Just Be Free

Just Be Free is a demo album released by Warlock Records featuring music recorded by American recording artist Christina Aguilera. After finishing her run on The New Mickey Mouse Club, fifteen-year-old Aguilera began recording the album with New Jersey-based producers Roberts Alleca and Michael Brown. The pair gave Aguilera the opportunity to use a recording studio and presented her with demo music with the understanding that they could use the material for their own purpose, but also claiming they would not commercially release the recordings. Musically, the album consisted of dance style tracks as well as ballads, and saw Aguilera performing Spanish language songs. The record was conceived to showcase Aguilera's vocals in an effort to reach out to record labels, a venture which actually backfired after the recordings were not very well received among critics. Six years after the completion of the album and Aguilera had achieved mainstream success, Brown and Allecca released the record without the permission of Aguilera or her management. When Aguilera discovered the release of the album, she hired lawyer Carla Christofferson to help stop the release, as she felt the recordings were not the quality she was associated with at that time. Warlock Records then filed their own lawsuit in an effort to continue with the release, and finally the case settled out of court. Aguilera requested that a letter noting background information be featured inside each copy. Critically, the album was not well received, and although critics praised her vocals, they panned the record's cheap production and lyrics. Just Be Free has sold over 128,000 copies in the United States.