Christina Millian, TouchCHRISTINA MILIAN
Touch
Chris tina Milian ain’t your average diva. She may be staying at the swanky St Martin’s Hotel during her visit to London to promote her second album ‘It’s About Time’ before flying off to Germany and France and she may be a platinum selling artist with a burgeoning acting career, but tonight, perched atop the huge white bed that provides the centrepiece to her luxury suite, bare feet wrapped up in a shawl, she looks every inch the little girl lost. There’s no entourage (she’s managed by her mum, bless) and no beefy bodyguard waiting in the wings. In fact, the reason Christina chose this hotel was its proximity to Top Shop.
“We came from LA this morning and went straight there. It’s one of my favourite stores in London. It’s not the spot to go if you don’t want to be spotted, though.” The 22-year-old starlet may only be small but her presence among the rails at the Oxford Street flagship store made a big impression: “People do recognise me, especially here, but I don’t mind at all. I like meeting fans. This one guy today though was shouting ‘I know your face, you’re Christina Milian. Hey, everyone, this is Christina Milian’. My mum was pushing me in the car but I thought he was joking. I’ve never seen someone act like that before.”
She’s going to have to get used to it if her trajectory to date’s anything to go by. Born in New Jersey to Cuban parents, she was raised by her mother in Maryland and set her sights on celebrity from an early age: “Growing up I always yearned for more than the ordinary suburban life. I wanted to be on TV and would sit at home doing puppet shows for my family.” Her first role was as The Cute Kid in a Wendy’s fast food commercial (“I had one line… ‘Yes’,” she chirps) before a role in the touring musical Annie Warbucks took her to Los Angeles. “I saw how much work there was in Hollywood so the family decided to move there when I was 13. We were trying so hard on the East Coast, driving to New York for auditions that 1,000 kids would show up to, so California seemed so much more professional.”
Turning down a role in the Mickey Mouse Club – where Justin, Xtina and Britney all famously started out – she became a junior journalist at the Disney Channel before landing small roles in ‘Charmed’, ‘American Pie’, ‘Clueless’ and ‘Sister Sister’ - all the while working on her music. In 2000, she signed to DefJam and hooked up with Ja Rule to record the number one hit ‘Between Me and You’. “He needed a girl to sing on his record. Someone suggested it to me so I went in, met Irv and sung the hook in 15 minutes. It was amazing because I’d always wanted to work with him,” she smiles. Her own singles ‘AM To PM’ and ‘When You Look At Me’ and self-titled album did equally well in 2001, taking the young R’n’B sensation to 17 countries in nine months. “Everything was shooting at me so quickly, I went to places I never dreamed of and met a whirlwind of people. It was amazing.”
The following year saw Christina present MTV’s ‘Wannabes’, which led to roles in Joseph Kahn’s action film ‘Torque’ with Ice-T and ‘Love Don’t Cost A Thing’ opposite Nick Cannon. Both smaller movies, it’s her upcoming roles in ‘Cheer Up’ and ‘Be Cool’ that should clench her acting credentials. The former’s a comedy centred around five cheerleaders who witness a murder and help Texan ranger Tommy Lee Jones to solve the crime. The latter is the follow-up to ‘Get Shorty’ and stars John Travolta, Danny DeVito, Uma Thurman and Vince Vaughn. Was Christina intimidated at all being surrounded by such Hollywood heavyweights? “Oh my gosh, totally! I’ve been acting a long time but they’re real actors. When I met John at rehearsals I was like ‘I suck right now, but by we start filming I’m going to have it down’. And I was a little nervous at first with Tommy. There was such an age gap between us it was a little awkward but he’s got a real dry sense of humour,” she confides as she snuggled into her pillow, jetlag setting in.
With all these project on the go, it took a good while for ‘It’s About Time’ to reach completion, hence the title. Less pop-driven than its predecessor, she wrote nine out of the 12 songs herself but put her first single hopes in the hands of Black Eyed Peas producer Polli Paul. ‘Dip It Low’ is her sexiest track to date and an indication of how she’s matured both musically and personally since her last material: “I had the majority of the album done but I still needed that single track. It didn’t have to be some crazy Britney thing, just a song that would represent me, sound good in a club and that girls could relate to. I get pages from producers all the time so I took a chance, paged them all back and asked them to deliver me their best that day. I got a bunch of replies, drove around to see Polli and all of his tracks were dope. I fell in love with this one immediately.”
Joining other raunchy tunes such as ‘Hands On Me’ and ‘Female Ignition’, this isn’t the ‘Queen of Teen’ of yore. Now the boys will want to pinch her bottom, not her cheek. Even her previously dark locks have been replaced by platinum ones. “I just wanted a change. It started with a couple of highlights last year and slowly it got lighter and lighter. Then the day before we did the album shoot I had to get my roots done. I didn’t have a stylist in New York so my mom and I did it ourselves and it went way too blond. Whoopsy! I think they had to tint the pictures afterwards.”
