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Yesterday it was Britney Spears, today its Christina Aguilera. Dammit 1,001 this is not what I signed up for.
Stripped is the fourth studio album by American singer Christina Aguilera. It was released on October 22, 2002, by RCA Records. Looking to transition from the teen pop styles of her self-titled debut album (1999), Aguilera took creative control over her next album project, both musically and lyrically. She also changed her public image and established her alter ego Xtina. Musically, the record incorporates pop and R&B with influences from many different genres, including soul, rock, hip hop, and Latin music. Lyrically, most of the songs from the album discuss the theme of self-respect, while a few other songs talk about sex and feminism. As an executive producer, Aguilera enlisted numerous new collaborators for the album. Upon its release, Stripped received generally mixed reviews from music critics; many criticized its lack of musical focus, while some of them called it "almost" an album for grown-ups, with comparisons made to Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson. Commercially, Stripped debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 330,000 copies. It was certified five times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipping over five million copies in the United States. The album also charted within the top five of charts in Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. It was Aguilera's best-performing album in the United Kingdom, becoming the 29th and 40th bestselling album of the decade and millennium there, respectively, with two million copies sold. Despite its initial critical reception, Stripped received multiple Grammy Award nominations, including one win, and has since gone on to be called one of the most influential albums of all time, inspiring a generation of artists. The album has sold over 12 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century. Five singles were released from the album. The lead single "Dirrty" was met with criticism and controversy due to its sexual music video but was an international hit on the charts. The follow-up "Beautiful" was praised by critics and garnered chart success worldwide. The last three singles, "Fighter", "Can't Hold Us Down" and "The Voice Within", became top-ten hits in various countries. Aguilera performed several songs from Stripped live during a number of shows, notably during the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards, the American Music Awards of 2003 (January), and the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. Two concert tours were held in 2003 to promote the album, The Justified & Stripped Tour (co-headlined with Justin Timberlake) and The Stripped Tour.
Yesterday it was Britney Spears, today its Christina Aguilera. Dammit 1,001 this is not what I signed up for.
The one thing that I hate seeing through the reviews is when someone shows obvious bias (shown with some people's great disdain for pop, hip hop/rap, 80s, etc.) They'll say "I despise hip-hop", "all 80s music sounds the same" and never give the material a fair chance when majority of the time the music is strong. This website gives you an album a day to listen to and helps expose us to music that we otherwise would've never listened to, so we need to put out biases aside. Everyone's entitled to have their opinion, but every album's entitled to have a fair chance and just be judged it on source value only. That being said, this is an extremely solid pop album. The latin, jazz, and R&B influences on this album are strong, and Aguilera's vocals are stellar throughout. Each song is poignant, and while they're all not perfect, they send an important message. Some of these songs will be getting a relisten, and helps show that pop music could and should be enjoyed by those of all ages. (On the sour side, this album is a little too long.)
Early 00s Christina Aguilera appeals to my male lizard brain. I remember she had a sweet lil' Disney pop princess type hit sometime in the late 90s, and that was cute, but then when I was about 18 her unapologetically basic slut phase happened. I hated the music then and I think it actually sucks even more now. It's bog "producer written" pop, her voice isn't very good and over an hour of it is a total punish... but the way she so overtly and consciously lowered the bar, then got as nude as MTV would allow, started rubbing herself all over rappers like a cat in heat and pretended it was all in the name of female empowerment? hahaha, fuck yeah. 3/5 you disgustingly hot, morally bankrupt, awesome skank.
I’m too old to pretend I give a shit about pop music.
Already listened to the album, it's perfect no skips.
Yeh straight 5 for me. Yes, I know Beautiful and Dirrty (or whatever), great pop songs, but the whole album was full of great music. Popped it on before a run, no it didn't inspire me to great speeds, but I didn't want to stick my running playlist on. Gonna go listen to Beautiful again now.
This takes me back
My wife told me that if I didn't give this 5 stars she would leave me. But I think I would have given it 5 anyway. Even as someone who didn't think they were an Xtina fan, and didn't know any of her songs, this album is full of iconic songs that were ubiquitous in the early 2000s. Her voice is undeniable, and she toes the line of R&B without being too grating on the ears like some R&B artists on this list. Soooo I think I would have given it 5 anyway. But we'll never know.
