On her way to the MTV studios to cohost another live day of TRL with Carson Daly, singer Willa Ford is on top of everything. She gives quick answers to questions, reaffirms her self-empowerment and stays pretty cool the entire time. The 20-year-old (real name, Amanda Williford) has joined the legions of Britneys, Christinas and Mandys whose hot videos rotate regularly on MTV. But Ford is the badass of the group — doing what she wants, writing her own songs and using her sexuality however she’d like. She’s a former girlfriend of Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter, and before her first single, “I Wanna Be Bad” was released, “anti-Willa” Web sites were everywhere, dogging the young woman’s singing ability, calling her names for breaking Nick’s heart and advising people to boycott Atlantic Records. Some will do anything to protect a teen icon ... or to destroy one.

With the lyrical and visual in-your-face prowess of her single (the steamy video includes an appearance by Royce the 5’9”), Ford was on top of the charts and all over the place months before her debut album Willa Was Here was even released. Pop stars are shot to the top of the world very quickly these days, and though it’s been a little over a month since her album was released, Ford has been busy promoting herself and her album for what seems like an eternity. Posing for the cover of Stuff and in features everywhere from Teen People to Jane, Ford’s very adult body is displayed proudly, but not provocatively in her eyes. Her personal blend of ghetto chic R&B and bubblegum pop seems a far cry from what she listens to — Alicia Keys, Incubus and Radiohead. But nevertheless her music embodies the teen pop market, no matter what she may do.

REAL Detroit: How is TRL? Do the kids just go freakin’ crazy?
Willa Ford: The kids are dope. The kids aren’t quite as excited, like they’re happy to meet you and everything but they’re more excited about being on TV. They’re like, “Oh, Willa Ford, oh, I’m on TV, Mom! Hi!” They can honestly probably care less once the camera’s on — it’s all about being cool.

RD: You recently were on the cover of the men’s magazine Stuff, which included some great pictures. I’m wondering if you had to think twice about doing that? You’ve got plenty of young teenage fans, and you did a very adult thing.
WF: Not at all. Originally, it wasn’t the cover. Originally, it was just, “We wanted to do a shoot with Willa and see what comes of it” or whatever. Basically, I knew what I wanted and what I would wear and what I won’t do, so I was just like, all right. And then we got there and they were like, “Look, we’re thinking about the cover for her,” which they’ll say a lot of times to you. Basically, they had this photographer and she was a female and she was really, really dope and really cool. The styling was fun, and I wasn’t uncomfortable; I mean the least amount of clothes I wore was a bathing suit. Which honestly, people wear bathing suits everyday, so it’s not a big deal for me. And then we were sitting there shooting what we thought was the cover, and the guy leaned over and was like, “OK, just to let you know she does have the cover.” It was really exciting. I never even thought twice about it. It’s not like Playboy.

RD: As far as modeling, every time I look in women’s magazines and especially teen magazines, most of the advertisements for makeup and the like are done by pop singers, not models. The line between pop star and model is completely blurred right now, would you agree?
WF: Totally. It’s blurred right now because models don’t have quite the impact that an artist or somebody that has an image in the public eye has on teenagers right now. It’s a very impressionable thing, and it’s obvious we have a bigger voice than models — that’s all there is to it. Models are beautiful and they look wonderful in everything they do, but as far as whether people relate with them every day — when they’re sitting at dinner, are they talking about “Oh, did you hear about so and so today?” They don’t do that.

RD: You seem to be popular with both the teenagers and the adults — Stuff is for the men, TRL is for the teens — are you steered by your record company to take both markets on?
WF: They are like, “Whatever you want to do, Willa.” Straight up, like Willa is, Willa is boss. It’s, “Do you want to do this, do you not want to do that?” If I think something is good for me, then I’ll just do it, and if I don’t think something is good for me, I’ll be the first person to say I’m not doing this. It’s just how I am and I’ve always been like that and I try to stay like that.

RD: You seem to embrace your sexuality in a very powerful way. How would you tell others to try and do that themselves? Obviously, it’s not always seen as the right thing to do.
WF: The thing is embracing exactly what you have. When the girls are like, “Oh, Willa wore the short shorts and it’s a bad image for teenagers,” and I’m like, “No, it’s not.” I work out, I watch what I’m doing — if I want to show that because I work at it, that’s fine. Now, some girl who maybe can’t wear those shorts or shouldn’t wear those shorts, maybe there’s something else about her that’s totally amazing, and she should totally flaunt. It’s so stupid how people think, “Oh, you have a public image.” Honestly, it’s all in their minds. Straight up, if you want to wear it, wear it. But don’t second guess yourself. If you’re going to do it, full on do it.

RD: A lot of kids have a hard time understanding that though. They get mixed messages via the media and friends.
WF: It really doesn’t matter. I remember growing up and I’d go to school and I was somebody that was always a little bit ahead and nobody could quite understand. I remember going to school in something that was so hot and rocking and people would be like, “What is she doing?” Seriously, a little white blonde girl walking into school with full-on Adidas get up — snap down pants, sneakers and matching top. And people were like, “What is Mandy Williford doing?” Next thing you know, a year later, they’re rocking it and it’s those same people who dogged it a year before.

RD: Before you signed with Atlantic you were working with RCA. Is it true they totally wanted you to change your image?
WF: They did do a lot of things as far as image. It wasn’t that they wanted me to be different than everybody else — they wanted me to be exactly the same damn thing. They wanted me to be nice — I wasn’t allowed to curse, and I wasn’t allowed to flick off. There’s a time and a place for everything — I’m not the kind of person that just walks around with a potty mouth all the time; that’s not me. But I’m also not the person that’s going to walk around all the time and be perfect and prim and proper. Hell, no. Nobody is and it’s just a stupid thing to even try to pretend that you are something that you’re not.






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