Christina Milian
Christina Milian is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Following a number of minor television and film roles in the late nineties, Milian made her recording debut on American rapper Ja Rule's 2000 single "Between Me and You", which peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Under Island Records, she released her 2001 debut single "AM to PM", which became a US Billboard Hot 100 top 40 single. In 2002, she performed the theme song "Call Me, Beep Me!", for the Disney Channel animated series Kim Possible. Following a series of delays, her first album, Christina Milian, was only released internationally in 2002, where it charted moderately. Her second album, It's About Time, spawned the number 5 Billboard Hot 100 hit "Dip It Low". Her third album, So Amazin yielded the US top 40 single, "Say I". Milian experienced particular success in the United Kingdom, where each of her songs released under Island peaked within the top ten on the UK Singles Chart. She parted ways with Island following the release of So Amazin and independently released her first extended play, 4U, in 2015.
As an actress, her first lead film role was in Love Don't Cost a Thing. She subsequently had lead roles in the films Be Cool, Pulse, and in the direct-to-DVD film Bring It On: Fight to the Finish. Milian also starred in the ABC Family Original Movie Christmas Cupid. From 2015 to 2016, she starred in the sitcom Grandfathered. She played María LaGuerta in the series Dexter: Original Sin. Milian also co-founded and co-owns Beignet Box, a dessert shop in the Los Angeles area.
Early life
Milian was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, and is of Cuban descent. Her parents are Don Flores and Carmen Milian.Flores changed her name and adopted her mother's maiden name in the hopes of landing a wider range of acting roles. The oldest of three sisters, including Danielle and Elizabeth, she moved with her family to Waldorf, Maryland, soon after her birth. Milian was four years old when she showed an interest in show business, and when her family realized that she was a talented actress, she determined to pursue a career in entertainment. As a child, Milian was "very imaginative and very creative", and watching television and listening to the radio became her life. They inspired her to have fun, and she convinced her parents that she "did not want to be inside the TV", although it took some time to convince them. By the time she was nine years old, Milian had begun auditioning with local talent agencies, shot commercials for Wendy's and Honeycomb, and played the lead role in the musical Annie. Milian's mother supported her daughter's potential and left her husband and moved to Los Angeles with her three daughters when Milian was 13 years old. Her father had to stay in Maryland and divorced her mother soon after the move.
When Milian moved to Los Angeles, her first desire was to be an actress. She had always also wanted to be in the record business, but did not know how to obtain a recording contract. During this time, she was a host for Disney Channel's series Movie Surfers, by the name of Tina. After living in Los Angeles for six months, Milian moved into the same apartment complex as songwriter and producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, who was also born in New Jersey. Jerkins heard about Milian from a boy band he was working with and once he heard her sing, they began working together. For a year and a half, Milian went into a studio every day and worked with Jerkins, which is where she started meeting people in the record business. She began writing songs at the age of 17 because she needed a demo to help her obtain a recording contract. According to Milian, every time she recorded a song, the producer would refuse to give her the demo, or would write lyrics that she did not agree with. She felt that she had to write a song, record a demo, and send it out on her own.
Career
2000–2002: ''Christina Milian'', record deal and acting debut
Milian's first major acting role was offered by the Disney Channel to join The Mickey Mouse Club; however, she did not accept and opted to star as a reporter on Movie Surfers. During this time, she had minor roles in film and television, including Sister, Sister, Smart Guy, The Steve Harvey Show, Get Real, The Wood and American Pie. Milian made her first professional musical appearance on rapper Ja Rule's second studio album Rule 3:36, performing vocals on the song "Between Me and You". The song was released as the album's lead single in 2000, peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and on the top 30 of the UK Singles Chart in the United Kingdom. Milian co-wrote and performed vocals for the track "Play" for Jennifer Lopez's album J. Lo, and co-wrote "Same Ol' Same Ol'", the second single from girl group PYT's debut album PYT .Milian's collaboration with Ja Rule led to a record deal with Def Soul Records, prompted by his affiliation with Murder Inc. Records, an imprint that was distributed through Def Jam, the parent label of Def Soul Records. She travelled to Sweden and recorded her self-titled debut album. The album was released outside North America on January 23, 2002, peaking at number 23 on the UK Albums Chart in the United Kingdom. The album's domestic release was canceled, primarily due to the September 11 attacks. Two singles were taken from the album, "AM to PM" and "When You Look at Me", both of which charted worldwide. A music video for the track "Get Away" was filmed in Paris, although it was not officially released as a single. Critical response to the album was generally mixed to positive. In the following years, she was featured on the track "It's All Gravy", a duet with British rapper Romeo, which peaked at number nine on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Milian's third top ten song in Britain as a credited artist, and fourth overall; provided the theme song for the hit Disney Channel animated series Kim Possible, "Call Me, Beep Me!"; and collaborated with Hilary Duff on the song "I Heard Santa on the Radio" for Duff's debut album Santa Claus Lane.
In 2002, Milian was appointed the host of the live competitive music series Becoming Presents: Wannabe on MTV, where she met director Joseph Kahn. Kahn suggested she audition for a lead role in the film Torque. Her audition was successful and she played a supporting role in the film. She was subsequently cast in her first lead role in Love Don't Cost a Thing.
