Rising 'star' comes home to shoot a music video

Hoku Ho is home this week to shoot a music video on the North Shore for "How Do I Feel" from her self-titled debut CD, "Hoku."

"It’s my next single and it’s important for me to get to my roots, to let people know that I haven’t forgotten Hawaii," said Hoku, 19, who is interrupting her college studies to concentrate on a music career. Expect her to join dad Dan Ho in his Waikiki shows whenever she can during a two-week visit.

Hoku Ho plans to spend some time at the Waikiki showroom of her father, Don Ho. Geffen Records

"It’s been amazing, like, nonstop scheduling," she said by phone from Los Angeles as she got off a flight from San Francisco. "Basically, I spend a lot of time traveling from one gig to another, meeting certain people, doing interviews here and there, a photo shoot. It gets crazy, sometimes."

She had just seen her mom, the former Patti Swalley, who used to sing in her dad’s show (she is now remarried and living in California), and she was already eagerly anticipating hanging out at daddy’s Waikiki Beachcomber Hotel showroom, where she cut her vocal teeth.

"Getting this recording opportunity was kind of a difficult decision," said Ho, who graduated last year from Hawaii School for Girls in Honolulu. "I know you’re always told you should go to college (she was attending Point Loma Nazarene University, a Christian college in San Diego) after high school. I’m still very passionate about going back eventually, but I just figured that you only get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do what I am doing. I mean, you can go to college at any age. And though college might be the wiser decision, I had to seize the day and enjoy the time now for music and consider college as an option later."

Her three-year pact with Interscope/Geffen Records included a hit song, "Another Dumb Blonde," featured in an otherwise so-so movie, "Snow Day," starring Chevy Chase, which snowballed into a solo CD that has been out for two weeks.

While industry buzz puts her in the league of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Mandy Moore and Jessica Simpson, Hoku - whose name in Hawaiian means "star" - is quite explicit about her feelings about her pop singing peers as well as her individuality.

"It’s kind of an honor" to be paired with such names, she said. "When I was working in Hawaii, doing my own thing, obviously, I looked up to these singers so much. When Britney’s CD came out, I was among the first to go out and buy it.

"But they chose whatever path they want to take (Britney has been accused of flaunting her sexuality at too tender an age). I want to give kids my age the ability to feel good about being young and conservative, not dress beyond our age. I wouldn’t want my kids, someday, to see me in an embarrassing position.

"I want my mom and my dad to be proud of me, not ashamed of me, and I want kids to know that, in me, they have someone they can respect."

She makes it clear that she isn’t condemning people she hasn’t met. It’s just that, as a Christian, she has her own agenda and has refused to joining the girl pack just to be in vogue.

Her trek home to make the video is an attempt to play on her wholesomeness and Hawaii ties. The video will include views of waterfalls, pineapple fields and other background scenes that clearly say "aloha.".

"Friends and family keep me grounded, no matter what happens in my life," said Hoku.

Her father, she said, "has been a wealth of knowledge and he likes my album."

In Monaco, she performed at the World Music Awards (airing tomorrow on ABC-TV) with the likes of Ricky Martin, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, the Backstreet Boys and the Goo Goo Dolls.

She was the buzz in the local media after the prince of Monaco took a liking to her. "He set me on the royal table, and the next day, my picture with him was in the paper - his arm around me."