A&M
Pop, 2005
What? Don’t look at me like that, people. The burlesque troupe The Pussycat Dolls take on the music world and they don’t even pretend to be anything but manufactured. Roping in the sole member who can sing, Nicole Scherzinger who must be glad to be able to find a way to pay her rent after Eden’s Crush went nowhere but down, The Pussycat Dolls shamelessly dance and prance their way up the charts. Under ordinary circumstances, PCD is something that shouldn’t sound this fabulous, being that The Pussycat Dolls aren’t anything more than a glorified dance revue.
But from the catchy first track Don’t Cha to the shamelessly buoyant last track We Went as Far as We Like, The Pussycat Dolls manage to bring on energy and verve needed to make me feel like I’m listening to a most delicious stage show combining the camp with sophisticated Motown-like pop styling. Even the rent-a-rapper appearances by Busta Rhymes and will.i.am from the Black-Eyed Peas serve only to make the CD more enjoyable.
Don’t Cha is a near-perfect pop song with pretty naughty lyrics to sing along to. Beep is an even ruder song that is just as enjoyable as Don’t Cha. While these songs and others like Wait a Minute (with Timbaland) and Buttons fit in nicely with today’s overproduced R&B/rap environment of the airwaves, The Pussycat Dolls also manage to perform credible covers versions of Hot Stuff (I Want You Back) and the Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go medley. Even the bossonova tune Sway comes off very well in their hands.
PCD is a very girlish album despite the Maxim cover girls that are the members of The Pussycat Dolls. Tracks like Sway is like a theme song for a new Bond movie for little girls to fantasize about being sexy to. Don’t Cha can be music to choreograph a cheerleader dance to. We Went as Far as We Like is the kind of songs thirteen-year old girls dance and sing to in sleepover parties.
For the young at heart who love the Spice Girls, All Saints, the Sugababes, and other unabashedly poppy musical acts, PCD may just be the surprise guilty pleasure made just for them.
