By Melinda Newman
Photography By Ellen Von Unwerth

By the time she began stirring up “Back to Basics,” she was in a committed relationship with her now-husband Jordan Bratman, and by album’s end had settled comfortably into marital bliss. On “Back to Basics,” she sings about the joy of their wedding day on “The Right Man” and delivers an audio valentine to him on “Save Me from Myself.”

The 2-CD set is the triple-Grammy winner’s latest top-seller. Even though Aguilera is only 26, for inspiration she looked back to singers whose heyday was long before she was born, legendary vocalists like Billie Holiday, Ray Charles and Pearl Bailey.

“My vision for this record was to go back to old blues, jazz and soul music,” she says, “the music that I love and am inspired by wholeheartedly.” 

Aguilera is one of the few singers among the current crop of young artists with the vocal pipes and emotional maturity to carry off such a tribute to the greatest singers of days gone by. On the album, she pays homage to her forbearers by weaving their influences into her own tapestry to create something wholly new or as she says, “We put a modern-day twist on it.”

She solicited producers for the album by a rather unorthodox method: she sent them letters with a 30-song collection of music from artists who had influenced her in a “soul, blues and jazz-driven way.” She encouraged them to come “create some magic” with her. “I wanted to be very specific: ‘Look, this is what I’m doing, this is what I want it to sound like and these are the elements I want you to play around with.”

The first disc, which spawned the retro, horn-laden hit, “Ain’t No Other Man,” was produced by DJ Premier. The two stay true to the homage premise, but tear it up by using samples and an assortment of contemporary beats.

The second disc, featuring the poignant “Hurt,” reunited Aguilera with Perry; the pair is best known for Aguilera’s monster hit, “Beautiful.” More traditional than the first disc, all songs are built from the ground up and no samples were allowed.