Kid Pop

By Nina Korman

published: September 16, 2004

It's not often that an interview subject can't speak to you because she's in class -- not at a dance or voice lesson but in high school. Actually seventeen-year-old Giorgi, the newest one-named would-be pop sensation, was busy eating lunch in the school cafeteria at noon on a Thursday. Afterward another delay arose from the hair appointment to trim split ends exacerbated by frequent flat ironings. A soon-to-be-star's work is never done. Finally native New Yorker-turned-Miamian Giorgi (née Jaclyn DeGiorgio) grabbed her cell phone and cheerfully explained why since age seven she has been compelled to sing. "I always loved having attention on me," she recalled, adding that too many instances in front of the tube watching Tina Turner and Madonna may have contributed to her compulsion as well. "My mother never liked Madonna much, but she told me to look at how she moved and captured audiences."

Now Giorgi is attempting to attract crowds too. Her low throaty roar can be heard on her first single, "A Boy Like That," centering on the bane of every adolescent girl's existence: bad boys. And since early August, she has been on the retro mall crawl, touring the country as an opening act for rockers Ryan Cabrera and Ashlee Simpson (superstar sibling of Jessica) at Simon-owned malls. Sneaking in a little "cute clothes" shopping before performances, the earthy Giorgi doesn't bother donning snazzy stilettos for the stage. Instead she traipses around barefoot. "I'm not comfortable wearing heels," she admits. "I thought about flip-flops but I didn't want to hear that flapping sound!"

With or without the heightening effect of heels, Giorgi hopes to become what she refers to as "the next big diva from Miami." For now unlike her showbiz cohorts Britney, Jessica, and Hillary, whose sisters are grabbing their own slice of the spotlight, she's destined to stand tall as the drama queen of her family. Her two sisters are planning careers in education and law.