An impressive album from Christina Aguilera (Stripped - Christina Aguilera)

Member Name: dippykitty

Product:	Stripped - Christina Aguilera
Date:	30/05/09 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice mix of different styles

Disadvantages: Some weaker tracks

There are 20 tracks on this album, but this is actually a bit misleading as some of them are short instrumental-heavy "interludes" that are presumably included to break up the album but I find totally pointless to be honest. I'll gloss over those in this review as I don't count them as proper tracks as such.

***Can't Hold Us Down (Feat. Lil Kim)***
There is a lot of attitude in the lyrics of this track as it openly questions why double standards still exist and is a very feminist track. I would class it as a mid-tempo in general but there are moments when the vocal delivery is so rushed that I can't fully understand the lyrics. I'm not keen on this track and Lil Kim's rap does nothing to enhance it.

***Walk Away***
The track opens with piano style backing and has a spoken section that sets the tone for the remainder of the track. It is a slow, ballad-type track on which Christina demonstrates her vocal range with some nice high touches, but there is a lot of oversinging going on and this starts to spoil the vulnerability that the lyrics and vocals have created up until this point.

***Fighter***
This is the first of the collaberations with Linda Perry (who was in 4 Non Blondes and has worked with Pink). The track opens with violins and has a spoken section from Christina. I don't normally like this type of introduction in a song but in this case it sets the scene for the rest of the track. It is an up-tempo track with bags of attitude, although it sometimes sounds shouty and Christina has the tendency to oversing at times.

***Infatuation***
This track has a Latin feel, especially with the introductory acoustic guitar style backing and the Spanish lyrics that are slipped into the chorus.

***Loving Me 4 Me***
This is a really soft track, but one that I find quite dull and boring. It is definitely the weakest track so far on the tracklisting and one of the weakest tracks on the album in general.

***Impossible***
This track features Alicia Keys, which is a nice addition but I'm not really very keen on this track.

***Underappreciated***
This is a mid-tempo track that puts me in mind of Anastacia a bit at times. The backing track is very generic sounding, which lets an otherwise good track down somewhat.

***Beautiful***
This is one of the most well-known tracks on the album and one of the most successful. It is a slowish track on which Christina's vocal shine without the vocal gymnastics that she usually delves into on this type of track.

***Make Over***
This was one of Linda Perry's contributions to the album. She has worked with the likes of Pink in the past and that type of pop-rock sound can be heard here.

***Cruz***
This is another of Linda Perry's offerings but it is a world away from the previous track. In terms of style, it falls closest to Beautiful but it isn't quite as good. Christina demonstrates her strong vocals without too much oversinging.

***Soar***
This seems to be a gospel-orientated track. It is well sung and I can really criticise the vocals, but this type of track isn't my cup of tea so I'm not that keen on it.

***Get Mine, Get Yours***
This takes the album back into more up-tempo territory but there are better up-tempo tracks on offer. This one seems quite weak to me and definitely wasn't single material.

***Dirrty***
This is another of the famous tracks from the album. It is quite up-tempo and features some slightly suggestive lyrics. The rap works well here, whereas the collaberation with Lil Kim earlier in the album fell flat on its face for me.

***The Voice Within***
This is the type of big ballad that we have come to associate with Christina.

***I'm Ok***
This track seems to really come from the heart and is probably the song that reveals the most about Christina as a person. It is the last of the collaberations with Linda Perry, but it is by far the most moving of them.

***Keep On Singing My Song***
This is another gospel-style track and not a particularly strong track in general, so it doesn't feel like the right fit for an album closing track.

***Overall Thoughts***
Whereas her first album was very much aimed at the teen market, this is a much more mature offering that helped her to break away from the Disney tag. There are a range of different styles on the album including pop, pop-rock and even gospel. Granted, there are some weaker tracks but there aren't any truly terrible offerings.

Summary: A very good offering