Stripped

I really like that song by Gloria Gaynor, "I Will Survive". It's empowering, uplifting, and a banger of a song. Despite liking it, I don't need an *hour* of it, and that's the original sin here. Ms. Aguilera is a fine singer and a talented performer, but the repititive themes, lyrics and messaging really drag this down. It could have been 15-20 minutes shorter and she (& I'm sure her production team) could have mixed it up. I appreciate the talent, but the music doesn't gel with me, and it's too long.. Usually this is '2' territory, but in continuing protest to the lack of female representation, she gets a bump to a '3'. (3/5) There's probably an argument to be had that having TWO albums by her on the list is too much. She's not that 'essential' (time may prove me wrong), and there's a laundry list of other female performers who probably deserve at least one of those spots. I don't have the time to litigate it, but it's worth considering..

"And all the pop stars were trying to be rappers and hip-hop artists, which was the fashion at the time." Cue the Grandpa Simpson meme. I lived through this, at least the singles off this, album. I was in college during the peak years of Britney and Christina and Backstreet Boys and N'sync. They weren't my thing, but they were ubiquitous. This gaggle of former Mickey Mouse Club stars all seem to follow the same pattern of saccharine teenage pop music at the end of the '90s to slight more layered and obvious sexual charged pop music as the calendar rolled into the 2000s and they rolled into their 20s. Its an all too common trope for these kids that grow up in the spotlight. They have to eventually make overt gestures that they are adults now! From Drew Barrymore Flashing David Letterman to Miley Cyrus Twerking. Its not new and it seems it will never go away. So it seemed on this Christina Aguilera album, "Stripped." We are bombard with the message that Christina is no longer the little girl telling us "What a Girl Wants". She's changing her image up and she's gonna hit back at Eminem and Fred Durst when they can't keep her name out of their mouth, or remind you of the double standard of women's sexuality. She's here to fight for women. You can see that Christina drew more influence from hip-hop and R&B than her contemporary pop divas, Britney, Mandy Moore, Jessica Simpson, or Pink. Of the lot she might've been the most vocally talented, though Britney Spears outclassed her early on the superstardom. Ultimately, I was expecting to enjoy this album a little more than I did going in. I really liked the tracks "Beautiful" and "Dirrty" but few others really inspired me. 3/5

first off, this is entirely too long. second, fighter and dirrty are stone cold classics. those things said this album is incredibly disjointed and i dont think the track order was given much thought. there is a good bit of variety in the songs but that also detracts from the cohesiveness of the album. the production, while dated now, was great at the time, shoutout scott storch and linda perry.

Christina clearly has mutant lungs and is an incredibly gifted singer. That being said sometimes she does this kind of muppet type voice and I dont need every song to have a vocal run or 14. I get it, you can hit ALL the notes. Its good, dont get me wrong but I hardly feel as though this is essential listening. "Beautiful" will forever be remembered and covered for the rest of time, doesnt mean the rest of the album is even within the realm of it.

Easy 4 star. Yeah it was a little too long but she simply deserves 4 stars. Beautiful? Fighter? Classics.

I grew up with this album. A lot of the songs I haven’t heard before or didn’t remember at first. It’s a solid album for sure even if it’s pop.

She has so much talent but it’s going to waste making crappy pop music. This really feels like a push for something that can’t be reached.

I objected to this on many levels. It is way too long, it has too many tonal shifts, and is massively overproduced, to the point where I don’t think there is a vocal on it which is allowed to exist for more than 3 seconds without additional harmonisation or warbling. I particularly dislike ´Beautiful’, which is a song seemingly written to accompany Primary School assemblies. Absolute guff.

There was this horrible trend in the mid naughties where former Disney or other miscellaneous children’s show cast pivoted into music and became a weirdly hyper-sexualised version of themselves. I’m cynical that this was the artist truly expressing themselves and instead just a marketing gimmick from the record labels to sell more albums/singles and really beggars belief as to why they really became popular. Stripped is a good example of how crap it really was and a great example of more not necessarily being a good thing. Oversung at every opportunity, with vocal runs and vibrato added to every other note, this even puts Mariah Carey to shame. Odd tonal shifts from country and western, to RnB, to ballads it never really finds a real sound that it’s going for and feels more like throwing shit at a wall and seeing what sticks. A truly horrible listen.

Слушал не очень внимательно.

Removed

A very varied and decent album. Obviously she’s got a great voice, but it’s just not my style; the raspy affectation on everything gets a bit too much. It’s quite nostalgic though as a child of the 2000s. Also think it’s a bit too long. If it lost 20 mins of the weaker material, I think it would be greatly improved.

There is a reason this album is in here and I agree it influenced the next era of pop music.

I hadn’t realized how Latin-leaning this album was. The vocal acrobatics are kind of silly on some tracks.

Accurately describes Lance Armstrong's career.

