Articles
Teen Genie
Source: TV Guide
There was Christina Aguilera at the trendy MAC Cosmetics shop in Los Angeles's tony Beverly Center when, she says, "Suddenly, these girls come up and they're screaming, 'Are you Christina Aguilera? "Genie In a Bottle"?' They had just bought my single and had it with them. Then they went out and bought a disposable camera to take my picture."
In those few minutes, Aguilera, 18, got the ong thing she says she has wanted her whole life-public recognition: "It was the coolest feeling. I have waited to have that happen for so long."
It's a feeling that's sure to be experienced again soon, as Aguilera gets ready to snatch the teen pop-queen crown from her old Mickey Mouse Club castmate Britney Spears. "Genie In a Bottle" has sold more than half a million copies since its June 22 release, and its video consistently tanks among the Top 10 on MTV's Total Request Live. Her self-titled debut album hits the stores August 24.
"Just seeing my name at No. 1 on a Billboard chart-it's always been a dream," Aguilera says. The older daughter of a military man, she spent her earliest years traveling from Texas to New Jersey to Japan. That stopped when her parents seperated. She and her mother, Shelly, now president of her fan club, moved in with grandmother Delcie Fidler of Wexford, Pennsylvania, when Christina was 7. Fidler was the first to encourage Aguilera to develop her voice. When Aguilera was 12, she was cast in the Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Club, appearing on its last two seasons. In 1998, she recorded the ballad "Reflections" for the "Mulan" soundtrack.
These days, it's hard to recognize that Aguilera is the same girl who once sang "M-I-C-K-E-Y" with Spears and fellow Mouseketeers Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez, now with 'N Sync. Blond and meticulously made-up she appears less a teen than an ambitious adult. She plans to record the Diane Warren-penned ballad "I Turn to You" in Spanish as a nod to her Latin roots (her father, Fausto, is Ecuadorian). There may be a fall tour. And she hopes to squeeze in some relaxation time soon (i.e., dating). "My Schedule doesn't allow me to have a boyfriend. But if I meet somebody on the road I click with," she says, grinning, "I'll make a little time."
-Janet Weeks