20 years ago today, Willa Ford released her debut single "I Wanna Be Bad"

she is an interior designer now. Here's an interview from a year and a half ago. She's aged well and doesn't seem messed up like many who started young in the industry

Around 1998, music really turned a corner horrendously.

she's married for the second time to a former football player and they have a son

LOL, I remember this bitch. I'm getting old.

Willa's career started right in line with the others who would become famous back then.

Her first professional appearance was a song on the 1999 Pokemon soundtrack. Her name was Mandlah which she later changed to Willa Ford after Mandy Moore became famous. Other teen idols on the Pokemon soundtrack are Britney, Christina, Nsync, B*Witched, Emma Bunton (of the Spice Girls), Vitamin C Aaron Carter.

Her song

her second single features a Nick Carter lookalike in the video haha

Another reminder of how Britney really killed good pop music for a long time.

She's REAL bad. Mission accomplished.

She was no Hoku.

the single from her second album that got shelved was a banger but it only seemed to get play for a few weeks on MTV and VH1. I never heard it on the radio. It was featured in promo for soap operas though lol

"I Wanna Be Bad" was in the films What a Girl Wants, Undercover Brother and Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. It was also used in commercials for 7UP and Six Flags Magic Mountain

her xmas song was cute

In Britney's defense. She could dance and perform well enough. She had passion and energy to hype up the crowd. Same with Jennifer Lopez who also can't sing. Both of them were just Janet/Madonna clones for the millennial crowd. Just like Backstreet and NSYNC were New Edition/NKOTB clones.

Now Willa, Mandy and Jessica were just cheap cash-ins that were never going to last. Mandy was at least smart enough to move onto acting while she was still young enough. Similar to how O-Town, 98 Degrees and Dream Street were cheap cash-ins that were over just as they started.

We're seeing the cycle again but with K-pop

with Britney at a 2001 charity bball game

[quote]I always thought Willa should have had a bigger career but she had a few things working against her

-- Her name was "Willa"

Didn't she had some kids TV series? Like a Saturday morning thing?

1 big problem was her label got sold off shortly after the release of the first single from her second album

[quote] She was no Hoku.

That made me laugh! That's a bitch I haven't thought about since like Y2K. Whenever Legally Blond came out. The only single I know from her is "Perfect Day" in the opening of the movie.

"Perfect Day" by Hoku is on the August 2001 GapKids In-Store Playlist! (Among many other months!)

It's interesting how this really was the last time when skinny blonde white girls were a big thing. By the late 2000s, it really started shifting to brunettes and brown-skinned girls with buxom figures.

She never broke in the UK, not sure about the rest of Europe. The only song I know of hers is 'Tired' which I liked.

She actually wrote/co-wrote all her songs and was given more control over her career and image than her peers. Britney became the suggestive pop star, Christina was given the diva image, Jessica and Mandy got wholesome/girl next door and Willa chose the "bad girl".

The Burrito Song

This song was "the jam" for a quick minute...I was 21 when it came out, but wasn't yet out myself. I remember taping it off the radio and playing it on repeat. Ah, simpler times. (And I'm shocked my friends didn't realize I was gay after hearing me play this on repeat.)

R25 haha did they just think you thought she was hot?

Remember when she was on DWTS with Maks? I thought they would’ve done better…

Willa probably could have had a bigger career if she moved to The UK because the bubblegum pop sound remained there throughout the 2000s with Girls Aloud, Sugarbabes, Mis-Teeq, et cetera. "I Wanna Be Bad" while catchy came out too late as hip-hop, rock and R&B were already much more popular than dance-pop by then.

BTW, Samatha Mumba is my favorite Britney clone. She has a really nice voice and she aged very well (black don't crack!).

She was recently featured on Scott Disick's awful show on E! called Flip it Like Disick. I guess she does all the interiors for his "projects".

R28, wasn't she exposed for not really singing her songs?

from 1:47 to 2:10 she sings in her opera voice

funny how at the end she says she wouldn't do Playboy but several years later she did pose

and looked hot in it

I actually find Willa more attractive than Britney, Christina and Jessica (all overrated imho) in terms of looks. In the sense, Willa actually looks like a real person not a blow-up Barbie doll. She was definitely out of Nick Carter's league in the looks department.

In 1913, Willa Catha released her novel "O Pioneers!"

I always mix her up with Anastasia.

R39 Britney had a nose job so her face isn't natural. I think Christina and Jessica have their original faces as does Willa. Willa had a real sexiness about her

Christina had a lot of botox. Jessica had her lips done. But they still look the same. Britney's nose job was awful and threw off her entire face. I think they were all pretty when young but not these beautiful goddesses like they wanted us to think. They had just cute faces and great bodies and blonde hair. I think Willa Ford and Samantha Mumba were the real knockouts despite them not being as famous.

this was going to be her shelved second album's second single. I think had her label not folded and they promoted this song it could have been huge.

It's very sexy and in 2003 it would have been a hit at the clubs