"What a Girl Wants" is the second single from Christina Aguilera's debut
album, Christina Aguilera. Released in late 1999, the single peaked at number
one on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, becoming Aguilera's second
number-one single. The single also peaked at number three in the UK and at
number five in Australia. Often considered one of her signature songs, the
single is most known for establishing Aguilera's placement in the music
industry. Many critics had written off the success of her last single, "Genie in
a Bottle", as a fluke; "What a Girl Wants" proved that Aguilera wasn't a one-hit
wonder. The single earned her five MTV Video Music Awards nominations; Best
Female Video, Best New Artist, Best Pop Video, Viewer's Choice, and Best
Choreography (Tina Landon), and also a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female
Pop Vocal Performance in 2001.
Song information
"What a Girl Wants" was written by Shelly Peiken and Guy Roche, and was produced
by Roche as well. In her first anthem dedicated to appreciating gentlemen,
Aguilera wants to thank a man who stood by her, and did not abandon her while
she was confused and needed time to breathe. Like a rock he stood patiently, and
knew exactly what his girl wanted and needed. To show her appreciation for the
gentleman in her life, Aguilera coos, "What a girl wants, what a girl needs;
Whatever makes me happy and sets you free, and I'm thanking you for knowing
exactly..". Unlike her previous single, "Genie in a Bottle", this song is not
meant to deal with the sexual aspect of relationships, but rather the romantic
and loving part of them.
Besides "Genie in a Bottle" and "Beautiful", the song is often considered to be
one of her signature songs, but ironically, it almost did not become the second
single. Aguilera's record company, RCA had originally felt that the track "So
Emotional" should become the second single. Aguilera became horrified as she
felt that the single was a poor choice and that she would end up as a one hit
wonder if it became the next single.
Originally her insecurities were brushed off by RCA, but Aguilera continued to
fight. Her record company finally relented, and "What a Girl Wants" was given
the go-ahead to be the next single. However, Aguilera was still not comfortable
as she felt that the song did not have single potential in its current form.
Instead, she decided that the song needed to be remixed and re-recorded (as the
original album version of "What a Girl Wants" had been a slow jam unsuitable for
pop radio at the time). When redone, the new version of "What a Girl Wants" kept
much of the original melody, but showed new energy and zest as the song was now
uptempo, had new lyrics, a new bridge, a Baroque style breakdown and new
powerful vocals (since the original album version had been recorded, Aguilera's
vocal strength had increased considerably).
As the new version of the song was not on the original album, the album was
re-released with the Video Version of the new version replacing the original
version. For fans of Aguilera who already had the album and did not want to buy
it again, the Radio Edit of the new version was also released as one of the last
major releases of CD Singles in the USA.
