Livvi Franc Brings Barbados to New York

By Adam Horne Posted Aug 20th 2009 04:15PM

Livvi Franc knows she has competition. If you were to compare her to fellow Barbadian beauty Rihanna, you certainly wouldn't be the first. "You would expect that, it's pretty inevitable," Franc told our staff during a recent visit to PopEater's New York headquarters. "Every radio station, every interview."

But with a self-titled debut album set for October release, and a team of some of the industry's hottest producers working to perfect her pop/R&B sound, the singer's not sweating the Rihanna comparisons. "Once the album comes out, people will see the difference."

The multi-talented Franc (she can sing, dance and even writes her own tunes) gave us a taste of the record and charmed the entire room with her diva-superstar-meets-girl-next-door vibe. We watched the racy new video for her single 'Now I'm That Bitch,' featuring Miami rapper Pitbull, who Franc says she met in person for the first time on set (he had recorded his verse just three weeks before shooting).

Watch Livvi Franc, 'Now I'm That Bitch feat. Pitbull'

As for the song's meaning ('Bitch' is actually an acronym for "Babe in Total Control of Herself"), Franc is aware that the lyrics can be misinterpreted, but she believes she's putting a positive spin on the controversial word. As Franc puts it, the song describes a situation in which a woman gets rejected by a man at first, but "you get sexy and you get hot later on and now he wants to date you."

As her career continues to take off, expect to be hearing more about this budding superstar. There may be some Rihanna comparisons at first, but Franc is eager to prove that she's far from a knockoff.

In her words: "I'm like, 'You wait.'"

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Livvi Franc Visits PopEater

Livvi Franc visits our New York Office. August 14, 2009 See All Photos >>

Max Orenstein, AOL Music