An hour and a quarter of empowering soul and pop ballads with the occasional latin and rock flavour, belted out by Christina Aguilera's increadible voice. There are five monster singles on here, but it's the album tracks which are more interesting and give the album it's character. The lead single, Dirrty, sounds massively out of place both musically and thematically, and should have been left off the album. Despite that, this is still a surpringly mature and enjoyable record. Rating: 3.5/5 Playlist track: Beautiful Date listened: 13/03/23
i would literally marry her.
One of the better pop albums I've ever listened to. Versatile and bold. Some ballads, some stronger beats. You really can't ask for much more in this genre.
Stripped is the fourth album by American singer Christina Aguilera. The pop/R&B album has elements of soul, rock. hip hop and Latin music, with themes on self-respect, sex, and feminism. Christina produced this album as a transition from her teen pop style to a grown up attitude. At release, Stripped received mixed critical reviews - many about the album's lack of focus - but commercially the album performed amazingly. It almost topped the charts in most countries worldwide, is certified 5x platinum in the US, 6x platinum in the UK, triple platinum in all of Europe, was nominated for many and won a single Grammy, and is considered one of the most influential pop albums of all time. Despite the "lack of focus" and large amount of freedom that allowed Christina to record so many different types of songs - which critics took issue with - this album is extremely popular. It was a great album IMO and I loved hearing some of Christina Aguilera's older music that I haven't heard in a long time. She really did make a statement with Stripped that she wasn't going to be a cute, cookie-cutter pop icon, but instead try to make entertaining music with a broad vocal range. It's an important album for women, but appreciated by all types of people to this day. This is my favorite album of hers so far.
Pleasantly surprised by this solid album. Thoroughly enjoyed it musically and lyrically.
I’ve had this album since it came out (21 years ago, oh god why did I do the math) and I’ve always liked it. Before today, I hadn’t listened to it from start to finish in many years (maybe since 2003). It is excessively long and should have been made into two albums, but I do enjoy the vast majority of the album. I suspect many reviewers won’t give this a fair chance since Christina was a pop princess back in the day, but this is a solid, heartfelt album with varied influences and honest lyrics.
pretty good vocal performance, average production, and cringily simplistic lyrics 5/10
Better than I feared. Would have been better if it was half hour shorter
At the turn of the 21st century, “Stripped” became one of the seminal feminist self-empowerment pop albums. Heralded by the likes of Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande as a major influence on their work, we have this album to thank for many a starlet navigating a thorny post-Disney Channel career. It’s a simple enough premise: keen to reclaim her identity after being marketed as a squeaky clean teen-pop star, Christina Aguilera becomes a self-empowered, confident and sexual 22 year old (still written by mostly male songwriters and producers, to the delight of the male gaze… but your feelings on that come down to which wave of feminism you subscribe to.) The opening, “Stripped Intro”, expresses the concept reasonably well through a collage of news headlines and celebrity gossip, before Aguilera delivers a nutshell-fitting diatribe against her critics. It serves as a springboard for a whopping 78 minutes that just about hold together, though don’t feel hugely cohesive as an artistic statement. Concept aside, the album’s defining feature is Aguilera’s voice: melismatic, soaring, dramatic. Her vocals are rarely toned down and vulnerable, and won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it’s hard to argue that she isn’t a quintessential 2000’s diva after hearing this. She’s at her best in the big ballads: “Beautiful” and “The Voice Within” are both magnificent songs and she fills every corner of them with passion and precision. “Cruz” is an unexpected highlight, being a musical-theatre style rock ballad. Every note of it is a corn-beef-hash-full of corniness, but she sells it to the last. There are a lot of other tracks I enjoyed here: “Underappreciated” is a gritty and tight funk jam; “Fighter” is fierce, uncompromising and even boasts a guitar solo; it’s nice to hear the less belty, more subtle tones of Aguilera’s voice in the hyper-sensual “Loving Me 4 Me”, which floats by like a barely recalled dream. There are some nice segues and satisfying gapless sequencing, which bring more cohesion than perhaps is actually there. But with such a lengthy running time, and Aguilera’s determination to show off her musical and vocal range, there are plenty of missteps. “Make Over” has a completely flat production with an abrasive, irritating refrain (stolen from the Sugababes… a bit of a low bar if you ask me). “Walk Away” and “Impossible” are forgettable piano-driven jazz ballads, and “I’m OK” and “Keep on Singing My Song” at the end feel tacked on and inconsequential: two ballads too many, “The Voice Within” being a much more appropriate ending. Most crucial of all to Aguilera’s aesthetic reinvention are the “WAP”s of their day, “Dirrty” and “Get Mine, Get Yours”. These are decent celebrations of casual sex and expressions of sexuality, but feel remarkably tame by today’s standards. They’re not showstoppers, but I tend to find these kind of songs rarely are: instead they’re a litmus test for our society’s squeamishness, like dropping a naked pebble into a puddle of prudes to count the ripples of shock value. With that, she certainly succeeded, and “Stripped” remains potent twenty years later: something worth commending.
