“Don’t look at me”, Christina Aguilera told a friend before she started recording the “Beautiful” demo. It was the last sentence. The one who changed everything. The one who convinced Linda Perry that no one else could interpret her song. He expressed his insecurity. this demo ‘imperfect’ recorded in one takewith the “Don’t look at me” included, it was unique. He conveyed a real feeling. This is the one that was published. no editing. Twenty years later, ‘Beautiful’ is still an anthem for anyone who finds it difficult to accept themselves.
I’m beautiful no matter what others say
you are beautiful in every way
Words can’t bring you down
“You can’t sing a song like that”
Linda Perry (ex 4 None Blondes) writes Beautiful. At first, because of the importance of his message, she wanted to keep it and record it herself. But he got a call from Christina Aguilera’s team – who worked on Stripped (2002) – asking for his help. The New Yorker had listened to his compositions for Pink’s album (Missundaztood 2001) and… “the truth is that I really liked them”.
Linda Perry and Christina Aguilera / Getty Images/Frazer Harrison
Christina then walked over to Perry’s office and break the ice’ the singer asked him to play some of his songs. The creator of ‘What’s Up?’ He showed her the beautiful demo and Aguilera was mesmerized. He wanted to record it for his new album. The composer’s first reaction was: “You can’t sing a song like that. You’re beautiful.” The letter that I had written it was a message of self-esteem, empowerment, the value of inner beauty and overcoming insecurities (“Once in a while, I don’t feel safe”).
“Don’t Look at Me”
Despite everything, Aguilera recorded a demo of Beautiful. Just before she started singing, she told a friend who was with her at the studio, “don’t look at me”. And that changed everything. “I realized that this beautiful, chart-topping girl that everyone knew was just as insecure as I was.” Linda remembered that. “And that’s what completely changed my idea of what ‘beautiful’ really meant.. In Rolling Stone, he added: “I knew from the start that I was going to keep that phrase “don’t look at me” on fileand i knew that she was the perfect person for the song. I realized, ‘Oh, she’s not sure. She’s one of those beautiful people who has everything, but she’s super insecure. Ok, this song is his.”
“As soon as he said that, I also knew what the song meant to herOn the Backstory Song podcast, Perry explained, “It was about someone who didn’t think she was beautiful. And also of someone who lacks confidence and who says to himself “you are beautiful, we are beautiful, no matter what others say”. And then this hottie sings the theme and you see all his vulnerability and insecurity…the meaning of the song became clear to me… He nailed it in one take.”
The imperfection that makes us unique
And this first take is the one that was released. Before taping it, Aguilera and Perry were chatting. Christina recalled the physical abuse he suffered at the hands of his father. It seems, she started crying and wanted to leave, but Perry thought it was the perfect time to save it. He said it in Q Magazine: “I know it sounds macabre, and she didn’t think she could do it, but I made her sing through the tears.” Aguilera wanted to re-record the voice to get technical perfectionbut Linda lHe fought to maintain the emotion and imperfection of the first take.; after all, the song is about accepting who we are. It took two months for Aguilera to finally agree.
Christina Aguilera at the 2001 MTV VMAs / Getty Images/Jeff Kravitz
Aguilera admitted to Grammy.com that “he felt a lot” the day he recorded the transcendental demo: “Linda did an amazing job release myself from this mental pressure that we all have when we seek the best of ourselves. And he opted for vulnerability, because what we do isn’t perfect…but that’s really what makes us unique.” The demo version, the one that kept the real feeling, is the one that came out, with the ‘don’t look at me’ at the beginning. “I would never have kept that vocal part,” says Christina. “But Linda pushed me to do it…and I accepted the honesty of it all because it was the feeling of the song that was really recorded“.
“No one cared about a message”
Jonas Akerlund he directed the video for Beautiful. In his four minutes, Aguilera is seen cowering in the corner of an empty house. Her loneliness is juxtaposed with clips of people feeling a similar sense of disconnect. Body dysmorphia, gender nonconformity, same-sex relationships, racial discrimination… She was the first of her generation. No one had a song or video that fight the demands of society as did Beautiful.
“The music video for ‘Beautiful’ was something really unique for the time and for the genre”, Akerlund revealed in Grammy.com In those years, videos were made to sell albums. Nobody gave a shit for a message. The fact that Christina and a few other artists were bringing attention to something different, beyond just one artist singing a song, was amazing. That’s why I love it and I’m proud to have been part of this clip”
The message, as well as the representation of the LGTBIQ+ collective earned the singer a Special Recognition Award at the 2003 GLAAD Media Awards. Beautiful has become an unofficial anthem for the lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and other community.. Upon accepting the award, Christina acknowledged that the impact of the song had been exactly what she had hoped: “This song is definitely a universal message with which everyone can feel identified, Anyone who is against discrimination or is not accepted or is looked down upon or despised simply for who they are.”