Source: Blender

When you broke in 2000 with “I’m Like a Bird,” you were a funky boho chick, kind of an anti-Britney. Now you’re releasing your third album, and you’ve turned into a midriff-baring sex bomb. What happened?

I made the new album in Miami and I felt really sexy there. Miami accepts booty! Plus, when I came into the business, I was really intimidated by all those girls who had been on the Mickey Mouse Club when they were kids. I’m just now catching up, accepting my job more. My video choreographer taught me how to move in all these different ways. I’m more at ease with my body than I have ever been. Is your booty your best asset? Physically speaking, yes. I like it. It’s good. It’s nice to have something to hold on to. It’s just coming out of the woodwork, though, so it’s still shy. It doesn’t want too much spotlight.

Your first record, Whoa, Nelly!, sold 2 million copies; your second one, 2003’s Folklore, sold one-quarter of that. Did you worry that you were washed up at 24?

I was talking to Jimmy Iovine, the boss at my new label, and he thinks that Folklore is like U2’s Pop — not quite there. I wasn’t smiling and jumping up and down anymore; I was wearing a guitar and looked serious. Four or five songs have Portuguese folk music. That’s just crazy. After Folklore, I realized I had maybe taken certain things for granted. Like, isn’t everyone’s first performance on SNL? Isn’t everyone’s first interview with Vanity Fair? Doesn’t everyone open for U2 and win a Grammy? Whoops! I should have appreciated all that stuff, especially the free clothes.

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