What a Girl Wants by Christina Aguilera

Overview

Key: A minor · Chords used: 19 · Sections: 15

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). This page shows that transcription as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Section by section

Part 1 (0:07)

• Am – Em7 (×4)
  i – v7

Part 2 (0:21)

• Am – Em7 (×3)
  i – v7
• Am – F
  i – bVI

Part 3 (0:34)

• Dm7 – G9 – C – G – C7 – F
  iv7 – bVII9 – bIII – bVII – bIII7 – bVI

Part 4 (0:48)

• Fm – B♭9 – C – G – C7 – F – Fm – B♭9
  bvi – bII9 – bIII – bVII – bIII7 – bVI – bvi – bII9

Part 5 (1:01)

• Am – Em7 (×3)
  i – v7

Part 6 (1:15)

• Am – Em7 (×3)
  i – v7
• Am – Am/E
  i – i⁶₄

Part 7 (1:29)

Same chords as Part 3 (0:34).

Part 8 (1:42)

Same chords as Part 4 (0:48).

Part 9 (1:55)

• Am7 – C6 – Fmaj7 – B♭13 (×2)
  i7 – bIII6 – bVImaj7 – bII13
• Am7
  i7

Part 10 (2:10)

• C6 – Fmaj7 – B♭13 – Dm7 – E7
  bIII6 – bVImaj7 – bII13 – iv7 – V7

Part 11 (2:23)

• E7
  V7

Part 12 (2:37)

• C – G – C13 – Fmaj7 – Fm7
  bIII – bVII – bIII13 – bVImaj7 – bvi7

Part 13 (2:51)

• B9 – C – G – C13 – Fmaj7 – Fm7 – B9 – C
  II9 – bIII – bVII – bIII13 – bVImaj7 – bvi7 – II9 – bIII

Part 14 (3:04)

• G – C13 – Fmaj7 – Fm7 – B9 – Am7 – C6 – Fmaj7
  bVII – bIII13 – bVImaj7 – bvi7 – II9 – i7 – bIII6 – bVImaj7

Part 15 (3:17)

• B♭13 – Am7 – C6 – Fmaj7 (×2)
  bII13 – i7 – bIII6 – bVImaj7

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• C7 acts as V/bVI: it resolves to F.
• C13 acts as V/bVI: it resolves to Fmaj7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Christina Aguilera), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.
• Section names: this annotation doesn't name verses or choruses, so they aren't guessed. Instead, code used the chord timings to find the bars and cut the song into 8-bar parts. Each part is labelled with the time it starts in the annotated recording (Christina Aguilera), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• The key was estimated by code from the chords; this annotation doesn't state it.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.