Songoftheday 4/7/22 -When I'm lost in the rain in your eyes, I know I'll find the light to light my way...

 

 

"I Turn To You" - Christina Aguilera

from the album Christina Aguilera (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 19

 

Today's song comes from Christina Aguilera, whose eponymous debut album had already scored two #1 pop hits in America with "Genie In A Bottle" and "What A Girl Wants".  She also made the top 20 with her non-album version of "The Christmas Song" in the holiday season of 1999. The third release from her debut was the ballad "I Turn To You". Written by Diane Warren, the song was originally recorded by the vocal group All-4-One of "I Swear" and "I Can Love You Like That" fame for the movie Space Jam in 1997. Although it was prepped to be a single, the record company got cold feet and shelved it. Warren wasn't going to give up on the song, and offered it to Christina as one of the two songs of hers on the record. The lyrics have Aguilera praising someone close to her, whether it be a family member, friend, or lover its unclear, who has been her rock during troubled times. It's a common theme, but plainly and professionally expressed, and of course Christina gives her all to the master song doctor's work.She's allowed herself to vamp it up, but her vocal performance has a control that takes you from a restrained start to an all-out belt at the end. The music video does pick a side, using a mother-daughter story to illustrate the emotion behind the lyrics...

"I Turn To You" became Christina's third top ten pop hit in America in July of 2000. The song broke her through big on older-skewing "easy listening" radio, hitting #5 on Billboard magazine's Adult Contemporary chart, and #27 on the Adult Top-40 format, while getting to #10 on the dance-oriented rhythmic station tally. Internationally, the single climbed to #7 in Canada, and made the top-40 in New Zealand (#11), Spain (#12), Ireland (#17), the UK (#19), Austria (#30), Switzerland (#30), Belgium (#30F/#33W), and Australia (#40). The Spanish language version of the song, "Por Siempre Tu", went to #6 on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart and #2 on the Latin Pop Songs list. Christina and the album will return to the series.

(8/10)

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

As I mentionned, All-4-One originally recorded "I Turn To You", and it came so close to being put out as a single that a music video was made for it....

 

Here's the Spanish version of the song, "Por Siempre Tu", which had its own identical video shot...

Next up, on a TV appearance with just her and a piano...

Christina performed "I Turn To You" at the American Teacher Awards in 1999...

and finally, Aguilera live in concert...

Up tomorrow: This Australian duo kind of did just what the title of their song says.