Christina Aguilera - Just Be Free

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Album Review

Release date: 21 August 2001

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Christina Aguilera - Just Be Free: Wikipedia Album Entry

Just Be Free is an unofficial album of American pop/R&B singer Christina Aguilera's early demo recordings, which were submitted when she was fourteen and fifteen years old. These tracks were never intended to be released to the public, but were instead used as a tool to enter the music industry.

In 2000, by which time she was a household name, a single emerged into record stores called "Just Be Free", one of the demos Aguilera recorded. When RCA Records discovered the single, they officially advised fans not to purchase it, since it was unauthorized, and had German authorities pull the single off shelves as well. Months later, indie label Warlock Records was set to release Just Be Free, an album which contains the demo tracks. Aguilera filed a breach of contract and unfair-competition suit against Warlock and former producers Michael Brown and Robert Alleca in an effort to block the release, arguing that the album didn't reflect her music direction because of her age when she recorded it, and how they used Aguilera's name, likeness and image without permission to advertise a product.

In the end, the two parties came to a settlement to release the album to the public. She lent out her name, likeness and image for an unspecified amount of damages. Many of the details of the lawsuit remain confidential. When the album was released on August 21, 2001, it had a photograph of Aguilera when she was fifteen years old, and the following statement from her written in its liner notes:

Dear Friends:

Just Be Free was recorded when I was 14 and 15 years old. At that young age, I made the recordings as a possible stepping stone to a career in music, which is my ultimate passion. They were made just so that I could get my foot in the door of the music business.

I did not intend that the recordings would be widely released, especially after I signed with a major record label. I have not updated or finished the versions recorded in my childhood, and they are being released "as is", although I tried to prevent the release for several years.

The recordings do not in any way reflect my current musical taste and where I am as an artist. The growth and vocal development I experienced as I matured into young adulthood is not reflected in the recordings. The album of new recordings that I intend to release this fall will be the album that truly reflects my artistry, my vision, and my passion. The Just Be Free recordings will hopefully be a footnote in a musical career that I dream will last for many years to come.

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