IMAGINE American pop princess Britney Spears singing for you at the press of a finger. Or at the touch of a button: in this case, the belly button of the singing Britney doll. Alongside Christina (Aguilera), these diminutive divas are the latest fad among child, teenage and even adult fans, with one million sold to date. Having already created a singing storm across the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Singapore and Malaysia, the doll's French creator, Roland Caville, is expecting them to do the same in Hong Kong. And given the reaction of my colleagues when some samples arrived in the office, this success seems likely. Women, normally subdued in their professional demeanour, were reduced to giggling girlies - stroking the dolls' hair and choosing their favourite dinky outfits. The men, predictably, regressed to boyhood, lifting Britney's school skirt and bending her into compromising positions. The idea for singing starlets came to Caville six years ago. There were plenty of talking dolls on the market, but he thought he would take the concept one step further, and make them sing. He spent a year researching similar products and obtaining licences from the artists. His first effort, the Michael Jackson doll, singing Black Or White, was born in 1996. It sold 200,000 pieces. His company Yaboom has since launched B*Witched, TLC, Westlife, Steps, Five, Mandy Moore and Elton John dolls. Britney and Christina are the first the company has introduced to Hong Kong. There are three different dolls of each singer, playing their three biggest hits. Baby One More Time, Born To Make You Happy and I Will Be There Britney dolls have been released; while Christina fans can choose between Genie In A Bottle, What A Girl Wants and I Turn To You. The doll is decked in miniature versions of the outfits worn in each video, complete with mikes, mobiles and headsets. But you don't have to cart around a doll to get a blast of Britney. Caville is also manufacturing musical keyrings ($99.90), each again playing an entire track. As well as the world's hottest songstresses you can also carry Ricky Martin, 'N Sync, the Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls or Elton John in your back pocket. Portability is obviously a factor, as five million have already been sold worldwide, and plans are under way to introduce mini musical posters. The dolls cost $299.90; extra outfits are $169.90, and each ensemble comes with a MCD cartridge of the corresponding song, which you insert into the doll as you change the outfit. The Baby One More Time Britney doll is fairly realistic, probably due to that engrained image of Britney cavorting suggestively in school attire in the video. Christina, however, all heavy-handed makeup and bouffant hairstyle - being more tai-tai than teen queen - is less effective. But the sound quality is superb. Though perhaps not of CD standard, the tracks certainly match that heard on the radio. Yaboom is now considering adding Asian stars to its line-up. 'Many more stars are to come,' says Sherman Lam Chun-nam, general manager of Asia Goal Limited, Yaboom's Hong Kong distributor. 'We're now in talks with local Canto-pop singers, but we're choosing the stars very carefully to make sure they're popular enough to warrant their own doll.' But of the success of Britney and Christina, Lam is in no doubt. 'I mean, Barbie is so popular here. And If Barbie can do it, so can Britney. She's far more trendy.' Yaboom Singing Characters are available from Toys 'R' Us, HMV, Hong Kong Records, Fortress, and Jusco, Uny and Sogo department stores