Your Body (Christina Aguilera song)
"Your Body" is a song by American singer Christina Aguilera from her seventh studio album, Lotus (2012). It was written by Savan Kotecha, Max Martin, Shellback and Tiffany Amber, while its production was done by Martin and Shellback. RCA Records premiered the song on September 14, 2012, on On Air with Ryan Seacrest, and later sent it to US contemporary hit and rhythmic radio stations two days later as the lead single from Lotus. "Your Body" is an R&B, electro, EDM and pop number with elements from dubstep and Eurodance. Its lyrics express Aguilera's desire to have sex with an anonymous partner.
"Your Body"
September 16, 2012
4:00
- Max Martin
- Shellback
"Your Body" received generally positive reviews from music critics, some of them praised Aguilera's vocals while others criticized its lyrical theme and the synthesizers used in the track. The single achieved moderate success on the charts. Internationally, "Your Body" reached Top-10 peaks in Canada and Lebanon while reaching Top-20 in the UK, Scotland, Sweden and Japan, and Top-40 in most other countries, including Germany, Denmark, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, Finland, Hungary, Romania and the United States, where it peaked at number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 with first-week sales of 103,000 copies, as well as debuting at number 10 on the Billboard Digital Songs chart and topping the Dance Club Songs chart.
An accompanying music video for "Your Body" was released on September 28, 2012. Directed by Melina Matsoukas and shot in Los Angeles, California, the video portrays Aguilera as a woman who kills men after seducing them. It was met with generally positive reviews from critics, who deemed it one of Aguilera's best music videos. On November 2, 2012, Aguilera performed "Your Body" on the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots. The song was later included in the setlist for Aguilera's Vegas residency Christina Aguilera: The Xperience.
Release and artwork[edit]
Before its official release, an uncensored demo version of "Your Body" was leaked to the web on August 23, 2012, entitled "Fuck Your Body",[4] where she sings "All I wanna do is fuck your body" in the chorus.[5] On September 12, 2012, Aguilera revealed details about Lotus and "Your Body" via Twitter, including the cover artwork.[6] RCA Records premiered the song on On Air with Ryan Seacrest on September 14, 2012.[7] Two days later, the single was serviced to contemporary hit rhythmic radio stations in the United States.[8][9] "Your Body" was available via iTunes Stores worldwide for digital download on September 17, 2012.[10] It was also digitally release in the United Kingdom on November 2, 2012;[11] three remixes of the track was purchased for online sales the same day.[12] The CD single version for "Your Body" was released in Germany and the United States on November 9[13] and November 27, respectively.[14]
The single's cover artwork sees Aguilera "nearly" naked,[15] wrapping in a "sheer blush-colored" piece of fabric and barely covering her breasts with her long flowing hair,[16] while her arms are outstretched over her head.[17] It also features Aguilera's "all curves";[15] TJ from Neon Limelight called the cover "sizzling" and wrote that it features her "bodacious curves on full display".[18] Rebecca Macatee of E! Online labelled the artwork "an R-rated recreation" of "Genie in a Bottle".[17] MTV Buzzworthy's Byron Flitsch praised the cover, calling it "a stunning cover art that has rendered us totally speechless".[19] Fuse's Nicole James and Andrew Stout from SF Weekly compared Aguilera's image on the artwork to that of Marilyn Monroe in the photo shoot The Last Sitting.[20][21]
Composition and lyrical interpretation[edit]
"Your Body" is a midtempo R&B, electro, EDM and pop number with dance-pop production, a Eurodance beat and dubstep influences in its middle eight.[22][23][24][25] The song features heavy synthesizers, "stuttering" drums, and "hard-hitting" beats.[23][26][27] According to Gregory Hicks from The Michigan Daily, "Your Body" is musically similar to Jessie J's 2011 song "Abracadabra".[27] Chris Martins from Spin commented that the song "has a mellow thrust that hits muted transcendence for the chorus before dipping back down into that bummer bump".[28] The chorus and the bridge features Aguilera's "powerful" vocals, provided by heavy synthesizers over a "booming" Eurodance beat.[23][27] Entertainment Weekly reviewer Melissa Maerz noted that Aguilera's vocals are provided by too much synthesizers.[29] Gregory Hicks of The Michigan Daily compared her "synthesized" voice on the song to those in Maroon 5's "One More Night", which was also produced by Martin.[27]
In "Your Body", Aguilera sings of having a one-night stand with a random man.[27][30] In the first verse, she "angrily" purrs, "So open the box, don't need no key, I'm unlocked".[31] Synthesizers and "stuttering" drums are featured at the pre-chorus, "Don't even tell me your name/ All I need to know is whose place/ And let's get walking".[30] Chris Martins of Spin commented that the lyrics actually means, "The economy is in the tank, congress can't agree on anything, war and natural disasters consume us ... so, what else can we do but make love?"[28] At the second verse, she tells her lover, "I am a freak, I'm disturbed/ So come on and give me your worst/ We're moving faster than slow/ If you don't know where to go/ I'll finish off on my own".[32] The four-on-the-floor refrain has Aguilera "flaunting her famous pipes" on the chorus, "All I wanna do is love your body/ Tonight's your lucky night, I know you want it".[31][33] In a track-by-track review for Lotus, Billboard critic Andrew Hampp thought that the song "doesn't peak" until Aguilera "growls", "I think you already know my name" at the bridge.[34] According to Jason Lipshutz from Billboard and Robert Cospey of Digital Spy, the lyrics of "Your Body" are similar to Aguilera's previous single "Dirrty" (2002).[26][31]
