CHRISTINA MILIAN

Christina Milian

Def Soul

Over the last few years, under-21 female pop stars have been introduced to the pop world with massive exposure. With the explosion of Britney and Christina, an inevitable discharge of teen warblers was unavoidable. Manufactured personas have proliferated to countless album releases. Record labels continue to pop out these cookie cutter personas like, well… cookies. The latest release of this type comes from Christina Milian.

Milian is currently riding high on the success of “AM To PM,” which has hit big on radio and video. Before making a splash on radio, Milian carved out a niche for herself in other aspects of the arts. Milian is a Cuban-American raised in Waldorf, Maryland who began her career at a young age. One of her first gigs included working on Disney’s Channel Movie Surfers. Before igniting her musical journey, Milian appeared on several TV shows, such as “Clueless,” and “Charmed.” She has also done a voice-over character role in A Bug’s Life, as well as an appearance in the film The Wood.

Milian first hit the musical airwaves with the Ja Rule hit “Between Me and You.” “AM To PM” is an irresistibly catchy house song that is dance pop at its finest and stands as the best track on the self-titled album. The stabbing keyboard lines, aggressive lyrics, club-rhythm, and heavy-bass lines make the song a standout. It’s nothing we haven’t heard before, but at least it’s produced with artistic ingenuity that allows us the bypass the derivative production. Other than the lead single, however, urban pop-tarts shroud the album with little to no substance.

Where 19-year-old Milian exerts fierce vocal effect and carves out an aggressive persona on the lead single, she lacks in the remainder of the album. This Latina has received recognition from fellow Latina – Jennifer Lopez. Milian co-wrote Lopez’s hit “Play”, an attribute her record label shouldn’t trumpet too loudly. After all, Lopez’s musical escapades have been less than thrilling. In fact, Milian displays many of Lopez’s characteristics on the album – a flimsy voice, brainless lyrics, poor melodies, and less than stellar hooks. Simply put, this artist isn’t One-in-a-Milian.

“You Make Me Laugh” opens with the “Sticks and stone might break my bones, your words will never hurt me” line. Yeah, like we’ve never heard that one before. Even worse, the track bears laughable giggles behind Milian’s vocals.

There are many times when Milian tries to bring soul to the album but fails. Milian sings about a broken heart on “It Hurts When,” as she tries to convey emotion but falls short with her poor vocals. Her voice is barely audible on “Satisfaction Guaranteed,” which coincidentally has the same back track as “When You Look At Me.” If the consumers’ satisfaction is guaranteed, then he will be demanding his money back.

There is one other notable track “When You Look at Me.” Milian preaches “looks can be deceiving” to a thug. The opening melody and laid back groove create a catchiness factor the other tracks lack. Her aggressive vocals works better on tracks like this instead of when her sappy voice drenches the gooey ballads.

Christina Milian is the cheesy Latin pop fluff we’ve unfortunately heard enough of. If you can’t get enough of “AM To PM” buy the single-shelling out the bucks for the album isn’t worth it.