1999’s second biggest pop princess launches…
Genie in a Bottle, by Christina Aguilera (her 1st of four #1s)
2 weeks, from 10th – 24th October 1999
Despite both being former squeaky clean Disney Mouseketeers, it felt from the very beginning that Christina Aguilera was packaged as the anti-Britney, the bad girl, the girl next door if you lived in a slightly dodgier neighbourhood… And listening to ‘Genie in the Bottle’, you can see why.
Compared to ‘…Baby One More Time’ its edges are sharper, its beats more streetwise and sassy, and its lyrics a lot more steamy. My body’s saying let’s go, But my heart is saying no… One thing I’d never really notice before is the dramatic squelchy synth riff that underpins the whole shebang, that I quite like. But it’s not got the oomph of the Max Martin produced ‘…Baby’, and it has probably not gone on to be remembered as equally iconic.
Yet once it gets to the chorus, it can compete with anything any member of pop royalty could come up with. Christina has standards, and isn’t going to just give it up for anyone. If you wanna be with me, There’s a price you have to pay, I’m a genie in a bottle, You gotta rub me the right way… Conservatives frothed a little at all the rubbing – Debbie Gibson of all people claimed that it was inappropriate for a teen idol, suggesting that she hadn’t been paying much attention to the previous five decades’ worth of pop history – but really, it’s a song about abstinence: My heart’s beating at the speed of light, But that don’t mean it’s got to be tonight…
Although in terms of UK sales and chart success Christina fared less well than Britney, she trumped her in one fairly essential area. Christina can sing. There’s not much in this record to prove that fact, but towards the end she starts letting loose with some of her trademark yeaheayeahs. And to be honest, it’s enough. Less is often more with Christina, the over-singers’ over-singer.
Despite just now claiming that she can’t sing, I will not often hear a bad word against Britney. And yet, I do think that Christina has lived somewhat unfairly in her shadow. Who, for example, remembers that she also kissed Madonna at the VMAs…?? (This is all from my Western-slanted viewpoint. She is arguably a much bigger name in the Latin world, having recorded half her output in Spanish). Christina and her team clearly disliked this one-sided comparison too, as for her second English-language album she will return with one of the great pop comeback tunes, a song that will make ‘Genie in a Bottle’ sound incredibly tame by comparison. Xtina awaits…
The UK Number Ones Blog 
Not at all disagreeable pap pop. Interesting almost subliminal use of a ‘prrrrrrp prrp prrrp’ drum synth line that sticks in the brain.
As a kid in the 2000s in Sydney, Australia, I remember preferring Christina Aguilera over Britney Spears. I still liked Spears a lot but I was like one of the few kids – especially among the boys who icked at female pop – in my neighbourhood and school who was into Aguilera, especially after Spears remained hugely popular and Aguilera kinda just gradually lost popularity until she had a brief resurgence following her coach spot on The Voice US. Maybe she was my first little boy crush, but even as a little boy I knew I preferred her vocals and sense of sass and charisma over Britney’s cute girl-next-door vibes.
I love this song. It’s such a perfectly well-written and recorded song and it’s a fantastic modern dance-pop/contemporary R&B hybrid. You can see how influential this song and Aguilera in general has been on a lot of modern pop and R&B.
Christina has the voice, despite her over-singing, and has had some top-tier songs (Genie isn’t one of her very best, for my money).
Britney though just had that special something. Better songs? Better management? Just more star quality? It definitely wasn’t a better voice…
Quality-wise, Xtina’s outputs have always been somewhat… trite, to me. I remember really liking Xtina’s first three singles and then finally buying her debut back then, only to find out everything else there being nowhere near those three’s levels. Heck, I didn’t even like ‘Come On Over’. Ditto with the rest of her albums.
I’ve always preferred Brit not only because she’s always visually more interesting, but also because her albums are always better overall. Xtina is also my least favourite part of ‘Lady Marmalade’ – to me she sounds far, far better in songs like ‘Beautiful’ or ‘Candyman’, where her explosive vocals actually accentuate the songs nicely.
Now – ‘…Baby One More Time’ is a genuine perfection and ‘Genie in a Bottle’ is a certified classic, but there’s one more Pop Princess debut I really liked in 1999. No, not Mandy Moore, it’s Jessica Simpson’s breathy, anti-Britney AND anti-Christina’s ‘I Wanna Love You Forever’. Also, Jennifer Paige’s picture-perfect ‘Crush’ from the year before really should have made her a bigger deal in pop music, oh well.
I like ‘Come on Over’, but it does feel like an attempt to do a Britney song, when Christina is best just doing her own thing. On ‘Lady Marmalade’ she oversings like its an Olympic event, but it’s still fun. I love ‘Candyman’, but her towering glory is… Well, I won’t give it away because it’s a number one to come.
I think Britney was more succesful because she was more pliable, more of a blank page to mold into different styles and sounds, and she had better writers. Christina always seemed like she was bristling against the pure pop stuff that she was singing in the early days.
And yes! ‘Crush’ is a classic! The Jessica Simpson number less so… : )
I was going to say the same thing…Christina can really sing. I’ve heard Spears before without autotune…it wasn’t pretty but it could have been a bad day…but with Spears it was that entire image and she is about as cute as you can get.
I like Christina when she sings a rock song. Sometimes her voice is too much for pop, where less can be more.
I saw her on a show where she sang things that were not usual…she impressed me big time…but yea she can sing rock very well.
One of her best records this one, though I also await the dirty classic, and she’s not overdoing it TOO much, what with being one of the “Showing off the range and power” clique. Candyman is pure 40’s-stylee fun too.