HC Reviews

Pussycat Dolls - PCD

Taken from About.com:

The Pussycat Dolls began as an all-female burlesque group created by choreographer Robin Antin (sister of hair guru Jonathan Antin) in 1993. Their first live performance took place at the Viper Room in Los Angeles in 1995. Carmen Electra was one of the lead dancers. The Pussycat Dolls' stage act has always followed the classic tradition of burlesque, a sexual performance that focuses on tease, humor and innuendo instead of raunchy sex and bare flesh.

In late 2003 Robin Antin decided to start from scratch and conducted open auditions to create a new troupe of Pussycat Dolls that would ultimately be part of a musical project. Nicole Kea (aka Scherzinger), formerly of the band Eden's Crush, winners of Popstars, an American Idol precursor, became the group's lead vocalist. Music business veteran Jimmy Iovine was brought in as an executive producer alongside Antin and A&M Records president Ron Fair.

In April 2005 the Pussycat Dolls took their next steps forward in the entertainment business. The Pussycat Dolls Lounge at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas was opened as a permanent venue for the Pussycat Dolls stage act.

I love danceable pop music. But when I first saw the video for Don't Cha? I was all set to not really like the PCD. I mean, it's a bunch of skinny girls dressed like 'ho's, singing about how some guy should wish his girlfriend was like them. However, the beat really got me and when I listened to the lyrics, I was pleasantly surprised.

Before I commit to buying a CD for a band or artist, I wait until 2 or more songs are released. I have way too many CDs in my collection in which I bought the CD based on one song and hate every other song on the CD (Blind Melon and Deep Blue Something, I'm looking right at you!). I wasn't too thrilled with Stickwitu, as it's a sappy ballad, but then I saw a video on Yahoo Videos for Beep and I knew I had to get the CD at some point. Which I did while I was at Target a few days ago.

Having already heard 3 songs from the CD, I was hoping the rest of the CD was as fun. I wasn't disappointed. This is a fun little pop/dance album. With the exception of 3 (maybe 4) songs (Stickwitu, Feelin' Good, How Many Lies/How Many Times, and possibly Tainted Love), all the songs have a good beat and you can dance to them. HML/HMT, Feelin' Good (a song from the 60s that's been remade by various artists - most recently by Michael Bublé) and Tainted Love (a remake of the Soft Cell song) have good beats but are much slower and therefore not really danceable. There's a kicky little number called Right Now that's an original song but very reminiscent of the 60s jazzy/London pop sound.

Lyrically, the songs are pretty basic and somewhat shallow. The majority of the themes in the songs are about guy/girl dynamics and relationships. But at least they don't sound like poems written by some angsty 10th grader in her private journal (**coughnewMadonnaCDcough**).

I generally judge a CD by how many songs I skip over to get to the songs I really like. With this CD, I only skip over one song (Stickwitu).

If you get a chance, you should give it a listen.

Posted by xinh at January 22, 2006 06:46 AM