By now you’re probably quite familiar with Willa Ford, if not for her music, then for her notoriously naughty music video "I Wanna Be Bad," in which young Willa dances with erotic abandon ("People always joke that nobody who moves like I do in the video is a virgin. I’ll totally share that I’m not a virgin, but that’s it," Ford admits) and seduces a couple of cops in the process. It’s the stuff legends are made of. But long before you ever saw the video or heard the single, Willa was getting attention of a different sort—the unbridled rage of umpteen-thousand heartbroken Backstreet Boys fans. Before becoming famous on her own, Willa was associated with one of those tousle-haired bad boys of soft rock, and it pissed off every little girl in the world. At last count, there were more than 50 Willa Ford "anti-fan" Web sites accusing her of everything from battery and theft to being a star-fucking fraud. But now that Willa’s debut album, Willa Was Here, has arrived and landed firmly on the charts, no one can accuse her of being a wannabe. And as for being bad, well that’s still to be determined. . . .

Like the commercials, is it OK to hate you because you’re beautiful?
You can hate all you want, because I sure as hell get hated on plenty. The anti-fans are actually turning into fans now because more and more of them are seeing the real me and what’s really going on. Slowly but surely, those people are kind of getting older and maturing and coming to terms with the fact that I’m not the evil monster they were all hoping I am. Because you know, if you’re a good person, the only reason people would really ever hate you is because they’re jealous.

So it’s "playah hating"?
Yeah, playah haters. You have something they want, or you are something they want to be, and all they know to do is hate because they don’t know how to achieve it. Which is fine.

Besides all the people who have slagged you off, have you ever been scared by a fan?
I had moments when I would flip out. I never had to call the cops, but we did try to get a restraining order on somebody once. She was a 40-year-old lady who was saying I was the devil, making death threats and stuff, calling the record company, Teen People, Pantene—anyone who had anything to do with me—and telling them she was boycotting them. She would say, "You don’t know what you guys are doing for this Willa. She’s the antichrist." She thought I was the antichrist! You know that’s a lot of credit to give one girl.

So you’re not the antichrist?
I am not the antichrist!

You were nicknamed "Gangsta’ Barbie" in high school. Ever do a Barbie-style drive-by shooting?
Right, in my Malibu Barbie Corvette. Hell no! No, I was called Gangsta’ Barbie because I had the long blond hair and I kind of looked like Barbie, but then wore big baggy jeans from back in the day and was really thugged out, bouncing into school in my low rider.

Oh, my. You did not have a low rider.
I had a Honda Prelude and I had like 17-inch rims, so once you put 17s on, it’s pretty low. When I rode over the speed bumps at school, I had to take them sideways—if you know about that, you know you’re ghetto. When you drive over the speed bumps, if you turn a little, you’re less likely to hit the bottom of your car.

And the sound system?
Oh, forget about it. I had Kicker Competition woofers in the back, Court Competitions in the mids and the trebs. Every time I would drive over railroad tracks and scrape against them, this really low bass note would come out and just stick. It was hysterical. That’s what I get for hookin’ it up ghetto-style.

You used to go out with one of the Backstreet Boys—he was the black one right?
The black one? There isn’t a black one, but that’s kind of funny. That’s the imaginary black Backstreet Boy. No, it was Nick [Carter].

What was his move to seduce you?
I met him and he knocked on my door and said, "Hi, I’m Nick." I was 16 and he was cute and I thought he was nice. We were 16, that’s it. It’s funny to talk about it now because we’re friends now and I have a new person.

Now that you’re famous, your new beau must have to impress with the dates.
I’m not as high maintenance as I seem. On our date, we sat around and lounged around the hotel and watched TV, went to the Beverly Center real quick, came back and watched a movie in the room and ate room service. I’m so low-key.

Does that mean you’re done with the bad boys?
No, I’m not into the bad boys as much as I have been before. I’ve decided I’m into the bad boy who at the end of the day is all smiles and cute with me.