I agree with Nasser Al-Gatami’s review of Christina Aguilera’s latest album, Stripped. It is a great album, featuring a wide range of good music which blends together well. So what if Dirrty was sexually suggestive? If you don’t like it, you don’t have to watch it. Interestingly, Dirrty brought together two polar opposites in the political world: Feminists and the Christian Coalition. The Feminist criticism of it is that it’s degrading to women. That’s interesting, because thought that the actions of one woman reflect only on herself. And believe it or not, Aguilera might find this type of thing empowering. The Christian Coalition argument seems to be that it’s immoral and corrupts family values. Again, no-one’s forcing you to watch it.
Though I agree with Nasser Al-Gatami’s review of Stripped, I find his one-line slant on Britney Spears (in which implied her music has no soul) to be unnecessary. Is it necessary to put one good artist down in order to praise another? I’ll grant you that Spears’ most popular hits are fun ‘N gun, though many of her lesser known songs are very soulful (I particularly like Girl in the Mirror). But what’s wrong with fun songs? Two of the best funk songs in the 80s were Jungle Love and The Bird (by Morris Day and the Time) and they were all about fun. Also, I think that fun and soul are intrinsically linked: Think of Wilson Pickett, many of who’s songs (such as The Midnight Hour, Knock on Wood, Mustang Sally, and Land of 1000 Dances) were soulful and fun.
–David Heinrichdh003i@mail.rochester.edu424-3232PS: If you publish my letter, please don’t publish my phone number. I don’t want people calling me. However, feel free to publish my e-mail address.
