In Auckland to promote her new album and movie, Vitamin C finds comparison with other singers odious. AIDAN RASMUSSEN finds out why.

Inside and away from the oppressive February heat, behind a big shiny dinner table, sits the diminutive figure of Colleen Fitzpatrick, aka Vitamin C, latest girly-pop sensation and horror film starlet.

In front of her lies a half-finished plate of bread and salad; her muted hello is caused by a mouth full of gluten and greenery. She's been doing interviews since 8 am, which might explain her reticence this afternoon. Her tour manager loiters nearby.

The 29-year-old, formerly with the New York punk/pop outfit Eve's Plum, is in town to promote her new album, More, and her part in the new Wes Craven vampire flick, Dracula 2000. Ms C plays Lucy, a fearless and carefree character who is seduced by Dracula and becomes a vampire.

Right now she's more interested in dunking her wholegrain bread in aioli dip than talking about herself. It's a character trait, she says.

"I get sick of talking about myself. I'd rather talk about other topics and other people. I think it is boring to talk about yourself - you are yourself. There's a lot more interesting things to talk about."

And true to her word, she divulges little about herself throughout the interview.

Time to grasp at straws, by commenting that her album is not as Britney or Christina as expected.

She frowns, combs her hair back and says her music is nothing like theirs. "I don't know where that image of me came from because my music is very different to that. I think it's misleading. I come from a very different place than them musically. I write my own stuff."

Is the music really all that different?

Well, no and yes. On one side is The Itch, a song about satisfying your desires, sexual or otherwise, which dances precariously close to Britneyland. On the other side, there's She Talks About Love, a bouncy Kraftwerk-like workout with vocals.

It's hard to say what Ms C is up to but this is not Britney, though she confesses to liking her. Vitamin C appears to have more in common with Debbie Harry and Madonna.

And refreshingly, unlike her steadfastly earnest contemporaries, she admits she's not trying to make art here.

"At the end of the day it's not rocket science, you know. What we're doing is entertainment, and I don't lose sight of that. It's not crazy indie-experimental rock or anything, I'm very much aware of that."

So why did she decide to head in this decidedly unpunk direction?

"It's not so different," she says shrugging.

"There are many Vitamin C songs that could have been Eve's Plum songs and vice versa. I think what happened was that times have changed musically and I think the marketplace has changed as well."

So much so that she created a new name to go along with her new music. Why Vitamin C?

"Vitamin C is something that everybody knows is good for you and you can't have too much of."

Or can you?

The album More is out now. Dracula 2000 opens at cinemas on Thursday.