Christina Aguilera is celebrating 25 years of her 1999 self-titled debut album, and its enduring hit “Genie in a Bottle.”
Whereas she revealed in her latest Glamour cowl story that she’s “grateful” for every little thing that the album supplied for her, it was the beginning of navigating her journey as an artist that wouldn’t be outlined by one style. “I didn’t love the bubblegum factor, the place you needed to play a virgin however not act like one,” she admitted. “After I was performing ‘Genie’ and ‘What a Lady Needs’ and ‘Come on Over,’ I acquired bored simply. Creatively, it was one-dimensional.”
That’s why she shifted her give attention to 2002’s Stripped, which fittingly stripped the teenybopper persona with extra grownup themes and vocal-focused pop hits with R&B tinges. “I believe it was only a matter of believing so wholeheartedly in my imaginative and prescient, which was to battle for sexuality,” she stated of combating again towards the backlash to the provocative album.
Humorous sufficient, Aguilera was on that empowerment wave earlier than her debut album was even launched. The then-18-year-old star advised Billboard of “Genie in a Bottle” again in 1999, “The tune will not be about intercourse. It’s about self-respect. It’s about not giving in to temptation till you’re revered. It’s time for one thing completely different. It’s time that music make[s] youngsters really feel assured and safe.”
With “Genie in a Bottle,” Aguilera unleashed her first of 5 Scorching 100 No. 1s and 11 high 10s. Aguilera’s debut album subsequently launched at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 253,000 copies offered in the US in its first week, in keeping with Luminate.
