From an early 1990 interview with SuperTeen:

• "I just really want to focus on living healthy again, get in shape! Since my last tour I haven't been too good about that. So it's time for me to start again!"
• "I have to say, Japan and Australia were pretty extreme, in a sense, in that the Japanese audiences are more laid back and the Australian audiences were absolutely the craziest we ever had! The Hapanese have a whole different way of expressing their enthusiasm. They are laid back but they really are appreciative. Both places were really great. Probably the people in both places impressed me the most."
• "It's funny, I have been in show business since I was 5 years old, and I learned to expect that anything could happen. But when I look back, everything was always for the better. I remember when I was up for Les Miserables -- I was 15 then... I came really close getting a role in it and of course it was a big disappointment when it didn't happen at the time. But then my record-deal happened just a few months after that and it changed my whole life! So I keep my belief in that."
• "I used to do a lot of theatre, industrial films, commercials. I used to go to movie auditions all the time, so it's a familiar field to me. And once I do do a movie, it will feel good that it was something that I was aiming for initially. And it's not something that just happened out of the blue."
• "My favorite is definitely Billy Joel. He recently did some concerts in New York so I got to see him. It was a great show. I did a song with him. He asked me to come up on stage for a song. It was funny, because one of the guys from his crew who we also worked with came and got me from my seat about two minutes before and said: 'Do you wanna come on stage?' I was startled and jus tsaid: 'Sure!' It was a lot of fun."
• "I like Neneh Cherry and Paula Abdul. In fact I worked with Paula a couple of years ago on the 'Shake Your Love' video. She choreographed it. She's another one that worked so hard, so it's really nice to see her so successful. I like them both a lot!"
• "I believe in being honest with yourself and never doing anything to sacrifice your belief. For instance, even if the going got rough, I just kept right on doing what I wanted to do -- no matter what. That's probably my main belief."

From the Live Around The World videocassette:

• "Kids are getting the idea that it's wrong to be a good person, and I think that that's wrong!"

From the liner notes of the Anything Is Possible album:

• "No one can achieve success alone. A lot of people don't realize how much goes into developing a career. I feel so lucky to be surrounded by people who are not only true professionals, but...true friends."
• "Throughout this album, there is an ongoing theme. This theme is about being positive, standing up for yourself and others, reaching for the brass ring, and getting what you feel you deserve out of life. I also do write about obstacles too, because it would be unrealistic to think that things will always run smoothly. I do believe, however, that anyone can beat the odds if they have the will, strength, and persistence to do so. Hopefully the messages in the music can help serve as some inspiration. This is my goal."
• "There is a world of endless resources. There is a mind full of outrageous dreams. There is a place where the two meet. Anything is possible..."

From an interview on Hitline U.S.A.:

• "I'll tell you a little bit about the video, just because I think it describes the song. In the video, there are little vignettes of bad situations and people trying to get out of them and bad situations turned good. You know, I really wanted to show people that I'm optimistic, but I'm also realistic."
• "The verses of the song really have a love theme. It's really about, let's say, the 'untouchable guy,' and the girl who thinks she can't get him. And when he does, in fact, pay attention to her, it teaches her that anything is possible. And, as far as the choruses go, the lyrics are 'anything is possible if you set your mind to it,' so you could apply that to anything you want. And that's kind of my philosophy in life."

From Billboard (November 24, 1990):

• "I had never co-written before and I really don't understand how people went about it. I didn't know if they sat around a room and said, 'OK, you finish this sentence.'"

(about how Deborah ended up working with Lamont Dozier)

• "Paul Cooper at Atlantic Records made the suggestion because I was performing a Motown medley in my shows. Lamont's son brought him to see me. Paul kind of got this brainstorm and asked Lamont if he was into working with me. Lamont looks at everything he did at Motown as a great achievement but he really wants to carry over to this generation, which is great."

(talking about the songs on "Anything Is Possible")

• "The new songs were really written from the time 'Electric Youth' was being mixed up until a month before this new album was mastered. I just write constantly."