Long et pas super. Quelques titres potables mais pas plus.

Nah

Under aye pre she ated 🥊

60

This level of overproduced bubblegum pop has never been and will never be in my wheelhouse, and borders on torture for me to have to listen to (per my previously established ruleset, I at least started every track and gave it a chance). This is the second of Aguilera's albums we've had already in the list (mercifully brief compared to that bloated and long winded double album monstrosity), earns a similar ceiling of 2/5. I'll be happy to put her vocal parkour behind me.

249. Stripped - Christina Aguilera (2002) 10.29.26 Variety: 4 Adequacy: 2 Listenability: 2 Uniqueness: 1 Emotionality: 3 = 2.4 rounded down to a 2 "We're the song inside the tune (Yeah)/ Full of beautiful mistakes" As someone who generally loathes this sort of music, I feel ill-equipped to judge it with the respect and diligence that, give it's place in the popular culture, it probably deserves. This also came out during one what is arguably the nadir of popular music where the airwaves were dominated by the kind of music that I actively avoided and which seemed to be popular amongst those that were, for the first time, noticeably younger than me. If I was ever a music snob ( and I 100% was) this was when that snobbery was at its very peak. I've since chilled out and am way more accepting of pure "pop" stuff from this period, but I still find it of a general lower quality than the mass appeal pablum of previous eras. Give me Donna Summers, Linda Ronstadt, Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle or hell - Olivia Newton John over any of these modern divas ( though the term "modern" doesn't really apply here I guess...). Pretty sure I sad more or less the same thing when we had Back to Basics a while ago, and also made sure to mention that as much as her music is not for me I can at least recognize she is an enormously talented performer. I just wish she's put that giant voice to better use. That other album had some ok stuff on it, but was also a double album with an almost two hour run time. This album has almost as many songs on it ( though several are interludes), but comes in at around 41 minutes less. Still at 77 minutes long it feels too long by half. I do recognize some of the song titles on this one, so not sure if that's good or bad. Enough procrastinating though, let's dive in an get this over with. Note: I will be skipping any interludes, intros or other ephemera... THE TRACKS "Can't Hold Us Down" (featuring Lil' Kim) - Decent enough beat, but between five writers and three producers I'd hope they could figure out something decent between them. Lil' Kim features on this and adds a little bit of flavor, but overall it feels very generic. I really don't like Aguilera's thing where she feels the need to add vocals runs to EVERYTHING. I think a lot of the powerful women singers were heavily influenced by Whitney Huston and maybe learned all the wrong lessons. I appreciate the girl power nature of the thing, but hopefully there's some better stuff than this to look forward to. "Walk Away" - Her voice works a bit better for me on this soulful slow jam, with it's piano lines and stringy synths and simple drum patterns. More of this I might be able to handle. I even like this a bit more than a lot of the Adele tracks we were recently subjected to. Is it still pretty generic though? You bet. It's at least got a few hooks and the vocal melody in the chorus is halfway decent. It was pleasant enough while I was listening. "Fighter" - Ug oh. We start with some very self important and maudlin strings, and a spoken word call out to an ex. This was at least interesting with Christina add some unexpected rock flavor. I can't say it mixed especially well with the R&B vocals though. As a kiss off song to an ex, it's got an interesting p.o.v. with the "So thanks for making me a fighter" attitude. There's an interlude right after this that hints at a more interesting album where she does some traditional Latin infused Spanish language acoustic guitar ballads. Oh well. "Infatuation" - This one brings the Latin flavor, but feels much more in line with the popular dance pop R&B of the era. Again, very generic, and full of those acoustic guitar flourishes that promise something way more attractive than this. Truth in advertising though as it's most definitely a song about infatuation. Which it tells you over and over again. Still, nothing majorly offensive yet, which is not the worst sign. "Loves Embrace Interlude" - "Loving Me 4 Me" - The interlude just before this was very promising, and felt very airy and progressive for what I would have expected, and this continues on from it. It feels very 90s to me and I was getting some Janet Jackson vibes. The hip hop beat over the smooth as hell electronic vibes worked very well, and arrangement wise had me thinking this was a step out of her comfort zone and almost kinda sorta on the way to some of the sounds that Janelle Monae might dip into. Easily the best song so far, and not one I'd be embarrassed to play in my car. "Impossible" - This one was written by Alicia Keys, and sounds like it's trying to evoke Carol King. It's not terrible, and the instrumentation is quite good. Christina just can't help herself though and guilds the lily every chance she can get with all the extraness. "Underappreciated" - Huh? Some sludgy 70s guitar opens this one ad things lean a bit towards a more funk influence. Again this was very interesting instrumentally, but Christina is just so BIG. Solid chorus though. "Beautiful" - And we finally make it to the big hit that I remember. It's one that I clearly remember scoffing at back in the