Beautiful (Christina Aguilera song)

"Beautiful"
Song

"Beautiful" is a song written and produced by Linda Perry, and recorded for American pop singer Christina Aguilera's second studio album Stripped (2002). It is a cello-driven, classically-flavored ballad in which its protagonist deals with hurtful statements made against her that cause her to feel insecure and have low self-esteem. She does not let others' negativity get the best of her, and proclaims, "I am beautiful no matter what they say, words can't bring me down". It was released as the album's second single in late 2002 (see 2002 in music) and reached number one in several countries.

Background

Linda Perry had originally wanted to save the song for herself, but with her career as an artist floundering and her career as a producer developing, she gave the song to Aguilera. "Beautiful", along with Perry's contributions to P!nk's 2001 album M!ssundaztood, helped to further her career as a producer and songwriter.

The song was only recorded on one take, the original demo of the song. Aguilera reportedly expressed concerns that she had hit some notes too flat and some too sharp, but Perry insisted that she leave them in. To her it represented the theme of "Beautiful", about how we are not perfect but each day we face life one step at a time, and Aguilera's imperfect vocal performance matched the theme of vulnerability within the song.

Reception

The first single from Stripped, "Dirrty", had failed to reach the top forty in the U.S., so Aguilera's record label quickly released "Beautiful" as a follow-up single to prevent the descent of Stripped on the album charts. The song peaked at number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 largely because of its strong radio airplay; it was released as a 12" maxi single and at the time sales of this format were much lower than those of regular CD and CD maxi singles. "Beautiful" stayed in the U.S. top forty for twenty-four weeks, and was a number-one hit on many other Billboard magazine charts. It was equally successful elsewhere, and topped the charts in the UK (where it was her fourth number-one single), Australia (where it was her first) and Canada (where it was her third). The single's Jonas Åkerlund-directed music video garnered much attention, as it touched on the subjects of anorexia nervosa, homosexuality and cross-dressing.

"Beautiful" won a 2004 Grammy Award for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance", and Linda Perry received a 2004 Musicnotes award for the song in the category of "Song of the Year". The song was ranked number two in the "Readers' Top Ten Singles" list at the 2004 Rolling Stone Music Awards, and its video was also placed at number two in the "Best Video, Readers' Pick" category. "Beautiful" also won "Video of the Year" and "Song of the Year" at the 2004 Groovevolt Music & Fashion Awards, and the video was the recipient of the "Popular Female Video" award at the 2003 Channel [V] Thailand Music Video Awards. A remix of "Beautiful" by Peter Rauhofer won a 2003 HX Award for "Dance Song of the Year".

Elvis Costello covered the song for an episode of the television program House. It was also covered by Gloria Gaynor in the British television program, Hit Me Baby One More Time, where she performed a disco version of the song. In addition, guitarists Richard Fortus and Robin Finck of Guns N' Roses covered "Beautiful" instrumentally for the early shows of Guns N' Roses' 2006 tour. Later it was covered by Kenny G and Chaka Khan as well. American Idol judge Simon Cowell said it was one of the best pop recordings ever.

Remixes

Official remixes

• "Beautiful" (Peter Rauhofer remix) — 10:29
• "Beautiful" (Peter Rauhofer mixshow) — 6:58
• "Beautiful" (Peter Rauhofer radio edit) — 3:56
• "Beautiful" (Brother Brown Divine mix) — 9:17
• "Beautiful" (Brother Brown mixshow) — 4:55
• "Beautiful" (Al B. Rich Next Level mix) — 8:33
• "Beautiful" (Al B. Rich radio edit) — 4:14
• "Beautiful" (Valentin club mix) — 5:51
• "Beautiful" (Valentin radio mix) — 3:57
• "Beautiful" (Shanghai Surprise mix)
• "Beautiful" (Tom Mandolini mix)
• "Beautiful" (FUG remix) — 5:43

Unofficial remixes by famous remixers

• Beautiful (Wayne G.'s Heaven Anthem) — 6:27
• Beautiful (Woz vocal remix)
• Beautiful (Woz Sun-Drenched dub)
• Beautiful (Woz Bonus Beat)
• Beautiful (Junior Vasquez remix)

Charts

Charts (2002)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	2
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	1 (5 weeks)
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	1 (5 weeks)
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Tracks	1 (3 weeks)
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play	1 (1 week)
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay	2
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40	9
U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40	13
United World Chart	1 (6 weeks)
Irish Singles Chart	1 (4 weeks)
UK Singles Chart	1 (2 weeks)
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	1 (1 week)
Canadian Singles Chart	1 (1 week)
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	1 (1 week)
Dutch Singles Chart	2
Swedish Singles Chart	3
German Singles Chart	4
Austrian Singles Chart	5
Swiss Singles Chart	7
Brazilian Singles Chart	17
French Singles Chart	27