On, “Stripped”, Christina Aguilera proves that she is no longer a teeny-bopper or the cute, happy figure you watched on the Mickey Mouse Club. (Very much like Britney Spears has transformed from an innocent teenager to the new slut of the millennium.) In fact, Aguilera is no longer the sweet, seductive voice that sang “Genie in a Bottle” or “Come on Over.” On “Stripped”, Aguilera tackles many personal issues: abuse, falling in love, self-image and casual sex.
If Spears can be considered slutty, then Aguilera claims the title of downright skanky. She embraces casual sex without love on “Get Mine, Get Yours” and redefines the idea that women can have sex without emotional attachments. On “Can’t Hold Us Down,” she brings on Lil’ Kim to question why men can be hailed as “the man” if he has sex with multiple partners, but if a woman does the same, then “she’s a whore.”
Aguilera begins her album with the “Stripped Intro” where she really introduces who she is: “Sorry you can’t define me / sorry I break the mold / Sorry that I speak my mind / sorry don’t do what I’m told / Sorry if I don’t fake it / sorry I come too real / I will never hide what I really feel / No way, oh.” The very beginning of the “Stripped Intro” begins with various reporters talking over each other which ends with a man saying, “We’re going to let Christina tell her side of the story.” Aguilera’s not really sorry about anything. It’s not apologetic nor is it sympathetic. Aguilera’s sorry is more of a “too bad.”
Aguilera also sings about mature issues such as in “Walk Away,” where she falls in love with someone who’s wrong for her, but the love feels so right. “Infatuation” tells the story of how she’s fallen in love with a Puerto Rican male who wants her to come to Puerto Rico with him and even though she tries to convince her mother that she’s not really in love, she finds that “big brown eyes can hypnotize.”
“Stripped” is Aguilera’s most solid album and shows that she has matured into a grown woman. She brings Lil’ Kim and Alicia Keys to add a smooth R&B vibe to the album and her theme of empowerment-not only of herself-but for all women is evident on this album. If there’s a rising feminist of the millennium, Christina Aguilera is it.
-Kassel Pierre-Jean
