Joss Stone ‘Introducing’ her true self

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Getting nothing but grief at home
In her homeland, though, Stone is getting nothing but grief. Newspapers there have been unrelenting about her nervous appearance at the recent Brit Awards, her weird hair, her odd-sounding accent and her alleged relationships with male collaborators.

"When they see that you're kind of getting somewhere, they say, 'Oh, hell no. We have control over you,'" says Stone of the once-fawning press that helped make her into a star.

Blessed with the voice of Aretha Franklin marinated in Johnny Walker, Stone grew up in southern England and wanted her debut CD to sound a little like "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill."

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Her label, however, had other plans. Over the then-teen's objections, it first released 2003's "The Soul Sessions" — a 10 song collection of mostly little-known R&B songs from the '60s and '70s.

Her second offering, 2005's platinum-selling "Mind, Body & Soul," which she had started writing when she was just 14, turned out a little too pop for her taste — again despite her protests.

"I was saying all these things, I wanted it to be like this, I wanted it to be like that, but they didn't listen. And that's OK. I didn't mind. I was learning," she says.

"I was watching and listening really, really carefully because I knew that one day I'd be able to do it: 'One day I'm going to be able to make this exactly how I want to. The musicians one day are going to listen to me.'"

Soon, it was her turn. For her third album, Stone went to Barbados and, in isolation, wrote more than 60 songs. She also picked her producer for the first time.

'No limits'
Stone recruited Common for the second single, "Tell Me What We Gonna Do" and managed to persuade Lauryn Hill to contribute to another song after ceaselessly bugging the reclusive singer's mom.

"There were no limits on this one. Musically, nobody was allowed in the studio. I've never done that before. I've never said, 'You keep the record company and my parents out,'" she says.

Some of the reviews have mocked her re-coming out party and predicted that her drastic makeover may alienate older fans. Though the CD is being sold at Starbucks, the artwork features one photo of her straddling Saadiq, both naked and slathered in body paint (however, she insists they are not a couple and says the shot was artistic).

"I don't necessarily think it's going to alienate the old consumers," says Anokute. "She's loyal to her old fans, she wants to maintain her old fans. But like any artist, you want to grow and you want to attract more people."

Meeting Stone is like meeting a precocious teen — part giggly girl and part media-savvy starlet. There's an element of hippie earnestness, yet she also employs about 25 people, renegotiates record deals and keeps a punishing touring schedule. The split personality is something she acknowledges.

"It's like I'm two different people. There's this little girl that is like, 'Don't you want to go to sleep?' or 'Let me just call my mum' or 'Let me go smoke a cigarette behind a bike shed _ let me just go do something normal.' And then there's this other girl that's like, 'Actually, you can't do that — you've got to work today.'"

Look no further than the top of her head for an example of that tension. Stone's unnaturally dyed hair was a decision she made after being told to keep her hair blonde for the new CD.

"I don't really like to be controlled," she says sweetly.

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