EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT . . . ADINA HOWARD : Hit Single Sends a Sexual Message

R&B; singer Adina Howard can’t understand all the fuss over the racy language in her single, “Freak Like Me,” currently No. 2 on the national pop chart.

What’s the big deal, she asks, about a woman being just as sexually aggressive as male singers have been for years?

“What century are they living in?” Howard asks, after telling about two women who confronted her recently, complaining that her lyrics are demeaning.

“This is the ‘90s,” she continues. “Women should talk openly about sex and quit being passive. Everybody has a freaky side. I do, and I don’t mind saying it. Women can say they’re horny and not be considered whores. I can say anything I want.”

On her debut album, “Do You Wanna Ride?,” Howard does say virtually anything. On “Freak Like Me” she proclaims the virtues of unconventional sex, boldly stating her preference for a “roughneck” lover.

Listening to Howard’s sexy album, you’d never guess that she started out singing in a church choir when she was 7 in her hometown, Grand Rapids, Mich. “I loved singing in church--but I’ve gone in a different direction since then,” Howard says.

She was living in Arizona in the early ‘90s when she decided on a singing career. Last year she moved to the Los Angeles area and landed a record deal, with Mecca Don/EastWest.

It’s not surprising that Howard cites Madonna and R&B; veteran Millie Jackson as favorites.

“They don’t mind singing about sexual things, and they don’t mind being outrageous and saying whatever is on their minds,” she says. “I really admire that.”

But not everybody admires Howard. Some critics have slammed her lusty approach.

Howard, though, insists that her supporters outnumber her detractors: “There haven’t been that many complaints from women. When I go to radio stations and women call in, their comments are positive.”

Many radio programmers clearly aren’t bothered by the raunchiness of “Freak Like Me.”

“I don’t think it’s an offensive song,” says Maurice Devoe, music director of L.A. R&B; station KKBT-FM (92.3). “At first we thought we’d have some problems playing it. Some women don’t like being referred to as freaks--or don’t like to hear other women referring to themselves as freaks. But we haven’t had a lot of complaint calls. I think a lot of people take it kind of lightheartedly.”