Songoftheday 4/26/24 - So what am I not supposed to have an opinion? Should I keep quiet just because I'm a woman?

 

 

"Can't Hold Us Down" - Christina Aguilera featuring Lil' Kim

from the album Stripped (2002)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #12 (three weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 15

 

Today's song comes from Christina Aguilera, whose Stripped album stumbled at the start with the stiffed first single "Dirrty" but rebounded greatly with the Grammy-winning "Beautiful" and the feisty "Fighter". The fourth single from the record paired her up with the rapper she shared a #1 hit with on "Lady Marmalade", Lil' Kim.  Kim had also seen a resurgence when the second second from her La Bella Mafia album, "Magic Stick", hit #2 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in the summer of 2003. "Can't Hold Us Down", written by the pair with Matt Morris and produce Scott Storch, The lyrics are all about female empowerment with both Christina and Kim comparing how women are treated versus men when doing the same things in life. However that message is kind of jarred by the overloud production from Storch with a melody so blatantly lifted from the R. Kelly canon that it sullies it somewhat. Add a music video which again tarts the women up in the skimpiest of clothes while giving Christina what seems like an oil tanker accident for hair to cater to the "streets", but somehow it worked (mostly thanks to the fact that Christina simply cannot sing badly) and the pair found themselves with another hit...

"Can't Hold Us Down" came a couple of notches from reaching the top ten on Billboard's Hot 100 in September of 2003. On the radio, the song peaked at #3 on Billboard's Mainstream Top-40 chart, #14 on the dance/R&B-oriented Rhythmic format, and #31 on the Dance Airplay list. Internationally, the single reached the top ten in New Zealand (#2), Iceland (#2), Hungary (#4), Australia (#5), Ireland (#5), the United Kingdom (#6), Belgium (#7 Flanders/#15 Wallonia), Denmark (#8), and Germany (#9), and made the top-40 in Switzerland (#11), Sweden (#12), Austria (#13), Romania (#13), The Netherlands (#14), Norway (#14), Italy (#20), France (#27), and Poland (#27 Airplay). At the Grammy Awards in 2004, "Can't Hold Us Down" was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, which Sting and Mary J. Blige took home for the non-hit "Whenever I Say Your Name". 

Both Christina and Lil' Kim as well as the Stripped album will be back to the series.

(5/10)

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Here's Christina performing the song live on her tour behind the album...

and lastly, on the Today Show in 2018...

Tomorrow I'll roll out my top hits of this weeks, then on Monday Song of the Day will be back with a soul master showing paternal love.