Christina Aguilera

Context: When planning her fourth studio album, Aguilera leaned towards a new artistic direction that she felt had more musical and lyrical depth. She named the album Stripped and explained that the title represented "a new beginning, a re-introduction of [herself] as a new artist in a way". For the album, Aguilera served as executive producer and co-wrote most of the songs. The album was preceded by the single "Dirrty", which was released to shed Aguilera's teen pop image and express her sexuality and aggression. Its accompanying music video generated controversy for depicting various sexual fetishes and concepts. Aguilera's new image presented in the video started to overshadow her music, generating widespread criticism from both her peers including Shakira and Jessica Simpson and the public. Aguilera defended her new image, explaining that "I'm in the power position, in complete command of everything and everybody around me. To be totally balls-out like that is, for me, the measure of a true artist."  The final cut of Stripped incorporated various genres from flamenco and R&B to rock and lyrically revolved around the theme of self-esteem while also discussing sex and gender equality. It was released in October 2002 to mixed critical reviews; Jancee Dunn from the Rolling Stone praised Aguilera's vocals yet panned the album for its lack of musical concentration. The album was nonetheless a commercial success, peaking at number two on the Billboard 200 and has sold over 4.3 million copies in the United States. It was a major success in the United Kingdom, having sold 2 million copies and became the second highest-selling album by a female US artist of the 2000s decade, behind Norah Jones with Come Away with Me. Stripped has sold over 12 million copies worldwide. The album was followed by four singles, "Beautiful", "Fighter", "Can't Hold Us Down", and "The Voice Within". "Beautiful" received universal acclaim for positive portrayal of the LGBT community and was the album's most commercially successful single, peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It earned Aguilera a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 2004 ceremony. The song was later listed at number 52 among the 100 Best Songs of the 2000s by the Rolling Stone in 2011.  During the promotion of Stripped, Aguilera cultivated a new image by adopting the alter ego Xtina, dyeing her hair black, and debuting several tattoos and piercings. She co-headlined the Justified and Stripped Tour alongside Justin Timberlake from June to September 2003 in support of Stripped and Timberlake's album Justified, before embarking on her solo The Stripped Tour until December. Aguilera garnered media attention after attending the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards in August, where she and Britney Spears kissed Madonna during their performance of "Like a Virgin" and "Hollywood". Later that year, she was the host of the 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards, where she won an award for Best Female. Billboard also announced Aguilera as the Top Female Pop Act of 2003. CANNOTANSWER

Question: Was Stripped well-received by critics?
Answer: It was released in October 2002 to mixed critical reviews;