day, and yet over the years it's grown on me quite a bit. It's a got a very... well, beautiful message, one that's maybe even more important today, and Aguilera gives it all the restraint and class that she disregards on a lot of the music I've heard from her, and I think is probably the one song she'll ultimately be remembered for. It's catchy and pretty, and full of memorable bits, and I don't mind the obviousness of it nearly as much. And I learned just today that it was written by Linda Perry of 4 Non Blondes! "Make Over" - A whopping NINE writers on this one. It has an instantly catchy garage rock groove to it with a "Tomorrow Never Knows" beat and some flamenco influence unless my ears deceive me. There's a LOT going on in this one and while not normally my thing, it was pretty interesting while it was going and possibly the most toe tapping number yet. "Cruz" - Immediately got some Wilson-Phillips flashbacks from this stinker. This is exactly the kind of middle of the road, boring thing that I think her albums are full of. It's very nearly something that could pass for a modern country song. "Soar" - I think I might have confused this title with Katy Perry's "Roar". I guess they are both sort of inspirational/ aspirational pop full of cliched motivational nonsense. Not even the gospelly choir can lift this one up. This belongs in the end credits of a mid 2000s Pixar wannabe cgi animal movie. That's two misses in a row. "Get Mine, Get Yours" - Ok, back to generic R&B, this time with some TLC influence maybe? This went in one ear and out the other, but it didn't make me ill, so... "Dirrty" (featuring Redman) - The other big one I've definitely heard before. It was hilarious at the time, but not sure it was meant to be. I remember there was some sort of Thunderdome-ish music video where everyone was covered in grime and sweat and I think was meant to show that Christina wasn't some act for teeny boppers. There was a lot of this sort of thing going on around this time if I'm not mistaken. Former Disney star makes a big swing in the complete opposite direction to prove how removed they are from all that kids stuff. Anyway, the song feels secondary to the video and I just don't get why it was that popular otherwise. This one's lost on me. "The Voice Within" - I think this was meant to feel like something Whitney or Celine Dion would have done, but it's produced within an inch of its life, and loses any warmth either of those two could have brought to it. "I'm OK" - Much more interesting, this sad acoustic ballad has got a lot of emotion in it, but unfortunately there's not a thing that's memorable about it, and it's possibly the schmaltziest thing on the album. And this criticism is coming form a guy who had a decent time listening to the Carpenters' Greatest Hits earlier today. "Keep on Singin' My Song" - A somewhatstronger ending, with heavy synths and some interesting soulful vibes. I kept waiting for it to build towards some big crescendo that never really came though and it just lacked any good dynamics. The flute was a nice touch. HIGHLIGHTS - "Walk Away" - "Loving Me 4 Me" - "Beautiful" - "Make Over" MIDLIGHTS - "Can't Hold Us Down" - "Fighter" - "Infatuation" - "Impossible" - "Underappreciated" - "Get Mine, Get Yours" - "I'm OK" - "Keep on Singin' My Song" LOWLIGHTS - "Cruz" - "Soar" - "Dirrty" - "The Voice Within" FINAL THOUGHTS This was way more mediocre than I expected which is not necessarily the worst thing. It had way less stuff to hate on it which is a slight leg up from the original, but it also seemed like the stuff I didn't like fell flatter. But then it also had "Beautiful" and "Loving Me 4 Me" which I thought were legit good. I think overall this ends up being pretty neck and neck with Back to Basics. Both were pretty generic and while technically well made, lacked anything that really affected me outside of, again, "Beautiful" which I bumped it up for. Ultimately, I just don't think this is the kind of music I can relate to, and it's a singing style that bounces off of me pretty hard, despite the fact that I can recognize how proficiently Aguilera is throwing out those bended syllables. I'm all for theatricality in rock and pop music, but this kind of leans more into the kind of overdone territory that seems to manufactured. I'm not calling out her artistic credentials or anything but when you have this many cooks in the kitchen, food made by committee, by its very nature, is going to try and cater to everyone's taste, thereby catering to no one's in the end. I wonder what kind of career Aguilera would have had like a Broadway showtune belter. Has she done that sort of thing? I bet she'd be fantastic. Possible turn-Offs might include: - Long album run time ( feels longer) - lots oooOoooOf unecesaAAARyyyyyyyy vooOoOoOOOOOocaaaAAl runs - generic sounds all around - cheese, cheese, and more cheese You Might enjoy this if you: - like VERY BIG POP - dig those big diva voices - want to listen to something with a lot of variety PLAYLIST ALTERATIONS - I'm fine never hearing any of these again, even the very best tstuff FURTHER LISTENING Precursors: - Whitney by Whitney Houston - My Life by Mary J. Blige - CrazySexyCool by TLC - Butterfly by Mariah Carey - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill - Missundaztood by Pink - Songs in A Minor by Alicia Keys Contemporaries: - Full Moon by Brandy - Ashanti by Ashanti - This Is Me... Then by Jennifer Lopez - Laundry Service by Shakira Descendants: - Revival by Selena Gomez - Tell Me You Love Me by Demi Lovato - My Everything by Ariana Grande - Rainbow by Kesha - Bangerz by Miley Cyrus - Short n' Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter

