genie in a bottle

Song information

"Genie in a Bottle" was written by David Frank, Steve Kipner and Pamela Sheyne and was produced by Frank and Kipner. The song's songwriting aspect has raised a minor scandal as apparently Aguilera co-wrote the song's B-section. Unfortunately, at the time Aguilera was unfamiliar with the legal aspect of songwriting, and did not submit a songwriting claim.

In her sexually driven debut single, Aguilera begins the song as a sexually repressed young woman stating that she feels like she's been "locked up tight for a century of lonely nights", and that she is waiting for someone to release her. She then sees a young man who sexually arouses her, making her exclaim, "My body's saying let's go". However, even though her hormones are "racing at the speed of light", she realizes "my heart is saying no". Nevertheless, Aguilera offers herself to the man by stating, "If you wanna be with me, baby there's a price to pay, I'm a genie in a bottle, You gotta rub me the right way".

The song's lyrics caused minor controversy at the time, as it was felt by some that Aguilera was too young to be singing such relatively suggestive lyrics, particularly as her music was marketed to young girls. The song was censored in some markets with tamer lyrics, in which Aguilera sings "you gotta treat me the right way" (instead of "you gotta rub me the right way"). The censored version was played in preteen-oriented markets such as Radio Disney.

Since then the song has been covered by Evil Adam, The Dan Band, Speedway and Thrice, and has made an appearance on Konami's Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2.

Parodist Hawaiian Ryan also recorded a spoof of the song, called "Weenie In A Bottle".

According to Christina's early songwriters who appeared on the documentary series Driven, Christina was not convinced that the track would highlight her voice. Her songwriter claimed that there was a "battle" between Christina and her producers because Christina wanted to display the power and audacity in her voice, whereas her producers would hold her back. In order to enable Christina's voice to be the central focus, she performed acoustic sets and appeared on television shows accompanied only by a piano.

In Aguilera's 2006 album, Back to Basics, a track dedicated to her fans titled "Thank You (Dedication to Fans...)" used samples of Genie in a Bottle. Extracts used such as "I feel like I been locked up", "My body's saying let's go", "Come on, Come on" and "Baby, Baby, Baby". Aguilera refers to the lock up mentioned in the beginning of the song to her being a prisoner of her dreams.

Chart success

Aguilera's debut single turned out to be a massive success, topping the Billboard Hot 100 and both of its component charts for multiple weeks. In addition to this, the song was also huge across the board, topping the Top 40 Mainstream, Top 40 Tracks and Rhythmic Top 40 charts. Strong sales assured the single a platinum certification. The song even managed to crossover to the relatively conservative Adult Top 40, and the Spanish version of the song ("Genio Atrapado") was a relative hit on the latin music charts.

Internationally, the same chart dominance was seen, as the track went to number one in both the UK and Canada for multiple weeks. However, it failed to top other European nations but it charted at least within the top five in every country it charted.

Charts

"Genie in a Bottle" debuted at number sixty-one on the Billboard Hot 100
"Genie in a Bottle" spent twenty-five weeks on the Billboard Hot 100
"Genie in a Bottle" was ranked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Charts (1999)

"Genie in a Bottle" was Aguilera's first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100
"Genie in a Bottle" was Aguilera's first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales
"Genie in a Bottle" was Aguilera's first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay
"Genie in a Bottle" was Aguilera's first number-one single on the Top 40 Tracks
"Genie in a Bottle" was Aguilera's first number-one single on the Top 40 Mainstream
"Genie in a Bottle" was Aguilera's first number-one single on the Rhythmic Top 40

Chart trajectory