Reception[edit]
Critical reception[edit]
"Your Body" garnered generally positive reviews from music critics. In a positive feedback, a reviewer from Billboard wrote that "it's clear the diva is going for broke".[30] Writing for Digital Spy, Robert Cospey scored the single a four stars out of five rating and labelled it one of Aguilera's best tracks.[31] Jon Caramanica from The New York Times picked the song as one of the stand-out songs from Lotus that highlighted Aguilera's "volcanic" vocals, naming it "sweaty and bold".[35] Mikeal Wood from the Los Angeles Times praised "Your Body"'s musical diversity from her previous 2010 record Bionic and complimented Aguilera's "powerhouse" vocals on the track.[23] Sarah Deen for Metro praised the single as "a funky, thumping dance number that is one for the girls to dance around their handbags to".[36] Writing for The Guardian, Issy Sampson praised the song for being "everything you want from [Aguilera]: loud yelling, lyrics about crap one-night stands and a slutty video."[24] The PopCrush critic Amy Sciarretto opined that "the song is as slick as it is sultry". She also labelled "Your Body" as a "club banger", cheered Aguilera's vocal ability and considered the lyrics "sexy".[37] In a review for Album Confessions Aguilera's "powerhouse vocals" were praised, and the song itself has been called "a full-fledge, dance floor ready, sweat-pouring pop song that should get everybody in the clubs on the feet".[38] Alexis L. Loinaz from E! Online also provided a positive review, stating that the song "promises to be a major dance-floor stomper, laying on the synths atop a thumping bass line as the power belter's potent vocals pile on the decibels".[39]
In a mixed review, Melissa Maerz from Entertainment Weekly praised Aguilera's vocals, which "reaches high enough to dust the angels with bronzer".[29] However, Maerz criticized the overused synthesizers in the track, commenting that "she could be anyone".[29] Rolling Stone critic Jody Rosen wrote "You can measure a singer's place in the pop-star pecking order by the quality of the Max Martin/Shellback song she releases. For Xtina, the news ain't good."[40] Gregory Hicks for The Michigan Daily criticized that the song's lyrics "aren't even worth a discussion"; he also criticized the synthesizers used in the song and commented that "even Aguilera's flop Bionic had more musical complexity".[27]
Retrospective reception[edit]
In a retrospective review, Mike Nied of Idolator called the song a "glorious pop anthem".[41] He noted that, "After a rough album rollout and cancelled tour in 2010 [...] Xtina went for the safe bet by teaming up with prolific hitmaker Max Martin".[41] He went on to say that "although the track received positive reviews from fans, it fizzled on the charts" due to lack of promotion.[41] Joshua Haigh of Attitude praised the song for its bridge and a "strong central message about the joys of meaningless sex".[42] He hailed "Your Body" as one of ten most underrated singles from the '10s.[42] That Grape Juice opined that "Your Body" was "rightfully serviced as the album’s lead single", and noted: "This blaring ball of brilliance is Christina at her melismatic best".[43] Both Orlaith Condon from Ticketmaster and Idolator's Mike Wass ranked "Your Body" among the ten best songs recorded by Aguilera.[44][45]
Commercial performance[edit]
"Your Body" debuted and peaked at number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the chart issue dated October 6, 2012, with 103,000 digital copies sold.[46][47] The song debuted at number 10 on the Hot Digital Songs, becoming Aguilera's first top 10 song on the chart as the lead artist since "Keeps Gettin' Better" peaked at number 5 in 2008.[48] On the US Pop Songs chart, the track debuted at number 33 on September 29, 2012,[49] and later reached its peak at number 20.[50] "Your Body" was commercially success on the Dance Club Songs, reaching atop the chart on December 8, 2012.[51] The single also peaked at number 10 on the Canadian Hot 100 on November 24, 2012.[52] For the issue chart dated November 17, 2012, the single debuted and peaked at number 16 on the UK Singles Chart,[53] and only remained in the top 75 of the chart for two weeks,[54] dropping to number 31 in its second week and then to number 91 in its third week.
"Your Body" reached the top 40 charts of most European countries where it charted. It peaked at number 16 in Scotland,[55] number 17 in Sweden,[56] number 21 in Finland,[57] number 22 in Switzerland[58] and Spain,[59] number 23 in Hungary,[60] number 29 in Germany,[61] and number 35 in Denmark.[62] On The Official Lebanese Top 20 chart, the single was more successful, peaking at number six.[63] It achieved similar success in South Korea, where it charted at number six on the Gaon International Download Chart.[64]
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Lotus, RCA Records.[93]