Louder, for the people in the cheap seats: If you ain’t dirty, You ain’t here to par-tay…
Dirrty, by Christina Aguilera (her 3rd of four #1s) ft. Redman
2 weeks, 17th November – 1st December 2002
Enter Xtina. Although last time we met her was in a boudoir in the Moulin Rouge, and although she’d always been the naughty one compared to rival Britney, I remember seeing the video to ‘Dirrty’ for the first time and being, as the kids say, shook.
Backing up my idea that 2002 was the moment the 21st century started, musically speaking, this is very modern pop. Gone are the staccato beats of millennial R&B. Gone is the bubblegum of the late ‘90s. In are clanking industrial chords, a scuzzy bassline, and huge vocals. This is the pop music of Rihanna, of Gaga, of a hundred other wannabes in the past twenty years. Pop music turned up to 11.
And yes, lyrically, it’s filth. I need that (uh) to get me off, Sweat until my clothes come off… Xtina announces before each chorus. It’s a classic good-girl-gone-bad song, in which a previously (semi)innocent pop princess launches headfirst into her slut era. Britney did it with ‘I’m a Slave 4 U’. Holly Valance made #1 with her debut single using the same trick. But nobody has done with as much as gusto as Christina. In previous posts I’ve taken issue with her over-singing, but here her belting works. This is no time for subtlety.
It’s also modern in its female singer plus guest rapper dynamic. Again, this is the format that many pop songs, and many number ones, will take over the next decade. I’ve no idea who Redman was, and doubt I’ve ever heard another song by him, but he’s a big part of this one’s success, from the If you ain’t dirty… call, to his line about being blessed and hung low, to him punching a giant rabbit in the video. In fact, the entire song is based around his 2001 original ‘Let’s Get Dirty’.
Ah, the video. As great as this record is in audio, it needs to be seen for it to have its full effect. Christina writhes, grinds, simulates masturbation, and invents the slut-drop, all while wearing some iconic, red leather, ass-less chaps. There’s foxy-boxing, mud-wrestling, female weightlifters, and signs in Thai that read ‘Young Underage Girls’ (a step too far, I will admit, and one which got a lot of criticism at the time).
Is it all a bit much? Is it vulgar? Is it pandering to straight male fantasies? To which I’d say: Yes, but who cares. Definitely, but who cares. And I’m not an authority on such matters. I will say though, a close (straight male) friend at the time spent hours a day requesting this video on music channels, waiting breath-baited on the edge of his bed for it to come on. He eventually recorded it onto a VHS… Which is a very hard to imagine scenario post-YouTube, but it was how we teenage millennials had to get our kicks. As for me, as much as I loved this song at time, it pretty much confirmed my homosexuality, as all I could think was how much Christina lived up to the song’s title, looking like she hadn’t showered in days.
I’ll end with the end, the final beat of the song after almost five minutes of writhing and grinding. In which Christina turns to the audience and asks Uh… What? As if daring you to criticise this gloriously inappropriate, slutty masterpiece.
The UK Number Ones Blog 
That’s an interesting theory about 21st century pop starting around this time – I’m not familiar enough with the era, but it makes sense.
It’s interesting. It’s a decent song. It grew on me with repeated listens. I’m surprised it reached No. 1 in the UK. It was #4 here in Australia and #36 on our year-end chart for 2002. It’s fine, but she has way better in her catalogue. I don’t think I’ve heard this song actually, though it’s quite popular with over 200 million views on YouTube and 268 million on Spotify. As a straight man, the music video is definitely, uh, more stimulating than the actual song. This definitely sounds more contemporary than some other hits from the late-90s/early-2000s, with the female popstar and the rapper (though the pop song ft. the guest rapper has declined in the 2020s by a good bit after it’s peak in the 2000s and 2010s, when was the last time a big pop song that had a guest rapper?). Though Christina’s vocals are bit more edgy, forceful and aggressive on this track than most pop songs that would appear in the 2010s and 2020s.
This song was a much bigger hit internationally than in the US – quite uncommon for an R&B/hip hop song – as it only peaked at #43 on the Hot 100 though it did okay on the US airplay charts.
Redman is a cool artist. He’s one of Eminem’s favourite rappers (Eminem listed him alongside 2Pac, Biggie Smalls, Jay Z, Nas, Jadakiss, Kurupt, Andre 300 from Outkast as among his favourite rappers on “Till I Collapse”, which fun fact is the most streamed song to not have been released as a single).I’ve checked out several of his songs and he’s got some great stuff, though haven’t checked out a full album (same with Xtina honestly, is she notable for having good albums? I honestly don’t know). Check out “Time 4 Sum Aksion” and “Do What Ya Feel”.
Great track, goes well in a club, and one of her best songs, there may only be one or two Christina tracks I like as much – consistency was never a strength for me, but she had a great double here. This one I could take as a grown-up departure of the teenpop female star – Kylie had been there before, as had Madonna before that – as a sort of statement before the forthcoming music biz over-used template of the 21st century where trying to out-do each other on the Shockometer has reached soft porn levels, lyrically if not in the videos. Cue the obligatory bleep to keep that all-important streaming/radio income coming in. Pet peeve of mine – if it’s artistically vital to have words not suitable for radio, then selling out and bleeping makes the whole thing look cynical. If it’s not artistically vital then why have the words in the first place? There’s plenty of words in the dictionary to pick from. Christina stayed just on the right side of it!
I like the way that Christina in this song uses a groan in place of the rude word (need that uh, to get me off…) It’s more fun than just blanking it out. She does it again in another song, ‘Candyman’ maybe.