Christina Aguilera has an incredible voice. She's always had it. A clip from a 1994 episode of The Mickey Mouse Club shows her at age 13, belting out the Aretha Franklin classic 'Think'.
Dancing enthusiastically behind her is a 12-year-old Britney Spears.
There were other stars of the future in The Mickey Mouse Club at the time, including Justin Timberlake and Ryan Gosling, but over the decades, it's Spears who's always kept popping up in the same frame as Aguilera, no matter what she achieves in her career.
Aguilera, daughter of musician Shelly and Ecuadorean-born soldier Fausto, started performing at the age of seven. She'd grown up in an unhappy home, with her mother walking out on her father after what Aguilera describes as "a lot of unpleasant things – a lot of pushing and shoving and fighting and quarrelling."
"Growing up, I did not feel safe," she told E! in 2009. "Feeling powerless is the worst feeling in the world. I turned to singing as an outlet. The pain at home is where my love for music came from."
Watch: Christina Aguilera performing 'Think' live at The Mickey Mouse Club in 1994. Post continues below.
Aguilera had been gifted with a four-octave range, but was also prepared to put in whatever work it took to make it to the top as a singer.