(about working with Jellybean Benitez)

• "When I was 16, I was performing in clubs but I wasn't allowed to stay and listen to the music because I was way underage. What Jellybean brought was an honest club feel because he's really out there; he really knows what's going on."

(about people's skepticism towards her as a "16-year-old musical whiz kid")

• "So many people bring up the negative examples of 'quote, unquote' teen stars that don't cross over. I think as long as the music keeps growing nothing can stop you."

From the Los Angeles Times (December 9, 1990):

Is there a dark side underneath your wholesome, squeaky-clean image?

• "Well, if that means am I secretly a pervert or a racist or rotten person in some way, then I'd say there's no dark side. I don't smoke, drink, or do drugs. I don't even like to take aspirin when I get a headache. I may say a curse word once in a great while, but that's all. But there's a side to me that's mine, that only I know, that people might be surprised if they knew. It's not weird or nasty or anything like that. I wouldn't call it a dark side - just another side. I hate the fact that some people have a sarcastic attitude toward me because of my clean image. They assume I'm not cool or hip or that I don't have an edge. I don't like being put down for having this positive image. But that doesn't make me want to change it."

Is there some aspect of your image that you don't like?

• "Yes. What I really hate is that some people see me as this brainless puppet who's controlled by other people. They see I'm young and female, so how could I possibly make any decisions about my career or music or whatever? ..In fact, one problem I have is delegating authority. Sometimes I drive myself crazy trying to do it all, getting involved in decisions about every aspect of my career - even things I don't have to do."

Would you say that you're a control freak?

• "I wouldn't, but some other people might... I like having the power to do things my own way. Who doesn't? I can be overpowering in certain situations...I'm the loudest person when I have to be..but I prefer being nice."

When you were younger you had a reputation in the industry for being difficult to work with. Were you?

• "To some extent, probably. But I wasn't that bad. But I wasn't very open-minded. I was a cocky, narrow-minded, little 16-year-old. There was nothing I had to learn that I couldn't teach myself. As I grew older, I opened up. It's a natural thing I guess. My world was small. But as I got to be well-known and got exposed to the world and all there is to learn, I realized how much I didn't know - a whole lot. I finally realized I had something to learn from people who have a lot more experience than I do."

Do you ever long to be a carefree, frivolous teen-ager again?

• "I'm not sure I long to be a giddy teen-ager, but sometimes I act like one. I'm probably older than 20 most of the time because I have to be mature, because this is a mature business - a serious business. But sometimes I do act like I'm 15."

Are you comfortable living in the fast lane or do you sometime wish you were back in the slow lane?

• "These years have whizzed by at a crazy speed. Sometimes I'd like to stop it and say slow down. But I'm a professional and I just deal with it. I love what I'm doing. This is what I've been working for since I was 5. It's funny being in this whirlwind. Sometimes you don't know you're caught up in it until you look back and add up the time that's passed. I hope my whole life doesn't go by like a blur. I'd have some regrets if that happened."

From Entertainment Weekly (December 21, 1990)

• "I don't feel like I've made this great leap from child to adult. I hate to dwell on it because people will just think I'm trying to tell them, Look, I've grown up! That could come across really cheesy."

(asked if she still doesn't believe in premartial sex)

• "I still say it."

(asked if she still lives it)

• "I still live it! You're getting really personal there! No, I'll be honest about it because I've never been in love with anybody really, and I'm the kind of person, I couldn't even imagine fooling around with this one or that one. I heard you guys talking about 'Playboy' before, and no, I'm not posing for 'Playboy' either! It's so funny, because I'm always, like, I don't want to sit in this outfit because my body doesn't look good. I'm not about to take off my clothes for strangers, no thank you."

(asked if she feels patronized because of her age)

• "That was what the whole song 'Electric Youth' was about."

(asked what she wants to be doing in twenty years)

• "I want to do both film and theater. I want to be the best all-around performer I can be. You just have to keep getting better and better, and I think that's how I'll overcome the teen label and make that transition. I realize that the second you stop working at it someone's gonna sneak up from behind you and pass you right by."

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