Debbie Gibson : I am Like Taylor Swift and Avril Lavigne.

FORMER teen pop princess Debbie Gibson has compared herself to Taylor Swift and Avril Lavigne. The singer whose hits include Only In My Dreams, Foolish Beat and Shake Your Love says Taylor and Avril refuse to be put into a music industry mold just like herself.

“At that time they were all like ‘put her in a little black dress and put on heels’. They were trying to vamp me up because it’s an easier sell,” Gibson said about the beginning of her career. “I always said ‘I’m not comfortable with that. That’s not me, let the other girls do that’. “I look at Avril Lavigne or I look at Taylor Swift. You know, they still wear high-tops with their gown to an award show. That was me.”

Debbie says she isn’t a fan of music’s other sexed-up pop divas because it’s an image they will have to live with long after the teen years end. “When you put that image out there, you get a very different perception and treatment by men and people on the streets and in the industry,” she said. “You’re not  equipped at that age to back that up, so why kind of play dress up and go there? Wait until you come into your own as a woman.”