What A Girl Wants (song) - Background

Background

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. 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'". 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". 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. 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. 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".