Hilary Duff – Hilary Duff (Hollywood/Universal)
Skye Sweetnam – Noise From The Basement (Capitol)
The backlash on teen pop is in full swing and everyone seems to want more ‘rock’ in their pop. Even if that rock is nothing harder than what we’ve heard from Avril Lavigne, whose influence is felt on two new discs by the latest teen queens. As a closeted fan of Duff’s debut Metamorphosis, I secretly sang along to her radio friendly hits “So Yesterday” and “Come Clean,” and was presumably not the only one, since it surprised many by selling over three million copies. Listening to her new album, that former style is apparently so yesterday, and I couldn’t be more disappointed.
Call it Avril-lite-every mildly paced song sounds extremely similar to the next, and even on multiple listens it’s hard to pinpoint any standout tracks. It sounds as though it was quickly recorded to capitalize on her fame and to coincide with her new movie Raise Your Voice, which features songs from the new album. Lead single “Fly” is passable enough, yet never quite takes (ahem) flight. That stands as a fair description for each of the 17 tracks (the album came out on her 17th birthday-awww!).
What Duff lacks in strong song choices, 16-year-old Ontario native Skye Sweetnam is missing in powerful vocals. Her debut is surprisingly catchy-especially notable since she co-wrote every original track-but her weak and sometimes whiny voice is lacking the maturity to carry them, not to mention her awful cover of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass.” The Lavigne comparisons abound, especially when looking at their similar styles, musically and physically, that the two use to capitalize on the ‘angry tween’ market (though Avril would probably never be caught dead touring with Britney Spears, as Sweetnam has).
In comparing these two discs, one wonders what would have happened if Duff, with her sweet and pleasing vocals, had recorded Sweetnam’s tracks. Now that would be ‘noise’ worth checking out.
