Long before she sang a note of her debut album, Willa Ford, 20, was infamous in teen-pop circles for being a Backstreet Girl. As the ex of Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, she has been the subject of many vicious anti-Willa Web sites such as "Willa Stop Singing You Cow." But Ford (whose real name is Amanda Williford) has turned all this negative buzz into a positive with her cheeky first single, "I Wanna Be Bad," which cleverly plays up her image as the girl everyone loves to hate.

While Willa Was Here doesn't exactly announce the arrival of a major new talent, sassy, splashy up-tempo tracks such as "Did Ya Understand That," "Joke's on You"and "Wish" are perfect lite listening for summer vacation. Just as long as Ford doesn't start taking herself too seriously, as she does on "Tired," she may have the last laugh on all her Net naysayers.

Bottom Line: Where there's a Willa, there's a way






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