Genie in a Bottle

Christina Aguilera’s “Genie in a Bottle” became the American pop singer’s signature track at the beginning of her career and was the song that lead her to international stardom. It is the first track from her self-titled debut album, and sold over 7 million copies worldwide.

The track started from the line “if you wanna be with me” which Sheyne came up with. The three writers carried on adding to the lyrics in a rapid fire songwriting session, with the main intention to be “to create a hit song”. They believed that a female should sing the song, to which Frank put Aguilera forward to record the track. Aguilera add the spoken hook to the song. The track’s original title was “If You Want To Be With Me”, but Aguilera’s management suggested the final name “Genie in a Bottle”. The song encompasses the feelings around respect and earning someone’s trust before you’re intimate with them. However, the media commented on the inappropriateness of the track for Aguilera age (she was eighteen at the time), with lyrics like “you have to rub me the right way” being changed to “treat me the right way” in countries like Malaysia. This upset Aguilera who claimed that the song was about “self-respect… it’s about not giving in to temptation until you’re respected.”

The music video was directed by Diane Martel in April 1999, who had worked on Mariah Carey’s “Dreamlover” music video. The video was shot in Malibu with surrounding of a beach and a beach house. Aguilera performs a genie style choreography with male dancers at the beach, and the video ends with a beach party, with party goers huddling around a bonfire. The video was uploaded to YouTube in October of 2009, and has over 115 million views and over 467 thousand likes.

Release Date: 22nd June 1999

Songwriter/s: David Frank, Steve Kipner & Pamela Sheyne

Producer/s: David Frank & Steve Kipner

Label/s: RCA

Music Video Release Date:1999

Music Video Director: Diane Martel

Chart Rankings, Certifications & Accolades: In 1999, “Genie in a Bottle” went to #1 in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Spain, the UK and the US. As well as making the charts in Australia and New Zealand. It went Platinum in 7 different countries: Australia, Belgium, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, the UK and the US. It also went Gold in Austria, France and Switzerland. The song has been #5 on the Rolling Stone’s list of the biggest 1990’s summer songs, and VH1 has also ranked it #38 on its “100 Greatest Songs of the ’90s”.