Unlike 60 Minutes, we couldn’t land a Michael Jackson Interview. And even though Britney Spears seems to be having exclusive interviews with just about everyone, we didn’t interrogate her either.

But on the whole, 2003 was andPOP’s most successful year, especially when it came to interviewing celebrities. Here’s a list of this year’s top 10 interviews:

1. Evanescence – Early this year, we spent about 20 minutes with lead singer Amy Lee. At the time, Evanescence weren’t getting any airplay and they hadn’t even released their album yet. But once we heard an advance copy, we knew they were going to be huge. As it turns out, they have 5-Grammy nominations and have sold millions of albums. Now it’s almost impossible to get that much time with Lee.

2. Nick Carter – We only got 2 minutes with the Backstreet Boy, but in that time, he broke news about his album, and it attracted a record number of people to andPOP. For that reason alone, Carter comes in at number 2. Even when we interviewed Toronto reggae rapper Snow and he talked about Carter, people flocked to andPOP. Carter attracts people, proving the Backstreet Boys are still as popular as ever.

3. Hilary Duff – Duff is arguably the most famous 16-year-old on the planet, so naturally, our interview with her ranks high on the list. She was very polite and down-to-earth, and proved to be a great interview subject.

4. Weird Al Yankovic – Weird Freaking Al! The legend spoke to andPOP in 2003 about his new album. The guy is funny on the CD and was hilarious in the phone interview.

5. Vince Carter – The most exciting player in the NBA may not be the most exciting person to talk to? Ok, so this might be a biased choice to the list. (Raptors in 2004).

6. Chad Kroeger – The Nickelback frontman spoke to andPOP and only andPOP during Canadian Music Week. He’s always a class-act and is always a great person to interview.

7. Ronnie Hawkins – Visitors to andPOP may not know Ronnie Hawkins, but he is a music legend. Just look at the list of people he is or was friends with: Elvis, John Lennon, and Bill Clinton. He was very colourful and open in our phone conversation, and hopefully he can keep making music for years to come.

8. Chingy – Love him or hate him, Chingy is quite the character. During our interview, he stole our question sheet and microphone and started the interview without us. It only lasted a minute before we took back control.

9. Sean Paul – Theis is a guy who can’t go a few minutes without muttering “a dirty ahhh” or something like that, but made a huge impact on the music industry this year. Everyone who wants a hit goes to Paul for a chorus or a hook. He took a couple minutes to speak with andPOP at the MuchMusic Video Awards.

10. Mya – She makes the list for having the guts to be a little cocky and sing “My ass is like woa!” We also met up with her at the MMVAs.

Almost made the list:
Wayne Wonder
Gang Starr
Lennox Lewis
Dannii Minogue
Fountains of Wayne
All American Rejects
Sam Roberts
Nick Cannon
Ryan Malcolm






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