This is about 35 minutes too long and two hundred hard clippings too shittily mixed

For an album called 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥, this one is remarkably overdressed. Christina Aguilera has a beautiful voice, the production is technically impressive, and there are moments when everything comes together wonderfully. 𝗕𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘂𝗹 is the obvious highlight, thanks in large part to Linda Perry’s songwriting. It’s a song that allows Aguilera’s voice to shine without drowning it in unnecessary decoration. Unfortunately, most of the album seems determined to prove just how much can be squeezed into a pop record. The sound is unmistakably late-’90s/early-‘00s, with all the familiar glossy production and an extra-thick layer of R&B sauce poured over everything. It may be expertly prepared, but after nearly eighty minutes, I’ve had more than enough. Even the better songs struggle to stand out amid all that excess. There’s a much better, shorter album hiding in here somewhere. Aguilera certainly has the voice to carry it, but she doesn’t need to demonstrate everything she can do on every single track. Sometimes less really is more. Somebody should have taken the title a little more literally.

Although this album was FAR too long, I feel like I should be generous because what I liked far outweighed what I didn't. Christina's voice was on point throughout and really never resorted to the high-pitched trilling that turns me off of some of her stuff I'd heard before. I do think some of the middling tracks have a very recognizable early-2000s pop production. Every American Idol winner for the first several years produced tracks that sounded identical to these. Three songs were intolerable -- Can't Hold Us Down, where she and Lil Kim kept insufferably name-dropping themselves was one. The Latin-tinged Infatuation got to be really irritating as well. The worst was Dirrty, which had a terrible rap and generally kind of sucked -- the only track I ended up skipping before the end. I think if this album had ended at Soar I would have felt a lot kinder to it... but it just goes on and on. In the end, I think its strengths earn it a light 3, but I'm definitely never playing it again.

This is a great album of the early 2000's. I enjoyed her vocal work with Linda Perry on this album. So well done!

This does have some great songs on it, but it goes on for too long. However it is better than the other Christina album I had to endure.

Terrible overproduced souless pop music.

Absolute tosh. No stars. A bad BAD noise.

toooooooo long, but DIRTY slaps. Not sure why she buried it 16 tracks in.

Pues sin conocer ninguna de sus canciones me ha parecido más llevadero que otras cosas de este estilo que hay en la lista. No me guardo ningún tema, pero me quedo con un buen recuerdo.

Stunning RnB even though not my genre , loved it

I never actually listened to the album as a whole, even though I'm generally a big fan of pop music from that era. But I never really caught on with Christina and Stripped kind of exemplifies my problems with her music. From a visual and marketing standpoint, this is Christinas' classic album that showcases that she had grown-up to be a sexually liberated woman - see also Britney, Dangerous Woman, Revival, Can't Be Tamed/Bangerz, Confident and many more. And generally it's a trope I enjoy. But often these albums have got one problem: the central thesis of the album is present on the big single and maybe two or three more songs on the album - the rest goes in vastly different directions. Stripped takes that to the extreme, I think. There are three albums in here, blended all together: 1 - The sexually liberated album with a more rough sound and clear influences from RnB (Can't Hold Us Down, Dirrrty, Fighter, Get Mine Get Yours) 2 - The album that explores latin sounds (Infatuation, Make Over) 3 - The album filled with ballads about self-acceptance and overcoming challenges (way too many to list them) All three of these parts clearly are important to Christina, since she returned to them throughout her career. But on Stripped, there is no focus on any of these aspects. This lack of focus is my biggest problem with the album and on top of that it leads to the album feeling bloated - no pop album should ever crack the sixty minutes mark. If Christina really wanted to create an album about sexual liberation, Erotica would've been the clear blueprint - maybe not in sound, but in the way the whole album supports the idea of Madonna controlling and showcasing her sexuality. Just one year before Stripped, Britney released her eponymous album with a similar mission statement that did a better job, in my opinion. Maybe it was A&R that meddled too much with Christina's vision, or maybe they didn't guide her properly in refining said vision - but to me, Stripped showes that Christina has an immense talent and can sell whatever she wants to, but that her projects overall aren't executed that well. (And then there is the thing with constantly trying to show her vocal prowess with becomes really tiring quickly.)

