Dirrty

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"Dirrty"
"Dirrty" cover
Single by Christina Aguilera featuring Redman
from the album Stripped
Released September 2002
Format CD Single
12" Maxi Single
Genre Pop/Hip-hop
Length 4:58
Label RCA Records
Writer(s) Christina Aguilera
Rockwilder
Redman
B.Muhammed
J.Cameron
Producer(s) Xtina
Rockwilder
B.Muhammed
J.Cameron
Certification Platinum (ARIA)
Chart positions
Christina Aguilera featuring Redman singles chronology
Lady Marmalade
(2001)
Dirrty
(2002)
Beautiful
(2002)

"Dirrty" is the first single from Christina Aguilera's sophomore album, Stripped. Released in 2002, the single (which features rapper Reggie "Redman" Noble) peaked at number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Aguilera's eighth 'Hot 100' chart entry. Due to the song's low peak, it is generally believed to be her first flop in the US. The single was much more successful in the UK, where it peaked at number 1. It is generally considered Aguilera's breakthrough single; for the first time in her career, she was allowed full creative control on a single, evident by her having both writing and production credits for the first time. She was also allowed creative control for the music video of the song which forever changed the public image of Aguilera from her "girl next door" image to the "dirrty" image she retained until her most recently released album, Back to Basics. Not surprisingly, due to the above aforementioned reasons, the song is often considered to be one of her signature songs. The song is also featured on video games Madden NFL 2004, Fight Night: Round 3 and Arena Football.

Contents

[edit] Song information

"Dirrty" was written by Aguilera, Dana "Rockwilder" Stinson, Redman, B. Muhammed and J. Cameron and was produced by Aguilera, Rockwilder, Muhammed and Cameron. The song, thought to be one of Aguilera's signature songs, is often believed to have had the most impact in pop culture out of all her singles and videos due to its racy music video (which has often been mimicked by other female artists without apparent success).

Due to the song's seemingly "dirrty" nature, it is often thought to be about sex; instead the song is meant to be a female empowerment anthem dedicated to being strong and rowdy to the point of causing Aguilera to exclaim, "Wanna get rowdy? Gonna get a little unruly! Get it fired up in a hurry, Wanna get dirrty! It's about time that I came to start the party". As she wanted to make the song "dirrtier" than it would have been, she explained in interviews that as result, she added an extra "r" to the title to make it "Dirrty" instead of the correct "Dirty".

However, the song almost did not come to be. In the summer of 2002, while adding the final touches to her album Stripped, both Aguilera and her record label felt that the album was not complete because it lacked a catchy first single. Aguilera was looking for something explosive and jaw-dropping that would put her back on the scene since her hiatus.

She teamed up with producer Rockwilder, and together they created a song which was supposed to be a reply to an earlier hit by rapper Redman called "Let's Get Dirty (I Can't Get In Da Club)", which features DJ Kool (besides being a reply song, "Dirrty" also sampled "Let's Get Dirty (I Can't Get In Da Club)"). Aguilera and Rockwilder agreed that it would have been appropriate to include Redman on the single, and the rest became history. The much-anticipated single leaked onto the internet on August 27, 2002. Radio stations around the country quickly began playing the edgy single when Aguilera decided to promote her new raunchier image at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards by wearing a revealing outfit. Dirrty was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the Grammy awards in 2003. It was also nominated at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Female Video, Best Dance Video, Best Pop Video, and Best Choreography(Jeri Slaughter).

