This week’s Billboard magazine cover star Christina Aguilera took some time to reflect on a handful of her biggest career milestones to date, including her breakthrough role on The Mickey Mouse Club, her first Grammy win and her co-starring spot opposite Cher in the film Burlesque.
Shown a clip from a 1994 episode of The Mickey Mouse Club, during which she covers Aretha Franklin’s “Think,” Aguilera says, “I love those little outfits,” adding that the preppy attire reminds her of the school-themed costumes in Britney Spears’ future “…Baby One More Time” video.
Fast-forwarding to July 31, 1999, when Aguilera’s “Genie In a Bottle” topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the singer says that was the moment that was “the start of everything.”
“When you’re little, all you can do is dream,” she continues, adding that she used to hope to one day hear herself on the radio. “This is what dreams are made of, and they come true.”
Another key moment in Aguilera’s career came in 2000 when she won her first Grammy award. Taking home the statuette for Best New Artist, the singer reveals that this Grammy is the one that means the most to her because it can only be won once.
She goes on to explain that she had no idea that she was going to win. “I think they had me seated like way in the back or something,” she says with a laugh, adding that the dress she wore was thrown together last minute.
Aguilera also shares some thoughts on her 2002 song “Beautiful,” calling it “the beginning of that new chapter for me where I was able to, for the first time, be myself outside of the bottle — the genie was set free.”
“It was the first time for me to speak my own truth and show not only my own voice and stories, but those of others,” she says. “People taking pride in themselves and their sexuality, body issues or dysmorphia or disorders, things that people were embracing and being really honest about and truthful, and that’s really what I try to strive for in all of my work as an artist.”
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The final moment Aguilera is shown is of her performing the song “I’m a Good Girl” in the 2010 film Burlesque. “This [song] is actually one of the reasons why I signed on to do Burlesque,” she reveals. “The director, Steven Antin, he was very smart. He knew there were certain key words that were gonna reel me into doing this movie…And doing the movie was so fun and – hello, Cher! Epic. Amazing.”
Take a look at the full video above.