Is that her poosy?!?!?! Oh...
I’m not the target audience for this type of music but I listened and it’s actually pretty good. Slow numbers, upbeat stuff, actual poignant lyrics (at times, lol)…….. Probably won’t listen again and I’m not going to look up any more of her stuff but I was pleasantly surprised.
I remember Dirrty being considered "shocking" at it's time, for being overly sexual. I guess the times have changed... what didn't change is that I didn't care for the music as a kid and I don't care for it now. While I admit the songs show a wider musical variety with Aguilera staying true to her voice - she manages to make every song sound bland, soulless and mass-produced in every style she uses and her voice sounds trained but without personality, regardless of style. The music is never so terrible that it's painful, but I did start skipping parts on the second half. It's simply not interesting in any way and goes on for way too long. I do like the lyrical themes from what I've heard. So kudos on some of the messages. Now, if only the music were interesting...
Middle of the road pop-R&B. There’s better about. If she wasn’t a great singer this album wouldn’t be on this list. Great voice though. Sot Fighter Infatuation 2/5
I heard the singles from Stripped when the album came out. I've never been interested in Christina Aguilera's music. Portions of the album were okay, separated by tracks that I did not like. I'm not the audience that this music was intended for. After listening to a full album I'm not even sure I am any more able to recognize Aguilera, if I were to hear something new (or something from this album that I just listened to). I'm guessing that I will forget this soon enough. When "okay" is stretched out thin over such a long album, I will have to confess that I did not like the album.
Boring. Talented singer but this is way too long and many of the songs sound the same.
2.5/5. The music is not bad, but 1hr 17 minutes is very long for this type of music. I don't think there are bad songs on here, but this album being this long makes it kind of enjoyable to listen to.
I was ready to bitch about this album, but for the genre it's in, it really is not bad at all. The reason she wasn't taken seriously definitely had to do with the transformation from Micky Mouse Club Girl to her slutty image around this time. Which fully felt forced and fake. Even the title of 'stripped' did her no favours. And that's too bad, because she's an amazing vocalist with a voice that can do R&B as easy as soul, pop and even rocky. The album itself, with its 77 minutes, has some great songs on it, and some terrible filler. It could've done with some major cutting and demoting about 5 to 6 songs to B-sides. And like her voice, this album is all over the place, from jazzy funk ballads, to poppy piano ballads, to soulful powersongs, to rocky bangers. It feels very disjointed. All in all, I didn't mind it, but also won't listen to it again.
1.5 stars. This was rough. Like dollar store Destiny's Child and then at times trying to bring in rock? elements with whiny guitars. "Beautiful" being a decent pop song only thing that saves it from 1 star.
It's the most basic pop I've ever heard.
Stripped is a case in point for a book I might write in one incarnation or another. The subject would be “what happened to pop music over the years”, and it will discuss how the mighty have fallen: how the likes of The Beatles music deteriorated into commodities such as this here album.
Twisted and evil album. A true glimpse into the wicked mind of Christina Aguilera, best known for being one of the voice actors in the 2017 hit classic "The Emoji Movie". Shit's fucked. No way to unfuck it.
