More than 25 years after the release of her last solo album, former 4 Non Blonde Linda Perry has finally announced her next one. Let It Die Here will be released on 8 May, but before then we have the first single, and it’s a song that you’ll almost certainly be familiar with.
We’re talking about Beautiful, the Perry-penned ballad that became a huge hit for Christina Aguilera back in 2002, but has now been reclaimed by its writer.
“When I wrote Beautiful, I had no idea I was struggling inside,” Perry says now. “‘I am beautiful no matter what they say.’ ‘They’ represents the insecurities we all face, the fear that makes people unkind simply because someone or something is different.
“Beautiful is about self-expression, being free to be whoever you want to be. ‘Don’t you bring me down today.’ Don’t you dare try to make me feel less than, not good enough, or ugly because I don’t look like you. Don’t treat me like I don’t matter just because I do not speak or think like you. I will shine in every single way, and no one can take that from me, you, or anyone.
It’s believed that Perry originally intended to release Beautiful herself, then later considered giving it to Pink. However, she ultimately decided to let Aguilera sing it after a moment of happenstance.
Aguilera had shown up at Perry’s studio with her entourage with a view to writing with her, but was told that her team would have to wait outside. “Not allowed in my studio,” Perry told American Songwriter in 2021, “so she was really shy [and said] ‘Can you sing a song or something to break the ice?’”
“I had just written Beautiful – I sat down at the piano and started playing,” Perry explains. “And then I just heard her little feet get closer and closer, and by the end of the song she was like, ‘Can you demo that and give me the lyrics?’ And I’m like all, ‘Huh? Why?’ And she’s like, ‘Because I want that for my record.’”
That record would end up being Stripped, which Perry would ultimately contribute several songs to, but the singer-songwriter was initially dubious about giving Beautiful – a song that focuses on issues of self-esteem and insecurity – to a megawatt star like Aguilera.
“I’m looking at this, you know, ‘hot chick’ that’s got everything going on – or at least that’s what you think – and she’s wanting the song about being Beautiful? How vain is that?”
The penny dropped, though, when Aguilera returned to the studio to record Beautiful, with her one allotted friend in tow. With the tape running, the vulnerable singer turned to her friend and said ‘Don’t look at me’ – a spoken line that you can hear on the finished track.
“And those words at the top opened up a whole world for me,” says Perry. “Because I realised that this beautiful girl that’s on the charts, everybody knows her, is just as insecure as I am. That was pretty amazing, so Christina Aguilera, thank you for those words because it really did change my whole concept of what Beautiful really meant, and it was about someone struggling with the fact that maybe there is beauty beyond your visual.”
Such was the rawness of that original take that it’s the one that was used on the record. It’s believed that Aguilera wasn’t happy with her vocals and wanted to re-record them, but Perry insisted that they went with her first attempt because it had the imperfection and vulnerability that was required.
Why revisit the song now, though? Speaking to Consequence, Perry says that she hadn’t originally planned to record Beautiful, and that the decision to record it herself only came after the rest of her new album had been completed.
“And then I’m like, ‘Oh, this is about my journey with my mum, and how fucked up she is, but how it all helped me become who I was, you know, who I am,” says Perry. She decided that her journey “wouldn’t be complete” without Beautiful being on the record.
Rather than trying to reinvent the song, Perry has stayed pretty faithful to the original, but with a few key differences.
“I’ll just do the exact version I did for Christina, but I won’t put strings on it, I’ll put Mellotron, and I’ll add more guitar, but at the same tempo [and in] the same key,” Perry decided. “It is pretty much the same structure, the same intent, but Christina, she’s not me, you know? And I’m not Christina. I just basically did the Linda version of that song.”
Lo and behold, Perry’s team (they weren’t allowed in her studio, presumably) loved it, and it was decided that Beautiful mkII (or should that be Beautiful 0.5?) should be the single that reintroduced Perry – who, for the past 25 years, has been mainly known as a songwriter and producer – to the listening public.
Let It Die Here will be released on 8 May, the same day as the documentary film of the same name, which tells the story of not only Perry’s wildly successful career, but also her struggle to find purpose and meaning in it all.
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