Genie in A Bottle - Recording

Recording

The demo track that the record company had heard originally was used as a basis for Aguilera's actual recording as she simply replaced the vocals on the demo with her own before the writers and producers edited it for improvement, however after the first recording was completed they felt her vocals were too "hard" sounding and a second proved to be "softer" which they had wished for. Kipner co-writer of the track was impressed by Aguilera's performance of complex R&B lines during the recording of the track, something he only saw in older artists comparing her vocals to that of; Chaka Khan, Etta James and Mariah Carey. The recording of "Genie in a Bottle" was detailed in an article by Sound on Sound in which David Frank described the development of the track. Before Frank had met Aguilera most of "Genie in a Bottle" had already been completed, he had heard a tape delivered by RCA featuring Aguilera's performance of "Reflection" but Frank feared she could not perform in a "hip-hop orientated style". The instrumental for "Genie in a Bottle" was almost complete before the entire composition had been finished, it was only when he was contacted by songwriter Pam Sheyne that they progressed in writing the track and later Frank contacted Steve Kipner "a good friend" of his, and after agreeing to collaborate the three continued writing "Genie in a Bottle".

"Genie in a Bottle" has been described as a teen pop and dance-pop record with publications noting the youthful message with The New York Times saying "One of the summer's catchiest singles captures the moment's anxieties about teen-age sex". The track has been described as "blue-eyed-soul" and has been labelled "a skittish dance hit, propelled by indecision "My body's saying let's go but my heart is saying no"". The chorus then plays with "bubbly dance beats" as Aguilera metaphorically describes herself as a Genie trapped, and can only be released when rubbed "the right way". She explained "If you listen to the words "My body's saying let's go but my heart is saying no". My heart is saying no. So it's really a song about self-respect and treating me the way I want to be treated before I just give my love away to anybody". Sexual references also come from the "oohs and ahs" in addition to the R&B ad-libbing, celebrities such as Debbie Gibson spoke out against the song saying she was "horrified" with the lyricism being performed by an 18-year-old, the comment went on to upset Aguilera who found her being a female was restricting what she could perform. Lyricism in the track had sexual references which saw controversy arise, Larry Flick from Billboard commented, "Fueled by a chugging groove and richly layered vocals, the tune is punctuated by a breathy command to "rub me the right way"", Aguilera explained "the song is not about sex, It's about self-respect. It's about not giving in to temptation until you're respected. In Malaysia the controversial lyrics gained it a ban which led Aguilera to re-record some of the lyrics such as; "hormones racing" to "heart-beats racing" and "rub the right way" to "treat me the right way".