Christina Aguilera (album): Difference between revisions

Christina Aguilera is the self-titled debut studio album by American recording artist Christina Aguilera, released on August 24, 1999 by RCA Records. After recording the song "Reflection" for the film Mulan, RCA laid the foundation for the album immediately and started presenting Aguilera with tracks for her debut album, which they later decided would have a January 1999 release.^[1] Its music incorporates pop, dance-pop, and R&B styles. Contributions to the album's production came from a wide range of producers, including David Frank, Ron Fair, Guy Roche, Robin Thicke, Diane Warren, Matthew Wilder, and Aaron Zigman.

Upon its release, Christina Aguilera received generally mixed reviews from music critics, who complimented its songwriting but felt it lacked originality. The album was a commercial success when peaking at number one in the United States and Canada. It also received several certifications around the world, including an eight-times platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of over 8 million copies in the country. Christina Aguilera is also the singer's most successful album, selling over 20 million copies worldwide.

Four official singles were released from the album. The first single, "Genie in a Bottle" was a commercial success, peaking at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of the best-selling singles of all time.^[2] Two other singles, "What a Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)", also peaked atop the Hot 100 chart. To promote the album, Aguilera has performed several tracks from Christina Aguilera on television, and also on the tour Christina Aguilera: In Concert in 2000. This album earned her the first Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

Christina Aguilera approached record label RCA, then having financial difficulties, and was told to contact Disney.^[3] After being given the opportunity to record the theme to the 1998 film Mulan named "Reflection" it was reported she had gained a record deal with RCA Records with Aguilera saying "I landed a record deal simultaneously as I landed the Mulan soundtrack. I had just turned seventeen years old, and during the same week, I just landed both. I recorded the Mulan soundtrack first and then a few months later I was out in L.A. recording the record for about six months".^[4] When asked about the song and Aguilera, RCA executive Ron Fair commented,

"She is a badass genius of singing. She was put on this earth to sing, and I've worked with a lot of singers.... When Aguilera met with us, she didn't care that she was auditioning for a record deal; she got into a performance zone that you see in artist much more mature than she is."^[5]

After she was asked to hit a musical note required for "Reflection", she thought that the song could be the gateway into an album deal. Aguilera spent hours recording a cover of Whitney Houston's "Run to You", which included the note she was asked to hit.^[3] After successfully hitting the note, which she called "the note that changed my life", she was given the opportunity to record the song. To record the song, she flew to Los Angeles for roughly a week.^[1] Despite growing increasingly exhausted during the recording sessions, when she heard that a 90-piece orchestra would be arriving to record the instrumental she begged to stay and witness the event. She later called the experience "amazing".^[1] Due to the success around the recording of "Reflection", RCA wished for Aguilera to record and release an album by September 1998 to maintain the "hype" surrounding her at that time.^[1] The label laid the foundation for the album immediately and started presenting Aguilera with tracks for her debut album, which they later decided would have a January 1999 release.^[1][6]

The album opens with the first single "Genie in a Bottle", a teen pop and dance-pop track^[7] that incorporates piano theme.^[8] The song's lyrics talks about teen-age sex.^[9] Aguilera's vocal on the track has been compared to Chaka Khan, Etta James and Mariah Carey.^[10] The next song and second single, "What a Girl Wants" is a teen pop and R&B track^[11] and is set on a moderate fast tempo of 120 beats per minute.^[12] The third track and third single "I Turn to You" is a pop track.^[13] It is a cover version which was originally recorded by All-4-One. The next song, "So Emotional" is also a pop song, similar to several tracks in the album.^[14]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[15]
Robert Christgau	C+[16]
Entertainment Weekly	B−[17]
Rolling Stone	[18]

Christina Aguilera received mixed reviews. Allmusic gave it 4 out of 5 stars, saying " The songwriting is strong — the ballads are engaging, the dance numbers are catchy — the production is clean and uncluttered, letting Aguilera's voice take the foreground. Most impressively, she not only has charisma, she can actually sing, bringing conviction to these love and heartbreak songs." Beth Johnson of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B-, saying "A frustratingly erratic album -- She's Tiffany! She's Whitney! -- Christina still makes a credible bid to be the late-summer soundtrack to romantic rebound."^[17] Amazon, based on reviews, gave Christina Aguilera a 4.5 out of 5.^[19]

A review by Rolling Stone said: "Is there room on the pop charts for one more ex-Mouseketeer? When the results are as sophisticatedly saucy as Christina Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle," pedigree isn't even an issue. A midtempo argument for soulful affection weaves rolling hip-hop rhythms, hypnotic keyboard countermelodies and sensually sensible poetry into a deftly underplayed performance from an eighteen-year-old bombshell whose greatest assets are her powerhouse pipes. Too bad the rest of this ingenue's debut skimps on the single's ingenuity. Anxious to establish Aguilera as heir to Mariah's diva throne, the usual producer-songwriter suspects (Diane Warren, Carl Sturken, Evan Rogers) clone Monica-Brandy-R. Kelly tunes too closely — "So Emotional" even cribs a Whitney title. Bubble-brained lyrics give Aguilera little substance to spin into gold, so her copious vocal curves and trills sound secondhand. Pop's next It Girl deserves to be outfitted in something more flattering than the empress's old clothes."^[18]

The album surpassed industry expectations when it debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 200 Album charts thanks to the help of her single "Genie in a Bottle", which had already spent five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 prior to the release of the album. The album sold 252,000 copies the first week of release, beating out big competition by Sean "Puffy" Combs, whose second album Forever was expected to debut at number one. The album proved to have some longevity as it stayed in the top fifteen throughout the 1999 holiday season, even working its way back into the top five thanks to its second single "What a Girl Wants" which had topped the charts by the end of 1999.^[20] The album stayed on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart for 78 weeks, 107 weeks on the UK albums charts and 70 weeks on the Canadian Albums Chart. Aguilera's Grammy Award nominations, two back to back number-one singles, magazine gossip, and merchandise released under her name made her the "It girl" as she opened the new millennium with Carson Daly on MTV's New Year's Eve Bash.

