Rockwilder; Scott Storch; Steve Morales; Heather Holley; Rob Hoffman
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Christina Aguilera (background vocals); Aaron Fishbein (guitar, electric guitar); Linda Perry (guitar, strings, piano, drum programming); Rob Hoffman (guitar, Fender Rhodes piano, programming); Dave Navarro, Glen Ballard, Michael Landau, Arthur White, John Goux (guitar); Ramon Stagnaro (acoustic guitar); Lili Haydn (violin, viola); Shanti Randall (viola); Richard Dodd (cello); Dan Higgins, Gary Grant, Darryl Dixon , Jerry Hey, Bill Reichenbach Jr. , David Watson (horns); Alicia Keys (piano, background vocals); Greg Phillinganes (piano); Damon Fox, David Siegel, Randy Kerber (keyboards); Paul Alexandre John, Kameron Houff, Brian Frazier Moore, Ahmir Khalib Thompson, Matt Chamberlain, Mike Stinson, Brian MacLeod (drums); Steve Morales (drum programming); Alexandra Brown, Charles Hines, Crystal Drummer, Toya Smith, Alfie Silas, Maxi Anderson, Maxine Willard Waters, Eric King (background vocals). Audio Mixers: Dave Pensado; Peter Mokran; Tony Maserati. Recording information: Conway Studios, Hollywood, CA; NRG, North Hollywood, CA; The Enterprise Studio, Burbank, CA; the Record Plant, Hollywood, CA. Photographer: Miranda Penn Turin. Arrangers: Christina Aguilera; Balewa Muhammad; E. Dawk; Glen Ballard; Jasper Cameron; Steve Morales. Although STRIPPED is supposed to refer to Christina Aguilera's emotional rather than physical state, you couldn't tell based on her topless pose on the album cover, where the only nod to discretion is some strategically placed hair. Like Britney before her, Christina yearned to get away from her wholesome pop image. In the process, she hooked up with a wide range of collaborators including hip-hop producers Rockwilder and Scott Storch along with a myriad of guest musicians including Eve, Linda Perry, and Dave Navarro. Despite all the glitter and glam, there's no getting away from the fact that Aguilera's singing ability puts her head and shoulders above her poppy peers. Her rich, throaty style works well on slower numbers like a soaring Alicia Keys collaboration "Impossible," piano-driven nugget "Soar," and the Mariah-like "The Voice Within." Other highlights include the snappy, Lil' Kim hip-hop workout "Can't Hold Us Down," sweeping self-empowering rant "Make Over," and the ribald, jeep-beat crazy joint "Dirrty" featuring Redman. Most revealing (on an emotional level) is "I'm OK," an acoustic guitar-heavy autobiographical remembrance of childhood abuse. Britney Spears may not be quite a woman or a girl, but the newly minted Christina is definitely closer to the former.

Rolling Stone (11/28/02, p.88) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...With its lack of gimmickry and a surplus of sweet Seventies soul, STRIPPED is almost an album for grown-ups....Sophisticated fare..." Spin (12/01/02, pp.137-8) - 6 out of 10 - "...STRIPPED is Aguilera telling us what a girl pop star really wants: to be free with her body, her art, and her heart..."

Britney Spears proved that the same goldmine that Madonna and Cyndi Lauper mined in the 1980s was again ripe for the picking, and she was immediately followed up the charts by another female teenybop sensation, Christina Aguilera. Closely aligned with Spears's style early on, Aguilera hit the charts in a major way in the late '90s. However, by the dawn of the new millennium, Aguilera had transformed herself from a bubblegum sensation to a raw and raunchy vamp (STRIPPED), and then to a mature, platinum blonde pseudo-traditionalist (BACK TO BASICS), positioning herself as a risk-taker with little connection to her Mousketeer past.

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