Debbie Gibson releases 1st album in 20 years with 'The Body Remembers'

By Andrea Dresdale

On Friday, a week before she kicks off a limited Las Vegas engagement with New Kids on the Block's Joey McIntyre, Debbie Gibson released her first new pop album in 20 years, "The Body Remembers."

So what took so long? Life got in the way, Gibson told ABC Audio.

Initially, the pop star switched her focus from music to the stage. "I went into a theater tunnel, like, I wanted to check off every theater role that I ever wanted to play, and I did that till my late 30s," she said.

During that time, Gibson appeared in "Les Misérables," "Grease," "Funny Girl," "Beauty & the Beast," "Cabaret" and "The King and I," among others. But then, she admitted, "I had a very rough decade."

"A lot of illness, a lot of change ... all kinds of things that have all worked themselves out now," Gibson said. She also was dealing with what she called "a very intense relationship that was great when it was great," which ended, she said, when they both realized it wasn't healthy.

"So ... I've been through a lot of life stuff," she continued. "And .. .the music has now lifted me out of that ... it was just ready to emerge."

Meanwhile, Gibson promised fans won't have to wait as long for her next record.

"I'm already on to the album after this, which is what happened with...'Out of the Blue' and 'Electric Youth,'" she said, referring to her first two albums. "It was like I had so much life to sing about, so many songs stored up. Out they came ... the floodgates were open."

"This album is super-upbeat and intense, and the next one's gonna be a little more singer-songwriter and introspective," Gibson added. "It's just the way it's flowed."