Christina Aguilera hasn't forgotten the "Dirrty" critics who boxed in her talent

From the moment Christina Aguilera first stepped onstage at age nine, she knew she had found a higher calling. A self-described big dreamer, a music career was always a part of Christina Aguilera’s plan—but that doesn’t mean the industry never threw her for a loop.

In a new interview with Call Her Daddy—which marks Aguilera’s first podcast interview ever—the artist recalls being “surprised” by the backlash her 2002 single “Dirrty” (and its enduring music video) faced. One of the world’s predominant cultural texts featuring assless chaps, Aguilera has previously called the “Dirrty” music video—directed by David LaChapelle—a personal favorite of her catalog. Needless to say, she didn’t expect it to draw the kind of legendary pearl-clutching ire it did from critics at Entertainment Weekly, Saturday Night Live, and more.

After feeling completely steamrolled by outside voices when it came to the creative direction of her first hit “Genie In A Bottle,” Aguilera says she felt “in the zone” making “Dirrty,” and excited about the opportunity to “make every facet of it speak of myself as a woman.” Aguilera cites the different yet equally important themes she took on in Stripped singles “Beautiful” and “Fighter” as a part of a larger vision she had for expressing herself in a new way on the album.

“I didn’t want to fit a box of like, ‘I’m sweet and vulnerable and demure and I’m going to do the programmed pop format… I’m not any particular one thing or one brand,’” she recalls. “That’s what I did not like about the business, is the fact that they immediately try to box you and label it so that it’s easier for them to understand.”

She continues: “It was hard, you know, being a kid, like: ‘Oh my god, I’m just trying to live my life! I’m 21, I’m having fun!’ These were my college years. This was my moment, except everyone could see it.”

Although over time, “Dirrty” has seen a renewed cultural appreciation, Aguilera has been proud of the track since day one and says today that the track exemplified her early dedication to bringing the full expanse of her personality to her pop-star persona.

“I was going to play by my own rules,” Aguilera says, “and represent the kind of woman that I wanted to be.”