Think only the Americans can make R&B/Pop records that matter? Think you know what makes a successful Irish export? Think that any under-21 who wants to make music never speaks her mind and always thanks her mom?

Think again... and meet Samantha Mumba. A 21st century teen who thinks Kylie was always a cool pop star and that mobile phones are indispensable. A teen who loves her mum but names Puff Daddy as eye candy. A teen that sends a 30-something stylist home so she can buy her own clothes! "I'm something totally different. There are a lot of female artists my age around at the moment, but they're all American and blonde and blue-eyed and smiley. I'm totally the opposite of that. I want to show a bit more attitude and I have an opinion..."

When 17-year-old Samantha Mumba left school last year, she knew she had a record deal to look forward to. She'd been so busy performing on stages and in studios for the previous six months that she would get into school in the mornings exhausted, and think to herself "I don't have a clue what's going on!" Because she always had a good academic record, and because she doesn't do things by halves, Samantha made a decision: she would concentrate on making music while she had the opportunity. Later, "if it all went quiet", she would return to complete her education.

Listen to Samantha Mumbas music and you realise things aren't going to get quiet in a hurry. Her songs - which she co-writes - are a supremely confident collection of pop-inflected R&B nuggets that finally prove Europe can match the super-slick, ultra-catchy efforts of TLC, Brandy and even Britney Spears. In her native Dublin, Samantha Mumba has already become something of a celebrity. Things really kicked off when she landed a lead role in a September 1998 production of 'The Hot Mikado', a jazzy, modern take on Gilbert and Sullivan's celebrated opera. That raised her profile and saw her invited to sing on various Irish TV shows (her take on 'Killing Me Softly' went down particularly well). When they asked her to mime, Samantha would always ask to sing live instead. When there wasn't a choice, she would, as she says "still end up belting the song out anyway." Something else she got used to was the way that, after every TV interview, the presenter would lean across and ask, "So how old are you really?" She smiles. "I tell them they can see my passport if they really want."

Everybody knows everybody in Dublin, Samantha explains. In a way it's great, but in a way you have to be really careful because everything's going to get back to everybody else somehow or other." It certainly worked out for her when a friend introduced her to Louis Walsh, manager of Boyzone and Westlife, in a Dublin club one night. Samantha managed to blag her way into the club pretending she was an R&B singer from New York recording her debut album with producers in the city. Impressed by Samantha's talent and potential, he signed her up as a complement to his existing roster of triple-A acts. After signing to Polydor, Samantha spent several months of last year moving between Denmark, Sweden, England and Ireland, co-writing and recording her debut album, 'Gotta Tell You'. Her debut single, also titled 'Gotta Tell You', takes off on the back of an aggressive guitar hook, gets straight in your head, and refuses to leave you alone. In the words of Samantha, it's "deadly". Meanwhile, elsewhere on the album the late-nite sexiness of 'Body To Body' features a sample from David Bowie's 'Ashes to Ashes' - all breathy vocals over a sparsely funky track. And it even comes with the approval of the thin white duke himself!

'Baby Come On Over' is a bass-heavy club anthem in the making. Says Samantha: "It's about a girl making the first move on a man. It's quite an aggressive track!" Live favourite 'Isn't It Strange' on the other hand, shows off a more lilting, relaxed side to her voice.

"I wrote the ballad 'Never Meant To Be' after I'd come out of a situation in my life where I felt finding someone was never meant to be." Although Samantha's other songs are altogether more upbeat - pop-edged enough to be have a broad appeal, yet sharp enough for even the pickiest R&B fans - all Samantha's music belies her tender years. "I've always had friends who were a couple of years older," she explains. "I'm not at that smiley schoolgirl stage..."

Between the ages of three and 15, though, Samantha was a performing, smiling schoolgirl at Dublin's famous Billie Barry Stage School. But don't hold it against: she hasn't been ruthlessly plotting her assault on the charts since she was in nappies.

"At home, stage school's totally different from the way it seems in England. We just went down for a laugh. It wasn't about competing against each other at all. It's funny because I grew up with Brian from Westlife - he was at the stage school when I was. We'd probably have been the least expected to make it out of everybody. He was a joker, and I was a dosser - always having a laugh, not taking it seriously either."

Of course, the final joke is now on everybody else. Samantha Mumba is the all-singing, all-dancing and, most importantly, all-real pop prospect you can't help but take very seriously indeed.