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"Genie in a Bottle" is the first single and signature song from Christina Aguilera's debut album, Christina Aguilera. As her first major single, the song is generally considered her debut single (although technically she had released two songs prior to this). Released in mid-1999, the single peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks, becoming Aguilera's first number-one single. The single also peaked at number one in the UK, also becoming her first number one single in that country. The single is generally considered to be one of her signature songs. The single earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 2000; it also helped her win the Best New Artist Grammy that same year.

The song is featured on the video game Karaoke Revolution Volume 2 and Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2.

Song information

"Genie in a Bottle" was written by David Frank, Steve Kipner, and Pamela Sheyne and was produced by Frank and Kipner. Genius in a bottle was also written by Lee Verbic and unfortunatley didnt make the charts at all. 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 sexual release. 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.

The song has been covered by Sara Bareilles, The Dan Band, Speedway, Thrice, Ten Masked Men and Evil Adam.

Parodist 'Hawaiian Ryan' also recorded a spoof of the song, called "Weenie In A Bottle", one of the tracks from his Shaving Ryan's Privates album. This parody is often incorrectly attributed to "Weird Al" Yankovic. Aguilera also used the line "weenie in a bottle" when she played Samantha Jones at an episode of Saturday Night Live that she hosted in 2004, wherein her character revealed to everyone that she was a man the entire time.

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", "oh, oh, oh", "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.

A new electronic version of the song, named "Genie 2.0", was performed at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, to commemorate Christina's first greatest hits compilation Keeps Gettin' Better - A Decade of Hits and the 25th anniversary of the MTV Video Music Awards. Both the original version and the remake will be included in Keeps Gettin' Better.

Track listings

US Single

1. Genie In A Bottle 3:36
2. Blessed 3:03

US Promo Remixes

1. Genie In A Bottle 6:28
2. Genie In A Bottle 7:57
3. Genie In A Bottle 4:26
4. Genie In A Bottle 6:28
5. Genie In A Bottle 5:05
6. Genie In A Bottle 6:29
7. Genie In A Bottle 4:16

Germany Single

1. Genie In A Bottle 3:36
2. We're A Miracle 4:09

UK CD1

1. Genie In A Bottle 3:36
2. Blessed 3:03
3. Genie In A Bottle 4:16

UK CD2

1. Genie In A Bottle 3:36
2. Genie In A Bottle 3:56

• In 2001, Roy Kerr, a UK DJ known as The Freelance Hellraiser, created a bootleg remix of Genie In A Bottle and the instrumental track of The Strokes' Hard to Explain, called A Stroke of Genie-us. The remix was played on the UK radio station Xfm, and received favorable reviews. This song is one of the earliest examples of the mashup genre.

Genio Atrapado remixes and other versions

The song was translated to "Genio Atrapado," ("Trapped Genie") in Spanish. It was the first single off the album Mi Reflejo, which was Aguilera's first Spanish studio album.

• Genio Atrapado (Album Version) 3:37
• Genio Atrapado (Pablo Flores Miami Mix) 10:20
• Genio Atrapado (Pablo Flores Miami Mix Edit) 4:37
• Genio Atrapado (Pablo Flores Dub) 8:03
• Genie 2.0 (Featured in the 2008 VMA's and also on Christina's Greatest Hits Compilation album Keeps Gettin' Better – A Decade of Hits) 4:15

Chart success

"Genie In a Bottle" quickly debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1999, and sky rocketed up the charts due to strong airplay and strong sales of the CD single. In its 5th week, it reached #1 on the Hot 100 and stayed there for five consecutive weeks. At that point, it had the longest stay at #1 for the entire year, tying Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca"and Jennifer Lopez's "If You Had My Love." All 3 songs were eventually overtaken by Santana whose single "Smooth" ended up topping the Hot 100 for 10 weeks later in 1999. The success of "Genie In a Bottle" marked the third time that year that a new female artist reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with her debut single (and later on in the summer reaching #1 with her debut album as well), the first being Britney Spears who earlier in the year enjoyed success with "...Baby One More Time", and the second being Jennifer Lopez who's debut single, If You Had My Love, also peaked at #1. The success an achievement for Britney's and Christina's debut singles caused a lot of rivalry and comparisons between the two in the media. "Genie In a Bottle" was an amazing success around the world and generated 7,803,000 million points worldwide.

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" (English: "Trapped Genie"), was a modest hit on the Latin chart.

Internationally, a similar chart dominance was seen, as the track went to number-one in both the U.K. 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. The song is Aguilera's second highest charting single, behind "Lady Marmalade", a collaboration with Lil' Kim, Mya and Pink.

Charts

Certifications

Footnotes

1. Dom Phillips. Smells like teen booty. Guardian February 27, 2002
2. Douglas Wolk. Barely Legal. The Village Voice February 5th, 2002
3. Raju Mudhar. 5 years after a stroke of Genie-us. Toronto Star. Dec 24, 2006
4. Genie in a Bottle information
5. Hit Parade (1999). "European charts". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
6. ^ All Music Guide (1999). "Billboard charts". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
7. Paul Sexton (October 25, 1999). "Westlife Bumps Aguilera From Top Of U.K. Chart". Billboard magazine. Retrieved 2008-10-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
8. Charts-Surfer (1999). "German Singles Chart (Search)". charts-surfer.de. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
9. Irish Recording Music Association (June 10, 1999). "Irish Singles Chart (Search)". irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 2008-10-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
10. Every Hit (1999). "UK Singles Chart (Search)". everyhit.com. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
11. Australian Recording Industry Association (1999). "ARIA charts — End of year charts". aria.com.au. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
12. "Austrian year-end chart". austriancharts.at. 1999. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
13. Billboard magazine (December 30, 1999). "Women Rule 1999 European Charts". billboard.com. Retrieved 2008-10-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
14. Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique (1999). "Le Classement Singles". disqueenfrance.com. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
15. Universität Würzburg (1999). "German year-end chart". ki.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
16. Hit Listan (1999). "Årslista Singlar (Search)". hitlistan.se. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
17. Hit Parade (1999). "Swiss year-end chart". swisscharts.com. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
18. Billboard magazine (December 31, 1999). "Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart". billboard.com. Retrieved 2008-10-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
19. Austrian Recording Industry Association (1999). "Australian certification". aria.com.au. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
20. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (July 10, 1999). "Austrian certification (search)". ifpi.at. Retrieved 2008-10-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
21. Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique (1999). "French certification". chartsinfrance.net. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
22. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (1999). "German certification". musikindustrie.de. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
23. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (1999). "Criteria" (PDF). musikindustrie.de. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
24. Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (December, 1999). "New Zealand certification (search)". rianz.org.nz. Retrieved 2008-10-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
25. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (1999). "Swedish certification" (PDF). ifpi.se. Retrieved 2008-07-30.
26. Hit Parade (1999). "Swiss certification". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
27. Recording Industry Association of America (August 10, 1999). "U.S. certification (search)". riaa.com. Retrieved 2008-10-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)

• 1999 singles
• ARC Weekly Top 40 number-one singles
• Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
• Christina Aguilera songs
• Dance-pop songs
• Debut singles
• Music videos directed by Diane Martel
• Number-one singles in Austria
• Number-one singles in Belgium
• Number-one singles in Canada
• Number-one singles in Italy
• Number-one singles in Norway
• Number-one singles in the United Kingdom