How sexy can she go?

It’s a sign of the times. Today’s youth hardly read anymore. They’d rather surf the Net or socialize through Yahoo messenger.

Thankfully, Lovi is an exception to the rule. Yes, this 19-year-old artist loves to read. Instead of chatting with co-stars in-between long taping breaks, Lovi goes to one corner and reads.

It’s gotten to the point where well-meaning friends scold her: “You’ll ruin your eyes by reading in dim light!” And while she appreciates the concern, Lovi just can’t break the reading habit.

Her mom, Rowena Moran, trained Lovi to read since she was that high. No wonder Lovi says she was already burying her pretty nose in books early as age seven. “I never go to sleep without reading a book,” she says, “I even dream of writing a book someday.”

All that book reading has also allowed Lovi to write lyrics to some of her songs. One of her songs, Pauli-ulit, is included in Lovi’s second album, Bloom, under Sony BMG. Ogie Alcasid himself wrote the melody.

Ogie’s other song, Nais Ko, theme of Lovi’s soap, Kaputol ng Isang Awit, is also one of the album tracks.

So is Joven Tan’s Sana. Sony BMG and Lovi hope Sana will do what another Joven Tan song, Kung Puwede Lang did for Lovi: Land her on top of the charts.

After all, Lovi is having too much fun these days to pine over a lost love or go looking for a new one. Her lips are sealed when it comes to Jolo or any of the Revillas. She also refuses to open up about aborted romance with nonshowbiz guy, whose family owns a chain of popular stores all over the country.

“I had to break up with him after I found out I can’t devote enough time for him,” she reveals.

Her heart must have told Lovi she loves the guy. But love alone is not enough. Her head reminded Lovi she’s too engrossed in her work to spend enough time with him. It’s unfair to keep him waiting while she wraps up tapings or rehearsals before they go out on dates.

That’s the all-new Lovi for you. Gone is the teenybopper who listened only to her heart and didn’t heed the warning signs on her head.

“I have become more mature,” she explains. “I am more in touch with my decisions. Before, I let others tell me what to do. Now, I decide on my own.”

Such self-confidence inspires others to believe in Lovi as well. Sony BMG executives are giving her a vote of confidence in her recently-launched album. They are allowing their prized artist to choose the tracks in her second album, Bloom.

“Unlike my first album four years ago, Bloom doesn’t have teenybopper songs anymore,” Lovi proudly says. “Instead, I’m venturing into pop-classics that are easy to listen to. And since I have a hand in choosing the tracks, this album is a very personal one.”

Fans will see for themselves just what Lovi means when she stages her first major solo concert, Bloom on Oct. 16, 8 p.m. at Music Museum with guests Ogie Alcasid, Dennis Trillo, Jay-R, Jan Nieto and Aljur Abrenica.

The show’s title serves a double purpose. It not only reminds everyone that she has a new album of the same title.

It also announces to all and sundry that Lovi, at 19, is no longer a hesitant, awkward girl. She has transformed into a self-assured adult who feels comfortable in body hugging mini-skirts and other sexy clothes.

Men’s magazine editors are not taking Lovi’s all-woman look sitting down. They have dangled offers for her to pose on the covers of their magazines. But Lovi is not biting. “I can strike sexy magazine poses, but not for men’s publications,” she declares.

Read: The sexy look is okay. But it has its limits. Lovi is drawing the line between becoming every man’s fantasy and giving them just what they want on the glossy pages of a magazine. There’s such a thing as being sexy without turning into a sexy symbol

Lovi has put her foot down. She’s grown into a woman, yes. But this doesn’t mean she’s ready to throw caution to the wind.

The lady knows what she wants. And while Lovi is not exactly telling the whole world about it, she’s showing it in more ways than one. She’s showing it in the way she sings, walks and yes, blooms.