Track By Track Stripped Intro - Oo it’s like I’ve stepped into a space station! So futuristic and space vibes! Can imagine smoke, etc. setting the scene for sure. Makes me think this could be a concept album. But also personal. Can’t Hold Us Down (feat. Lil’ Kim) - RnB vibes happening. Very early 2000s! Pretty decent musically. Harmonies are nice. Hands making that wave shape. An empowerment and ‘fuck you, patriarchy’ song it sounds like. Nice bars! By the end it’s like it’s turned into a different song almost. Walk Away - Smooth RnB. Vibey for sure. Great vocal runs. Just let it groove in the background. So sassy and fun. Fighter - Very smooth, effortless segue from the previous one. Good fun this one. Guitars are apt here. Sounds so of the time as well! You could probably play this at a house party in 2002 and it would go down well. That sort of vibe I’m getting. Primer Amor Interlude - Went so smooth I hadn’t even noticed the track had changed. These interludes are sleekly tying together the songs on the album. Infatuation - Liking this flamenco (?) vibe. Fun time. Loves Embrace Interlude - I do like a good, tuneful, atmospheric interlude. Lovely lush strings. Loving Me 4 Me - Slow, mellow. Reminds me a bit of Girls Aloud or the Sugababes. Again, harmonies are really strong and idiosyncratic. Self pleasure, sensual. Impossible - Alicia! Lovely piano. Lovely to have another songwriter feature on this. Great performances and writing. Can hear Alicia’s belting and soulful melodies coming through strongly and brilliantly sung by Christina. Cool collab! Underappreciated - Another nice slow groove with smooth as silk harmonies. Very specific to early ‘00s in the production. Decent. Beautiful - Ballad. Sounds a little Mariah Carey. Soon as the chorus came in I was all ‘oh!’. Yes great song, great song. Into it for sure. Brilliantly written and works very well on this album. Make Over - The mix of Spanish guitar and beats really works here. It’s not a huge stand out but good and enjoyed the feel/rhythm. Cruz - Ok I’m into this. Ballads and harmonies combining. Belting vocals. Great stuff. I’m a bit of a sucker for these kinds of songs. Soar - We’re on a roll with the piano songs. Going for it. Nice. Moving, grooving, very much into this as well. Get Mine, Get Yours - Still strong vibes. Liking, not quite as much as the others, but still good. Dirrty (feat. Redman) - Haha, this sounds in the sort of Pitbull, party realm. Quite brilliant for the club for sure. Not my favourite though. Stripped, Pt. 2 - Playing out the club anthem superbly. The Voice Within - Really strong. Great tune. Lovely vocal runs and chord changes. Brilliantly crafted pop song. Sounds quite classic as well. Can hear someone like Leona Lewis singing this very well. I’m Ok - I’m weirdly thinking of Pink Floyd here. It’s like ‘The Wall’ or something! Nice change with the acoustic guitar. Heartfelt one. Sweet and tender. Keep On Singin’ My Song - Good, sweet, soulful closer. Could be possibly part of a movie during this era. But not even. It’s a great stand-alone. Hopeful, sunshine song. Great spoken word finish lol. Overall Review: I imagine that this was a classic in its day but I’d never heard of it. Definitely been educated here! Pretty strong production and performances all round. Very sprawling and long. It’s essentially a double album. It is very well crafted though. Tied together nicely, flows well. Strong writing throughout. It grew on me as I went through it. I’m also realising, given the subject matter of some of the songs, how much inherent sexism there must’ve been (and likely still is) in the music industry. Also within me, I saw the parts of my mind that are a bit intimidated by and feel defensive about some of the songs here. That’s also the judgment of the patriarchy I’m seeing. I learned and grew a lot as I was listening to this album. Felt humbled. Aside from this though, initially my apprehension was also fuelled by me not loving this genre of 2000s pop that much. By the end of the album though, I was so on board and loving the world of the album. Never really heard Christina’s stuff aside from a couple of famous tracks. It’s not usually my thing in terms of melody or genre but I was impressed! Granted, gotta be in the mood and not my favourite kind of music but I was here for a lot of it! It’s really a mid-3 for me but the ballads are so strong that I’ll be generous and bump it up to a four. 3.6/5 Favourite Songs: Infatuation, Impossible, Beautiful, Cruz

Inte min favoritmusik, men sjunga kan hon ja.

Mängden variation i kombination med hennes magiska röst gör att detta nästan inte kan misslyckas. Saknar en viss övergripande edge imo, men högklassigt!

Långt men hyfsat omväxlande, och med flera jättebra låtar.

This was unadulterated torture to sit through. She completely mangles everything attempted here, and every song is wildly over-produced. Points for her unapologetic attitude, but in the end I have to rate the music, and it's just horrible.

It started of great like it was gonna be a white girl music album. But later some more chill and whiney songs came. Which I think is a shame but that just means this is not an album for me.

3.5

This album is not good, it has like 2 songs and it’s so 2000’s in the worst ways and so loooooong

Skipped. Not for me.

Loooooove it!

Few old tunes that I remembered. Sounded better than I was expecting tbf. Never really had CA down as 'my thing'.

