I Think I'm Old and Untalented Now

Remember when you were a kid, tottering around the skating rink on Friday night, trying to hold that special someone's hand without sweating all over them or missing a step and falling on your face?

Remember the popcorn smell and the clack clack clack of the more experienced skaters whizzing past as you tried to keep your head amid the whirl, wound tight by your big passel of hormones?

If you remember the soundtracks to those nights-replete with classics like New Kids on the Block's "Hangin' Tough" and the best of the Bangles and Bananarama-you might still have a space in your heart for Tiffany, best known for the hit, "I Think We're Alone Now."

While the popster may never have measured up to her closest competition-Debbie Gibson-she managed to cobble together quite a career, racking up several million in record sales and an opening slot for the New Kids.

But, as with so many teen pop icons, Tiff's racier third album tanked, leaving her to loan her voice to inauspicious endeavors like Jetsons: The Movie. She took time off, got married, had a kid and settled into Behind the Music obscurity.

Now, with the skating rink set turning all-too-rapidly into soccer moms, Tiffany is targeting her new album, The Color of Silence, at the more adult-contemporary set, with songs that Billboard magazine calls, "thoughtful, intelligent and full of grace." Or as her new bio puts it, "Tiffany's equivalent to Alanis Morrisette's Jagged Little Pill."

While "I'm Not Sleeping," the first single, doesn't offer any veiled references to movie theater fellatio, it's an enjoyable-enough foray into the "hot AC" genre, with a gently canned guitar riff thrumming along with Tiffany's still-sugary voice and an unexpected backing vocal from Bone Thugs N' Harmony's Krayzie Bone. Her new tune may not deal with the harsh realities of "The First of Tha Month," but Tiffany's made the oh-so-adult leap from teenage nookie to contemplative regret rather respectably.

In a climate where Madonna's umpteenth album is still charting and even Motley Crüe still has a career, it's anyone's guess whether audiences will embrace Tiffany's comeback. But at least, for now, she's got the upper hand on Debbie Gibson.