Ashley Tisdale Interview

'High School' is over for Ashley Tisdale.

With her second studio album, 'Guilty Pleasure,' due to drop this June and an alien invasion movie (albeit a family-oriented one) hitting theaters in July, the 'High School Musical' starlet is shedding her wholesome bubblegum image to show off her adult side. And who can blame her? After all, she is 23.

The newly brunette Tisdale recently stopped by to demo a couple of tunes from her upcoming CD and to chat about the new trajectory of her career, her own guilty pleasures (Diet Coke and the Olsen Twins rank high), why she's done playing a high-schooler in movies and how she copes with crazy-eyed fans who cyber-stalk her on AOL. -- By Tom DiChiara

On growing up with her new album, 'Guilty Pleasure': "I'm 23 years old, and this is where I am in my life right now. I'm not trying to run away from my fans. Hopefully, they're growing with me. But it's something that's obviously not like 'High School Musical.' It's edgier ... The first album for me was really a growing experience as an artist -- you're just kind of learning yourself. The second one I knew exactly what I wanted, what I wanted to say and the message of the album."



On her own guilty pleasures: "I think everyone knows Coffee Bean is, like, my favorite drink, so that's a guilty pleasure. I think Uggs are my guilty pleasure, Diet Coke, I like watching reruns of 'Full House,' reading Perez Hilton. So I just felt like ['Guilty Pleasure'] was a great title [for my new album] because I don't take myself too seriously, and I'm hoping to be your guilty pleasure [laughs]."

On her movie career: "Right now I'm so into my music that that's really where I'm at. I keep reading other projects, and I have meetings on projects, but really the Fox movie ['They Came From Upstairs'] that comes out this summer is definitely a family movie. That was kind of like the last family kind of thing. I think if I do another movie it has to be ... If I'm in high school -- because I look young for my age because I just do [laughs] -- but if I'm in high school, it has to be like a 'Juno' or an edgy movie. It has to be something that's definitely, you know, more mature. But, yeah, I'm just more into the music right now. Maybe if something really gets me then I'll definitely want to do it, but right now I love what I'm doing."

'High School Musical 3' Unscripted




On her older-than-you'd-think 'HSM' fans: "The whole 'High School Musical' experience was -- everybody watched it, even like college students watched it. But they didn't want to say [that]. A lot of people that come up to us are like, 'My younger sister would like a signature,' you know, saying their name probably [laughs]."

On staying out of the gossip rags: "Just because I live in Hollywood, I don't really have the Hollywood life. I am someone who went to regular high school and who had a normal life because my parents really wanted me to be normal growing up in this business -- even though I've been in the business since I was 3. I worked in clothing stores. I've always had the best of both worlds -- you know, the normal life and then this is my job. So I'm not into clubbing. I don't drink and I don't smoke, and so I think that has a lot to do with it. I love dancing, so if it's a place you can dance, that's totally somewhere I'd love to go. But I'm so busy all the time that I love to just spend time at home and hang out with my friends. Me and my friends are different. We all like to chill at our house, watch movies and hang out or have parties at each others' houses. It's not like we have to go out somewhere and have paparazzi follow us to the clubs and stuff. I mean, they follow me doing things -- like really weird stuff like going to Coffee Bean or doing errands. So I find it very strange, because I don't put myself out there like that. But what are you gonna do?"

On being cyber-stalked: "I still have my email address from high school -- just so my friends from high school will still have it. However, I'm having problems with fans on AOL [laughs]. They know the email address somehow, but hopefully will never know the password because that would get bad. But I don't want to change it. It's like changing your phone number -- you know, you can't let go of it. No, I can't, I can't [laughs]. But I had a really bad experience one time. I was on the iChat. This is like when you're videoing. I thought it was [my 'Suite Life of Zack and Cody' co-star] Dylan Sprouse because he's always changing his screen name, so I ended up clicking on it. And I was in my bed. And I'm looking, and all of a sudden I see this girl on the other end and she's like ... [makes weird, very shady face]. I was scared out of my mind. Oh, my gosh! I just sat there and was like, Oh my God. It was really scary how she was like kind of creepy [laughs]."