So many standouts! I like the musical tension and overall mood of everything
love pop, obviously. christina's vocals are out of this world. faves: fighter (the guitars!!), impossible, beautiful
DAMN I WANTED THIS AS MY NEXT ONE SGAHIQOQLAKSNSHGTSGTS I have obviously heard the songs 'Dirrty' and 'Beautiful' before. I have the CD! I like the montage of 'celebrity gossip' (for want of a better term) in the intro. It definitely sets a tone and a scene for the rest of the album. The continuation of the intro later in the album is also an interesting technique I've never seen before. The second track instantly cements it as pop. I was not alive when Christina Aguilera was very famous, so I don't know whether this is really a 'new direction' as she claimed. I doubt it, to be frank. However, just because it's pop doesn't mean it's bad. I didn't think this album would really be amazing enough to be included in this guide, but it seems pretty good. Nice message of feminism in 'Can't Hold Us Down'. I can understand why people didn't (and don't) like this. But it's honestly very, very good! She has a great voice, and it's not just meaningless, producer-written, bubblegum drivel. I hear influence from Latin music. All very danceable -- not necessarily a bad thing! There is a time and a place for art rock, and a time and place for Christina Aguilera. 'Infatuation', 'Underappreciated' and 'Dirrty' all remind me of each other. Rina Sawayama definitely heard 'Loving Me 4 [sic] Me' before recording 'Love Me 4 [sic] Me'. Not only are the titles (obviously) very similar but the songs sound rather like each other. I LOVE 'BEAUTIFUL'. I like the violins that recur throughout. I presume they're synthesisers, however. :( 'Dirrty' does not belong on this album -- it sounds very different. I know she wanted to shed her image, but she could have done that and then left this overly sexualised song off the album... However, I suppose it signified that her old image had now been 'stripped'. I think 9/10. Nevertheless, it deserves 5/5, because I'll be listening again. I did debate giving it a 4, but that's not happening after listening through fully, mainly because ARGHHHH I LOVE 'BEAUTIFUL' SO MUCH. Not for the first time, I wish this website operated using a scale of 10, not 5.
She's got it all - amazing voice, meaningful lyrics, instruments.
There are so many bangers perfectly dispersed throughout this album that even though I initially shuddered at the 1hr 17min run time I ended up having a outrageously great time with it. Fighter, Beautiful, Dirrty (with two R's thank you very much) all fucking top top shelf pop songs. Beautiful in particular is an amazing song, would be a great Karaoke song if you can actually sing. Impossible is an excellent demonstration of her range too, big Amy Winehouse vibes.
Holding up a mirror to the world and screaming "SUCK MY DICK, HITLER", Aguilera manages to squeeze her smoky orange skin into some questionable chaps and remind us all who we really are. A timeless classic that stands the test of time.
Fantastic album
Honestly?…….. good album
Alot of the songs sound the same
I really liked this album the first time I heard it and some of these songs are still in my gym mix
Two principal facts about this album - one - it's far too long, and two - if it hadn't been so long it would have easily been a five star album. Both sides - the Dirty/Fighter hard anthems and the Beautiful/Voice Within gorgeous ballads are blimmin ace - it's just that with the length, you end up getting less good stuff. Some of the other bits are great too - one track sounds so Sugababes I believe they sued, there's another Latin infused track that J Lo would have killed for.
Definitely too long with some interesting choices as far as song order goes, but damn she can belt. The singles (mostly) crush it and the majority of the other tracks are still really good and mix the sound up. You can definitely see how this influences the sound of artists going forward, Ariana Grande for example shares a very similar vibe.
Wat een stem! De tedere nummers zijn even goed als de stevige.
Not bad
Surpringsly banging! Her voice really is amazing and the album does have a strong melodic focus. 20 tracks is too long and songs like Dirrty and Make Over detract from the overall experience. But Walk Away, Fighter, Beautiful, Cruz, Keep on Singing... and more. Really enjoyed this.
This surprised me. I knew she was good but this is better than I expected
Historically I haven't been a bit Christina Aguilera fan but wow this album pows doesn't it?! Whilst it's not something I'd necessarily go back to I really appreciated it. Full of energy
Really enjoyed this! Loved listening to some old classics, Beautiful, Fighter, Can't Hold Us Down, Dirrty, I'm OK, and also some I hadn't heard before, Infatuation was a highlight of these. Some of these songs really spoke to me when I was growing up, she covered some heavy themes in her lyrics and was a real icon speaking up for the struggles and rights of women and girls. One of the first voices I heard highlighting these issues growing up in an extremely conservative family and I'm so pleased she made it mainstream with this message. Also really appreciate the R&B vibes and Spanish influences throughout the album. A really nice throw-back listen.
Yeah it’s pretty good if too long.I don’t have much to say.It’s a really varied for a pop record which is good and bad.
