Pop lady joins Pink Ladies with CD
By Ashley Clark, entertainment editor

     Opening for Britney Spears this summer at Smirnoff Music Center was four-year Texas resident Mikaila (meaning "she has a song in her heart").
     "I am so excited," she said in an interview prior to the concert. "This is the first taste of really performing, like with tour busses and dancers; I've never really done anything like that."
     Island Def Jam Music will release her new CD in January. Her sound is very up beat and catchy.
     She almost fits in very well with the "Pink Ladies" of pop: Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Lopez.
     The thing that seems to set Mikaila apart from the others is that her voice sounds very "real," and the computer effects accent the background tracks more than her vocals.
     Her sample CD given out at Spears' concert displays mostly fast-paced dance tunes; however, her talent suggests that a strong ballad would compliment the singer greatly.
     She may sing in the category of the Spears/Aguilera Blonde Society, but Mikaila says that her musical preferences are rap music and R&B.
     Her tastes are slightly reflected in her songs. Her musical inspirations are Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion "because they're real singers," she said. "They can just get out and really belt it, and I try to sing that way, too."
     Her look is also different. "I think I prefer more of a sporty look—sporty and sexy," she said.
     This will be a welcome change from the "girly pink" look that the others have become famous for.
     The first single, So in Love With Two, will be released sometime this month.
     The song is about a girl who has to make a choice between two different guys, and in the end, she chooses both. It is sweet, bouncy and flavorful, but neither the back-up vocals nor the synthesized tracks upstage the true talent.
     Mikaila had a lot of creative freedom putting together this CD.
     "It wasn't like I went in and said 'here's the song, do what you want with it.' It was more like them asking me 'is this what you want? Is there anything you want to change? I got the chance to be creative with it," she said.
     Wanting to stay true to her music, she said her concerts will always have less dancing and production than Spears' show did this summer.
     "I just really love singing, so that's what the concerts will be about—more about singing and less about the whole show. I really love my music, and I love what I do. I guess that is what sets me apart."
     She also shared some advice she received from a singer she admires. "She told me to always remember where my voice came from and to thank God every day. So that was really great."
     Another song on the CD she talked a little about was Straight to My Face, a very high tempo track.
     "This song is one of my favorites. It's got a great beat," she said. "It's about a girl who is seeing a guy who cheated on her, and she's saying 'you did me wrong, and you should have just been honest with me. You should have been straight, ya know.’"
Like the rest of her songs, it is also catchy and fun. It makes a great base for several dance and club mixes to follow.
     All of the singles she releases are sure to have a listener adjusting the volume on the radio when driving down the road or definitely making it a top five pick for a revolving CD player.
     Mikaila's self-titled CD should do very well with its release in January.
     She has a fresh new look that is also sexy—the kind that is fun and admirable, not one you would fear your 7-year-old daughter’s emulating.
     Her sounds are catchy and "cool." She is pop with enough R&B that it is not embarrassing to have the volume all the way up at a stoplight. The songs should be a hit at the dance clubs and a definite sell out in the music stores in 2001.