February 16, 2006

A Lot Of Lovin', A Lot Of Livin' Shaping Fantasia's Next LP

By Corey Moss (MTV.com)

BEVERLY HILLS -- When Jennifer Hudson landed the role of Effie in the Dreamgirls movie, one of the first calls she received was from her old American Idol pal Fantasia, who had also auditioned for the part.

"I was like, 'You took my part!' " Fantasia recalled of the film adaptation of a Broadway musical about a '60s girl group. "But I was very proud of her. It wasn't for me, it was for her. And because I was happy for her blessings, something else will come around for me and then I'll be blessed. You know what? Jennifer is my girl. And when I first met her on 'Idol,' I told her, 'You remind me of Shirley Murdock' and she's like, 'Oh, get out of here.' "

Fantasia, who has appeared on The Simpsons and American Dreams, still hopes to segue into acting and continues to audition. "There's a lot of things that I said I wanted to do, so I gotta do it," she said at Clive Davis' Grammy party last week, where she and Jamie Foxx stole the show.

Her first priority, though, is recording her second album, which she started this week.

"We're bringin' it different this year," she said. "I fell in love with a lot of people. I've performed with a lot of people that I want to work with, so this album is gonna be very, very different."

After collaborating with the likes of Missy Elliott and R. Kelly on her debut, Fantasia now has her eyes set on Kanye West and Maroon 5.

"I just got off tour with Kanye, so of course I gotta work with him and I made him promise," she said. "It's gonna be poppin'. I just turned 21, so I've been doin' a lot of different things and I've got a lot of new stuff to talk about."