Christina Aguilera is celebrating 25 years of her 1999 self-titled debut album, and its enduring hit “Genie in a Bottle.”

While she revealed in her latest Glamour cowl story that she’s “grateful” for every thing that the album offered for her, it was the beginning of navigating her journey as an artist that wouldn’t be outlined by one style. “I didn’t love the bubblegum thing, where you had to play a virgin but not act like one,” she admitted. “When I was performing ‘Genie’ and ‘What a Girl Wants’ and ‘Come on Over,’ I got bored easily. Creatively, it was one-dimensional.”

That’s why she shifted her deal with 2002’s Stripped, which fittingly stripped the teenybopper persona with extra grownup themes and vocal-focused pop hits with R&B tinges. “I think it was just a matter of believing so wholeheartedly in my vision, which was to fight for sexuality,” she mentioned of combating again in opposition to the backlash to the provocative album.

Funny sufficient, Aguilera was on that empowerment wave earlier than her debut album was even launched. The then-18-year-old star instructed Billboard of “Genie in a Bottle” again in 1999, “The song is not about sex. It’s about self-respect. It’s about not giving in to temptation until you’re respected. It’s time for something different. It’s time that music make[s] kids feel confident and secure.”

With “Genie in a Bottle,” Aguilera unleashed her first of 5 Hot 100 No. 1s and 11 prime 10s. Aguilera’s debut album subsequently launched at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 253,000 copies offered in the United States in its first week, in accordance with Luminate.