Two years after the original
Cheetah Girls
movie,
Galleria
,
Chanel
Aquanette
, and
Dorinda
return with
The Cheetah Girls 2
, a sequel and a full-length
soundtrack
. The film's subtitle is "When in Spain," and exotic flourishes such as Spanish guitar and sweeping pianos color many of the album's tracks. While the entirely en espanol songs feel a little forced, hints of this sound give songs like
"Strut"
and
"Amigas Cheetahs"
the feeling of being the great-great-granddaughters of
Madonna
's
"La Isla Bonita"
or
the Spice Girls
'
"Spice Up Your Life."
As expected,
Raven-Symone
dominates
the Cheetah Girls
, both in character as
Cheetah Girl
and as herself. Despite the odd
"Everyone's a Star"
-- which shouts out to everyone from mailmen to lawyers to hairdressers and bouncers ("Bounce on with your bad selves!"), her solo tracks and
' material sound a little more sophisticated this time around:
the Girls
"The Party's Just Begun"
Symone
"Do Your Own Thing"
have sleeker productions and harder-hitting beats, while
"It's Over"
shows off
' more mature pipes. Of course, this is all relative -- several tracks still suffer from the facelessness that plagues too many
Disney
teen pop
productions. But, even if
won't be giving
the Pussycat Dolls
or the revamped
Nelly Furtado
a run for their money anytime soon,
at least acknowledges that there's a more grown-up world of
pop
music out there. ~ Heather Phares