JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT - From Actress to Pop Rocker Chick!

You may know 23-year-old Jennifer Love Hewitt as a Hollywood teen actress, but since the age of 6, Jennifer has set her sight set on being a singer. "I always sort of wanted people to think of me as a singer (first), way before acting even came into play. But I love acting, too, so if I could do both, that'd be great," said Jennifer (better known as "Love" to her family members) in an MTV.com interview.

And she did. Way before she hit it big as Sarah Reeves Merrin in the popular TV Series "Party Of Five," Jennifer released her debut album titled "Love Songs," which was only released in Japan when she was only 13. Her first American release "Let's Go Bang" hit the stores in 1995 followed by a third self-titled album a year later. And now, with a new record deal with Jive Records, Jennifer is ready to scale greater musical heights with her fourth album "Barenaked" after a six years wait.

"I never really found me in any (of my previous) records," said Jennifer. "So I got away from the music industry for about six years. Then about two-and-a-half years ago, I hooked up with Jive. They were the first people in the music industry that ever offered to let me write on the record."

Working with Meredith Brooks who took on the producer credit on "Barenaked," Jennifer finally revealed her songwriting ability by writing all the lyrics on the album, which she described as a "project of (her) heart most definitely."

The first single "Barenaked" fully showcased Jennifer's change in musical direction with its pop-rock flavor, showing Jennifer's music influences that "ranges from Janis Joplin and Aretha Franklin to a new comer: Norah Jones." And producer Meredith Brooks is clearly full of praise for the multi-talented singer/songwriter/actress. "Everyone's going to be so surprised. She's a great soul singer" says Brooks.

We clearly ain't doubting that. And from the way things look, we are sure that Jennifer will make her mark from an actress to a pop-rocker chick with "Barenaked!"