Willa Ford |
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Thu. November 20.2003 12:00 AM EST |
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Willa Ford: A Toast to SexBlonde hottie is a hands-on feminist who says you don't need men to have sex, and you don't need pick-up lines to meet girls. She talks sorority parties, lingerie photo shoots, and Marilyn Monroe. by C. Bottomley |
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(Publicity) |
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Willa Ford knows what you think when you look at her. She's tall, blonde, and sexy, so its easy to imagine her as a ditzy puppet with some record company Svengali pulling the strings. But Ford also knows what to do with your expectations. From the
It hasn't been an easy road to independence. Her relationship with Backstreet Boy Nick Carter overshadowed her 2001 debut Willa Was Here, and inspired jealous fans to set up Ford-bashing Web sites. The singer spent as much time denying she was cross-eyed as she did making music. The pair eventually split, dividing up custody of their numerous dogs, and Ford refocused on her career - refusing to let herself be pigeonholed as that girl. It worked. Her hit I Wanna Be Bad sold over 250,000 copies, she hosted the Miss Teen USA pageant and made a scene-stealing appearance in Uncle Krackers In a Little While video. Right now she's fired up over her new single A Toast to Men. It's a saucy club banger based on an X-rated sorority sister chant, and it's refreshingly raunchy. Her forthcoming as-yet-untitled album might insure that Willa is here to stay. With a sweeping Smashing Pumpkins-style ballad called I See You and the steamy Sexysexobsessive among the tracks, Fords certainly nobodys pop idol. In fact, she sings opera and doesnt give a damn what her parents think. The 22-year-old diva-in-waiting told VH1 about staying in control, even when youre posing naked. VH1: What inspires A Toast to Mens sentiment, F*ck the men, lets drink to us? WF: A really great sorority party! [Laughs.] I didnt get to go to college, but I was at a party with my friends, and there were like five sorority sisters who got together and were like, F*ck the men, lets drink to us. I was like, That is amazing! Do it again! Its about girls having fun. All we do is talk about men - Oh, he screwed me over, Oh, he is hot, Oh, I hope he calls. This song is like, Listen girls, f*ck the men for the night, lets drink to us. This isnt about them. Its about us. Everyone took it differently. Some men were like, Oh, youre just down on guys. Others were like, Yeah f*ck us! Im like, You guys are dorks. If a guy wrote a song about f*cking chicks, youd have like pickets and stuff. Thank God its just boys, they dont care. [Watch Clip] VH1: So whats good about men? WF: They make good dads sometimes! I have a great dad. My brother is pretty cool too. Past that, thats pretty much it! [Laughs.] What are they good for? Carrying your bags and your books if you are still in school & and of course that other thing. But Ive decided we dont need them for that, either. But thats not for me to discuss on camera. VH1: What was the last pick-up line you fell for? WF: I dont fall for pick-up lines. There was this one guy. We were talking and at the time I didnt realize he liked me. He said, Youve been hurt, havent you? I laughed so hard - I was like, hahaha, hysterically in his face. I was like, Was that a line? He was like Oh, no! Six months later he was like, Yeah, it was. Pick-up lines dont work with me, I see right through them. VH1: But hey, you were still talking to him six months later. WF: Yeah, but it wasnt like I was talking to him cause he got me& but wait, damnit! I think he was using the line to try to get me comfortable. But it didnt work. VH1: What did your mom say when she saw the A Toast to Men video? WF: My mom was there! [Laughs.] She was like, Thats my baby! She didnt have a problem with it. There was one section of the video that we took out that actually showed somebodys t*ts. That was the only section that my mom was like, Thats disgusting! I was like, Okay, were taking it out! [Laughs.] This ones just like a party song! This is nothing! Wait until you hear Sexysexobsessive. [Laughs.] [Watch Clip] VH1: Do I even have to ask what Sexysexobsessive is about? Willa Ford: Its pretty much what it is - its raunchy. Actually, its about somebody having dreams - like their whole life is being taken over by sex. Some people have those issues, but not me! VH1: Did you sit down with your family and say, Im Willa Ford; Im not 19 anymore, and theres going to be a song on the new record called Sexysexobsessive? WF: Ive never had to have that discussion. My grandmother goes, As long as youre never naked, I dont care. Its a character. All of us have that side of us. All I did was reach in, pull it out in the song, and, put it in music, so that everybody could listen to it and go, Oh, I do have that side. VH1: They didnt ask any questions about the material you were writing? WF: If they have questions, they can ask me, but I just play it. I dont try to tell people what Sexysexobsessive is about. You took it as it was my sex fantasies. Its also about some of these sex fantasies about me. There are some people out there that cant seem to get these sex fantasies off their minds, and literally it runs their life. But everyone hears it differently. VH1: Would you have kissed Madonna? WF: If it was called for. If Madonna said, Were going to kiss in this sequence, youre not gonna tell her no. Its like career suicide! If she said, Kiss me! Id be like, All right, but brush your teeth. VH1: Have you ever done something you thought the situation called for, and later regretted it? WF: No& never, I call my own shots. We were at a photo shoot for Blender, and I hated all the lingerie. I was like. This stuff is wack. I cant put any of this stuff on. Im going to get naked, and you are going to cover me in these things. My mom was like What? and my publicist was little nervous, but it turned out to be a great shoot. You didnt see anything more than you would have seen in lingerie. I didnt regret it. VH1: Is it true that you grew up singing opera? WF: I was an opera singer. I try to keep my repertoire going of what I learnt. But its really sad because you just start forgetting. Theres one song that I remember. "Nel cor piu non mi sento" [from Giovanni Paisiello's La Molinara]. Its a girl flirting with a guy, but then she is like Oh, but I cant! It was a fun song for me as a kid, because I was 12 or 13 years old and trying to relate to it. I can sing some for you now, but I havent warmed up. [Sings aria.] There you go, I am very raspy! [Watch Clip] VH1: What do you think is one of the biggest misperceptions that people have of you? WF: People think, Shes blonde and cute and does music, so people think Im dumb as a box of rocks. What they dont realize is that its not easy to run your own career. Everything that happens is because I said, I think this should happen. People in interviews also think I come across as flighty, floozy, and kind of skanky. But Im just honest. You ask me a question, Im going to be matter of fact about the issues. But Im definitely not a skank. Playboy interviewed me the other day, and asked me if I would pose. I said No. They were like, Wow, thats not an answer we expected. Im like, What did you expect? Just because I like to get down to it, does not mean I will give you everything. [Watch Clip] VH1: Is it harder for you than if you had a team making the decisions for you? WF: Yes. I work so hard on every little thing I get or do. I have a wonderful team around me, dont get me wrong. But I was the one in the studio for two years, bawling my eyes out, attempting to make the music that I needed to make to get my fans. My job is not nearly as glamorous as the rest of the pop divas. Yeah, I go to [Frederic] Fekkai to get my hair done, but I dont have my publicist book my appointment to go there. I call like any regular person, or my mom calls, and Ill be like Can you fit me in next week? VH1: What woman would you raise a toast to? WF: Marilyn Monroe. I know that sounds weird cause she is probably everything I didnt stand for just now. But I would raise my glass only because I want to be in the same room as her. I want to know what the deal was back then, what women had to do to become what she was. I know she had to a lot of things to get what she got out of life. People saw Marilyn Monroe as the sex goddess that had sex with this person and this person, and all these famous people - or so we think. I think she was a lot smarter then we give her credit for by using men to get what she wanted. Not that I want to be her. I would just love to sit beside her and raise my glass and be like, This is to the girl that gave up everything to do it. |
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