Friday, September 26, 2008 - Doll Domination? Don't Count On It!

Everyone's favourite pop burlesque troupe returns to bother the world's teenagers with their teasing dance routines and less-is-more dress sense.

This is an album that reels off one clunker after another. Lead single When I Grow Up would embarrass Paris Hilton, but sets the template for the rest of the album. Urban beats, sleepwalking guest parts from Snoop Dogg and Missy Elliot, and lyrics that might as well have been written by a sophomore student on a weekend bender for all the depth on offer.

It is worth noting that Nicole Scherzinger is thrust into the spotlight on this album, singing lead vocals on every track. The most notable contribution the rest of the group make is posing seductively on motorbikes on the album's cheesy cover image.

Given how rapidly the wheels came off Nicole Scherzinger's solo career - not to mention the two car crashes of the Pussycat Dolls reality TV shows - it's not surprising that her latest vehicle, "Doll Domination", comes both souped-up and armour-plated. The album was assembled by a small army of the most expensive engineers (Timbaland, Rodney Jerkins, Polow da Don, Sean Garrett).

As an emblem of 21st century pop production excess, it makes recent albums by Rihanna, Beyonce and Madonna feel like folksy little efforts recorded in their basements. But as a listening experience, it's an uneven and ramshackle affair. Like a hyperactive five-year-old let loose in a fancy dress shop, the Dolls occasionally find styles which fit, but the results are just as often a big mismatch.

Given the fact there are 25 tracks and a platoon of songwriters spread over "Doll Domination"'s various bonus discs, it's not surprising that it occasionally succeeds, and there are hit singles to be found here. But from a return on investment point of view, this could just mark the moment when modern record companies starts to wonder whether less might not be more, after all.

Doll domination? Don't count on it. Unless a couple more of these tracks manage to repeat the success of When I Grow Up and stick on commercial radio, this is an album heading straight for the half-off bins.