Critical Reception
"On Thank You (Dedication to Fans) off of her album Back to Basics, Aguilera sings "It seems like a lifetime/since I felt like a prisoner of my dreams...and now I'm so happy I started where I started." Genie, the singer's ubiquitous first single, became an instant hit, due to its catchy chorus and Aguilera's appeal. Besides being her first hit single, the song also separated her from the other pop stars that were coming out at the same time. The single boasted debatabley provocative lyrics ('my body's saying let's go' and other lyrics were considered to provocative to be sung by a teen idol some thought. Radio Disney played a censored version of the song on their station). Aguilera quickly established she was different then your typical pop star."
Nicole Hogsett from Yahoo! listed the song as her tenth favorite Aguilera track.Tom Lanham of Entertainment Weekly gave the song a B+ rating referencing the predictability after other performers from the Mickey Mouse Club writing "Yet another ex-Mouseketeer scampers down the Britney-pop path with a suggestive synth ditty and a husky voice well beyond her 18 years." Lanham wrote her vocal performance is "uncomfortably adult" and called the track "a sinfully sweet confection". A writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette gave the song a positive review calling it a "smoldering soul-pop" track and described Aguilera's vocals as being "provocative" whilst calling the song a "pleasure" to listen to. In a review for the album Christina Aguilera critic Robert Christgau called the song a "dazzling clever piece of teen self-exploration cum sexploitation". Nana-Adwoa Ofori of the AOL Radio blog listed the song as her top Christina Aguilera song declaring it as her "signature" track. A writer from Daily News found Aguilera to be more capable vocally than the tracks limits but found the track to be a "a slice of thumping sensuality".
Nicole Hogsett of Yahoo! found the song's appeal was due to the catchy chorus but found the song separated her from other pop stars at the time of the single's release. Hogsett found the song quickly "established she was different than your typical pop star". People called the song "sexy" and "pulsating". A writer for The New York Times "got" the song's youthful message and said "One of the summer's catchiest singles captures the moment's anxieties about teenage sex. 'Genie in a Bottle', sung by the blue-eyed former Mouseketeer Christina Aguilera, is a skittish dance hit propelled by indecision". Pier Dominquez, writer of A Star is Made found the song could be deemed suggestive but stated the track does not promote sex or promiscuity. He found the sensuality of the song came from Aguilera's vocal delivery and found her ad-libbing something that would set her apart from other artists.
Read more about this topic: Genie In A Bottle
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