Is there room on the pop charts for one more ex-Mouseketeer? When the results are as sophisticatedly saucy as Christina Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle," pedigree isn't even an issue. A midtempo argument for soulful affection weaves rolling hip-hop rhythms, hypnotic keyboard countermelodies and sensually sensible poetry into a deftly underplayed performance from an eighteen-year-old bombshell whose greatest assets are her powerhouse pipes.

Too bad the rest of this ingenue's debut skimps on the single's ingenuity. Anxious to establish Aguilera as heir to Mariah's diva throne, the usual producer-songwriter suspects (Diane Warren, Carl Sturken, Evan Rogers) clone Monica-Brandy-R. Kelly tunes too closely — "So Emotional" even cribs a Whitney title. Bubble-brained lyrics give Aguilera little substance to spin into gold, so her copious vocal curves and trills sound secondhand. Pop's next It Girl deserves to be outfitted in something more flattering than the empress's old clothes.

“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.