Beautiful (Christina Aguilera song)

"Beautiful"
Single by Christina Aguilera
from the album Stripped
B-side"Dame lo que Yo Te Doy"
ReleasedNovember 16, 2002 (2002-11-16)
StudioConway, Hollywood, California
Genre
Length4:00
LabelRCA
Songwriter(s)Linda Perry
Producer(s)Linda Perry
Christina Aguilera singles chronology
"Dirrty"
(2002)
"Beautiful"
(2002)
"Fighter"
(2003)
Music video
"Beautiful" on YouTube

"Beautiful" is a song recorded by American singer Christina Aguilera for her fourth studio album, Stripped (2002). It was released as the album's second single on November 16, 2002. A pop and R&B ballad, "Beautiful" was written and produced by Linda Perry and discusses inner-beauty, as well as self-esteem and insecurity. Aguilera commented that she put "her heart and soul" into the track, which she felt represented the theme of Stripped.[4]

"Beautiful" received universal acclaim from music critics, who have ranked it among Aguilera's strongest material. It won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and was also nominated for Song of the Year at the 2004 ceremony. "Beautiful" was also a commercial success, topping the charts in eleven countries, including Australia, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, where it was certified double platinum for over 2 million units sold.

"Beautiful" has been widely embraced as an anthem by the LGBT community for its message of self-empowerment and inner-beauty. An accompanying music video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund, and earned Aguilera a GLAAD Media Award for its positive portrayal of gay and transgender people. In 2011, UK LGBT rights organization Stonewall named "Beautiful" the most empowering song of the previous decade for gay, lesbian, and bisexual people. In 2009, Rolling Stone and VH1 listed it as one of the best songs of the 2000s. The song was later re-recorded in an electronic style, titled "You Are What You Are (Beautiful)", for her first greatest hits album Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits (2008).[5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference rs2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference popscoop was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Rolling Stone Staff (June 17, 2011). "100 Best Songs of the 2000s". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 26, 2021. Retrieved November 4, 2022. The apex of opera-pop. Or is it Oprah-pop: a magnificently schmaltzy anthem of female survival...
  4. ^ Neuman, Melinda; Mitchell, Cail; Morris, Chris (February 21, 2004). "Billboard Goes To The Grammys: Heard Backstage". Billboard. Vol. 116, no. 8. Prometheus Global Media. p. 69. Archived from the original on January 15, 2023. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
  5. ^ "Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits by Christina Aguilera". iTunes Store (US). Apple. October 6, 2009. Archived from the original on July 21, 2013. Retrieved April 26, 2013.