Casablanca
Pop, 2004

Image-wise, teen starlet Lindsay Lohan may have metamorphosed from the missing Olsen sister into someone who tries a little too hard to emulate Paris Hilton but her debut CD is actually more like the effort of a closeted Led Zeppelin fan emulating her musical idols. Apart from the kiddie dance-pop lead single Rumors, everything else on Speak is still radio-friendly tracks that nonetheless sounds harder than anything Hilary Duff has ever put out.

While Ms Lohan still cannot fully shrug off the impression that she is just a privileged little girl pretending to be cognizant about the dark sides of life (she is managed by her mother, for goodness’ sake), she manages to inject enough bitchy attitude into songs like First and the title track to make them work. Comparisons to Ms Duff, which seems to crop up whenever her name is mentioned, are null in this case because while Ms Duff’s vocals sounds watery even with layers of post-production trying to hide the Pikachu mewling in her voice, Ms Lohan has no problems sounding really bitchy when she has to on those tracks that require her to show some tough girl attitude. It works for Avril Lavigne and Ms Lohan must have received lessons from the same instructor. (Then again, Lindsay Lohan never has any problems playing the bitch.)

Let’s make this clear: Lindsay Lohan won’t be the next PJ Harvey anytime soon, maybe never. If you buy this CD expecting a KISS revival, you have only yourself to blame. But when it comes to music for teenage girls to listen to when they need moody inspiration for their next “the world doesn’t understand me” blog entry or their dramatic piece of fanfiction, Lohan’s Speak ranks much higher than Ms Duff’s music and nearly on par with Avril Lavigne and Evanescence.

Now if only Ms Lohan will stop trying to cater to the preteen crowd, really. The music is rockier than any Disney kiddie will like, her photos in her CD booklet see her posing like the clone Maxim brought in after Paris Hilton is deemed too hardcore, but also present in the booklet are oddly out-of-place photos of her hugging her mother and acting like a sweet innocent girl along with a cute thank-you message more appropriate for a Sunday school shout-out. Shouldn’t she go all the way when she wants to be some hard-rocking attitude girl with fake boobs? Move on from Aaron Carter, girl, and date some hard-drinking tattooed punk rocker!