Hannah Montana And Her 'Sisters'

But she gets to play dress-up whenever she wants. The girls' eyes flashed like glow sticks as they described in explicit detail Hannah's enormous rotating closet, where her schoolgirl clothes hang in front and her rock star garb -- including her blond wig -- is hidden behind a secret door. In Malibu, no less.

What girl wasn't a well-wardrobed singing sensation at 8, singing into her hair dryer as Britney or Madonna?

Madison Bruton's infatuation with Hannah Montana takes up stretches of dreamy playtime. At her home in Fairfax County, she watches the Disney Channel show over and over again. She draws Hannah pictures in a Hannah sketchbook. And alone in her secret-world room, she often takes the microphone from her broken karaoke machine and sings Hannah songs.

She had a Hannah Montana birthday -- the big 1-0. She and six friends had a Hannah Montana makeover at Tysons Corner Center's Club Libby Lu shop, all donning blond wigs like Hannah's. They line-danced to the "Best of Both Worlds" theme song and sang into sparkly mikes.

Same question for Madison: Why is Hannah Montana suddenly more precious than a puppy?

"I really like her show because the way she acts is kind of like how I act sometimes," Madison said softly. "When I sing to her songs, I feel like her. . . . I really think I've actually become a singer."

Since the show premiered last year, its popularity has soared with the tween set -- a coveted advertising demographic of kids between the ages of 9 and 14. It's second in ratings only to "American Idol" for that age group.

For the rest of the world, "Hannah Montana" and its 14-year-old star burst into the public consciousness in recent weeks because of the frenzy surrounding her concert tour, which sold out in many venues in minutes. Brokers using sophisticated robot computer programs snapped up gobs of tickets, prompting parental outrage, the scalping investigations and the high-profile lawsuit by Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster is seeking to stop RMG Technologies from selling the robot software, which enables users to flood Ticketmaster with purchases, then scalp the tickets.

Such is the power of tweens, who rule on the Disney and Nickelodeon cable channels. Thanks to MP3 players and cellphones, kids-oriented satellite radio and portable DVD players, advertisers have nearly unfettered access to the giggling demographic group. Experts say tweens represent $39 billion in buying power that comes from allowances and gifts from indulgent parents and grandparents. And because moms, more than ever, consult with them on anything from their favorite juice to shampoo, they influence family buying decisions for billions more.

"They're just very tech-savvy, very connected and saturated with media since the day they were born," said Robbin Jaklin, who monitors youth trends for Chicago-based Creative and Response Research Services. "They're more demanding, definitely more affluent and more multicultural than kids were" in the past.

Jaklin's firm recently surveyed 1,500 tweens and found that 83 percent had a compact disc player, 72 percent had a handheld video game, 48 percent had an MP3 player and 46 percent had a cellphone.

But even Disney executives were surprised when "Hannah Montana" premiered in March 2006 with 5 million viewers. The show reaches an average of 2.2 million viewers daily and is the most popular cable show for kids and preteens, according to Nielsen Media Research.