In the late 1980s, listeners were lost in her eyes. Now, a little more grown up, Deborah Gibson (remember when we knew her as Debbie?) has produced a new CD which is a little more modern, a little more grown up, but still simply Deborah.

Deborah’s latest CD is called “M.Y.O.B.,” which is short for mind your own business. However, when it comes to her latest album, you might just want to take a look at her anyway.

Her CD continues a trend that she’s followed with her albums throughout the years, including catchy hooks, the continuous towing of the line between teen pop and adult contemporary music, and the very hands-on approach that’s helped her score numerous chart wins over the years.

The tracks on the CD are varied, but they continue to stick well within the familiarity of previous albums. First single “What You Want” pulls all the punches, with a memorable beat, top-notch vocals, and a delectable chorus. The same can be said for her second single, “Your Secret,” which has a slight dance edge that is reminiscent of many of her earlier club successes.

On the ballad side, she doesn’t disappoint either. “Wishing You Were Here,” written by her and Wilson Phillips alum Chynna Phillips, is a powerful ballad that leaves the carrying of the tune to Deborah, who pulls out all the stops with a gusto of someone who’s had a lot of experience in the industry.

“In Blue” is another memorable track, with a percussion-emphasiszed song that works well against her voice. The song, which has the familiarity of an early Sade song, pulls together the right elements for giveing the album something different, albeit kind of late to keep the first part from sounding so similar. The trend follows into her next song, “Jaded,” which is more powerful but has a similar feel. These two songs seem to help build the album to the cresendo of the last pair of songs, but unfortunately fails due to those end tunes.

The CD in general, up to “In Blue,” flows well together because it all sounds so similar. “In Blue” and “Jaded” were a great right turn for the album, but come late and are so strong it leads you to wonder why they didn’t at least make the middle of the pack. The way the CD ends causes their influence to be lost quickly.

First comes “Knock Three Times,” a remake of the Tony Orlando and Dawn song. While the song makes a valient effort to create a modern sounding version, and succeeds in some areas, it still pales by comparison to the original story.

“M.Y.O.B.” both leads and ends the CD, which is also a shame because the song is probably the weakest on the disc. The dance version at the end does compensate for some of the weakenesses of the original song, but there’s too much at play here that doesn’t work, especially the children’s chior that is featured throughout the track.

Deborah’s career has been a long and winding one. She was signed to Atlantic Records when she was 16, quickly becoming the youngest singer to write, sing, and producer a #1 hit. “Foolish Beat” was one of just many successful songs she released in the late 80s, which included “Lost in your Eyes” and “Shake Your Love.”

When music took an abrupt right turn towards the sound of bands like Nirvana, Deborah found her label quick to abandon her hit-making track. Her label lost faith, thinking she would quickly fade to black.

She did no such thing, instead turning to theater, providing memorable roles in “Beauty and the Beast,” “Grease,” “Gypsy,” and other successful endeavors.

She continued to record CDs throughout the 90s as well, but this time she took matters into her own hands and recorded on her own label. Her music has begun to be noticed again in recent years, beginning in 1997 with the song “Only Words,” which made inroads in dance circles.

The momentum continued with “What You Want,” which got major airplay at influential stations like WKTU in New York.

With her latest CD, Deborah continues to show she’s got the stuff to sell CDs. But like many independent releases, a little tweaking is probably in order.