Gotta say, this one surprised me. Sure, it’s way too long at 77 minutes, but they threw everything including the kitchen sink at this one and fuck me, most of it stuck, with a surprising amount of depth to most of the songs. Aguilera kills it vocally whilst keeping the wailing and vocal gymnastics to a minimum. The result is one of the better pop/rnb albums.
The 00s was a crazy decade. Sex was omnipresent in pop music. Here in "Stripped", sexuality is also clearly visible, yet, the album raises topics such as self-respect and feminism. Respect to Christina! Incredible energy, beautiful voice, wow
Reading the other reviews you would think this album is terrible, people on this are seriously deluded so maybe I shouldn’t concern my self with their opinions and try to be as unbiased to my own tastes as possible. Christina has extreme talent. Her voice has that grit that many female vocalists wish they could imitate. She makes solid pop songs. This album is very complete, the only oddness about it is how stylistically distinct each song is. We’re talking rock, hip hop, soul, power ballad. The work that went into creating this is very evident. Personally I enjoyed it. My main critique is the length. I think if this were a 10 song album, a 4 would be likely.
This was just a bit too long for me… so I’m not sure it’s something I will listen to from beginning to end again. Still, lots of great songs on here and I mostly enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t complain about a shorter version.
I was frankly put off by the 78 minute running time of this album that came to us on my birthday. And the first half of the album (ten tracks if you're counting) had me dreading the rest. While I was impressed by Aguilera's powerful and agile voice, I found no hooks, nothing that made me want to hear anything again. Luckily, the second half, starting with the lovely Beautiful, made up for it and then some. (I actually knew Beautiful from the NBC show Smash. Remember Smash? But I didn't know who had originally done it. Ah, Smash.) From then on, every song got to me in some way or another and completely stuck the landing, leaving me wanting more. That half of the album gets 5 stars.
I really liked most of what I was hearing on this album, but how was that 1 hour and 18 minutes? I could have sworn that I was listening half the day.
I didn't expect a long, epic album from Christinia Aguilera, but I suppose that her being underestimated is what led to this expressive and varied manifesto. I was surprised and delighted at how much I enjoyed it.
Beautiful but bloated. Very obvious how she got a stranglehold for a while in the 2000s.
Well this was absolutely excellent. If the dud "Cruz" was cut, this would be straight up a 5 star album for me. Catchy songs, great variety without teetering into feeling too dispersed and unfocused, extremely well performed on the part of Xtina and the studio musicians. This is just good fucking pop.
Although I found many songs on the album just too similar sounding and the album itself was way too long, the 3-4 hits/classics are enough to objectively push it to 4
Raw and bold for pop music then and even more so now
What the heck? I guess it shows that I shouldn't assume lame pop artists never grow up. First I discovered that Kesha grew up, and now I see that Christina did as well.
Such a great album, lots of different musical vibes, plus great singles.
Great! Soar was my favourite track.
A 77 minute long album which is really long, and maybe it is the reason why I felt even more that musically the album is just directionless. The hit songs (Fighter, Beautiful) stand out and Christina's voice is great throughout the whole album. Overall it is an OK album.
Det här var nog rätt bra! Lite långt men...
Helt alright!!!
Pop. R&B
I could see why this would have been huge in the 2000s. Many tracks feel dated but there’s a lot to be said about Aguilera’s vocal chops and she (or her producers) certainly had a good idea of the pop zeitgeist. For me, it’s too long and a bit too aughts. 6/10
5/10. Gosh, I mean there were some good parts, and it was even pretty good throughout, but my God, man, it's 77 minutes long.
In the days when I was forced to still listen to the radio at work, this album, and in particular the singles, were plastered across it. For me at the time, it all just melded into one big current pop music sound that ran through my work hours. Some of it grated at the time, other songs just floated on down the stream. Listening to the whole album today - the for first time and most likely the last - I found it to be inoffensive pop. The songs all have a similar programmed song line underneath, to which Christina then sings over the top. "Make Over" was actually the best of them because she actually had a go at putting on the rock chick voice and getting away from pop for a second. More of that and I could probably have gotten more into the album.
Not my thing. But great voice.
Better than I expected
Not my type of music. She is fine. She can sing. I just don’t like her music.
Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Fighter, Beautiful, Dirrty, Stripped intro
Really? All in all it went by quick and I didn’t have to check to see how close I was to the end (criteria for a 2 star) but I was distracted by working. Idk
Some of this is good. Some of it is filler. I remember having a lot of fun at this tour though. I’ll go 3/5
Never listened to much of this artist; it was better than I expected. Certainly she has the voice. Lyrically it had this aspect of a pretty young person presenting some bog-standard, 101 level political/social ideas like something new and innovative because they just discovered them for the first time. But she was very young here and that's what you do. The music is serviceable but not much more.
She's got incredible vocals, and this album is rangey... but I think it's tough to listen to a lot.
Wasn’t as revolutionary or feminist as she believed. Pop.
Can't Hold Us Down is pretty tight! Fighter is another bop. Impossible is good. It generally comes off as a cusp of adulthood sort of album, with naive songs on the first fulfillment of love, the stripping away of the dumb rougeishness of young affection, but also wanting to be swept up in that all encompassing way that is just too exhausting for a full adult. Beautiful is a nostalgic hit. Her ballads are just not my thing, otherwise. On the whole, its an ambitious album that I don't think has the chops to back up the ambition. It's spread thin.
une top review vraiment 🤠
Je me suis pris au jeu
kind of cool seeing the singer highlighted so much. rest of the music was pretty simple, repetitive beats. not my thing
Nice!
I enjoyed it more than expected, in the balance. Although it is too long, with too much filler.
Better than I expected but still not my cup of tea.
This was a 2000s album and I never really heard the whole thing before. I’ve heard the popular songs and that alone never really made me interested in Christina Aguilera. I always thought she was ironic how much of a hoe she acted but her songs are for fat girls. Either way this album wasn’t horrible in comparison to the rest of this list. I wouldn’t revisit it but it was ok. 5.8/10
Eh
Would be 4 if it were shorter
The only song I had heard was “Fighter” when it was on the hit FM radio back before phones. I listened to most of the album and wasn’t disgusted at all, in fact, the album has a great recording quality to it. 2.9/5
I entered into this album somewhat aware of some of the songs but dismissive of the teenybopper echoes. I should’ve checked myself better. I was impressed by the full-throated range of feminist vibes from this millennial offering, especially from someone so Disney. The grooves are somewhat undercooked but the vocal virtuosity cannot be denied. A surprisingly satisfying listen.
Due to my sheltered nature, this was one of the first times I heard songs on the radio like "Can't Hold Us Down" that talked back vs. expectations/judgements on certain behaviors towards women vs. men. Let's see, I was in 9th or 10th grade. Surprised how many tracks there were on here I recognized. Like Fighter, Beautiful. I do remember how much people judged her back in the day, like I remember Conan talking about her dressing in a "hoe-uniform" which in retrospect was so gross that I'm sure he'd be appalled today. She's clearly talented and got a bad rap at times. All that said, still not my thing but I can her trying to reinvent herself.
This was a solid pop album, with catchy arrangements and some really lovely vocals by Christina Aguilera. Her lyrical game here is also strong here, with an emotionally honest, empowering message that doesn't take away one bit from the album's solid pop sensibility. On the negative side, there is way too much filler and the interludes add nothing to the album. She could have dropped 20 minutes from this album and it would have been so much better. The less said about "Dirrty," the better. That song is simply terrible. Fave Songs: Fighter, Beautiful, Walk Away, Can't Hold Us Down, Infatuation, Impossible
Enjoyed the hits and bits of the rest. Mixed.
3+/5
Heard it before?: No Enjoy it?: Yeah, some og classics on here that have stood the test of time Favourite song: Track 2 - Can’t Hold us Down
Didn't want to like it but did. Great voice tslent
Great voice.
i enjoyed this a bit more than i care to admit. she is crazy talented. however, there are a few things that i could do without: 1. the collaborations lacked chemistry and seemed forced, 2. when she does what i call “vocal acrobatics” (when she sings a word and all of the sudden that word lasts for ten seconds and she hits like 23 different notes during that ten seconds), 3. when she “whisper sings” (a technique used during that era when women wanted to sound “sexy”… i just find it gimmicky and annoying). other than that, great effort by a woman with a killer voice.
Poppy pop, but with a stone cold 5 star song (Beautiful) in there.
Some bangers, bit too much sappy filler. Overall decent album.