Christina Aguilera and Sabrina Carpenter Reimagine 'What a Girl Wants' — 25 Years After Its Release: Listen

Christina Aguilera and Sabrina Carpenter know what girls want, and the girls want a duet!

In collaboration with Spotify, Aguilera reflected on the 25th anniversary of her self-titled debut with a live rendition of some of its most famous tracks, a live band, and backup singers. The singer also reunited with Ron Fair, Senior VP of A&R at RCA Records who is credited with discovering Aguilera, to reflect on the early years of her career.

Aguilera also brought out “Espresso” singer Carpenter to sing a rendition of her second single, “What a Girl Wants.” A proud Aguilera looks on as Carpenter opens the song before taking over for the second verse. The two effortlessly trade vocal duties — all while sitting on a couch.

Carpenter also took the time to discuss the impact Aguilera had on her as a child.

“I think the first time I ever heard your voice was [when] my mom played me a video of you singing at eight years old, ‘A Sunday Kind of Love’,” Carpenter told Aguilera. She was referring to Aguilera’s 1990 appearance on Star Search when she was about 10 years old, where she stunned the audience with a passionate rendition of one of Etta James’ fan-favorite songs.

“That was the most inspiring thing for me ever to see as a young girl that wanted to sing but just didn’t think I could do it at that age.”

If the performance was any indication, their mics are on. The only lip-syncing you can catch them doing is on social media, where the pair teased their much-hyped collaboration in an adorable social media post. Carpenter followed along to audio of Kylie Jenner saying, “I’m obsessed with my mom,” referring to Aguilera. 

The 25-year check-in of Aguilera’s momentous debut serves as a way to bring “together the past and present” according to the singer in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. In addition to tapping Carpenter for her smash hit, she also gave “Genie in a Bottle” the mgk treatment, where the multi-hyphenate added a soulful guitar alongside the live band. 

Aguilera closed out the emotional session with “Reflection,” the Mulan soundtrack song that started it all. Because of the reception the song received, it was eventually adopted as a track on her debut.

Christina Aguilera was released on Aug. 24, 1999. The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and spawned three chart-topping hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Genie in a Bottle," "What a Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)."