When Linda Perry recorded her version of “Beautiful,” the 2002 hit she wrote and gave to Christina Aguilera, she thought she was just revisiting an old song. As she dug into the grooves of that ode to inner beauty, though, she found herself getting emotional.
“I feel like when I wrote this song, I always thought it was going to be my song that was going to go Number One,” she says. “It was going to be me singing it. It was going to be my comeback song. Not that I went anywhere, but it was going to be my solo journey song that was going to put me on the chart and make me a big superstar. And I had to go through a lot of emotions to let that song go to Christina.”
After the breakup of Perry’s iconic band 4 Non-Blondes — and the 1992 release of their hit debut, Bigger, Better, Faster, More! — the musician opted to get more into producing and songwriting rather than recording her own music, a decision she’s grappled with since. Her last solo album, After Hours, dropped in 1999.
By reclaiming Aguilera’s song, however, Perry found herself reflecting on the track with less regret than purpose — to get that 20-plus-old message out once more, not just for the fans, but herself. “I’m sharing the sentiment that I still believe today,” she says. “In this time, it is very hard to be yourself. Inside, I’m seven feet tall and I’m extremely powerful. I think it’s important to get the message out that we are amazing. Don’t get distracted by what you think people see, only stay with what you feel inside truly, because that is the truth.”
Perry is dropping her reimagined version of “Beautiful” today, along with a dreamy music video directed by actress Sara Gilbert. The visuals follow a young singer — played by Gilbert and Perry’s child, Rhodes Perry — performing at a talent show in feathers and finery to jeers from the crowd, until Perry joins in and offers the child support.
“When she first asked me, I thought, well, this is such a special, important piece of her work. So I initially hesitated and just said, ‘Are you sure?’ I wanted to make sure she trusted me with it,” Gilbert says. “And she said, ‘Yeah, I want you to direct it.’ So we hung up the phone, and I just kind of had one of those lightning bolt moments.”
The video, filmed at Big Sky Ranch in the Simi Valley was inspired, in part, by Days of Heaven. It also features actor Lukas Haas as the talent show host, as well as family and friends, including Pearl Osbourne (Ozzy and Sharon’s grandchild) and crew members from Gilbert’s show, The Connors. “Linda would say I made her dress more my style,” Gilbert says of Perry’s gentler look in the video. “Normally, she might have more necklaces and chains and eyeliner and this and that. But I really wanted it to feel more open and vulnerable, so that you could see this relationship between [her and Rhodes] and have a softness to it.”
“Beautiful” is the first taste of Perry’s upcoming solo album, Let It Die Here, out via her new imprint with Kill Rock Stars, 670 Records, on May 8. A long-awaited 4 Non Blondes reunion record is also on the way. Let It Die Here was made in the midst of filming a documentary by the same name, directed by Don Hardy, out May 19.
“I have been struggling writing for myself for many years, though I am a creative river flowing with so much abundance for others. But for some reason, that river did not flow towards me,” Perry says. “I didn’t mean to make a documentary, but a documentary was made while I was really in the depth of this realization about what the fuck is wrong with me. When I saw that documentary, I don’t know what happened, but all of a sudden, I just bursted out with all this creativity. I wrote this incredible album about my journey and my emotional journey, [but] my journey isn’t complete without ‘Beautiful.’”
“I believe this song is extremely important, no matter what year it is released or how old you are,” she adds. “I’m really happy that I was brave enough to record my own version, because Christina Aguilera did such an amazing, beautiful job. I have to pat myself on the back, though, because I’m the one that got that performance out of her. So yeah, you know what? I fucking did a great job back then, too!”
