Christina Aguilera: Mind Over Body
Christina Aguilera is biting her nails. Despite her outwardly confident demeanor, the 18-year-old admits to being a nervous wreck. "What if people don't get it? I've worked too hard for everything to unravel because of misconceptions," she says with a deep exhale. Aguilera is referring to "Genie in a Bottle," the smoldering pop shuffler that previews her appealing self-titled debut. Framed by the kind of sticky- sweet chorus that megahits are made of, the tune is punctuated by a breathy, oh-so- suggestive command to "rub me the right way." "The song is not about sex," she asserts, her lithe figure rising from an overstuffed armchair in the in the center of her plush New York City hotel suite. "It's about self-respect. The words 'Rub me the right way' are not literal....It's more like 'C'mon, treat me right."
Although Aguilera insists she's not a prude, she's extremely sensitive about how she's being marketed-particularly to her peer group. "It's important to me to be a positive role model. Parading around in my bra and a pair of hot pants will not inspire confidence in other girls," the songstress says. "That would just make me one more person pushing them to feel like they have to be something they're not."
The daughter of a military father and a violinist/pianist mother, Aguilera has been preparing for her shot at being a teenage role model since she was 12, when she landed a spot on The New Mickey Mouse Club. She appeared on the Orlando, Fla.-based show with such current notables as Britney Spears, J.C. Chasez and Justin Timberlake of 'N Sync, and Felicity star Keri Russell, "It was a great way to grow up," Aguilera says of her Mouse days. "I loved being around kids who had the same passions I did." From there, she was picked to sing "Reflection," the theme to Disney's 1998 hit, Mulan.
Unfortunately, while striving for her debut disc to be as thought-provoking as it is trendy, Aguilera has been enduring minor fallout from her budding fame back in her hometown of Wexford, Pa. "I just got back from my prom, and it was just awful," she says, her face contorting from a weary smile to a cringe. "The girls just ignored me. They still don't see what I'm really all about, which is kinda sad. But that's why this record's so important," she says. "I'm not just another bimbo. I've got a brain and a heart. And I'm not gonna let my body distract people from that fact."
