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Issue Date: March 14, 2004
Entertainment
Mya's way
The R&B singer's latest venture -- digital Bond girl.
By Tameka L. Hicks
In the new James Bond video game, "Everything or Nothing," Mya's character is an undercover agent posing as a jazz singer.
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'Wo," for those who might not know, means "red hot." Mya, the 24-year-old R&B artist who inserted the word into the lexicon of hipster-speak with last year's hit song "My Love Is Like ..." Wo, also could be describing her career. Her latest venture: playing video-game Bond girl Mya Starling, an agent undercover as a jazz club diva, in "James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing." (She even sings the theme song.)
Her rise from Mya Harrison, an aspiring dancer from suburban Washington, D.C., to single-name chanteuse/ actress reads like an old-fashioned Hollywood script. The one-time student of tap superstar Savion Glover has gone from sweet teen singer to fashion-conscious sex kitten in a matter of just a few years.
Consider 1998's soft-spoken hit "It's All About Me," which came across as pure innocence. So did her pin curls. That was then. Fast-forward to 2001's "Lady Marmalade," where the petite, honey-bronze Mya vamped it up in skimpy lingerie alongside music divas Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim and Pink. What happened?
"I'm still nice!" Mya says reassuringly, lest anyone get the wrong idea. Call it spunk. Or ...
She likes calling the shots in her life now: "It's just one of those ego strokes for yourself. Empowerment. I can hold it down" -- "it" being her spot in the industry. Whether she's using her powerful pipes on music tracks or briefly taking the spotlight in 2002's hit movie "Chicago" (as a leggy murderess), Mya holds her own.
Her latest music video, "Fallen," is in heavy rotation on BET and MTV. She sings in the new film "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" and waltzes in "Shall We Dance" with Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez in July. Dancing helped her springboard to film, she says: "I can easily express on the spot, with no preparation, through dance. You can be more free with it."
Competition in the music business is fiercer. Beyoncé, Ashanti, Monica and Mary J. Blige all dropped chart-topping albums around the same time Mya's third CD, "Moodring," came out last summer. "There's always so much competition," Mya says. "It is what it is. You just gotta work extra hard. Because I do different things, I am defined as Mya. Everyone has their own niche."
Mya's confidence got an early boost. She began dancing at age 2. By 13, she was studying with her idol Glover at the Dance Theater of Harlem. Her accountant mom, Theresa, helps keep her grounded; her singer father, Sherman, inspires her creative side. "My dad is really outgoing. I've taken on his characteristics in these last few years," she says with a laugh.
She hopes to expand her fan base with her virtual turn in the just-out 007 video game. "When I think of a Bond girl, I think of a girl who's really aggressive, always feminine, sexy and very demanding," she says.
The same adjectives could describe Mya.
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