Stripped (Christina Aguilera Album)

Stripped (Christina Aguilera album)

Stripped is the fourth studio album by American recording artist Christina Aguilera, released on October 26, 2002 by RCA Records. The first album under Aguilera's creative control, its music incorporates rhythm and blues, gospel, soul, pop rock, Latin and hip hop styles. Contributions to the album's production came from a range of producers including Scott Storch and Linda Perry. During its promotion, Aguilera's sexual videos and revealing outfits were heavily criticized in the US. Despite containing several expletives and sexual content, the album was not released with a Parental Advisory warning.

Stripped debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart with first-week sales of 330,000 copies. It eventually earned a 4x Platinum certification from the RIAA, with sales of 4.3 million copies. The album became an international commercial success, reaching number two in the United Kingdom and becoming its 73rd best-selling album of all time. Despite some criticism towards Aguilera's songwriting, Stripped received mixed reviews from most music critics and earned Aguilera several accolades, including multiple Grammy nominations and one Grammy Award. To date, Stripped has sold over 12 million copies worldwide. Aguilera embarked on the Justified & Stripped Tour alongside Justin Timberlake and Stripped Live... on Tour to promote the album.

Five official singles were released from the album. "Dirrty" was criticized for its explicit content and accompanying music video. "Beautiful" became one of Aguilera's most successful tracks peaking at number 2 in the US. Its second music video, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, garnered much attention by touching on anorexia nervosa, homosexuality, bullying, self-esteem and transgender issues.