Christina Milian

And although Christina was signed to a major record label, she had her sights set higher. First, she didn’t just want to be a singer, she wanted to be a writer. “I knew it was important to write as a businesswoman because of publishing. Also I wanted to write because all the songs and lyrics I got from other people who were writing them, I couldn’t feel them. They’d be like, ‘Christina, could you put some feeling into it?’ and I was really trying, but I couldn’t do it.”

Christina wrote songs for herself, but when the sweet melodies caught the ears of others, she found other artists choosing her songs. “I kept working on my writing and eventually I was writing more and then actually started writing for other artists.” Who? She wrote Jennifer Lopez’s “Play” and PYT’s “Same ‘Ol Same ‘Ol”. Milian was still a teen at this time. Impressed? There’s more. Christina took a college level course on the business of music while still in high school, which changed her life and outlook on music as a business.