J14 Exclusive Q&A with Miranda Cosgrove

Miranda Cosgrove's debut album, Sparks Fly, hit stores today, and to celebrate, J-14 chatted exclusively with the iCarly star about her cute "Kissin U" video co-star, Ke$ha, and her celeb crushes on Shia LaBeouf and Rob Pattinson! J-14 also snabbed a signed copy of Miranda's CD -- click here to enter to win!
J-14: Why did you decide to go with Sparks Fly for the album title?
Miranda Cosgrove: "Sparks fly" are actually the first two words you hear when you put the album on because it's the first two words of "Kissin U." I'd been trying to think of the perfect album title since I started making the album a year and a half ago. Then it got down to two weeks before I had to tell them, and I was like 'What am I going to call it?' Then I was listening to the final master copy, and it was just like "sparks fly." I was like, 'That's perfect!' So we ended up going with that.

J-14: Did you write the song "Disgusting" with Ke$ha?
Miranda: Ke$ha co-wrote the song -- actually her mom wrote it with her too! I just found that out the other day. I was like, 'That's so cool.' It kind of stands out. That's one of my favorite songs because it's really funny and fun to sing too And then I like "There Will Be Tears" a lot, and I like the single "Kissin U" a lot -- that's one of my favorites too.
J-14: Did you get to pick the lead boy in the "Kissin U" video?
Miranda: I did. I had auditions where I got to meet all of these guys, and when the guy who's in the video walked in, the casting lady and all the people who were in there all thought he was so cute! He's Australian and has an accent, so they were all like, 'Oh my gosh.' For some reason any time someone has an accent, it makes them really cute -- I don't know why! It's the strangest thing.
J-14: What's the story behind the single "Kissin U?"
Miranda: I actually wrote it about a guy I really like -- I just always liked him, and I think it's cute how Taylor Swift and different artists always write songs about [their lives]. It's always better when you write a song about a real experience -- you can just tell when you listen to the person singing the song that it's real. I co-wrote it with Doctor Luke -- he did all the music on the song. He was fun to get to work with. I did another song with him on the iCarly playlist album, but this was my first time going to co-write with someone when I first started my album, so that song was just really special to me.
J-14: Why did you decide to go edgier with the Sparks Fly album photos?
Miranda: I had a really great time getting to do the iCarly playlist album, but it was my first time in the studio, and most of the songs were covers. With this album, I wanted it to come more from me and also be more mature. With the pictures, I always wear braids in my hair when I'm out with my friends, and my stylist, Sammy, was like 'You should wear braids on the cover of the album like you always do in real life.' I just tried to make it more like my style, what I'm really like.
J-14: Can you let us in on any juicy secrets we can look forward to on iCarly?
Miranda: More romances with our little love triangle on the show between Sam, Freddie, and Carly. I'm sure they're going to touch on that again, and then I hope more stunts. That's what I always say! And I might get to sing in an episode, so that's going to be really fun.
J-14: Are the love triangles ever weird for you to film?
Miranda: It is just because we started the show when I was 13 and Nathan and Jennette were 14, so we were really little -- we're like brother and sisters. We're all good friends. I remember when I found out I was going to kiss Nathan on an episode that was on a few months ago, we both kind of stopped [at the table read] and were like, 'What?!' But actually when we ended up doing it, it wasn't awkward -- a little weird, but it wasn't bad.
J-14: Are there any celebs you would love to date?
Miranda: I would love to date Shia LaBeouf! That'd be great. I wouldn't mind at all. I've liked him for a long time -- [Selena Gomez] probably has too though! Or Rob Pattinson. He's so cute.