This was surprisingly good. I didn't think I'd enjoy this as much as I did. This is an album that I can recognize how well it's been done and how talented she is but it's not my kind of music that I'll revisit often but it deserves 4 easy stars for sure.

Fantastic performances and strong songwriting. Hard not to love this album. 4 stars

Awesome

I am not a fan of the late 90s, early 2000s R&B infused pop sound. That made it so that this album had an uphill battle from the start. It did not succeed in overcoming these prior biases, but it was inoffensive, at least. I agreed with most of the messages presented on the album, but found them getting repetitive over its nearly hour-and-a-half runtime, and the sound itself changed very little as well. There were more hits here than expected, but I still fail to remember them despite their popularity, and the whole thing is just of its time. It isn't bad, but every passing day makes this age worse, not due to its message, but rather the aesthetic behind it. Just a bleh feeling, it's hard to put into words, but it is easy to recognize when you go through it all.

Girl power rock pop rnb rap

Catchy R&B pop

Pop/R&B? Great voice, but not my style of music

Christina is a huge player in 2000’s popculture. It’s not my style of music and I would probably give it a too but I’ll give it a 3 as the girl can sing.

Enjoyed this more than I thought I would. There are some good songs on here, but it's too long and it's not one of my favorite styles.

Yay!!!

This was fine, I guess. She has a great voice but I don’t know. I was never into her. Some songs here are great and some are forgettable. I’m trying to just rate it as its own thing and separate having lived through this era and not liking it then and find myself failing. I think it’s over produced and would be better if they let her really let it rip and strip out a lot of the production. The song with Alicia keys is a good example.

Legal a voz, mas não me inspira. Além de ser muito longo, não consigo me conectar com a temática ou com a sonoridade. 2/5

Ok pop I guess.

Her voice is great and quite a few hits and for a pop album I found it had its moments. However 70 minutes is very ambitious and I could definitely feel the drag of this album and I needed a break to finish it

That certainly is what pop music sounded like in 2002.

It's not offensive, but it's also not great. Would rather listen to anything else really.

1 - Stripped Intro - 🤷🏻‍♂️ 2 - Can’t Hold Us Down - 👍 3 - Walk Away - 👏 4 - Fighter - 👍 5 - Primer Amor Interlude - 🤷🏻‍♂️ 6 - Infatuation - 🤷🏻‍♂️ 7 - Loves Embrace Interlude - 🤷🏻‍♂️ 8 - Loving Me 4 Me - 👍 9 - Impossible - 👍 10 - Underappreciated - 🤷🏻‍♂️ * 11 - Beautiful - 👏 12 - Make Over - 🤷🏻‍♂️ 13 - Cruz - 👏 14 - Soar - 🤷🏻‍♂️ 15 - Get Mine, Get Yours - 16 - Dirty - 👍 17 - Stripped, Pt. 2 - 👏 18 - The Voice Within - 🤷🏻‍♂️ * 19 - I’m OK - 🤷🏻‍♂️ 20 - Keep On Singin’ My Song - 👏 3/5

She’s got an insane voice, and there are a few standouts on here that are genuinely good. But a 1 hour 18 min runtime for a pop record is insane! It’s simply not good enough to sustain my attention for that long.

About this album: *Instrumental version of Beautiful in the background* "You are boring no mather what they say Your songs on this album can bring me down You are boring in every single way Yes, your boringness can bring me down, oh yes So you did bored me today" So: 1/5

This album wasn't written for me then, and it doesn't resonate with me now, but Christina Aguilera is one heck of a vocalist. I admit I rolled my eyes when this appeared on my list, but I've given everything an honest chance. I got about 40 minutes in, and thought, "Ok, yeah, that wasn't all that bad. I'm glad I gave that a shot." ...then I discovered there was another 30 minutes left--this maybe could've been curated into a 35ish-minute 4 Star album.

Might have been a 3 if it was half the length, but as it stands this is an ok album that overstays its welcome.

Never spent a moment listening to this gal. My bad. This album is decent, bordering on good.

Pretty good

woof dude

Quite enjoyed. Between 3-4 stars.

8/10 Buen album. Tiene cositas que meh, pero en general tope, ritmos muy buenos que no aburren

High 2 low 3 for me. There are some good songs, but it's too long to keep their strength over an album.

Some great songs and powerful voice plus slick production. Too long and doesn't add up to a fully satisfactory listening experience.

Where Back to Basics feels like Christina Aguilera is overthinking everything, Stripped feels more direct, bold and intuitive. There isn't a single dud across the track list and it absolutely makes for interesting, radio friendly, contemporary pop music with a big personality behind the mic.

Solid 3 for Xtina due to length and filler interrupting hits

xtonabike I’ve seen shorter films

Hmm… alt-Britney I thought on seeing this. Sugar-coated pop, I thought. And it’s 80 mins? Sheesh… But then, it’s better. Lush production aplenty, and it’s all probably too long. But this “take me serious” album has been done before, and successfully, by Madonna, Janet Jackson (Rhythm Nation is a classic), and others. And this deserves to be in the same league. She has the voice, some of the sassiest, and the songs support that. I actually quite enjoyed.