2003–2004: ''It's About Time'' and continued acting
Milian felt that Island Def Jam was confused as to how they wanted her image to be portrayed. In 2003, Milian's label, Def Soul, later shifted its focus into R&B veterans under its Def Soul Classics faction; Def Soul would later be folded into its parent, Def Jam, in 2011. However, Milian would later be drafted to sister label Island Records. After the international release of her debut album, Milian went back into the recording studio. The singer felt that music trends had changed into rock music, hardcore hip hop and tribute songs, and her music did not fall into those categories. Milian decided to stop recording and toured overseas for a year and a half. When she returned to the US, she decided not to release her previous album domestically, and started working on a new album. Milian traveled the world, working with the popular producers Bloodshy & Avant, "Darkchild", Cory Rooney, Warryn Campbell, Bryan-Michael Cox and Polli Paul. Milian also appeared in the video game Def Jam Vendetta, where she plays non-playable character Angeline "Angel" Rodriguez.Milian's second studio album, It's About Time, was released in the US on July 13, 2004. The critical response to the album was mixed; the club tracks, most notably lead single "Dip It Low", were praised while the ballads were said to be disappointing. The style and sound of the album was compared to that of Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez by several critics. Milian later admitted that her new sexy image for "Dip It Low" and the whole album was mainly for shock value. She had to make her way back into the US market, and by choosing a sexier image, she made a name for herself. "Dip It Low" was also meant to show that she was not the same 18-year-old girl in the "AM to PM" video. To create her new image, Milian also decided to change her appearance and lightened her hair. Taking inspiration from Janet Jackson who constantly changed her image, Milian thought to herself, "'When did I like Janet Jackson the most?' It was when she had her lightened hair."
Milian believed that the album was more R&B when compared to her "bubble-gum" pop debut album. The change was reflected in the album's lead single, "Dip It Low", which was more of a club and R&B track than her previous pop release "AM to PM". Milian performed as an opening act on Usher's Truth tour to promote her album. The album debuted and peaked at number 14 on the Billboard 200, and number 21 on the UK Albums Chart, selling a total of 382,000 and 63,708 copies respectively, and received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Contemporary R&B Album in 2005. The album's first single, "Dip It Low", became Milian's biggest hit to date, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100, and number two on the UK Singles Chart. The single was certified Gold by the RIAA for digital sales, and earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. The album's second and final single, "Whatever U Want", featuring Joe Budden, failed to reprise the success of the lead single. "Whatever U Want" was more successful in the United Kingdom, where the song peaked at number nine on the UK Singles Chart in October 2004.
2005–2006: ''So Amazin'' and label departure
Milian starred in Be Cool, the sequel to Get Shorty, with John Travolta and Uma Thurman, and recorded two songs for its soundtrack. She was then cast in a lead role in the horror film Pulse, starring alongside Kristen Bell and Ian Somerhalder. The film was a remake of the Japanese film Kairo, and was adapted by Wes Craven and Ray Wright. Filming took place in Romania, a traumatic time for Milian, where she endured racial abuse and discovered that boyfriend Nick Cannon was cheating on her. The same year, Milian was awarded with a humanitarian award at The Reign fundraiser from the Elton John AIDS Foundation for being a role model for young children. Milian said, "I've never been rewarded that way and never been acknowledged like that. That was really nice of them, and I was happy I was able to show up for the kids."Whereas Milian's previous albums had pop and R&B stylings, she was encouraged by Island Def Jam to target a new audience and release an urban record. L.A. Reid suggested to Milian that she should work with Cool & Dre, with whom she ended up working with as the first people to start off the album. Although Milian was originally supposed to work with several different music producers, she felt that the chemistry they had in the first week was so "instant and real" that she felt she could not get a better "vibe" with anybody else other than them. Milian ended up working with Cool & Dre on the majority of the production of the album, producing ten of the album's eleven tracks together. The album was completed within a three-month period.
Milian's third studio album, So Amazin', was released on May 16, 2006. The album's lead single, "Say I", featured rapper Young Jeezy. The single saw peak positions of number four in the UK, and number twenty-one in the US. So Amazin debuted and peaked at number eleven on the Billboard 200 albums chart, selling 54,000 copies in its first week and 163,000 copies in total. Internationally, the album peaked at number 55 on the Swiss Albums Chart, 67 on the UK Albums Chart, and 139 on the France Albums Chart. Reviews of So Amazin were mixed; critics felt that while Milian claimed that she was displaying the various sides of her personality, the album could "only the surface of who she really is." "Say I" was praised by several critics, and was described as "instantly rousing" and "intoxicating". In June 2006, Milian's representative confirmed that Island had released her from the imprint. In an interview with Rap-Up, Milian revealed she was dropped a week after her album was released. The singer believed it was a "budget cut", and that Island Def Jam wanted to spend more money on label mate Rihanna; Milian also turned down what would later be Rihanna's hit single, "SOS". She said, "it was embarrassing. It was a week after my album got put out. I would be in my room a lot of the time crying by myself." After leaving Def Jam, Milian released her first compilation album, The Best of Christina Milian.