[edit] Remixes

Official Remixes

  • "Dirrty" (MaUVe Main Mix) (8:11) - also known as Dirrty (MaUVe Vocal Mix)
  • "Dirrty" (MaUVe Dub)
  • "Dirrty" (MaUVe Radio Mix)
  • "Dirrty" (Tracy Young Club Mix)
  • "Dirrty" (Sleaze Sisters Anthem Mix)
  • "Dirrty" (Sleaze Sisters Radio Edit)

Unofficial Remixes by famous remixers

  • "Dirrty" (Coco Snatch Club Mix)
  • "Dirrty" (Jensen's Rowdy Anthem Mix)
  • "Dirrty Magic" (Go Home Productions) - mash up between Christina Aguilera's Dirrty and Grover Washington's Mr. Magic
  • "Dirrty/I'm A Slave 4 U" (Dance Remix) (featuring Britney Spears)
  • "Upside Down And Dirrty" mash up between Christina Aguilera's Dirrty and Diana Ross's Upside Down

[edit] Music video

Aguilera in the music video for "Dirrty" (2002).
Enlarge
Aguilera in the music video for "Dirrty" (2002).

On September 30, 2002, "Dirrty" premiered on MTV's Making the Video, where Aguilera could be seen wearing chaps while attending an underground night club. Scenes in the video included Aguilera coming in on a motorcycle, boxing, and in a shower with dancers. The video quickly caused some controversy from the general public as people were not used to Aguilera's new raunchy image. Frequent Rolling Stone photographer David LaChapelle directed the video, to this day still her most controversial.

The video gave Aguilera the attention she wanted, as there was not one entertainment television show that did not talk about the video when it was released. Only two weeks after its premiere, the video had already been spoofed by Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Sarah Michelle Gellar on Saturday Night Live, who said (playing Aguilera): "Once people see this video, they’ll stop seeing me as this bubble-gum ho and start seeing me as an actual ho." Aguilera later commented that it was disappointing and that "[she] could have made better fun of herself than Sarah did". Later that month, the video also caused more controversy when it was banned from Thailand for containing Thai-language posters that read "Thailand's Sex Tourism" and "Young Underage Girls". Aguilera also simulates masturbation while singing the lyric "I need that, uh, to get me off".

Aguilera dismissed all the negative publicity she was receiving by explaining her reasoning for the video; she claimed that the video was different from the average hip-hop video, because in her video, she (the female) is the one who is in control of her settings and the one calling the shots and making all the decisions.

[edit] Alternative Covers

Commercial Mexico USA

[edit] Chart success

The controversial music video did not help the song's airplay on radio stations, as it performed poorly on the U.S. charts. The single stalled and peaked prematurely on the Billboard Hot 100 at a low number 48 but was on the chart for 20 weeks, and on the Hot 100 Airplay chart at #49. However, the song did have a very long and successful run on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart, where it peaked at number 2 but at the time of "Dirrty"'s release, airplay affected the positions of songs on the Hot 100 much more than commercial single sales. However, it is the second most-downloaded of Aguilera's songs (after "Ain't No Other Man") in legal music download stores such as iTunes.

In a nearly opposite effect, the track was highly successful internationally. In the UK, the song debuted at number one, and reigning at the top for two weeks. The song was very successful elsewhere, achieving a top ten positioning in most of the countries in which it charted.

[edit] Charts

Charts (2002) Peak
Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 48
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Tracks 22
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream 14
U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 20
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40 11
Australian ARIA Top 50 Singles 4
Austrian Top 75 Singles 5
Brazilian Top 100 Singles 25
Canadian Top 100 Singles 5
Dutch Top 40 2
French Top 100 Singles 98
German Top 100 Singles 4
Irish Top 50 Singles 1 (1 week)
Italian Top 50 Singles 8
Latvian Airplay Top 7
Mexican Top 100 Airplay 5
New Zealand RIANZ Top 50 Singles 20
Quaday Hot 100 Singles Philippines 1
Spanish Top 20 Singles 3
Sweden Top 60 Singles 6
Swiss Top 100 Singles 3
'Tokyo Hot 100' 16
U.K. Official Top 75 Singles 1 (2 weeks)
United World Chart 2

[edit] References

    Preceded by
    "Unbreakable" by Westlife
    UK number one single
    November 17, 2002
    Succeeded by
    "If You're Not The One" by Daniel Bedingfield
    In other languages