I wasn't a celebrity. To be in another place and to have a pen pal and another girl to talk to about boys, about school, about parents... And then I'd be like, "Oh! I have to go sing real quick, I'll be right back." So it was really that simple. It gave me a great foundation, I think, as an artist, how to work a crowd, and also it gave me a lot of great friendships. It was a really good time in my life. "New Inside" (From 1990's New Inside ) AVC: This is a pretty dance-oriented track for someone who didn't want to be a dance artist. T: I think that you grow as an artist, and for me, I'm so inspired by a lot of different artists. I'm constantly trying to grow as a musician, so when I listen to different things, I'm like, "That'd be cool, to do something like that," and I try to keep myself open-minded. I think probably being a young artist, there were a lot of things I thought I knew and I wanted to do, and I was like, "Oh! That's what I want to do." And then it took me in a different direction with "I Think We're Alone Now," and then all of a sudden I was a pop star. But I loved it. My dreams had come true, but then there was also that side of, "You're a young teen," and there were so many people telling me,