Search - Christina Aguilera :: Beautiful

Thank you Christina

enya1978 | NY, USA | 03/30/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For writing perhaps the ONLY song that ALL girls should listen to, and believe."

An aural self-esteem booster

rmcrae | Houston, Texas | 06/25/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I originally thought that Christina (or Xtina as she was known at the time) made a big mistake by releasing Dirrty as the first single from her second album Stripped. The song is fun, but the sexually charged, somewhat bizarre video alienated her pop fanbase and words like skank were hurled at Christina. Now I see she knew what she was doing by releasing Beautiful as the second single.



Here's a little background on how the song came to be for those who don't know. Former frontwoman for 4 Non Blondes (remember What's Up?) Linda Perry wrote the song to cheer herself up after struggling with low self-esteem and self-doubt. Years later she met Christina Aguilera at a club and advised her to use the depression she was going through to fuel her second record. Christina later called Linda and asked her to help pen some songs together. To break the ice, Linda played a bit of Beautiful and Christina fell in love with it. Linda turned her down when she asked to include it on Stripped. She'd planned on keeping the song to herself and someday releasing it on an album of her own. She gave in after hearing Christina's stunning acapella rendition, but put her foot down when it came to Aguilera's well known runs, belts, and Mariah-ish finger waves. She kept in all the vocal cracks and choppy notes to prove that while perfection doesn't exist, true beauty is in imperfect moments.



Beautiful was released in the winter of 2002 and became a smash hit garnering a Grammy win in early 2004. All the negativity and scorn in response to Dirrty was swept clean. Tell me who hasn't had a time (or more) in their lives where they feel down and threaten to wallow in self-pity? We all have, but we need to know that no matter what your gender, color, sexual orientation, or economical background, "We're the song that's outta tune/Full of beautiful mistakes." Christina herself admitted that being abused by her father as a little girl and later suffering being bullied in school made her feel bad about herself many times. However, she knew she could rise above it all and that she was truly "beautiful in every single way." What an excellent signature song."