Christina Aguilera
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
After two years, Aguilera moved to Japan, where she recorded the hit duet All I Wanna Do with pop star Keizo Nakanishi. Returning to the U.S. in 1998, Aguilera recorded the song Reflection for Disneys #Mulan; her performance helped earn her a record deal with RCA. Her self-titled debut album was released in the summer of 1999, and with teen-oriented dance-pop all the rage, the lead single Genie in a Bottle shot to the top of the charts for five weeks; the album also hit number one on its way to sales of over eight million copies in the U.S. alone. The follow-up, What a Girl Wants, was the first number one single of the year 2000 and Aguilera consolidated her near-instant stardom by performing at the White House Christmas gala and the Super Bowl halftime show, and winning a Grammy for Best New Artist. Further hits followed in I Turn to You and another number one, Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You).
In September 2000, seeking a place in that years Latin pop boom, the part-Ecuadorian Aguilera recorded a Spanish-language album called Mi Reflejo, learning the lyrics phonetically since she didnt speak Spanish. It was followed quickly by the holiday album My Kind of Christmas; both sold extremely well, a testament to Aguileras popularity. In the spring of 2001, Aguilera was featured -- along with Pink, Mya, and Lil Kim -- on the chart-topping blockbuster remake of Patti LaBelles Lady Marmalade featured on the Moulin Rouge soundtrack. Aguilera was by now a fixture at music industry awards shows; as she enjoyed her celebrity, a collection of old demos -- recorded when she was 14 and 15 -- was released under the title Just Be Free, despite Aguileras vehement objections.
Aguilera attempted to deter the mass medias expectations when she issued her second studio album in fall 2002. Stripped, which appeared in October on RCA, was quickly criticized for its adult yet confident approach. Aguileras look had gone from glossy to gritty. She appeared topless on the cover of the album and went nude for a fall issue of ~Rolling Stone. Debut single Dirrty revealed her new sexual power and became a chart smash, while Beautiful showed her softer side. For her next record, however, Aguilera split from producer Scott Storch and went to work with DJ Premier and Linda Perry, among others, for the 2006 Back to Basics, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The album, a two-disc set that explored her influences, mainly 20s, 30s, and 40s jazz and lues in the style of Etta James or Billie Holiday, portrayed a more mature, yet at the same time provocative, singer.
