Christina Aguilera’s Stripped retrospectively reviewed: The most drastic, effective reinvention in pop

At the turn of the millennium, teen pop was dominating the charts like never before. The sugary-sweet sounds of hits like Britney Spears’s ‘Oops!… I Did It Again’ and *NSYNC’s ‘Bye Bye Bye’ were in. It was bubblegum pop with added E numbers. Christina Aguilera’s 1999 self-titled debut was an example of this, launching the Disney alumnus onto the world stage with ‘Genie in a Bottle’ and ‘What a Girl Wants’. She established herself among the likes of Jessica Simpson and Mandy Moore as a new teen idol, all of whom were being moulded to Britney’s girl-next-door image. It was these comparisons that made Aguilera want to break away from her contemporaries and showcase her true identity on Stripped. 

It was Aguilera’s fourth overall studio album, but second English-speaking, non-Christmas effort. Lead single ‘Dirrty’ featuring Redman was the general public’s first proper re-introduction to ‘the new Xtina’. Gone was her cookie-cutter, virginal image in favour of an edgier, more original look and sound. It was a shock and largely criticised; misogyny in the media was at fever pitch during the early 2000s. However, the single and accompanying music video was, and still is, a thrilling piece of pop. It’s arguably the most drastic and effective reinvention in pop, long before Miley Cyrus ditched her good girl image for Bangerz. Lyrically, the track is a sexually charged romp with hard hip-hop sensibilities. It flopped in the US, reaching number 48, but hit number one in the UK and the top 10 in several other countries. To this day, it’s guaranteed to get any party started.

Follow-up single ‘Beautiful’ couldn’t have been more different, however. The tender piano ballad is a defiant statement for self-empowerment: “You are beautiful no matter what they say”. Written by 4 Non Blondes’s Linda Perry, the track was immediately adopted as a queer anthem. The accompanying music video also reflects this, featuring a same-sex couple and a transgender woman overcoming adversity and self-doubt to live authentically. While accepting the Special Recognition Award at the 14th GLAAD Media Awards, Aguilera said of ‘Beautiful’: “This song is definitely a universal message that everybody can relate to — anyone that’s been discriminated against or unaccepted, unappreciated or disrespected just because of who you are. It was so important to me that I support the gay community in this sense.” It has become one of the singer’s signature tracks.

‘Fighter’ continues the theme of self-reliance, this time in a toxic relationship. Aguilera adopts a different sound yet again, this time taking inspiration from Guns N’ Roses and stadium rock. It’s a biting ‘fuck you’ to a cheating lover and an ode to the strength that comes from walking away. 

The album’s lead single had been something of a red herring. While the album did speak of sexual liberation, the title Stripped speaks more to the baring of Aguilera’s soul — as the latter singles demonstrated. This misconception perhaps muddied the understanding of what the singer was trying to achieve at this particular point in her career. On tracks like ‘The Voice Within’ and ‘I’m OK’, Aguilera is at her most introspective and vulnerable. It’s these expressions of feeling like an outsider or facing trauma that helped Aguilera connect with her LGBTQ+ fanbase on a meaningful level. Despite being a pop pin-up, she felt just as insecure as the rest of us.

Stripped stands up as Aguilera’s most cohesive body of work and one of her most commercially successful. The album hit number two in the UK and US and top 10 in most of the world. In 2022, it was certified 5x Platinum. She would continue to have success in music, with hits such as ‘Ain’t No Other Man’ and the cult classic ‘Not Myself Tonight’. Aguilera would also appear alongside fellow gay icon Cher in the 2010 movie Burlesque.         

Aguilera has continued to show unwavering support for the LGBTQ+ community throughout her career. Following the tragic Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, the singer released the one-off single ‘Change’, dedicated to the victims. Proceeds from it were also donated to the victims’ families. Speaking to the US’s She Magazine in 2012, Aguilera said of her queer fanbase: “I cannot express in words how much the LGBT community means to me. On my darkest day, their support lifts me up. I feel honoured that some of my songs become anthems to them as well.”