I am (or was) a casual closet fan of Christina Aguilera’s
\nsingles. It’s easily apparent that the shared link between her
\nsingles is that they are exceptionally sung and immediately catchy.
\nWhile viewing the Video Music Awards, I noticed that she was the
\nthird wheel in Britney and Madonna’s shared moment. After that sad
\nobligatory peck from Madonna (it almost look like ‘The Material
\nGirl’ spat on her), I wanted to console the updated, coiffed and
\nexcessively tanned songstress. Coming to grips with my inability to
\nget her off my mind, need for immediate gratification and
\nobsessive-compulsive nature, I bought
\nStripped<\/i>.<\/p>\n
So far, four singles have been released from this album.
\n“Dirrty” was the initial delivery. Unfortunately, she got more
\npress for being an audacious minx in her video than for the song,
\nand its updated Michael Jackson-inspired dance-pop did not even
\nreach the top 20. The ballad “Beautiful” smartly changed
\nChristina’s tone to sober yet dynamic and became a deserved radio
\nsmash. “Fighter” and “Can’t Hold Us Down” are weaker, but adequate
\n“Dirrty”-phile tracks that peaked higher than its predecessor due
\nto the strength of “Beautiful” and sans the circus of
\ncontroversy.<\/p>\n
Several spins of
\nStripped<\/i> exhibit that it is a lifted blend of a mild
\nMadonna’s
\nErotica<\/i>, Michael Jackson’s
\nDangerous<\/i>, Mariah Carey and Alicia Keys. Since nearly
\ntwo-thirds of the songs are ballads, the singles misrepresent the
\nrest of the album. Unsophisticated words about self-empowerment,
\nneed for an orgasmic release and ‘motivating’ positive messages
\npour out like an orgy of unedited musings. Within
\nStripped<\/i>, any sign of sagacity is nonexistent, but Christina
\ncertainly meant well (*wink*).<\/p>\n
A couple of decent album tracks surfaced with an intense
\narchaeological dig. Linda Perry’s (former 4 Non Blondes lead
\nsinger) effort with Pink was exploited to help compose a
\nsimilar-veined number with “Make Over.” Although it sounds
\ncompletely shocking in the semi-soulful
\nStripped<\/i> setting, “Make Over” boasts rabid hooks and
\ndefinitely coerces return listens. The Alicia Keys-written and
\nproduced song “Impossible” uses driveling banter between the two as
\nan intro, before evolving into a fascinating ballad with a depth
\nthat is sorely lacking with the balance of
\nStripped<\/i>‘s prosaic pieces.<\/p>\n
RCA’s naive lack of involvement and\/or their gratuitous support
\nwas the undoing of
\nStripped<\/i>. The overall duration (70 plus minutes), use of
\nthree interludes plus one intro and spewed\/maladroit lyrics reveal
\nthat Christina made this album purblind. With no guide, a
\ndisservice was done to this vocal virtuoso.
\nStripped<\/i> would be near mainstream perfection if only 10-12
\ntracks and a professional co-writer were employed. However, her
\ncelebrated singing ability and openness to experimentation are
\nstained as a direct result of no reasonable check being applied to
\nfilter the young artist’s disgorged expressions.<\/p>\n
Presently, Christina exists exclusively as a singles artist. If
\nyou have yet to expose your wallet to
\nStripped<\/i>, wait a couple years for her implicit ‘best of’
\ncompilation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":26466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6908],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-37702","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-christina-aguilera","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37702"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}