Christina Milian: Rising to Her Vocation

Christina Milian is a name you're undoubtedly hearing more and more about. She's a rising pop star currently on tour with Aaron Carter and has already had stage time with 'N Sync. Her catchy single AM to PM is hitting radio from her debut album set to be released this October.

Bubbly and full of spunk, Christina has a secret weapon in her back pocket, she's a talented songwriter. Christina is so talented that Jennifer Lopez recorded one of Christina's songs on her recent album J.Lo. The song is called Play and if you know it then you've already heard a snippet of the sonic pleasure Christina can offer your ears.

Before we move onto our interview with the pop star, here's another interesting fact about Christina—she was offered a spot on the Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Club in 1994 but had to turn it down due to a prior commitment. Can you imagine? She actually had the job working with Christina, Britney, and Justin, but couldn't do it. Now she may get a second chance at working alongside those megastars as a pop singer.

Hi Christina, how are things going?

Christina: Great. My album comes out in October and my first single just dropped to radio yesterday. We had like 60 ads or something really cool like that. A lot of people are adding it to their radio stations. And two days ago I performed on the 'N Sync tour in Pasadena.

Was that the first date you did with them?

Christina: Yes, that was the first date and now we're in Vegas and we have a show tomorrow. I'll be playing with them until September 3rd.

What is this experience like? It must be amazing.

Christina: Yeah, it's pretty crazy. We're living on a bus, eating junk food and watching movies. But it's really cool. I've watched a lot of the different tours and it's great to finally be doing it myself.

How are all the 'N Sync fans responding to your opening act?

Christina: Oh great! We dance a lot. The whole show is me and my six dancers and we're dancing the whole time, full out, and it's a great performance. There's a lot of interaction with the fans. So we've had a great reaction so far. We have two cute guy dancers so all the fans are always screaming for the guys.

Let's talk about your album. Did you write the song AM to PM?

Christina: I wrote maybe three of four songs on the album. The rest I co-wrote with different producers or writers. AM to PM I co-wrote with a producer named Bloodshy while we were in Sweden.

Why did you go to Sweden to record a song?

Christina: Bloodshy's from Sweden and I'd met him over here in America when we worked together. The first song on my album is called You Make Me Laugh, him and I did that together and it was a great song so the record label thought it would be good to send me over to Sweden so I could work with him again. I went over there for a month and we did a whole bunch of songs.

How has fame changed the way people act towards you?

Christina: I've been pretty lucky. Even before I came out with my music I've been good at being able to see who is real and who I shouldn't have in my life. But I've been really lucky that I've met some really great and humble people. You'd be surprised, I've met some huge artists and they're the nicest people in the world.

Jennifer Lopez recorded a song written by you called Play. Why didn't you record this song for yourself?

Christina: I originally did write that song for myself. When I wrote Play, I had already written the song AM to PM, which are both party songs and I didn't want to be known as a party girl so I chose between the two. We decided to put Play on an established artist's album and by coincidence Tommy Mattola (Lopez's Producer) came up to Sweden one day, heard we wanted to do something with the song and said, "This is Jennifer Lopez's second single."

You've been in the entertainment industry since you were a kid.

Christina: Yeah, since I was nine or ten, so that's ten years. But it hasn't always been music. I started out with print work and doing commercials in New York and I used to do a lot of musical theatre.

Tell me about the Mousketeer situation with Disney?

Christina: Yeah, they offered that part to me but I was working on a play so I wasn't able to do it. But in the end I was able to work with the Disney people anyway.

Right, you were a correspondent.

Christina: For three years I was on a show called Movie Surfers. It was really cool and I went behind the scenes for all these Disney movies and interviewed the actors, the animators, and the directors.

Do you still find broadcasting and journalism interesting?

Christina: Oh yes! Because people knew I was involved in that I'm now going to go behind the scenes at the 'N Sync concert and I'm going to be "The Roving Reporter" for MTV. It's going to be awesome.

Let's talk about your manager for a moment. How did you end up working with Johnny Wright (Famed manager of Britney Spears and 'N Sync)?

Christina: It's amazing actually. I've paid attention to Johnny's work for years and I've always wanted to meet him but never got the chance. When I signed my deal with Def Soul/Def Jam my mom and I were looking for a manager. My agent (who hooks me up with my tours) is a good friend with Johnny and we got introduced. Johnny, by coincidence, had been hearing a lot of things about me and when we finally met we got along right away. We talked for about two hours and he knew exactly what we wanted in a manager. Since then it's been wonderful. He's a really smart businessman and he's got a lot of things planned for me.

What are your plans for the near future?

Christina: Well, Johnny will keep you busy for every day of your life. He'll have me working as long as I'm willing and that's totally me because I'm a bit of a workaholic. We'll be doing some award shows, some concerts, and hopefully my own concert in the future.

What do you think about being compared to Janet Jackson?

Christina: (Laugh) A lot of people have been saying that! That's the biggest compliment in the whole world. But how can I be compared to Janet Jackson? She's huge, she's somebody I grew up watching, she's amazing. It's such a huge compliment.

How do you respond to the fan attention that you're probably getting at this point?

Christina: I'm kind of used to it from being in commercials when I was little, people were always coming up to me saying, "Hey, aren't you from that commercial?" It feels great and I always try to communicate. I just want to be real with everyone. It's really cool that so many people are supporting me. It feels really good.

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Would you like to chat with Christina Milian? Check out the TeenMusic.com chat with Christina on Tuesday, September 11th.