| "What a Girl Wants" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Christina Aguilera | ||||
| from the album Christina Aguilera | ||||
| B-side | "Too Beautiful For Words" | |||
| Released | November 28, 1999[1] | |||
| Format | CD single, Maxi single | |||
| Recorded | 1998-1999 | |||
| Genre | Teen pop | |||
| Length | 3:22 | |||
| Label | RCA | |||
| Writer(s) | Shelly Peiken, Guy Roche | |||
| Producer | Guy Roche | |||
| Christina Aguilera singles chronology | ||||
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"What a Girl Wants" is a song by American recording artist Christina Aguilera from her debut studio album Christina Aguilera. The single was released after a strong commercial interest in her single "Genie in a Bottle" and came at a time when Aguilera was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with her input into her career. The song was written by Shelly Peiken and Guy Roche, the two were improvising with a cassette recorded and after Peiken and after improvising some of the songs lyrics Peiken decided to return to it at a later date. When the song was completed and was pitched to Ron Fair of RCA under the name of "What a Girl Needs" and after agreeing to change the title to "What a Girl Wants" Fair delivered the song to Aguilera to become the first track recorded for her debut album.
The song was released on November 28, 1999 as her second single after it was re-recorded. The song was described as a Pop and R&B style track with similarities to her debut single "Genie in a Bottle", and her vocals were compared to that of singer Mariah Carey. The song received positive reviews from critics who described it as a "light" song. Commercially the song became a success becoming her second consecutive US number one single, in addition to topping charts in New Zealand and Spain. The single earned Gold certifications in countries such as Belgium and Sweden and became a top ten hit in the United Kingdom, Australia and Belgium (Flanders).
A music video was released directed by Diane Martel who had also directed her previous video for "Genie in a Bottle". The video presented Aguilera dancing in a room with female friends whilst being viewed by their boyfriends and saw a scene of her dressed as a "medieval style Princess". In December 1999 the video reached pole position on the US music video chart TRL. Aguilera has performed the song at events such as the US Jingle Ball and the MTV New Years' Eve Special in 1999.
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After what was described as an "incredible" response to her debut single the interest in Aguilera began to grow at which point her record label decided it was time to release a second single.[2] The label and Aguilera disputed to which track should be released with Aguilera recalling "You know, some people do want me to stay in the pop scene, I want to grow from there. I always want to continue growing and getting to that level of, 'Oh, she's a real singer, a real ballad-singer, she can do it'".[2] However the announcement then came that "What a Girl Wants" would be released as the follow-up single, with Aguilera saying "The next single will be "What a Girl Wants", but a totally cool remix of it".[2] The single was not chosen by Aguilera, but instead her record label RCA and label executive Ron Fair, Aguilera found herself with little control over the entire project, and a marketing strategy foresaw that Aguilera would have better success as a "teen idol" so in an effort to maintain her persona, music was chosen and recorded under the basis that she would become the next pop phenomenon.[3] The label at times had even requested she remove her surname in an effort to hide her ethnicity, something which she refused at the discovery of an increasingly "fake industry", her hectic schedules meant that relationships with friends and family were deteriorating something which she found increasingly hard to cope with.[3] But ultimately she understood the industry and her drive for success and longevity in her career supurred her on, she stated;
Unfortunately pop, is often about eye-candy [...] It can be hard to be eighteen and to be in this business, your album is huge, and these people twenty years your senior are seeing you as a product. That can be scary. I just wanted to make music, and all of a sudden it was all about this package-what your look is going to be. All these decision are being made for you".[3]
"I had a little cassette running, a work tape in case you can't remember something but you know it was good. A lot of hooks come out of making mistakes and then you can't remember what you did. I went home that night and got into bed with my husband. I was listening to our work tape. I knew there was a real gem there in a very raw form that was going to be something one day"
Shelley Peiken was the writer behind "What a Girl Wants", initially Peiken's success was established slowly and any success she did enjoy wasn't prominent in the music industry until she met songwriter Guy Roche after he had moved to Los Angeles with Peiken's manager suggesting the pair should work together.[4] One day the pair were working together and were working with a cassette tape after which they experimented with vocals and hooks and the night after the writing session had commenced Peiken asked her husband to listen to the tape which featured the lyrics, "What a girl needs, what a girl wants, whatever makes you happy and keeps you strong" and after the presentation she decided the working progress did have potential and would return to it at a later date.[4]
The song was completed and was titled "What a Girl Needs" and after no major interest until it was pitched to Ron Fair of RCA records at a time after he had signed Aguilera and was searching for material for her debut album.[4] After expressing interest Fair and others from the label asked the pair to swap the words; "change" and "need" after which the songwriting duo were unsure and called it a "leap of faith" allowing him to edit the track in this manner.[4] "What a Girl Wants" was the first track recorded for Aguilera's self-titled debut album, Christina Aguilera, Fair liked the song and after the decision was made to release it as the second single the label called for a second recording of the track because they wanted to change the original key in addition to editing rhythmic changes.[4] The second recording came after the success of her debut single "Genie in a Bottle", after which the label wanted to produce a similar tone.[4]