Reinvention mission accomplished. I know Christine probably wanted to show off everything she could do but if this had been edited down to a tight 45 minutes this would have been an absolute belter.

Not my thing but fair play it's a strong album.

Back then I wrote her off as the villain in the Britney wars; a media-invented death match between two pop princesses. Spins: 1 Playlist Additions - Fighter - Beautiful - Dirrty

Not for me. I forrgot Dirrty was spelled with an rr. I wonderr how many college orr grrad school paperrs werre wrritten about that spelling.

Eh, just not my thing. She can sing but the whole thing just isn’t for me.

When this came up, I said out loud: “You have got to be kidding me.” I expected to hate this. But, I actually enjoyed it a lot. Christina’s got pipes! When I thought about if I would relisten to this, or even imagined putting on a vinyl of it, I knew that wasn’t something. So that’s a 3.

A very pop-oriented album. I sometimes find this genre a bit boring. That's the case here, too. A few tracks on this rather long album are great, but overall, the music is uninteresting and irrelevant. 3/5

Porté par le vacarme assourdissant d'un plan marketing parfaitement réglé et par le souffle d’une époque qui réclamé des révolutions préfabriquées, Stripped de Christina Aguilera fait indiscutablement partie de la catégorie des monstres de foire de l'industrie du disque. Un quart de siècle après, on nous vend encore ce machin comme la rupture absolue, le geste d'émancipation sauvage d’une petite fiancée de l'Amérique qui balance son tailleur d'écolière Mickey Mouse aux orties pour enfiler des jambières en cuir trouées et frotter son nombril sur le bitume crasseux de MTV. Ok, alors avant de dézinguer la bête, faisons un rapide retour en arrière. Il y a quelques mois, j'avais abordé la discographie de la dame avec un scepticisme poli, avant d'être agréablement surpris par l'audace de Back to Basics. Enfin, agréablement c’est un bien grand mot, disons que l’effort m’avait semblé honnête, méritant un 3 sur 5 d’encouragement pour son ambition rétro, son côté cuivré et cette tentative d’échapper au carcan du tout-venant radiophonique. Le disque avait de très bonnes idées, une véritable envie de sortir de la naphtaline et une débauche d'énergie évidente, mais il souffrait déjà de ce syndrome boursouflé typique des divas américaines : un sentiment de trop, trop, trop. Trop d'arrangements, trop de démonstrations inutiles, trop de longueurs qui finissaient inévitablement par me donner une furieuse envie de regarder ma montre et d’abréger les souffrances de mon lecteur laser. En abordant Stripped, l'album de la métamorphose originelle censé être le joyau brut de sa carrière, j'espérais naïvement retrouver cette même urgence viscérale, ce frisson abrasif de l'artiste qui envoie valser les codes pour s'affirmer sans fard. Et pourtant, à l'entame de ce volumineux pavé de plus de soixante-dix minutes, j'ai voulu y croire car les premiers morceaux m'ont effectivement donné l'espoir d'une rupture authentique. On sent comme une volonté rageuse d'en découdre, une jeune femme de vingt-deux ans qui tape du poing sur la console et refuse de jouer les poupées de cire interchangeables. Quand elle balance les décibels sur des productions nerveuses, entre guitares saturées opportunistes et rythmiques hip-hop taillées pour faire trembler les caissons de basse, il y a une étincelle de vie, une vibration animale qui semble prête à faire exploser le formatage ambiant. Les intentions sont affichées au marqueur indélébile : on n'est plus chez Disney, alors rangez vos peluches car voici le bitume, le stupre, les traumatismes d'enfance et la sueur des clubs underground reconstitués en carton-pâte dans les studios de Los Angeles. Sauf que l’illusion n’a pas fait long feu, et au bout d’une petite demi-heure de ce régime, la lassitude a totalement et irrémédiablement emporté mes derniers espoirs et ce qui devait être une claque se transforme en une véritable corvée d'écoute. On réalise très vite qu'on a affaire à la même vieille rengaine de maison de disques, simplement repeinte aux couleurs d'une rébellion d'opérette et les codes appliqués sont éculés jusqu'à la corde. Le prétendu éclectisme du projet — qui brasse tour à tour le R&B mou du genou, le néo-soul de salon, le rock FM propret et la ballade lacrymogène pour fin de banquet — ressemble moins à une vision artistique audacieuse qu'à un gigantesque buffet froid où chaque producteur à la mode est venu poser sa sauce pour maximiser le passage en radio. Le plus insupportable demeure sans doute cette manie exaspérante de transformer la moindre ligne mélodique en parcours du combattant pour cordes vocales. Aguilera a du coffre, c'est un fait indéniable que seule une personne de mauvaise foi viendrait contester. Mais bordel, pourquoi passer chaque syllabe à la centrifugeuse ? Pourquoi hurler sur chaque mesure quand une simple inflexion suffirait à toucher juste ? À force de confondre puissance expressive et concours de gymnastique pulmonaire, l'émotion promise s'évapore complètement, laissant place à une démonstration technique froide, tapageuse et profondément épuisante pour les tympans. On ne ressent aucune vulnérabilité réelle, seulement la volonté acharnée d'en mettre plein la vue et de prouver qu'on sait crier plus fort que la voisine de pallier Britney Spears. Cette surenchère permanente finit par noyer les quelques mélodies solides sous des tonnes d'acrobaties vocales gratuites et d'échos baveux. On se retrouve donc face à un disque lourd, indigeste, plombé par ses propres contradictions et par une prétention stylistique qui ne repose que sur du vent et sur des clichés de production déjà datés six mois après sa sortie. Alors oui, le disque a cartonné, les clips sulfureux ont fait couler des litres d'encre dans la presse people et la jeunesse y a trouvé un parfait nouvel exutoire préfabriqué. Mais pour ceux qui cherche un grand disque cohérent, sincère et débarrassé de son attirail marketing, le réveil est particulièrement brutal. Au final, cette tentative d'émancipation s'enlise dans le convenu le plus total et ne récolte qu’un très mitigé et largement suffisant 2 sur 5.

