CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Lauren Winans has been performing for most of her life. The 22-year-old Buckhannon native was already an aspiring musician when she moved to Nashville three years ago in hopes of taking her career to the next level.

"I've always liked to have everybody watch me sing," she said with a laugh.

"In elementary school, my dad got me this boom box, and I took it to school. I performed for everybody on the playground. I basically told them they had no choice; they had to watch me. I'd sing to Britney [Spears] and do gymnastics through the playground."

She has since moved on from gymnastics, but not from Britney. Winans has been a fan of the pop superstar from the beginning.

"Starting with 'Baby One More Time,'" she said.

Her enthusiasm for and admiration of Spears comes from her power as a performer.

"Her whole stage presence is really good," Winans said. "She gets people to stand there and watch her no matter what she's doing. She always keeps you wanting to see more of what she'll do.

"That's a good performer. That's why she's still where she is. People still wonder what she's going to do next."

That's the sort of career Winans aspires to -- and pop is the genre in which she plans to achieve her goals.

Despite living in the "Country Music Capitol of the World," she doesn't consider herself a country singer, not even a little bit. She said she was pushed in the direction of pop country early on, but it wasn't for her. She's much more Britney Spears than Taylor Swift.

Sticking with a pure pop style like her icon has paid off for Winans. Her single, "You're Gonna Luv It," landed in the Top 40 New Releases on iTunes when it came out in December. It's also found its way to several Top 40 radio stations, paving the way for her EP, which she said she is working to finish.

The tune paid off in an unexpected way, too. The company SeneGence signed her to be a brand ambassador for its LipSense lipstick line. On Jan. 16, it debuted Winans' signature shade: Luv It, described as "a shimmering peachy-pink color."

Winans pointed out that although Christina Aguilera has been wearing LipSense for some time, the star doesn't have a custom color.

LipSense isn't the only sponsorship Winans has, though. Right now, she's up to 10, including the recently added Forever 21.

"They're my newest sponsor. I just had a photo shoot for them," she said of the clothing store. "You can never have too many sponsors!"

Others are Redken, which she said came about from her just tweeting about the products she's using; Donna Bella Hair; Lavish Lashes; Norvell Skin Solutions and Hot Spot Tanning (spray tanning, not tanning beds; she's against those because of the risk of skin cancer).

Several businesses in Nashville sponsor her, too: Aura Salon, Lash and Plato's Closet, a secondhand store. Winans said that while others might have a problem wearing secondhand clothes, let alone promoting them, she does not.

"If they're cute, I'll take them!"

She has her eye on a certain hip, young company in the future. "I want to be the Candies girl SO bad, but they told me I'm not at that level yet."

All of these sponsorships help raise Winans' visibility, which in turn, raises the visibility of her music and other projects. One of these projects is her pet spay and neuter advocacy work. She works with Happy Tales Humane in Nashville and P.U.R.R. West Virginia in Grafton.

P.U.R.R. is a nonprofit private cat rescue that assists in the rescue and rehabilitation of cats and kittens. Winans, who rescued stray kittens as a child, recently filmed a public service announcement for the group, which has just begun airing in north-central West Virginia. (You can also find it on her website.)

"It talks about the importance of spaying and neutering your pets, making sure that's being taken seriously," she said. "It's not, and animals are dying every day because people are irresponsible pet owners. It makes me so mad!"

She doesn't just help animals, though. She's donating the money made from the LipSense campaign to the Make Sense Foundation, which helps women and children in need. She also helps people in less dire circumstances, using her songwriting skills to craft tunes for other musicians to record.

Winans wrote her first song when she was 15. As a birthday present, her parents took her to Elkins, where she recorded it with Seth Maynard at Lone Wolf Productions.

There, a partnership was formed. The two were a writing team until Winans left for Nashville.

"I've gained a lot of writers [in Nashville]," she said, "but I'll never forget sitting there in Elkins, writing my songs."

Maynard taught her another important skill: how to play the guitar. Winans admitted that she's gotten out of the habit and said it's something she wants to get back into. As a songwriter, that's important.

"I like to play guitar because I like to songwrite," she said. "I don't want to have to always rely on somebody else to do the music for me."

After all, she plans to have songwriting be a big part of her future.

"I want to keep writing songs and getting those cut by other people," she said. "I want to keep writing songs and working towards Britney status. I know that's a huge goal, but I don't stop."