Background
When you are bold and open, artistically speaking, in music and in video, a whole bunch of people automatically feel threatened by you, especially in Middle America…OK, I may have been the naked-ass girl in the video, but if you look at it carefully, I'm also at the forefront. I'm not just some lame chick in a rap video; I'm in the power position, in complete command of everything and everybody around me. To be totally balls-out like that is, for me, the measure of a true artist.
Aguilera talks about her change in style and artistry.It was confirmed that Aguilera would be working with writing and production stars; Alicia Keys, Scott Storch, Glen Ballard and Linda Perry. Singer Alicia Keys worked on the track ‘’Impossible’’ with Aguilera, the two spent three days recording in New York City in the ‘’Electric Lady’’ studios. Linda Perry worked alongside Aguilera on the album and she wrote the ballad ‘’Beautiful’’ for which she said “I never in a million years expected her to gravitate towards that, And when she did, it was hard for me to let go of that song, because it's really special for me. So the deal was, 'I need to hear how you sing it.' And when I heard her, I said, 'okay.'" ‘’Stripped’’ is composed of 20 tracks which were produced by other producers such as Dr. Dre and Scott Storch and throughout has a mix of themes and genres.
Aguilera discussed the concept behind the album several times saying “The whole vision for the record was to be really raw and real” she added “Just really baring who I really am”. During the production of the album Aguilera was travelling through different parts of the world. Aguilera stated that the songwriter Linda Perry had an influence on her work saying “I really, really loved the Linda Perry songs”. Aguilera told MTV that Perry helped her unload a lot of frustration and she also learned to relieve stress by screaming and to accept mistakes. She added; "She taught me that imperfections are good and should be kept because it comes from the heart. It makes things more believable and it's brave to share them with the world." Aguilera said on the name of the album: "Coming off of the height of being a part of such a big pop-craze phenomenon, that imagery of that cookie-cutter sweetheart, without it being me, I just had to take it all down and get it away from me. And that is why I actually named the album Stripped, because it is about being emotionally stripped down and pretty bare to open my soul and heart."
Read more about this topic: Stripped (Christina Aguilera album)
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