2000’s pop star Willa Ford made a triumphant return to the stage on Friday when she performed her newest single, “Love4Life”, on the Today show. The 44-year-old looked incredible in a white silk pantsuit with a lacy white bra underneath, as she wore her blonde locks down in beachy waves.
The star completed the look with strappy black stilettos and glowy makeup. She took to Instagram after her performance to share snaps of her stylish outfit and to celebrate the release of her single.
“I’m still on cloud nine after getting to perform and announce my new record on the @todayshow this morning,” she began in the caption. “Shoutout to the amazing Dr. Kwak for helping me fight off what seemed to be never-ending laryngitis leading up to my performance.”
Willa rose to fame when her debut album, Willa Was Here, dropped in 2001. A year prior, she had opened for the Backstreet Boys on their Into the Millennium world tour in 2000.
Her hit single, “I Wanna Be Bad”, rocketed up the charts, although her second single, “Did Ya’ Understand That”, failed to achieve the same buzz as it was released on September 11, 2001. “Everything that happened that day froze; the world stood still, as it should have,” she recalled to Billboard.
“My second single didn’t do well because anything that launched that day kind of got canned.” Willa stepped away from music shortly thereafter, yet returned to the public eye in 2006 when she appeared on Dancing with the Stars.
“I really took a step back because I felt like I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to be doing at the time,” she told Billboard. “I know that sounds crazy, but it was the perfect storm, and I walked away. It’s really hard when you walk away to go back to it.”
Instead, Willa turned to interior designing as a creative outlet and found her newest passion. “I’m just a creative human: if I’m not creating, I’m dying,” she explained.
© Getty ImagesThe mom of one announced that she would release music for the first time in more than two decades with her single “Burn Burn”, the first hit of her new album Amanda, which is set for a March 6 release.
“This album was never supposed to happen,” she told Antimusic. “In fact, I never thought I would return to music. Somehow, through my trials, music found me and healed me when I didn’t even know I was in need of healing. My hope is that if my music can bring love and healing to others, then I’ll have done my job.”
© WireImageWilla shared her excitement about the possibility of going back on tour after two decades, only this time with her family by her side. The singer shares her nine-year-old son with her husband, former NFL star Ryan Nece.
“I miss being on the road more than any of it,” she explained to Billboard. “I have a family now, so it’s something that I need to have the support of my husband, and I have a child now. It’s one of those things I’ve been thinking about.”
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