After a well-received concert last Wednesday at Sacramento State, Tiffany had an exclusive interview with The State Hornet over lunch at Fresh Choice off Howe Avenue. Between sips of Chardonnay and bites of salad, Tiffany told the Hornet details of her life, as a musician and as a “real-life” person.

Q: What did you think of today’s concert?

A: I had a blast. The turn out was amazing. I didn’t expect that many people. It was a real concert and we gave a real show. It was small venue size. It’s really encouraging to me. With a single on the air, and getting plugged, this means we can do small venues. This is opening up a lot of other avenues for us.

Q: How come you decided to tour college campuses?

A: I wanted to get started doing small venues. Everybody was like, well, come back when the album or the single is really rising on the charts. That’s not going to happen unless people see you play. So we had this dilemma. How are we going to get this done? I was kinda nervous. I was all, I don’t know, I don’t know if people will be able to relate to me, because this is a whole new thing for me. But I knew the music was right. I was like, I hope you like me! I know you’ll like the music.

Q: How come you decided to pursue this type of music?

A: I think that this has been in transition for a while. I started off doing country. By the time I was eleven and twelve, I was adding Fleetwood Mac and anything that I thought was a little more aggressive into my show. And I love songs like, “I Think We’re Alone Now” and “Could Have Been,” but I don’t want to be a dance artist. So I found myself really frustrated not being able to cross over and do other types of music. I wanted to be Stevie Nicks, that really was my goal. Not being taken seriously was really challenging for me, and I figured it was best to bow out gracefully. I really didn’t have any answers on how to make that transition. You see Britney Spears now days, and she’s just going full on into it. The transition in any career, for any artist, no matter what the age, is very difficult.

Q: What did you do in the meantime, before your comeback?

A: Well, I got married and I had a baby. That pretty much kept me busy! [laughs] I worked on myself as a writer, a songwriter. That was really important for me because I wanted to be able to at least hang in a writing session. I didn’t want to just sit there, show up and just put my name on something. I don’t really dig that and I don’t really think that’s fair. So I wanted to be able to at least express my opinions and be able to sit down and write. I worked on that for a long time. I’ve always felt comfortable as a vocalist. I sing. It comes easy for me. It’s my gift, it’s what I do. Other things, like playing an instrument, is very challenging, although I know I need to learn. Writing is sort of the same thing. I felt very insecure about bringing somebody into my world and have someone go, ‘that’s stupid.’ I was a little insecure for a while.

Q: What inspires your writing?

A: Matchbox Twenty, Phil Collins. Artists that I listen to and who I look up to as an artist inspire me. And not just with this album. They have been inspiring me for a long time.

Q: Was there one point when you decided to make a comeback or was it a gradual decision?

A: It was way gradual. It was like turtle. [laughs] And there were times that opportunities were offered to me and I wasn?t too sure about pursuing them. But when I sat down and thought, I would have to compromise so much. A lot of times I would have to walk away from a big money deal. People would say, “you’re crazy.” But I feel that I only get one shot. If that shot takes time to build, that’s fine as long as it’s credible. I wanted to build a good foundation. If it takes a while to build a house, I don’t really care. But I want it on a good solid foundation. I think that I have that now.

Q: Is it hard to have a family with your lifestyle?

A: A little bit. This is the first big trip for me away from my son. I take my band really seriously. It is part of my responsibility. They’re not babies or anything. They can definitely hang for themselves. But they’re looking at you, you’re their employer. It’s different especially now that I’m a woman and not some kid sister who’s just running around. It’s about pacing. So far, we are only three days into it and everybody seems pretty cool. But I’m sure there’s going to be days where it’s like, ‘ugh, don’t even talk to us.’ But that’s with everybody that you work with.

It’s a weird time for me, I feel a little out of synch. This is incredibly exciting. I’m excited, I want to do it. But at the same time, it doesn’t feel the norm for me. I think I’m used to flying in and flying out. And now being on the bus with all these people? It’s kinda like having to be ‘on’ all the time. I have my own lounge that is so messy right now that I don’t even want to go back there! I have shoes and clothes and everything everywhere. Because we’ve just been going and going. There’s been so much publicity and promotion. I’ve been up at 4:30 in the morning and at bed at 2 at night, changing three to four times a day.

Q: What do you think of today’s pop stars, like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilara?

A: It’s so different to watch them and the things that they do, their fashion, their videos. I think it’s a really exciting time to embark on a whole different way of doing things. It’s extremely different from what I was doing. I would have never gotten away with what they’re doing.

Q: What would you like to see happen in the next year?

A: I think for me, I would like to see us doing small venues. I’d like to be able to keep the band, because they’re musicians. They have to make a living. I kinda created this monster and I have to keep it going. I think that everybody in my band are really strong musicians. And I’m really competitive. When I’m on stage with them, I think they force me to push it a little bit. I don’t even know if they are conscious of it. I know they are really good musicians, I respect them and have a really good time playing with them. It’s like, it’s on! I take pride in them.

Q: Are you tired of the song, “I Think We’re Alone Now?”

A: No! I think I would feel a little funny singing it the way it sounded on the album. I think that version is a little outdated. It’s a great song, but you walk a fine line. I needed to give it a little face-lift.

Q: How would you describe your music now?

A: Well, I would say it is definitely a little more alternative. The term alternative is so diverse. But it is still pop based, but it is a lot more rock, which I am really proud of. It opens the door for me. I’ve always wanted to be this hot female rock vocalist, like Janis Joplin or Stevie Nicks. I like to be competitive with the guys. I think there are very few women who actually pull it off. Hopefully I’ll pull it off! I’ve been training. We’ll see what happens!

Q: How old were you when you started?

A: I was signed by the time I was fourteen. But I started touring with bands before I was even a recording artist when I was nine. It was just something that I did. I’ve always been around bands and always been around music. I think the perks are you get paid more now or you get your own bus. Whereas before, I kinda learned through trial and error. My family was driving me around all over the place. We didn’t get paid. We’d be lucky to even get forty bucks or have somebody pay for our meal. It was all in the sake of, you never know what the opportunity is going to lead to. It’s building a story, it’s building a career. A lot of times in this business, you will go broke before you see anything change. It’s very hard to persevere.

Q: What is your favorite part of the business?

A: I think my favorite part is being able to take pictures and be in magazines, do the whole fashion thing. You can be outrageous. You have the ability to do whatever you want. It’s kinda cool when we walk down the street. It’s like, and you’re in a band. It’s obvious. It’s like 10:30 in the morning and you’ve got black on and sunglasses. We just look like this mob. I think that it is neat to stand out from other people. And that’s just the dress part of it. But when you get up on stage, and you shine and show your talent. Get up there and show what you’ve got. That’s what it’s all about.

Q: Do you ever wish that you had stayed in the spotlight the entire time?

A: There were days that I was like, what are you doing? Why is this happening? What am I going to do next? There were days that I found it very difficult to watch the American Music Awards. You’re happy for people but you’re also like, wow, I want to be there too. I think that going through everything I went through has made me the person that I am now. I am much more forward. I am much more outspoken. I don’t know if that it is necessarily a good thing. I don’t sweat the small stuff, where before I used to be high-strung and nervous all the time. Sometimes you have to go through those tough spots to get to a nice polished end. I think if I would have known how hard it might have been to keep the momentum going, I probably would have tried to keep my career up to some degree. But I needed to grow as a musician and really find out what I wanted to do. I needed to gain the strength to say, this is what I want to do.

For more information, pictures and sound bites from Tiffany, check out www.tiffanymusic.com.