TORONTO (CP) -- Please don't compare Lauren Taylor to Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera. She might just bring the house down around your ears.

Singing is a great passion for the 16-year-old Montrealer. Fortunately, she has powerful lungs, because there's huge competition in the female pop world these days, with stars like Spears and Aguilera churning out chart-busting hits.

But comparisons don't sit well with Taylor, who sighs when the inevitable names are mentioned.

"People ask me, 'What do you think of there being so many teen artists out there, with Britney Spears and such," says the dark-eyed Taylor, who seems relaxed and at home in the cafe of a downtown hotel.

"I'm not competing with anybody. (Spears) is very talented. I think she's got a very good voice and she puts on a good show. But I'm Lauren Taylor, I'm different. People have to understand that. I'm more sophisticated, my music is more mature than hers. It's soulful."

Taylor's first album, Let Me in Your Heart, has just been released on Montreal's Soft Cell Records.

Like her idol, Mariah Carey, Taylor wants to aim for an adult sound. The fact that she is even mentioned in the same breath as the pre-eminent teen voices of the day is just a matter of age.

"I'm young, so this is the market that I have to be in," she explains. "But if I had a choice, I'd love to sing big ballads, like, because I have a really strong voice. If I wanted to I could probably break these windows," she says, promising with a grin not to demonstrate her destructive talents.

"It's good that I have different types of voices in me -- I can sing low, I can sing high, I can sing soft, I can sing loud," she adds. "For this album, it was more mellow."

Taylor is downright defensive about appearing to ride the coattails of Spears -- or anybody else's for that matter.

"I've been doing this all of my life. I'm not doing this because Britney Spears is doing it. I'm doing it because I want to. Since I was young, this is what I've wanted to do."

Growing up in Montreal's west end, Taylor always had dreams of becoming a pop singer. Armed with voice lessons, her parents' record collection and a karaoke machine, she set out to get there. And that was just a few years ago.

"When I was a little girl I was singing to Bette Midler and all these Broadway plays," she says. "I'd sit downstairs with my tapes and just sing for hours."

Taylor's dream of becoming a star edged closer to reality this week when she got on the bill of her first major performance, in Toronto opening for Spanish DJ crew the Vengaboys. What might seem a potentially overwhelming experience -- until now Taylor has mostly performed in small venues and at shopping mall and theme park showcases -- she speaks of without a hint of anxiety.

"I am excited," she says matter-of-factly. "When I get on stage I'm having fun, I'm not panicking. I love to be there whether the crowd knows who I am or not, so why get nervous? They soon will."

Taylor does not lack confidence. It's clear that if she could launch an international career by sheer force of will she'd already be packing stadiums.

"As long as it takes me to get there I'm going to wait," she says.

"If you're at the right place at the right time and somebody catches you and you've got good back-up behind you, you'll get far. And It's all about the songs. Everything's about the song and I love my songs."