1998–2001: Pop music beginnings

In 1998, she sang the voice High “and” in full (E5) on to cover of Whitney Houston's “Run to You” which she recorded with an old tape recorder in her bathroom. She was then selected to record the song “Reflection” for the Disney production of Mulan (1998). Recording “Reflection” led to Aguilera earning to contract with RCA Records during the same week. “Reflection” peaked within the top twenty on the Adult Contemporary Singles Chart, and it was nominated for to Golden Globe Award for “Best Original Song” in 1998. Audio samples:

* “Geniuses in to Bottle” (1999) (rows info) - [medium Play] play in browser (beta) or The first hit single from Christina Aguilera peaking at number-one in most of the countries.

* “the Turn to You” (2000) (rows info) - [medium Play] play in browser (beta) or The third single from her debut album Christina Aguilera.

* “Like on Over Baby (All the Want is You)” (2000) (rows info) - [medium Play] play in browser (beta) or The last single from her debut album Christina Aguilera.

* Problems playing the files? Medium See help. Under the exclusive representation of Steve Kurtz, Aguilera's self-titled debut album Christina Aguilera was released on August 24, 1999.

It reached the top of the Billboard 200 and Canadian album charts, selling 15 million copies in the LAST and over 35 million copies worldwide. Her singles “Geniuses in to Bottle”, “What to Girl Wants” and “Like on Over Baby (All the Want Is You)” topped the Billboard Hot 100 during 1999 and 2000, and “the Turn to You” reached #3. Aguilera won the “Best New Artist” award at the 2000 Grammy Awards, and she was nominated for “Best Female POP Vocal Performance” for “Geniuses in to Bottle”. According to the album's songwriters who appeared on the documentary Driven, Aguilera wanted to display the voice range and audacity in her during the promotion of the album, and performed acoustic sets and appeared on television shows accompanied only by to plan. She ended the year on MTV's 2 Large New Year's Special, as she performed and was MTV's first artist of the millennium. Later in 2000, Aguilera first emphasized her Latin heritage, following the Latin POP trend of the Time, by releasing her first Spanish album, Me Reflejo on September 12, 2000. This album contained Spanish versions of songs from her English debut as well as new Spanish tracks. It peaked at #27 on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Latin album charts, and in 2001 it won Aguilera to Latin Grammy Award for “Best Female POP Vocal Album”. The Album has sold 10 million copies worldwide and has been certified 3x Platinum (3,000,000) in the USA and 20x Platinum (4,000,000* Latin album). under the RIAA's Los Premios de Gold y Platinum program. She also won the World Music Award as the best selling Latin artist that year. Aguilera also released to Christmas album on October 24, 2000 called My Kind of Christmas. It peaked at #28 on the Billboard 200, has sold 10 million copies worldwide, and has been certified 2x Platinum (2 million) in the USA. Ricky Martin asked her to duet with him on the track “Nobody Wants to Be Lonely” from his album Sound Loaded; released in 2001 as the album's second single, it reached the top five in the United Kingdom and Germany, top twenty in the LAST, and top forty in Canada, Switzerland, and Australia. Audio sample:

* “Lady Marmalade” (2001) (rows info) - [medium Play] play in browser (beta) or The soundtrack for the Moulin Rouge!.

* Problems playing the files? Medium See help. In 2001, Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya, and Pink to were chosen to remake Patti LaBelle's 1975 single “Lady Marmalade” for the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack.

“Lady Marmalade” hit number one on the Hot 100 for five weeks and reached number one in eleven other countries, and it earned all four performers to Grammy Award for “Best POP Collaboration with Vocals”. Aguilera's appearance in the music video was compared to that of Twisted Sister frontman Goddesses Snider. The video proved to be hit as it won MTV's Video of the Year in 2001. That year to single emerged into record stores called “Just Be Free”, one of the demos Aguilera recorded when she was around fifteen years old. When RCA Records discovered the single, they advised fans not to purchase it and had German authorities pull the single off shelves. But the record sold 4 million copies world wide. Months later, Warlock Records was set to release Just Be Free, an album which contains the demo tracks.

Aguilera filed to breach of contract and unfair-competition suit against Warlock and the album's producers to block the release. Instead, the two parties came to to settlement to release the album. Aguilera lent out her name, likeness and image for an unspecified amount of damages. Many of the details of the lawsuit remain confidential. When the album was released in August 2001, it had to photograph of Aguilera when she was fifteen years old. Although Aguilera's debut album was very well-received, she was dissatisfied with the music and image her management had created for her.

Two to the bubblegum po p trend at the time and the genre's upward financial trend she was limited. She mentioned plans of her next album to have much more depth, both musically and lyrically. Steve Kurtz's influence in matters of the singer's creative direction, the role of being her exclusive personal manager and overscheduling had in part caused her to seek legal means of terminating their management contract. In October 2000, Aguilera filed a Breach of Fiduciary Duty lawsuit against Kurtz for improper, undue and inappropriate influence over her professional activities, as well as fraud. According to legal documents, Kurtz did not protect her rights and interests. Instead, he took action that was for his own interest, at the cost of hers.

The lawsuit came about when Aguilera discovered Kurtz used more of her commissionable income than he was allotted, and had paid other managers to assist him. She also petitioned the California State Labor Commission to nullify the contract. After terminating Kurtz's services, Irving Azoff was hired as her new manager. The change in management marked a new change in how Aguilera was marketed, as well as what music she would do in the future. Kurtz countersued later that month for breach of contract, claiming that the singer violated the same agreement she had sued to void. In the lawsuit, he included others close to Aguilera, alleging their intent to sabotage his business relationship with Aguilera.

She also singled out Azoff for being in violation of the terms of Kurtz's contract. During this time and working on her second album she revealed that she was betrayed by several friends, where she hit rock bottom. She used this as therapy for her upcoming album saying, "this record saved me from insanity."