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Ain't No Other Man

The lead single from Back to Basics: DJ Premier's beat, a brass sample and a Grammy.
Christina Aguilera, from Back to Basics (2006)

Written by
Christina Aguilera, Kara DioGuardi, Charles Roane, Harold Beatty, DJ Premier
Released
6 June 2006
Length
3:48
Album
Back to Basics

DJ Premier produced it, and Aguilera had first sought him out after hearing his jazz-influenced work with Gang Starr. He later said he was surprised to get her call, and described the track as sassy and old-Aretha Respect, with a pace he thought too fast at around 130 beats per minute. It was recorded in 2005 at Chalice Recording Studios in Hollywood and uses a brass sample credited to the Moon People and a vocal sample from The Cissy's Thang by the Soul Seven. Aguilera told MTV News that she had just married, so it was about someone in particular, but that it was really about feeling good.

It was released on 6 June 2006 and peaked at six on the Hot 100 and two in Britain. Dorian Lyskey of the Guardian called it a brassy, brilliant love song with the same aerobic oomph as Beyonce's Crazy in Love. Bryan Barber directed a video in which she plays Baby Jane. It won the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 2007, and the video was nominated for four MTV Video Music Awards without winning one. In 2011 the publisher TufAmerica sued Sony Music over the brass sample.

Live

She first performed it at the MTV Movie Awards on 8 June 2006, and it opened the Back to Basics Tour.

On stage

More songs by Christina Aguilera

Genie in a Bottle, Dirrty, Beautiful, Fighter, Candyman

Sources

  1. Ain't No Other Man, Wikipedia
  2. Christina Aguilera, Back to Basics, The Guardian (2006-08-04)
  3. Back to Basics (Christina Aguilera album), Wikipedia