Ciara: busy and loving it

Locking in phone time with Ciara is a lot like trying to re-create her high-energy dance routines. Both are next to impossible.

After weeks of near misses and a few last-minute cancellations, it finally happens. No matter that the call comes pre-coffee and more than two hours earlier than scheduled. The sweet voice on the other end of the line has instant charm.

"Good morning," Ciara says sweetly. Fantasia's R&B hit When I See You plays softly in the background.

"We're riding in the car," she explains. "She (Fantasia) has a beautiful voice."

Last-minute shuffles are routine in the world of multiplatinum pop stars, and Ciara's frantic schedule is understandable. She's co-headlining Screamfest '07, an annual, multiact trek that arrives tonight at Toyota Center.

Ciara considers coming to Texas a homecoming of sorts. She was born Ciara Harris at Darnell Army Community Hospital in Fort Hood and spent time in Austin. Her father's military travels took the family to Germany, New York, California, Arizona and Nevada before landing in Atlanta.

Ciara has sold millions of records on the strength of hypnotic dance-floor fillers Goodies, 1, 2 Step and Get Up. Her trick has been smoothing hip-hop's edges with airy vocals and pop hooks. She's collaborated extensively with Missy Elliott and toured with Gwen Stefani.

Despite the momentum, Screamfest is one of the first times Ciara has headlined a large-scale tour.

She calls the endless tour preparations "tedious" but insists it has more to do with challenging herself than with boredom.

"I think you do get more comfortable as you grow as an artist and as you get to travel around," Ciara says.

"But you still have to push yourself. You're still hoping at that first date, your fans love your show."

She's also the only female amid Screamfest's testosterone-fueled bill. It includes T.I., whose T.I. vs. T.I.P. is one of the year's best-selling rap discs; hip-hop sidemen T-Pain and Yung Joc; and R&B heartthrob Lloyd.

The balance, or lack thereof, seems appropriate — necessary, even — for the singer behind Like a Boy, a recent hit from second disc The Evolution. The song's lyrics question gender roles and double standards: "What if I/had a thing on the side/made ya cry/Would the rules change up/Or would they still apply?"

Ciara co-wrote that pivotal tune, and it's an elegant slice of urban pop that blends violin riffs and screwed vocals. She even plays the part of a cheating boyfriend in the black-and-white video

"A guy (can) do something, and it's cool. But when we try to do it, we look crazy," she says. "I knew there were a lot of ladies that felt like that."

It's a refreshing, complex musical statement that typifies Ciara's appeal. At 21, she's a few years younger than contemporaries Beyoncé, Brandy and Alicia Keys. But Ciara also seems light-years ahead of pop singers Hilary Duff and Rihanna, who are closer to her age.

"I have an old soul," Ciara says. "It's something that's in me.

"My friends have always been older. It wasn't about just trying to force that, but it was who I was able to relate to."

Growing up, Ciara felt an artistic connection to Michael and Janet Jackson. She says she met Janet once, "briefly," and had a phone conversation with Michael. (Thriller was one of the first discs she swiped from her father's collection.)

She makes no qualms about striving to capture those superstar siblings' singing-dancing successes. Breakout smash Goodies featured street-flavored footwork, while recent hits Promise and Like a Boy showcased more stylized routines.

Her videos and live performances are a cut above the usual suggestive hip swivels. But Ciara admits — reluctantly — to briefly emulating a once-mighty pop princess.

"One time in high school, I did a Britney Spears impersonation. We were doing different people's videos. I had low-rise jeans, a cropped shirt with (fringe) hanging from it. I was doing I'm a Slave 4 U."

She pauses, then confides another fearful secret.

"I don't know if my friends still have it on tape."

And if you do see Ciara on your local dance floor, don't expect signature moves — Spears-inspired or otherwise (though she says people "absolutely" expect it).

"I try to have fun, but it's weird to go full-out in the club," she says with a laugh. "People look at you like, 'She's about to do a show.' "
Source: Chron