My Interview With Tiffany Evans

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Tiffany Evans (4'11) and Me (6'0), looking like the jolly green giant.
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This is an interview I did with Columbia Records recording artist Tiffany Evans for Bleu Magazine.

The other day I had the wonderful opportunity to interview up-and-coming 15 year-old R&B diva, Tiffany Evans. We discussed being young while still being sexy, the perils of the music biz, and a possible crush on Bow Wow, (hers, not mine, he's not my type).

The 15 year-old up-and-coming R&B diva gets real about the Bronx, the books, the biz, and Bow Wow...

ADAM: You were born is the New York City borough of the Bronx, that fact is proudly displayed in your "I'm Grown" video with Bow Wow. How has growing up in the Bronx shaped your music and your life thus far?

TIFFANY: We keep it real and "I'm Grown" is keepin' it real, right? We have fun and we're down to Earth people, at least I'm down to Earth. Even with the relationships shown, talking about the things that we go through, with the dudes and the girls who are like "Lemme tell you somethin', first of all..." and that type of [Bronx attitude] definitely shows on my album.

I read that you are a part of a big family, you are one of ten I heard. How did growing up with nine other siblings work with you obviously being this special child? How does that work even now with all you're doing?

It's great actually. We're not selfish, because if you have a big family you definitely know how to share. We're really close, we're really close. I just love them, they help me out with everything. Even when I'm on the road and they're not around they give me so much encouragement. They support me a thousand percent, which is the best thing.

Where do you fall in the middle of that, your birth order?

Seven. Lucky number seven, that's a good number too.

So you're only fifteen, and if you we're a regular girl going to school you'd be in the tenth grade. So what do you do as far as school? How does that work?

I received my diploma in '06. I had time on my hands while I was waiting and I got that done.

So, do you plan on putting your career on pause for college? If so, what are your college plans?

I definitely wanna go to college, not right now because there's so much going on but definitely when I make more money and am able to settle down for a bit I'm gonna go to college and study business management.

Are there any colleges that you're looking at, any HBCU's (Historically Black Colleges & Universities) or NYU, or UCLA...

Or Harvard or Yale, good colleges.

Let's have a little talk about boys. If you had to pick from any of your young contemporaries, Bow Wow, 'Lil Romeo, or Chris Brown, who would you want to give you a "promise ring"?

Bow Wow... Yeah, that's just because you asked that question.

That has nothing to do with...

No, no, he's my homie though, that's all. Chris is my homie too, he's sweet.

Speaking of "Promise Ring" you worked on that song with Ciara, how did that relationship come about?

I met her back in 2006 at a Grammy luncheon and I performed and she got on stage and starting saying all these great things about me. She said "You're my inspiration, you're like the Whitney and the Mariah [of our generation]" and I was like, why did she just say that? We started talking and my people started talking to her people and her manager Philana Williams eventually became my manager. When we were in the process of recording my album The Clutch penned "Promise Ring" for me and we were looking for a rapper to be on the song and I thought, you know what lets just use Ci on there. That's my homegirl, she agreed to do it and she hopped in the studio and did it ASAP.

Who are you listening to? What's in your iPod?

I'm very old school. I like Marvin Gaye, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Supremes, Jackie Wilson, I go way back.

Tell me about your album? What is your project like?

Basically it defines Tiffany Evans, it's all of me in that it shows how much I've grown and where I'm at now. It speaks on relationships, it's really ageless which I'm happy about because I don't want people to think that...

Because a lot of people would think that since you're so young it would be kinda bubble gum and would be like that record's just for kids.

Yeah. With anything that I do I don't want it to be limited. I want everybody to be able to reach me. I want somebody who's like thirty years-old to say "Yeah I feel her, I've been through that or I'm going through that." It's not too young and it's not too too too too too old.

A lot of people were saying that about Teairra Marie, that her lyrics were so abrasive and somewhat beyond her years.

You can have fun and you can be sexy at a young age, but it's just that you have to approach it in a different way.

You being so young, what advice would you have for other young people trying to get into this industry?

A lot of people ask me "How do I get noticed?" I say that you gotta get yourself as much exposure as possible, like even in your talent shows you never know who's in the audience, little things you can get on, you never know who's there. Just stay focused and keep God first. You've just gotta stay determined, never let anybody get in the way of what you gotta do. Never let anybody tell you that you cannot do anything because they are not doing anything for themselves. You've gotta keep on keeping on because there's definitely gonna be some hard times, but you gotta be strong and you've gotta have a tough skin to get through all of this. Always take the negativity and turn it into positivity. It's hard but I'm having a good time because I love it. Anybody who doesn't love this, I don't think they'd be able to deal with it. You've gotta love it. I mean you've really gotta love it. You've gotta be patient and it's a lot of work so you've gotta put your best foot forward. You've gotta get your education because at the end of the day no man can take that away from you.

Click here to check out my interview with Tiffany on TheBleuMag.com.

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Playing In The Background...
"I'm Grown" feat. Bow Wow
by Tiffany Evans
from the album "Tiffany Evans"
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