Who: New pop diva Willa Ford.

What: I Wanna Be Bad, her debut album.

Why she might sound familiar: "I Wanna Be Bad," the debut single from the 20-year-old Florida native (born Amanda Williford) has become a TRL staple, and a barely-clad Ford graces the cover of the current issue of Stuff magazine.

You'll like her if: You like brisk, Britney-like girl pop, albeit with a hip-hop edge.

Her story in a nutshell: Ford was discovered by a talent scout after a stint with a local entertainment troupe. A label deal and high profile tour with the Backstreet Boys soon followed. "I studied opera for four years, and I could have gotten a scholarship," remembers Ford, who says the potentially constricting life of an opera singer was not for her. "I wanted to sing and dance and be funky and get my nose pierced and be myself."

On being the Yoko Ono of TRL: Ford's brief but memorable relationship with Backstreet Boy Nick Carter (which ended last fall) has caused her to rank somewhat below Genghis Khan in the collective opinion of teenaged girls throughout the TRLnation. That Ford has a tough-as-nails reputation, a somewhat businesslike attitude towards the marketing of her sexuality, and a contract to sell hair-care products has not helped matters much. All of this is fine with Ford, who says she'd rather be loathed than ignored, anyway. "Love me or hate me," she says. "But something. I have a lot of fans out there, you know? The people that hate me, hate me for the wrong reasons. They hate me because of who I was with instead of for musical reasons."

To Britney or not to Britney: Like many a young pop diva before her, Ford must balance her public sexuality with her position as a burgeoning role model for young girls. "On the one hand, I want to be who I am and I really don't care what parents think, or what kids think," she says. On the other hand, "I try to do damage control. I give a lot back to charities." A racy video for "I Wanna Be Bad" hasn't clarified matters. In the video, "I seduce men to get what I want out of them. It's all about stretching my wings. That's one of the many sides of me," says Ford. "You'll see many Willas come out throughout the year."

Why she shouldn't open any unmarked packages: Ford's unpopularity with teenage girls has led to, among other things, alleged bomb threats made to the TRL studios on the day she was to perform, countless "Die Willa, Die!" picket signs that dog her concert performances, and the creation of dozens of anti-Willa web sites. "I realize to focus on the negative energy is to bring yourself down to that level," she says of the Internet campaign. "You learn there's bad people and there's good people -- or maybe not bad people, just people without an outlet who sit in front of the computer and write bad things."






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