Ready to Dance ’80s pop tart Tiffany hits Pride with an ear toward dance music

Ready to dance
’80s pop tart Tiffany hits Pride with an ear toward dance music
By ROB BECK



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ROB BECK

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With Atlanta Pride’s relocation to the Atlanta Civic Center this year, the festival needs performers with appeal to draw the crowds away from their comfort zone in Midtown. Organizers are banking on Tiffany, the former pop princess who’s all grown up and ready to rock for Pride.

The “I Think We’re Alone Now” singer who grew up in the spotlight and counts the New Kids on the Block among her childhood friends can’t wait to get back to Atlanta. She took a few minutes to talk to Southern Voice about why.

SoVo: Your Atlanta performance last year was a hit. What can we look for this time?

Tiffany: I’m unveiling some new songs that’ll be coming out, so there’ll be some new stuff and just a few little surprises here and there. So I’m really excited about it.

This show is a little different. We kind of rock out.

Tell us about the new song.

It’s called “Just Another Day,” and it’s coming out probably about six weeks from now. I think we’re going to do our usual couple different dance mixes with Josh Harris and all the other people that are lined up, so it’s really cool.

I’m still fascinated by [the dance remix] world, to be quite honest with you. I write and just kind of do pop songs with a dance flair, and they take it a whole different direction, and I just love it.

What’s it like seeing someone take a song you wrote in a new direction?

I’m amazed how they can take a good song, a great song, but then totally trick it out. All that electronica or trance or anything like that, I’m just like, “Wow, what a gift.”

That’s not my calling as a songwriter. As an artist, I’m always like a kid in a candy store wondering what they’re going to do with the remixes.

This is Atlanta Pride’s first year at the Civic Center and on the Fourth of July. How does it feel to be asked to help anchor the line-up in this new phase for the festival?

It’s great. I think everybody’s going to be out there having a good time. I feed off the people, so if people are into it and in a festive atmosphere, the more people that are into it, the more fun that we have on stage. It’s an honor. I love Atlanta.

As a straight woman, what does Gay Pride mean to you?

I think that Gay Pride is really about exactly that: being proud of who you are and celebrating life, really. Having good friends around you and just kind of going out there and just having a good time. I really think that’s what it’s about.

A lot of my friends go, “What’s a gay Pride about?” And I’m like, “You know, it’s exactly that.” I mean, they love to flash it up a bit, and I think that the gay boys definitely know how to have a good time. They never let me down that way.

Last time you were here, you had just released your album, “Just Me.” How's the fan reception so far?

It got great response and stuff, but it wasn’t out on the streets the way that I had hoped, but a lot of that stuff is out of your hands once you sign a partnership agreement.

I’m more independent now, and if I do choose to do a dance album, it will be independent or probably be on my own label. Right now, I’m just taking things back into my own hands, which is truly less stress for me.

What direction are you headed in your new independence?

This project, we’re just having fun with. The new single, I really think it’s a great dance song, so I’m really excited. I’ve been doing it in shows, and people like it.

I mean, you live and you learn. For me as an artist, if I can continue to do good music that I feel is another stepping stone and look at an album and say, “Well, those are great songs,” whether it’s me singing in my shower, I don’t care, but they’re good songs.

The response from my fans is always great, and I’m so thankful because they allow me to be me and try different things and take the time off when I need it and stuff like that.

I think that we’re all going through this journey together. It really was the gay audience that really inspired me to go back to dance, which I’m having a blast with.

You helped launch the careers of the New Kids on the Block by adding them to your tour way back when. How do you feel about their reunion?

Oh, it’s great! Not only do I have a soft spot in my heart for the New Kids because they’re my childhood, I have to say I’m a fan, too. So I’m really interested to hear their new stuff. I think that it’s going to be tremendously successful, so I’m very thrilled for all of them.

Any potential for a Tiffany/New Kids reunion?

Probably not, because they’re not really doing a nostalgia kind of thing, and I’ve grown up a lot in the industry. I’m a businesswoman as well, and I’m not sure that would be the best move. I think that they can stand on their two feet now and just shine. It’s their time to shine.

Tiffany
July 5, 7:55 p.m.
Coca-Cola Stage at the Civic Center
www.atlantapride.org