"What a Girl Wants" is a Pop-R&B track with some similarities to her debut single "Genie in a Bottle".[1] Written in the key of A-major the track begins with the lyrics "What a girl wants, what a girl needs, whatever makes me happy sets you free" and it set against 120 beats per minute.[5] Anthony Violanti from Buffalo News described the track as a "light hip-hop song" in comparison to the previous single.[6] Aguilera's vocals have been compared to that of Mariah Carey, with Carey's single "Emotions" being the grounds for these comparisons.[1] In Aguilera's vocal performance she starts singing in a lower register and "carefully" scales notes until she reaches "the highest echelon of her upper register".[1] During the track Aguilera performs the lyrics "A girl needs somebody sensitive but tough, Somebody there when the going get rough."[6] The track that was released as a single was a revised version of the song, it focused more upon the "funky R&B edge", and with Aguilera taking participation in the revision her additions made the track lighter and a mix of "pop and R&B".[1] But despite this Aguilera was disappointed in her lack of input into the single saying;
"I was held back a lot from doing more R&B ad-libbing. They clearly wanted to make a fresh sounding young pop record and that's not always the direction I wanted to go in. Sometimes they didn't get it, didn't want to hear me out because of my age, and that was a little bit frustrating. But I want to write more about experiences I've gone through. I've gone through bad situations. I come from a divorced home. I've been around abuse. I've lived a different life, been on the outside."[7]
Critic Robert Christgau called "What a Girl Wants" "clever" adding "but in a far less ingratiating way", comparing the track to a "two hour promotional video" of Aguilera.[8] Christgau concluded his review by noting "it raises the question of how this ruthlessly atypical young careerist can presume to advise girls not cursed with her ambition, and the fear that some of them will make her a role model regardless".[8] Anthony Violanti from Buffalo News discussed the success behind the record was the formula than incorporated teen idols with R&B and Pop music releases, Violanti discussed the track calling it a "light track", and despite saying the track had been "buried in production" he concluded it "has a way of selling a song".[6] Author Pier Dominquez of A Star is Made called the song "a lightweight but pleasant Pop/ R&B confection" and stated Aguilera performed "vocal acrobatics" and labelled it a "less effective" Mariah Carey style vocal performance.[1]
In Europe the song became a number one single in Spain after debuting at number three the single topped the chart in its second week on the issue date of January 29, 2000 where it spent just one week before returning to number three and spent eight weeks on the chart.[9] In the United Kingdom the song debuted and peaked at number three on the issue date of February 26, 2000, the song spent two weeks inside the top ten and thirteen weeks on the chart.[10] In Sweden the song was certified Gold[11] after spending twelve weeks on the chart and in its seventh week it made its peak at number 24 where it spent two weeks before falling out of the chart four weeks later.[12] The song was also certified Gold in Belgium[13] after debuting at number 40 on the Flanders chart on the issue date of January 01, 2000 and after spending six weeks on the chart it entered the top ten at number nine before making its peak of number eight were it remained for three weeks.[14] On the Wallonia charts the song also debuted at number 40 and on its sixth week in the chart it made its peak of number 16 spending just that one week inside the top 20.[15]
In the United States the song spent 24 weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100 during which time it topped the chart[16] becoming her second consecutive US number one single after topping the chart on the issue date of January 15, 2000 for two consecutive weeks.[1] On the Billboard component charts the song peaked at number one on the US Pop Songs chart where it spent 26 weeks[17] and the track also peaked at number 18 on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart where it spent 11 weeks on the chart[18] and that year it was certified Gold by the RIAA.[19] In Oceania the single performed well, in Australia the track debuted at number 21, on the issue date of January 9, 2000 where it stayed for a further week, for the next two weeks the single rose up the charts before making its peak at number five on the charts.[20] The track spent a total of 18 weeks on the chart, five of which were spent within the top ten.[20] In New Zealand the single debuted at number 39 on the singles chart, before jumping to number two the following week.[21] In its third week the track topped the chart on the issue date of February 6, 2000, the single fell to number two the following week, before making its second run at number one on February 20, 2000 and once again falling to number two.[21] On the issue date of March 3, 2000 the track made its third run at number one spending three weeks atop the chart before falling to number three spending a total of 13 weeks on the chart.[21]
The music video for "What a Girl Wants" was directed by Diane Martel who had also directed the music video for her previous single "Genie in a Bottle" and it was choreographed by Tina Landon with the lighting in the video more "defined" than the previous single's allowing a "clearer view" of Aguilera.[1] The video starts with a shot showing men inside a room, performing activities such as cycling and DJ-ing until Aguilera and other females enter the room at which the men turn to watch them enter. The women move the men towards the far-end of the room and after asking the men to cover their eyes, the music begins and the women and Aguilera begin to dance. The video shows solo shots of Aguilera performing in-between footage of the dance, and increasingly the men get excited before getting up to dance as shots of Aguilera atop large speakers is shown. As the dance sequence in the first room ends, the screen moves over the ceiling of the venue and shows Aguilera in a different room dressed similarly to a medieval princess[1] laying on a chaise longue whilst women dance around her with fans. After the bridge section finishes the video cuts back to the dancers in the first room and the video ends with a bird-eye-view shot of everyone in the room surrounding Aguilera and a male character who are intimately dancing. On December 16, 1999 the music video reached pole position on the music video chart, TRL.[1]
Aguilera performed the track during the promotional campaign of Christina Aguilera.[22] Aguilera performed the track in a Milwaukee high school called Franklin High, the performance saw her live in front of 1,300 teenagers in a set-list that compromised of three tracks being; "Genie in a Bottle", "The Christmas Song" and "What a Girl Wants".[22] Aguilera performed the song on the Jingle Ball for radio station Kiss 108 just days after the release of the music video, continuing promotion for the album.[1] Later in December 1999 Aguilera was chosen to perform on MTV's live New Year's Eve Special, which she commented on beforehand saying "I'm nervous about what's going to go on that night. Everything's going to be so chaotic", wearing tight leather pants Aguilera started with a performance of "Genie in a Bottle" continuing into "What a Girl Wants".[23]
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Year-end charts
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