Good tunes some hit some miss.

Oh man. It's 2002, I'm drunk on a sofa at a house party. We are too young for this shit. The music channels are on and Dirty comes on for the 100th time that evening. Minutes later I'm throwing up Smirnoff ice and crashing on a floor. Terrible memories 😂 ------------------------------------------------------------ Manufactured pop princess with feminist message for everyone but her? To me -this was landfill pop in 2002. In 2026 I can see a little more to like, but I am surprised to see Xtina here. + Fighter is a great song that I'd actually forgot all about. Generally there are some well made pop songs with a wide range of influences - RnB, Latin, Rock being key tonal aspects. - The vocals gymnastics put me on edge. This is not going to leave much impression on me. I don't think it's essential. It's far too long. I'm rating this higher than the miseducation of Lauryn Hill. I think that is illegal. Now I need some Bolt Thrower to save my ears. A generous 2*.

Great intro song. Beautiful is a hit obviously. It's a very strong record

In 2002, I was a 9 year old girl receiving constant messaging that female artists were not to be taken seriously and were objects to be sexualized or mocked or both. All that to say, I never listened to this album. What a shame because this album rocked.

It’s got soul, it’s got blues, and most importantly my 13 year old self had no idea how lucky we were to have Beautiful and Dirty on the one album. The messiest, prettiest contradiction there ever was.

As an 11year old, I was very annoyed that some of these songs played non stop from my sister's room. Now, I thought it was really good!

This is the most early-2000's pop ever. There are definitely some good songs here. The ballads are all pretty nice. Fighter is a great song. This met my expectations.

This was one of my favorite albums as a kid! Sure, maybe a 5-8 year old me shouldn't have treated this album as gospel, but I remember feeling so cool when I listened to it. While this 5 stars definitely is tainted by nostalgia, I know how influential this album was for my generation of girls growing up. Also maybe my sexual awakening? Still need to unpack that.

The sassy, sl*tty, badassery that is ‘Fighter’ and ‘Dirty’ had me adding those tracks to my “party Mix” burnt CD at the time it came out. Considering I was mainly listening to Pantera and Marilyn Manson at the time, being a 14 year old school girl meant it was inevitable to be privy to the pop and RnB everyone else was listening too. This album had Christina breaking out and aiming to show the world she wasn’t the cleancut girl next door that Brittany portrayed and this album was a step toward a darker side from her previous album and tbh I liked her for that. There is no denying her voice is amazing even though we are tired of hearing it. Would I buy this record if I saw it in the $5 bargain bin - definitely not (I'm just not a pop girly enough to care to collect it) but I probably still have the hits on my old burnt CD’s

Pop commerciale

Un peu déçu je m'attendais à mieux mais c'était assez standard

Ik vond hem heel leuk, met wat mega bangers dr op maar ik denk dat dat voornamelijk kwam omdat ik gewoon blij was om even een vrouw te horen voor de verandering. 3 (mega) bangers

Standouts Fighter Dirrty

DNL- Default 2

This was a nice surprise and enjoyed it. It was a breath of fresh air after hearing some really mediocre rock and new wave albums for the umpteenth time.

I mean, obviously I am not the target audience for this. One song annoyed me as it seemed to be a blatant rip off of Overload by Sugababes (bonafide pop classic)

File this in the ‘not for me’ category. But I would rather listen to this than Genesis / Rush / Grateful Dead etc…