As the year closed, Aguilera's debut album had already sold in excess of eight million copies in the U.S., becoming one of the best-selling albums of the year according to Nielsen SoundScan.^[21][22] As of December 2009, the album has sold 8,207,000 copies in the U.S. according to Nielsen SoundScan, which does not count albums sold through clubs like the BMG Music.^[23] Combined, it has sold over 9,142,000 copies in the U.S. with additional 935,000 copies sold at BMG Music Clubs.^[24] Nielsen SoundScan does not count albums sold through clubs like the BMG Music Service, which were significantly popular in the 1990s.^[25] In July 2001, the CRIA certified Christina Aguilera six times platinum, for exceeding sales of over 600,000 in Canada.^[26] The album was certified platinum by the IFPI for sales of one million copies in Europe.^[27] The album stayed on the UK charts for 19 weeks.^[28] It reached #21 on the Australian charts, certified platinum for 70,000 sales.^[29] The album was certified platinum in New Zealand, selling over 15,000 copies.^[30][31] To date, it has sold over 17 million copies worldwide.^{[32][33][34][35]}

"Genie in a Bottle" was the first single of the album, released on June 22, 1999. It became one of Aguilera's biggest charting singles, getting certified platinum by the RIAA. The song became an overnight hit, making it Aguilera's first number one single. It topped the charts for five weeks straight on Billboard Hot 100 due to strong physical CD sales and airplay, having the longest stay at number one that year. The single made airplay history, becoming one of the most successful airplay-only singles. It charted within the top five in every country it was released in.

"What a Girl Wants" was the second single from the album. Released on December 28, 1999, the single peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 15, 2000 for two weeks, becoming Aguilera's second number-one single. In the U.S., it became the first #1 single of the decade of the 2000s. The single also peaked at number three in the UK and at number five in Australia. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot 100 Singles Sales charts for two weeks, and peaked at number two on the Hot 100 Airplay; the single's strong sales would later assure it a gold certification. Once again, the song was an all-around huge hit, topping the Top 40 Tracks, Top 40 Mainstream and Rhythmic Top 40 charts. As the new version of the song was not on the original album, the album was re-released with the video version of the new version replacing the original version.

"I Turn to You" was the third single form the album, released on April 1, 2000 to U.S radio. The single peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 4 weeks, becoming Aguilera's Third Top 10 hit. The single also peaked at #19 in the UK and #40 in Australia. The music video was directed by Richard C. Allen.

"Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" was released on September 26, 2000 as the album's the fourth and final single, becoming Aguilera's third number-one hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and the RIAA eventually certified the single gold. Remixed from the original album version, it spent four weeks at the top, from October 8 to November 4, 2000. It spent twenty-one weeks on the Hot 100, and ranked thirty-eight on the Hot 100's 2000 year-end charts."Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" reached the top ten in the UK, Japan and Australia and the top twenty in Canada respectively.

Aguilera made many appearances on talk shows in order to promote her self-titled debut album. Aguilera appeared on shows such as The Rosie O'Donnell Show and TRL. Aguilera also began traveling to New Zealand while "What a Girl Wants" was topping the charts overseas. In 1999, Aguilera performed with Britney Spears and *NSYNC at the 1999 Teen Choice Awards. Aguilera also attended the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards where she and Fred Durst performed together. Durst walked onstage and performed part of his band's song "Livin' It Up" with Aguilera. After eliciting charged reactions from his fans, Durst stated: "I already told you guys before, I did it all for the nookie, man." The feud died weeks later. Aguilera denied Durst's statement, saying Durst "got no nookie." Later on in 2000, Aguilera performed at the Super Bowl XXXIV as a halftime performer. Aguilera performed her number one single "Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" at the 2000 VMA's. While performing, Aguilera was wearing a tight ruby red outfit with black and red streaks in her hair like they previously were in her "Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" video. Aguilera also appeared at the 1999 MTV Europe Music Awards.

The tour was sponsored by the famous American brands of Sears and Levi's. When it was announced, Aguilera was promoting "I Turn to You", third single from her first album; she was concurrently in the phase of production of her upcoming album Mi Reflejo.^[36] The first month of the tour and a few other shows were state fair concerts that featured a simpler stage set. At the same time, Aguilera began wearing much more revealing outfits and began putting different colors into her hair, as she transitioned from her teen pop star to a more mature image. The tour had 81 dates in total.

Musicians

Notes:

• ^ * As of December 2009, the album has sold 8,207,000 copies in the U.S. according to Nielsen SoundScan, which does not count albums sold through clubs like the BMG Music.^[23] Combined, it has sold over 9,142,000 copies in the U.S. with additional 935,000 copies sold at BMG Music Clubs.^[24] Nielsen SoundScan does not count albums sold through clubs like the BMG Music Service, which were significantly popular in the 1990s.^[25]