Today, her strawberry-blond hair tied back, it’s still hard to imagine this is the same image-conscious girl strutting her stuff in a bathing suit in the video for ‘Dip It Low’. “I get black paint poured on me and I create art on a canvas with my body. It’s really sexy, but in a tasteful way. I have to work out you know, its important to look good but I’m still comfortable - I’ve got thick thighs and I’m keep my booty.”
The album’s temperature is also raised by guest vocals from Fabolous on ‘Dip It Low’ and Joe Budden on the Warryn Campbell-produced ‘Love’. This is a girl who likes to surround herself by hot hunks. “I never thought about it like that,” giggles the girl who had to cancel her planned support slots with Justin Timberlake in January due to recording commitments. “It’s cool working with guys. They tend to be my best friends anyway so those duets always work out the best. I’d love to do one with Usher too. Can you put out that word for me?”
With pleasure. Christina works equally well with women too of course. A girlie girl, she penned J-Lo’s international hit ‘Play’ yet does not envy her Latino bredrin’s success. “I’d written it for myself but I didn’t care for it so I told my people to go ahead and place it. Tommy Mottolla heard it at a meeting and right then and there he decided it was going to be a single for Jennifer. She’s very driven and she’s working all the markets but I wouldn’t want to be like her. I’ve always been inspired by Janet Jackson because it’s like you see her but you don’t see her everywhere so she makes you want her even more.”
Note to reader – this interview took place before ‘Nipplegate’ – but nothing could stunt Christina’s admiration of the Jackson family’s first lady. “I met her once and I was so star struck I wasn’t smooth at all. All I could think was ‘Don’t cry Christina, don’t cry’ and there she was telling me she’d seen me on TV and congratulating me. When she left the room I cried for 45 minutes!”
Repeat: Christina ain’t no diva. Unlike Janet and J-Lo she’s yet to wrack up a trail of broken hearts either. “I just like goofy guys I can roll with. Funny guys who are family oriented. Nick Cannon is kind of my best guy friend but we both understand the demand of each others careers.’ Despite the fact that she used to date Jay-Z, she swears that these days she’s too busy for a boyfriend. That doesn’t mean there aren’t offers however. “I have had a lot of marriage proposals on the Internet, guys who say ‘I know I’m perfect for you. We should be together’. It’s scary. They seem so real about it. I get some real cute fan mail too though. Will you marry me? Will you go to the prom with me? And then from girls I get messages like ‘My brother has a crush on you’. I’ve got some very loyal fans around the world.”
A quick trawl of the World Wide Web and several Milian fansites crop up, most notably christinamilian.org. Ran by one girl based out of Ohio, she can tell you where Christina’s been last week, where she’s going the next one and even what her favourite lipgloss is (Lust by MAC, incidentally). “She puts the whole thing together herself and doesn’t get paid a thing so I’ve always kept in touch with her and flew her out for the Love Don’t Cost A Thing premiere for doing such a great job. I felt like I owe her, she’s so sweet.”
It takes one to know one, evidently. Two movies and an album ready to take her career into overdrive in 2004 and with a CV that takes in singing, song writing, presenting, dancing and acting, this renaissance woman’s modesty knows know bounds. Ask her what her idea of a perfect night out in London would be and she shuns China White for China Town. “I love walking about the whole time, going to the movies and eating some duck, passing through Piccadilly Circus and stopping at a café,” she says. And when that’s all done its back to the shops. “Harvey Nichols – I like that place. And the Burberry over here is really nice. We have it at home too but you never see the hot stuff. I like Gucci and Roberto Cavalli and Armani but I like Levi’s too. I often get asked by designers to wear their clothes at premieres but I prefer to look for outfits myself because it sucks when you can’t be sure if Mya or Beyoncé or somebody else wore it before you. I borrowed a 90-carat necklace to the VMA Awards and they insisted on sending their security guard to stay with it all night. I don’t have security but my jewellery does. It’s so funny.”
One rising star with her feet on the ground, she’s not resting on her laurels either. Simply starring in films isn’t enough, she’d like to write and direct them too. “Producers have asked me to bring them treatments but I’ve always been nervous. I want to make sure it’s good and not sloppy. I have several ideas and I videotape myself constantly, making my own movie.” Less Paris Hilton, more Dr Doolittle, she even has a plan in the unlikely event that her polymath talents fail her, “You’d find me in the middle of the jungle or at the zoo talking care of animals. I’ve already got a Chihuahua called Baby, Yorkshire terrier called Missy and my hampster’s called Monkey!”
If you’re reading this Michael, we might have you a buyer for Neverland.
Helen Jennings