Will Tiffany Go from Has-Been to Hit?

In tonight's premiere of Hit Me Baby One More Time (9 pm/ET on NBC), an assortment of ex-stars of rock and pop music take another shot at fame. They'll perform the classic oldies they're best known for, as well as their personal favorite modern-day hits, while trying to shake off that unflattering "has-been" label. Welcome to the very random and wacky world of summer TV.

Among the participants is Tiffany, who also appeared in the original U.K. version of Hit. Tonight she'll sing her No. 1 hit "I Think We're Alone Now" and "Breakaway" by Kelly Clarkson.

"I am a big fan of vocalists," Tiffany tells TVGuide.com. "That's why I'm a big Kelly Clarkson fan. I went to the finale of American Idol when she won [the first season]."

Earlier this year, Tiff saw and heard newly minted AI winner Carrie Underwood sing her old tune "Could've Been." "It is a hard song to sing and she nailed it," the '80s songbird confirms. "Her voice is great. When a singer can get up there and just sing and have the chops... I think they can sing anything. I was so pleased that she won."

For her own part, the 33-year-old mom says she isn't worried about the competition on Hit. "I am nervous about meeting everybody, of course," she continues. "I have mutual friends with [fellow participant CeCe Peniston], so it will be nice to really finally meet her and stop talking about when I can meet her someday.

"[Peniston's 'Finally'] is a dance song that sticks out in my head, and it is a song that I think everyone around the globe knows. It is a big pleasure just to be part of these songs that I feel are timeless."

We only hope Tiffany — who's promoting a new album, Dust Off and Dance — won't don her oversize jacket and hit the mall-tour circuit after this show airs. "I do look back at some of the fashion stuff that I did and go, 'Wow, I'm sorry!' [I] never had a stylist or a makeup artist. I was handed some lip gloss and mascara and told, 'Go make it happen.'

"But as far as doing the mall tour and [similar] things that we did, those things are fun. We didn't really have a choice because I was too young to be in clubs, so we used very creative options to get my product out there and to get people to know who I was. That kind of stuff I don't regret."

As for the "has-been" shots she and her fellow Hit performers get, Tiff shrugs them off. "I really, truthfully don't think you can fight that," she says. "Everybody asks me what I'm doing and I say I'm still very busy. Unless you have something out on the charts, people perceive you as doing nothing. That is so far from the truth. I'm running my own record label and I'm making more money than I've ever made in my life. I don't feel that, as artists, we have to come out and prove ourselves again. I'm just coming out again and doing what I love to do."