'Sam!' Her foster-mother barks from the hallway. 'Get up!'
'What?' A sleepy-looking Samantha sits up and stares blankly around the room until her eyes rest on her calender. She mutters an obscenity as she finds the date.
For the first time she looks at me. 'Aww, man, you're them, aren't you? Sorry I'm late, it's just I forgot to set the alarm clock and do you mind doing the interview here for a bit while I get ready and stuff?' She babbles. She seems a little scared.
'Sure, no problem,' I agreed.
'Thank you so much!' Sam exclaims, clearing off a furry cow-print butterfly chair and motioning me to it. 'Have a seat!'
I do as suggested and watch as she sits on the floor in front of the overflowing laundry basket and quickly, expertly dividing the laundry into three groups: whites, jeans, and colors.
'Why are you here?' I ask her, point-blank.
'Because I need to be adopted,' She replies logically. Then she grins slyly. 'Or have my career really take off!'
'Did your parents die?' I say.
'Nope,' Sam says. 'They're still out there in the land of the rich and perfect.'
Turns out Sam was told to her face at age six that when they moved, she was not wanted, under any circumstances, and dropped off at the adoption agency. Sam seems ok with it, since she told me without even pausing in the application of her foundation, and the moment she finished her tale, she turned and said, 'I can't stand foundation. I'm more of a tinted moisturizer girl, but I'm out. Pisses me off."
For a girl who has just beat Britney Spears' record for youngest girl with both a number one single and a number one album, same time, she's pretty calm and collected.
'Hey, this is the music business. It's basically ten percent talent and ninety percent luck. Because it's whether those people out there,' she gestures out the window, 'like your music and your voice, not whether the record execs do.'
Smart girl.
'Besides,' She continues. 'I know that this is only going to last until a girl that's only fifteen belts out some great tune everyone falls in love with. This record isn't permanent.'
In just half an hour, this girl has completely cleaned her room, dressed in a pair of tight black leather pants and an electric blue spaghetti-strapped tank top, and applied foundation and powder, and is now working on her blush. Shocking. No sign of diva here.
'Can I ask you a question?' Sam says.
I agree, and in the time it takes to apply eyeliner, eyeshadow, and mascara, she's found out more about me than I have about her. This is one truly amazing girl.
'I know the question you're dying to ask!' She proclaims.
'Really?'I ask as she slicks on an indescribable shade of lipgloss that shockingly looks good on her.
'You have to have the attitude to pull it off,' She says of the lipstick. 'And you wanna know if I can really sing or it's computer generated, don't you? Well, I'll sing a song for you.'
So she does. She sings her hit single, "What You See (Is What You Get)", and it's perfect. It sounds exactly the same on a CD as in reality.
Once she'd finished, we take the short drive to the studio and she has her hair, make-up, and outfits shoved at her all at once. I'm amazed to see, that even as a new performer, she handles it with ease and professional grace, always in control of the situation.
With her hair flipped out and messy, her make-up done up, and a floor-length skirt with hip-high slits and a matching bandeau tube tope, she looks a lot like Britney Spears. She's quick to mention that they are nothing alike, though.
I was shocked and amazed to see that although she was told to her face that she wasn't wanted, being at an abusive foster-care home for four years, and more, she was unaffected. She quickly pointed out that was wrong, too. She is affected.
'How? You certainly don't act it!' I exclaim watching her laugh and giggle with and for the photographer.
'I blocked it all out, everything from when I was six back,' She says. 'But I can't block out their names. But something will bring it all back. And I get into this weird mood and it's just, no one knows, it's like no one knows what I'm going to do or say next. I mean, I'm not violent or dangerous in these moods, I've gone through enough of that violence stuff. I just get real bad, y'know?' She then adds, as she gives the photographer a look that can only be described as her Look. 'I'm not going to lie and say I'm perfectly fine, because I'm not. I've been hurt. I'm trying to get over it, but it's difficult. But I'm getting there!'"
That's where Justin stopped reading, since the rest was just mumbo-jumbo about her disc and record sales. But now he understood her moods and what brought them on! Score one for Justin! He thought gleefully, heading off to the hair and make-up trailer.